History HilariousInHindsight / Advertising

* During its 2002 Kids Choice Awards, Nickelodeon aired a commercial where some of Nicktoon's biggest stars at the time [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfFFM2bLPZY would duke it out against each other]] [[{{Animesque}} anime-style]]. Five years later, a show called ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' came along. And five more years later, [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-03-11/u.s.s-nickelodeon-tv-channel-adds-dragon-ball-z-kai this happens]].

* In 2002, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} ran a parody of ''WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman'' with [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants Patrick Star]] playing the snowman. Three years later, ''The Legend of Frosty the Snowman'' comes out with Creator/BillFagerbakke, Patrick's voice actor, playing Frosty.

* A Geico commercial had the caveman playing against Brian Orakpo in Scrabble. The caveman's shirt resembled the colors of Tennessee Titans, who Orakpo would sign for next.

* This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLSsswr6z9Y 1993 ad for the Got Milk? campaign]] runs on the premise that only an obsessed nerd would know who shot Alexander Hamilton. As of the release of the popular Broadway musical ''[[Theatre/{{Hamilton}} Hamilton]]'', few people today would find that a difficult question.

* Another [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6juEOmOaYVk Cartoon Network]] promo. The time, early 2000s. Cartoon Cartoons were the Kings and Queens of the Network, Scrappy Doo and his fellow Hanna-Barbera cartoons forced out to be shown less in favor of Cartoon Cartoons. The time, early 2010s, Warner Brothers has released about half of their Hanna Barbera offerings to DVD, and very few of the Cartoon Cartoon offerings. One seems to sell so much better than the other, so Creator/CartoonNetwork which one did people more want to rewatch? Oh yeah TakeThat!
* Continuing on with this trend. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4On14MnZEs0 This]] ad is one of many to utilize [[WesternAnimation/TheKwickyKoalaShow Kwicky Koala]] as a punching bag. While not as damning to Hanna Barbera as a whole, the implication being no one would want to watch reruns of Kwicky Koala. Of course Cartoon Network would indeed start showing more and more reruns of their original cartoons over and over. Now fastforward to now again where Kwicky Koala and other short lived Creator/HannaBarbera cartoons can all sell well and fine on dvd, while dvds for more prominent Creator/CartoonNetwork shows like ''WestnerAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' are still stalled due to them not selling so hot. Who's pounding the bed in frustration now CN? Certainly not Kwicky Koala's fans.

** Also, the rivals in Gellar's Burger King commercials included [=McDonalds=]. Thirty years later, Gellar would play an advertising executive on ''TheCrazyOnes''. Guess who [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds their first client]] was.

* The Vince and Larry [=PSAs=] (the crash dummies encouraging seat belt use) had one where they promote an album of songs they supposedly recorded. (All of the songs seem to themed around injuries from a car accident.) This was before we heard from the band Music/CrashTestDummies. (Their lyrics tend to be rather dark as well.)

* A 1980's American Express ad features a businessman getting in trouble in France, after hitting his head and saying "[[Film/{{Timeline}} I am a spy]]."

* Back when Enron was viewed as a thriving corporation, they released a series of commercials with the theme [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pboh1SFk6TM "Ask Why?"]] Years later when Enron suddenly went Bankrupt shocking the country, the United States government asked them why? They got their answer when they discovered years of corporate fraud.

* Sony started a line of TakeThat posters towards Microsoft after noticing the poor reception following the UsefulNotes/XboxOne's initial reveal. One of these claimed "The only red ring is the circle button," a jab at the UsefulNotes/Xbox360's infamous Red Ring of Death issue. Launch day arrives, and... [[http://www.gamezone.com/news/2013/11/15/new-claims-of-ps4-s-red-line-of-death-beginning-to-pop-up Well, let's just say things couldn't be more ironic.]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h97Pa-SQ0RQ This]] ball really does keep rolling. Again a Hanna Barbera [[WesternAnimation/DinoBoy character]] is shown to be not happy about how much less work he's gotten since it "got crowded". Back then he had to show the new guy around before getting the boot to maybe being shown on Creator/Boomerang. Now realize how this commercial could be switched with Edd as the old veteran showing another new guy around, and so on and so on. What goes around comes around and oh yeah. Ugh now can get all of his "work" on your dvd player while again Double D's "work" is still only partially available.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIE8xk6Rl1w This]] Apple commercial predicts the Iphone with Siri in ''1987''.

* A 1996 ''This is SportsCenter'' ad featured Karl Ravech and [[Series/CountdownWithKeithOlbermann Keith Olbermann]] interviewing former Senator Bill Bradley for a job. The last line of the commercial has them questioning whether he'd spoken in front of an audience. Bradley says he gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. Olbermann replies, "We meant a ''large'' audience." One that a decade later he himself would try to tap.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ3rndjje30 This ad for MLB 12: The Show]] depicts the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series and all of Chicago celebrating, even the Pope himself, before eventually cutting to a sobbing Cubs fan in his room with a PS3 controller, indicating it was part of the game. On November 3rd, 2016, that day would become a reality.

* DavidKaye. ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' Megatron. Enzyte commercial announcer. Enzyte was charged with fraud.

* A 1996 ''This is SportsCenter'' ad featured Karl Ravech and [[CountdownWithKeithOlbermann Keith Olbermann]] interviewing former Senator Bill Bradley for a job. The last line of the commercial has them questioning whether he'd spoken in front of an audience. Bradley says he gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. Olbermann replies, "We meant a ''large'' audience." One that a decade later he himself would try to tap.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRqypM7jb5Y NBC's second "Ted Lasso" advertisement for their Premier League coverage]] ended with fictional coach Ted Lasso being offered a job at newly-promoted Leicester, who were expected by many to be relegation strugglers. Cue the laughter when Leicester won the league in 2016.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQVZkGS8NfY This 1982 ad for Pepto-Bismol features a then-unknown Jeff Daniels as a college student talking to his parents about a lot of students with diarrhea and how the doctors gave the college's group Pepto-Bismol! The ad even features his mom saying at the beginning: "Diarrhea down here?" This was 12 years before Jeff Daniels' most well known moment in [[Film/DumbAndDumber]].

* It is generally quite hard to deliberately engineer a HilariousInHindsight moment, as it's all too easy to be offensive or to simply pander to an obvious in-joke. For a master class in doing it right, step forward the late, great British comedian Bob Monkhouse. [[TheDeadRiseToAdvertise Four years after his death in 2003, with thanks to modern digital wizardry,]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quxOMX1jl1w he appeared on television in an advert suggesting the wisdom of being tested for prostate cancer]], cracking jokes about it being an even bigger killer of men 'than (his) wife's cooking!' so that the viewer doesn't end up 'as (he) did' - spoken while appearing standing beside his own ''actual'' tomb-stone.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRValgHDvxE A Singaporean ad]] about problem gambling which airs on [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup 2014 FIFA World Cup]] shows a group of children discussing who would win. It then cuts to a depressing shot of a sad young boy hoping for Germany to win, as his dad bet all of his son's savings on them. Well, depressing until hours later, when [[CurbStompBattle Germany beat Brazil 7-1]], and eventually winning the whole thing.

-->'''Announcer:''' Question: Why take diet pills when you can enjoy Ayds?

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h97Pa-SQ0RQ This]] ball really does keep rolling. Again a Hanna Barbera [[WesternAnimation/DinoBoy character]] is shown to be not happy about how much less work he's gotten since it "got crowded". Back then he had to show the new guy around before getting the boot to maybe being shown on Creator/Boomerang. Now realize how this commercial could be switched with Edd as the old veteran showing another new guy around, and so on and so on. What goes around comes around and oh yeah course Ugh now can get all of his "work" on your dvd player while again Double D's "work" is still only partially available.

* Another [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6juEOmOaYVk Cartoon Network]] promo. The time, early 2000s. Cartoon Cartoons Kings and Queens of the Network, Scrappy Doo and his fellow Hanna-Barbera cartoons forced out to be shown less in favor of Cartoon Cartoons. The time, early 2010s, Warner Brothers has released about half of their Hanna Barbera offerings to DVD, and very few of the Cartoon Cartoon offerings. One seems to sell so much better than the other, TakeThat Creator/CartoonNetwork
* Continuing on with this trend. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4On14MnZEs0 This]] ad is one of many to utilize [[WesternAnimation/TheKwickyKoalaShow Kwicky Koala]] as a punching bag. Of course now days we live in the time where Kwicky Koala and other short lived Creator/HannaBarbera cartoons can all sell well and fine on dvd, while dvds for more prominent Creator/CartoonNetwork shows like ''WestnerAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' are still stalled due to them not selling so hot. Who's pounding the bed in frustration now CN? Certainly not Kwicky Koala's fans.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRValgHDvxE A Singaporean ad]] about problem gambling which airs on [[WorldCup 2014 FIFA World Cup]] shows a group of children discussing who would win. It then cuts to a depressing shot of a sad young boy hoping for Germany to win, as his dad bet all of his son's savings on them. Well, depressing until hours later, when [[CurbStompBattle Germany beat Brazil 7-1]], and eventually winning the whole thing.

* Sony started a line of TakeThat posters towards Microsoft after noticing the poor reception following the XboxOne's initial reveal. One of these claimed "The only red ring is the circle button," a jab at the {{Xbox 360}}'s infamous Red Ring of Death issue. Launch day arrives, and... [[http://www.gamezone.com/news/2013/11/15/new-claims-of-ps4-s-red-line-of-death-beginning-to-pop-up Well, let's just say things couldn't be more ironic.]]

** "Genesis does what Nintendon't" doesn't mean anything anymore now that the Wii's VirtualConsole service has Genesis games. A few years later, the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS is announced to have plans for UsefulNotes/GameGear games on its own VirtualConsole in addition to UsefulNotes/GameBoy and UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor games, furthering the effect.

* The unfortunately named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayds "AYDS"]] diet pill from the 1970s to the 1980s has led to much [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBkVuT5pw1g retrospective]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP_uiiRAZqs hilarity]] from its commercials. Not coincidentally, it was withdrawn from the market soon after awareness of the AIDS epidemic became more widespread.
-->'''Announcer:''' Question: Why take diet pills when you can enjoy AYDS?

* The unfortunately named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayds "AYDS"]] diet pill from the 1970s to the 1980s has led to much [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBkVuT5pw1g retrospective hilarity]] from its commercials. Not coincidentally, it was withdrawn from the market soon after awareness of the AIDS epidemic became more widespread.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1dJZLdqTFU A Coca-Cola commercial promoting the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament]] has a group of Kentucky fans forced to take refuge at a rival Kansas fan's house due to a power outage while the two teams are playing each other. After both teams' eliminations in the Elite Eight by North Carolina and Oregon, respectively, students of both of the winning colleges heavily mocked the commercial on Twitter.

* A drug PSA showed Pee-Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) talking about how dangerous crack was. Reubens would later go on to play a drug dealer in the movie ''Blow''. Then again, he had already been in some ''Cheech and Chong'' movies, which are about drugs.