History Main / TheRedStapler

* ''KaBlam!'' had a scene in an episode where Henry and June show the audience they're poseable action figures. After it aired, kids across America searched in Toys R Us/Wal Mart/Target for H&J toys. They don't exist.

** Two sitcom examples -- Emma exploded in popularity after Rachel of ''{{Friends}}'' gave the name to her daughter, and from ''SexAndTheCity'' Carrie's rugged boyfriend Aidan seems to have inspired a resurgence in that name (and it's variant Aiden).

This can lead to {{Defictionalization}}, where things only start being made due to demand for fictional things.

**** Also it has a nice ring on it

* ''{{Emergency}}'': The show is popularly thought to been the best advertisement about the merits of the paramedic program ever and lots of cities and counties started setting up their own in the 1970s.

Sometimes known in the UK as ''The Delia Effect'', whereby ingredients and utensils recommended by Delia Smith in her popular cookery shows are subject to increased demand. Cranberries, capers and omelette pans have all been subject to this, though shops have got wise and Delia's publishers tend to let them know what's being recommended this time round...

* When Michael Douglas used a (now comically large) mobile phone in the 1987 film ''WallStreet'' it established the mobile phone as an essential business accessory, leading to the modern popularity of mobile phones.
** Don't forget Nice Guy Eddie's enormous car phone in ''ReservoirDogs'' (1992).

* This Troper & several friends want any or all of the t-shirts worn by Jensen in ''TheLosers''.

* The "hero" of ''TimeChasers'' wears a Castleton State College T-shirt through most of the movie. The [[MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] episode which mocked this movie not only created a demand for the shirts, but made the movie popular enough to get a [=DVD=] release.

** Many of the movies MST3K riffed on experienced retroactive popularity (or repopularization in some cases) which played a part in the cancellation of the show as the rise in the licensing fees for some the movies made it difficult to sell the show in syndication.

* Home perm kit sales sky rocketed in Britain after ''AshesToAshes'', which features a permed KeeleyHawes, began running.
* At the height of its popularity, ''PowerRangers'' most definitely did get the youngsters fixated on martial arts, although it was less of the "take classes, study disciplines and earn belts" sort than it was the "yell 'hi-yah!' and [[GroinAttack kick your cousin in the groin]]" variety, as this editor can personally--and painfully--attest.
** Or "take on ten kids at once in the playground". I think I won.
*** Look on the bright side... If you managed to hurt more than a few of them during the melee, it was a Pyrrhic victory.

* Inversion: Australian TV show ''Kath and Kim'' '''decreased''' the popularity of chardonnay. Having it drunk by two of the least classy middle class women in all of Melbourne, one of whom pronounces it "card-donnay" might have something to do with it.

* The music video for "Sk8er Boi" inadvertently resulted in a massive demand for Wilkesboro Elementary School shirts, much to the school's surprise and delight.
** Avril Lavigne also wore a Napanee Home Hardware t-shirt, a hardware store from her tiny Ontario hometown, for an appearance on ''SaturdayNightLive''. The demand was such that the chain began producing them in large quantities and selling them nationwide.

* Queens of the Stone Age singer/guitarist Josh Homme's use of the rare Ovation GP type of electric guitar has increased demand and prices for original examples.

*A doll of the Pointy-Haired Boss was made, after fans demanded one, seeing one depicted in the Dilbert comic strip.
*This seems to be a permanent example, especially in the United States. Thanks to {{Peanuts}}, beagles have spiked to being one of the most popular dogs in the nation for decades.
** Not sure that's entirely due to Snoopy. In large areas of the US, it's common to own a dog or two specifically for hunting (dogs are good at flushing and retrieving birds and small game.) Beagles make extremely good hunting dogs (they have excellent senses, steady nerves, and it's easy to train them to react properly to gunfire), and were bred for that purpose. A lot of pet beagles were inspired by "Grandpa's old coon-dog" as much as by Snoopy.

** Not to mention that the popularity of The Hurricane's previous gimmick, "Hurricane" Helms, GreenLantern fanboy, led to a sizable number of fans showing up to arenas festooned in Green Lantern merchandise as a show of support for Helms. One wonders if the switch in gimmicks was just so Helms could move WWE merchandise instead of DC merchandise...

*** Which probably come from Songbird Ocarinas, who has been running the same ad in Nintendo Power for '''''12 years'''''.
* The ''ArmyMen'' series and simple plastic green army men.
** But see above (under Film, of course) about the ''ToyStory'' movies.

** Too bad in most of the United States it's illegal to send them through the mail. Even if it is "[[http://teamfortress.com/spy.htm express mailed to Mystery, Alaska]]".
*** And if you do find a shop that has some left over from the before the ban, expect to spend around $70 for your little cosplay prop.

* {{Guitar Hero}} and {{Rock Band}} have drastically increased the younger fanbases of {{Judas Priest}}, {{Iron Maiden}}, {{Rush}}, {{Kiss}}, and many other old-school bands, and given many other bands like {{Dragonforce}} big career leg-ups.

*** Not that the reverse was any better--[[OrSoIHeard apparently]], many children attempted to (or ''did'') flush pet fish down the toilet in hopes that they would reach the ocean and be reunited with their family, unaware that neither marine life nor sewer systems work that way.

** ...and his Doctor's mantra that {{bow ties are cool}}? [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/doctor-who/7656389/Doctor-Who-prompts-surge-in-popularity-of-bow-ties.html Turns out he's right.]]

* [[http://www.founditemclothing.com/ Found Item Clothing]] re-creates T-shirts seen in films, and [[http://www.abbyshot.com Abbyshot Designs]] has more or less devoted its entire line of clothing to faithfully reproducing coats and others apparel originally seen in [[ImpossiblyCoolClothes video games, movies, and anime]].