History Main / TheRedStapler

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* 1999: The first ''{{Matrix}}'' film is released, and James Marsters joins the regular cast of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' as "Spike" (up till then a recurring villain). Which one of these two caused the huge demand for [[BadassLongCoat black leather dusters]] is an exercise left up to the reader.

* ''{{Scream}}'' increased demand for Ghostface masks/costumes, OrSoIHeard.

* In the 90's, Gap made a commercial for Khaki pants showing people dancing the lindy hop. The commercial did a better job of making people all of the USA start signing up for lindy hop lessons than making them buy the pants.

* After M&M/Mars declined the opportunity to have Elliot lure ''ETTheExtraterrestrial'' with M&M candies (not wanting to be associated with a weird-looking and potentially child-scaring alien creature), the production used Reese's Pieces. When the film was a success, it led to an explosion of demand for Reese's Pieces, leading to triple shifts of production for a while. Execs at Reese's admitted afterwards that the movie probably saved the product from being discontinued.

*** Related: [[NoSwastikas The Swastika]] (except, of course, in India and Japan).

* ''KimPossible''[='=]s sidekick/pet naked mole rat has led to kids wanting one for their very own. Common sense provides it's not really a SpeechImpairedAnimal in real life, but what even parents might not know is that the naked mole rat is basically blind, anti-cute, and one of the only mammals that are eusocial -- like bees -- and so can only survive in an underground colony with hundreds of other mole rats.

[[caption-width:255:Not even the AppleOfDiscord could [[ArtifactOfAttraction cause such coveting and strife as the Red Swingline Stapler]].]]

-->''"Imagine: Thousands of children across the country beg their stupid parents to buy them a dalmatian puppy for Christmas only to discover months later that dalmatians were bred to be carriage dogs, require a tremendous amount of attention and are generally a royal pain in the ass. Goodbye home sweet home. Hello pet cemetery."''

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. Now known in Australia as ''The Masterchef'' Effect for similar reasons... custard apples, anyone?

*** ''Marley and Me'' probably averted this. Marley was certainly portrayed as cute and loveable, but he [[{{Understatement}} wasn't really portrayed as a low maintenance/easy to train pet.]]

*** The ''{{Lassie}}'' and ''Lad A Dog'' movies (as well as the ''{{Lassie}}'' tv show) spawned such a demand for collies that pet breeders nearly managed to ruin what had been a really good breed. Even today, there are tons of badly-bred collies with poor health and the brains of an ice cube.

** Another, more genuine example is the DeLorean DMC-12, a car that had been produced for less than two years and had a reputation for extreme unreliability. It was discontinued before the first film was ever made, but the movie caused second hand prices to rocket and eventually the car was brought back into low level production, arguably because of the movie alone.

* The ''ToyStory'' movies created a huge demand for simple plastic green army men that led to several companies cashing in on it with [[ArmyMen videogames]] and such.

** Another legend has it that JFK killed top hat sales by appearing hatless at his inauguration... [[http://www.snopes.com/history/american/jfkhat.asp except he did have a hat.]]
* In a reverse, ''AStreetCarNamedDesire'' caused a ''spike'' in T-shirt sales because of Marlon Brando's sexiness in one.

** A similar craze happened in Hong Kong after JohnWoo's ''A Better Tomorrow'' came out, with lots of young people taking to wearing a BadAssLongcoat like Chow Yun-Fat's Mark Gor wore in the movie.

** Before the ''{{Matrix}}'' came out, there were no phones anywhere that slid open like the modified Nokia 8110 seen in the movie. The original wasn't spring-loaded; you had to slide it open and closed manually. After the movie opened, people wanted the spring-loaded, flick-open version, and cell phone companies had to design one to meet the demand that suddenly appeared.

** TomCruise made Wayfarers popular a few years before ''TopGun'' in ''RiskyBusiness''

* The Japanese movie ''Shall We Dance?'' greatly increased the popularity of ballroom dancing in Japan. (It also greatly increased the respectability of the behavior, which helped; as the movie shows, it was a furtive practice prior to the movie, because it was regarded as disreputable.)

* ''VForVendetta'' and Guy Fawkes masks. In the early rush stage of [[{{Imageboards}} Project Chanology]] it was almost impossible to find a mask -- costume shops kept selling out.

** ''{{Fallout}} 2'' acknowledges ''AChristmasStory''. While the Red Ryder BB gun is a weapon so weak it's not even worth using, there exist a unique Red Ryder limited edition BB gun, who's one of the most powerful small arms, especially for shooting monsters in the eye.

* The [[HandCannon Desert Eagle]] was a semi-automatic pistol built by 3 guys who thought it would be cool to fire magnum caliber rounds in a semi-auto. It started showing up on movies and TV (perhaps most notably as used by ArnoldSchwarzenegger in several movies, starting with ''Commando''.) Eventually, the Desert Eagle managed to find itself into some 500+ movies/videogames/TV shows, which boosted the sales of the gun to absurd heights. This huge increase in popularity also generated a lot of HypeBacklash against the gun and a considerable HateDom from some gun enthusiasts, who feel the Desert Eagle gets more attention than it deserves.

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

** Also: Butterbeer. While a beverage with that name ''did'' exist back when the Tudors were ruling in the UK, it was J.K. Rowling's books that popularized the drink in recent years. All that's needed is a simple Google search to notice how everybody and their dog has their own recipe for it.

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

* 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 [[ColbertBump made the movie popular enough]] to get a [=DVD=] release.

** Most notably perhaps, the presenters spent an entire series mocking the forthcoming Dacia Sandero before it had even been finished. By the start of the next series, Renault had cancelled the UK release (of course, this was probably for "unrelated reasons".)
*** Season 14 has May drive the Sandero in their trip to Romania, which he was rather excited about. He remarked that it's a good, honest small car that has everything you need and nothing you don't. He loved it so much, he said he was going to drive it back to the UK after the super car trip. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, a lorry driver "accidentally" backed into it when he met back up with Clarkson and Hammond, who of course laughed at him.]]

** ''Top Gear''[='=]s power lap certainly gives lower-profile sports car companies a chance to get some recognition: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumpert_Apollo Gumpert Apollo]] is best known as the "fastest car round the ''Top Gear'' track." Although sometimes the opposite is true: Clarkson royally took apart the reliability and safety of the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmtTm1rYdf0 Caparo T1]].

* CSI. After the show started airing applications to be forensics investigators and applications for appropriate college majors skyrocketed. Pretty much every Las Vegas souvenir store carries CSI merchandise now.
** Which is particularly odd in that LVMPD (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department) doesn't employ CSIs, they have CSAs (Crime Scene Analysts).

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[[folder:VideoGames]]

** Anybody think the movie ''KickAss'' will cause a resurgence? Probably cause injuries, too, with the way Hit Girl handles them...

* ''{{Fallout}} 3'' apparently greatly increased the interest in the 1940s music that makes up most of the soundtrack. ThatOtherWiki says Roy Brown's ''Butcher Pete'' increased in iTunes sales by 700% after the game's release.

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[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

[[folder:RealLife / TruthInTelevision]]

*** What makes this particularly worth noting is that when the mermaid [[LineOfSightName picks the name by looking at a street sign]], TomHanks immediately says (roughly) "That's not a real name." Watching the movie in 2007 made that line [[ReverseFunnyAneurysm hilarious]].

*** Don't forget what "Madison" originally meant: it was a ''last name'' meaning "''son'' of Maude." Of course, "Allison" (in at least one interpretation) means "son of Alice" so it's not terribly unusual, but it's nevertheless frustrating.
*** Allison ''can'' be a surname, but the female name Alison is actually an old diminutive of Alice that came to be used as a full name. Chaucer used the name Alison in his writing long before the trend for using surnames as first names.

*** Related: [[NoSwastikas The Swastika]] (Except, of course, in India and Japan)

*** Funny, you'd think that reversing a name also reverses the meaning. Kind of like reversing 'God' and naming someone [[FinalFantasyTactics 'Dog']].
** After ''TheOmen'' came out, the name Damien [[http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/ experienced a slight decline]] in popularity, having been ranked 283 out of 1000 in 1974, 387 out of 1000 in 1975, and 285 out of 1000 in 1976.

** French space-opera comic-book {{Valerian}} invented the name Laureline for the female protagonist. It is not an unheard name for French women today. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valérian_and_Laureline#Laureline "That Other Wiki" says so,]] so it must be true.

*** Not to mention how the name Edward, arguably {{badass}}, will now be associated with sparkly vampires... * sigh* '''''THERE ARE OTHER EDS YOU KNOW! WHO DON'T SPARKLE!!!'''''
*** [[FullMetalAlchemist * snort* ]]

** 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 its variant Aiden).

* When Chef Paul Prudhomme first introduced his famous recipe for blackened redfish, it became so popular ''that it put the redfish on the endangered species list.''

* As an April Fool's joke, [[http://www.thinkgeek.com/ thinkgeek.com]] listed a [[http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/bb2e/ Tauntaun Sleeping Bag]]. Customers were more than a little miffed to realize it was a practical joke. The site has since negotiated with Lucasfilm to get the sleeping bag approved and licensed, and is now a real product.

** A previous April Fools joke that turned into a real product was the [[http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/hats-ties/9352/ 8-bit tie]].

**** Not all so much. Even if you're in a state that's not landlocked, chances are (as in, 'unless your state LOVES getting fined by the EPA for discharging raw sewage', meaning 100 percent) your city sewage system consists of miles of pipes and pumping stations that terminate in a treatment plant. Even if the fish survived the ride to the plant, the entire point of the plant is to kill infectious microorganisms-and it does a fine job on killing anything bigger, as well. One sewage engineer noted that the first step at the plant is to reduce any large chunks into a fine puree, usually with something like [[http://www.jwce.com/products/muffin-monster-model-30000/ this]]: he dubbed the result to be "Grinding Nemo".

* This troper was unsure where to put this entry as it has appeared in numerous different mediums of entertainment. The [[HandCannon Desert Eagle]] was a semi-automatic pistol built by 3 guys who thought it would be cool to fire magnum caliber rounds in a semi-auto. Eventually, the Desert Eagle managed to find itself into some 500+ movies/videogames/TV shows, which boosted the sales of the gun to absurd heights.
** Amusingly, this huge increase in popularity also generated a lot of [[HypeBacklash backlash]] against the gun by various gun enthusiast, effectively turning into a pretty prominent HateDom. They feel that the Desert Eagle is getting way more attention than it deserves, which probably is the case.

** ...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.]]

* Thanks to being featured in GranTurismo, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution series of high performance rally cars and it's rival the Subaru Impreza WRX STi were brought over by their respective makers to the United States.

*** ''Marley and Me'' probably averted this. Marley was certainly portrayed as cute and loveable, but he wasn't really portrayed as a [[{{Understatement}} low maintenance/easy to train pet.]]

*** ''Marley and Me'' will probably spark a rise in Labrador Retrievers.

**** Although the film [[{{Understatement}}didn't exactly portray Marley as a low-maintenance pet...]]

** The less we think about how, [[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_baby_names as of this writing]], [[{{Twilight}} Isabella]] is currently the most popular girls' name in the country, and Jacob the most popular boys' name, the better.

* The manga ''Kami no Shizuku (The Drops of God)'' is an incredibly powerful example of this trope - thanks to the miracle of internet wine ordering, thousands of Japanese people are treated to a charismatic character's opinion of a specific wine on his quest to find seven specific varieties, and can then go and order those very wines and taste them for themselves. This has caused quite a stir in the world's wine industries.

* The title character's coat in ''Sherlock'' was a discontinued, limited edition item. There were so many demands for it after the show aired that Belstaff brought it back.

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** Not to be the JerkAss editor here, but a leeeetle sourcing would be nice. "Many of these pets are abandoned"? Okay...I'll just take your work for it I guess.