History Main / WereStillRelevantDammit

* When the Usefulnotes/{{Academy Award}}s announced a Best Popular Film category, backlash was immediate as deeming at a conspicuous way to pander to mainstream audiences without exactly fixing the "void" between OscarBait and blockbusters, leading to its cancellation. But then 3 years late the Academy ''did'' create an Oscars Fan Favorite category that would be decided by social media. Which eventually showed how it could go wrong, as presumed favorite ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' was beaten by three not exactly well-received films pushed by the fanbases of Creator/JohnnyDepp (''Minamata''), Music/CamilaCabello (''Film/Cinderella2021'') and Creator/ZackSnyder (''Film/ArmyOfTheDead'').

* When the Usefulnotes/AcademyAwards announced a Best Popular Film category, backlash was immediate as deeming at a conspicuous way to pander to mainstream audiences without exactly fixing the "void" between OscarBait and blockbusters, leading to its cancellation. But then 3 years late the Academy ''did'' create an Oscars Fan Favorite category that would be decided by social media. Which showed one way it could go wrong as the not exactly well-received ''Film/Cinderella2021'' was leading the vote...

* In 2012, Creator/ChuckECheese's radically redesigned Chuck E. Cheese, giving him a design like something out of ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' and making him play the electric guitar as he sings Music/BowlingForSoup songs[[note]]Chuck E. Cheese himself had gotten TheOtherDarrin treatment, his voice actor now being the lead singer of Bowling for Soup[[/note]]. [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks This did not get positive reactions]]. In fairness, though, the previous Tony Hawk-wannabe look he'd been sporting for around ''15 years'' didn't scream this trope any less.

* During its late-80s slump, Oldsmobile attempted this with its decidedly unsubtle "Not Your Father's Oldsmobile" campaign with its 1988 Cutlass Supreme, attempting to market the popular Cutlass line to "the New Generation of Olds" in the hopes of expanding its customer base. One advert even had Melanie Shatner behind of the wheel of the Cutlass with her father and Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner in the passenger seat. This campaign backfired spectacularly, failing to entice younger buyers while also alienating Oldsmobile's loyal customer base by undermining its own history of innovation and reliability. Despite its sturdy build, the Cutlass failed to sell in the numbers needed to break even and the botched campaign is often blamed for hastening Oldsmobile's decline until it liquidated in 2004.
* Kmart's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYTspIT8xjY "giffing out" commercials]] during the 2013 holiday season scream of this. Inhabitants of the Internet are quick to point out that real gifs don't have ''any'' sound as they're simply 256-color image files with animation support. And they're not limited to a single second of animation, either.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3qnPyC6qgM Satur-Yay-Aaah!!]] (no, that's not a typo) commercials from General Mills absolutely ''reek'' of this, featuring the Advertising/TrixRabbit, Chip the Wolf, Sonny the Cocoa Puffs Bird, [[RememberTheNewGuy a talking orange]] voiced by Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson, a kid voiced by Creator/JeremyShada (a.k.f. [[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime Finn the Human]]), and...Honey the Honey Drop, who hasn't been in a commercial since TheEighties. The commercials feature, among other things, an extremely sporadic and out-of-place ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' reference, and artstyles, sets and language that are clearly trying to emulate ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' and ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', but in the end, resemble ''WesternAnimation/{{Breadwinners}}'' more than anything.

* The Truth anti-tobacco initiative launched their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfeVx_bOzdg "It's a Trap"]] ad in Summer 2015 to prove that they were still relevant to TheNewTens after having been active since the Bush Era. The entire video just consists of [[MemeticMutation popular Internet memes]] springing to life and yelling "[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi It's a trap!]]" whenever kids consider casually smoking at a party. Note that none of them even say the signature lines that made them funny in the first place; apparently, the producers thought that hearing another (unrelated) meme reference would automatically make the audience laugh.

* Advertising/PopTarts advertising and packaging occasionally ventures into this. For example, [[https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowKids/comments/31zasj/poptarts_knows_i_love_me_some_memes/ boxes from 2016 feature memes]] such as "[[Film/ThreeHundred This... is... tarta!]]" (a parody of a meme which was popular in the ''late 2000's'') and image macro parodies.
* A series of anti-texting-while-driving [=PSAs=] from Australia, called "Don't Be a Dickhead", fall into this trope. It proclaims that every time you use a mobile phone while driving, gingers (or "[[PretentiousPronunciation gingaz]]") [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLTCOb0BMus get laid]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGgkV033Sos redheads get wings]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HWOwLT7S18 emos are born]].[[labelnote:note]]Which, [[FridgeLogic when you think about it]], means you're ''helping'' people by texting and driving, in a way other than removing yourself from the gene pool, anyway.[[/labelnote]]

* [[https://youtu.be/hyioiBL6KT0 This]] Virgin Media ad that aired in the UK in late 2020 reeks of this trope. It features people trying to connect while staying at home due to... [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic then recent events]]. References include selfies, to [[DiscreditedMeme dabbing]], to Netflix. As you can guess, people panned it.

* ''Anime/OsomatsuSan'' both parodies and plays this straight. The series is a sequel to the classic Creator/FujioAkatsuka series ''Manga/OsomatsuKun'' set some ten years after the cast's childhood adventures. It features a multitude of {{Shout Out}}s to 2010s contemporary Japanese culture. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]], as the references are a large portion of the appeal of ''Osomatsu-san'' and is what helped it become popular, and was in-line with ''Osomatsu-kun'''s own habit of including topical elements. In-series, however, each season begins with the cast invoking this:

** In season 2, the 60's versions of the brothers see their ''-San'' selves on TV and are disgusted by how disgusting and full of themselves they are when they become popular. They each decide to make their show "proper", with ideas proposed including a straightforwardly normal timeskip, outsourcing the animation, going {{Retraux}}, and [[MediumBlending foregoing animation altogether for a live-action adaptation]]. Once again, none of these plans work.

* ''Anime/ShinyaTensaiBakabon'', another modern reboot of Creator/FujioAkatsuka's comedy series, parodied this in the opposite direction from ''Osomatsu-san'': Papa worries that nobody will like the dated, fourth wall-breaking humor of the original series and tries to modernize it... alone, as the rest of the family is fine with how the humor works already and annoyed that Papa's forcing these changes on himself. Among the things he tries are [[TheOtherDarrin changing his voice actor to a more popular one]], making himself {{young|erAndHipper}}, [[HotterAndSexier attractive]], and [[GenderFlip female]], and acting dramatic. The episodes themselves downplay the trope, as they're about ''how'' dated characters like them can survive a late-night slot without getting the axe.

** Dear old Jughead Jones has often fallen victim to this trope. ''Archie Comics'' may be made fun of occasionally, but thanks to its cozy look at the bright side of being a teenager, most people tend to view it with warm nostalgic feelings. This makes these attempts to be "hip and happening" ever more bewildering. Everyone, from every generation, knows Jughead as Archie's goofy hamburger-eating [=BFF=] in that ridiculous hat. Well, over the years, he has ''also'' had mercifully brief careers as (get some coffee and a comfortable seat) a beatnik, a hippie, a punk, a disco king, a breakdancer, a time-traveler a la ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'', a rapper, a paranormal investigator a la ''Series/TheXFiles'', an {{emo teen}}, a {{superhero}}, and so on. At this point Jughead's {{Genre Shift}}ing has almost become a RunningGag. See [[http://www.avclub.com/article/decade-by-decade-with-archie-comics-1549 this useful Onion AV Club article]] for more details. And yet his character design ''still'' includes his whoopee cap ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopee_cap Yes, that's what it's called.]]), a style of headgear that nobody's worn for close on seventy years now, although it's fallen under GrandfatherClause since it's so identifiable with Jughead.

** Blog/TheComicsCurmudgeon openly suspected that ''Archie'' was so old and tired that it used a computer to come up with daily jokes, and even dubbed it the "Archie Joke-Generating Laugh Unit 3000" or AJGLU 3000. ''Archie'' [[http://joshreads.com/?p=1827 struck back in this comic]], putting Archie in a "No AJGLU 3000" shirt.
** The success of the ''ComicBook/AfterlifeWithArchie'' series, however, stood out as more than just a cash-in on the popular zombie/horror comic trend and proved [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools tropes are not necessarily bad]]. The [[ComicBook/ArchieComics2015 2015 reboot]] is also pretty well-received. They were seen as avoiding the pitfalls of this trope, thus updating a series that was stagnating and in dire need of a shake-up.
* In [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks the Sixties]], [[Characters/SupermanJimmyOlsen Jimmy Olsen]] was frequently used as the spokesman of this trope. He was, at various points, a hippie, ''a Beatle'' (in Ancient Rome, no less!), a wide variety of superheroes, and many other things, most of which fall under the WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs[=/=]SoBadItsGood heading. Once again, it's become sort of a RunningGag, focused on at places like ''Website/SuperDickery''.
** The example with the longest ramifications was when the Jimmy Olsen title was written by Creator/JackKirby, who used the craziness to introduce [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] and the [[Comicbook/NewGods Fourth World mythos]] to the wider [[Franchise/TheDCU DC Universe]].

** The last few decades have seen the whole ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' mythos tangled in this trope:
*** Superman [[WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite proves he's right]] and a thinly veiled version of ComicBook/TheAuthority is wrong! [[ComicBook/SupermanGrounded Superman walks across the country solving real people's problems]]! Superman quits the ''Daily Planet'' to become a blogger! Superman has a mullet!
* ''Comicbook/{{Manhunter}}'' and ''Comicbook/BlueBeetle'' had storylines dealing with undocumented immigration, both of which were hit by this trope.
* There's a WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse [[http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=D+2007-020 comic story]] demonstrating this trope, published in 2008, in which Mickey attempts to join [=MyPlace=] (a [[BlandNameProduct parody]] of ''Website/MySpace'') and finds out somebody is already on there impersonating him. (Unfortunately, this story is not yet available in English.)

* ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' tried this in 2001 with a character called ''Robbie Rebel'', essentially a more hip, contemporary version of ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK. He was apparently based on Music/RobbieWilliams, and the strip also featured two scantily-clad girls called Music/{{Kylie|Minogue}} and [[Music/SpiceGirls Geri]]. Presumably this was to combat the dated appearance of the other characters (he wore jeans and a t-shirt instead of short trousers and a jersey), but he only lasted a few years.

** In 2012 Dennis's parents were given a makeover by Gok Wan, so they no longer looked like they were trapped in TheFifties. This seems to have gone over quite well, and is now their standard look. (A later RetCon suggests "trapped in the fifties" Mum and Dad are actually the current Dennis's Dad's parents, but don't think about it too hard.)
* Brazilian comic ''Comicbook/MonicasGang'' engages in this every now and then, since it's been running for 50 years. They even have a "turn our characters into a memeface" contest on their Facebook page! The series has, to a lesser extent, been dabbling in this trope since the late seventies, when it started migrating from a ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}''-like comic that has little to no relation to its times, to a pop culture heavy concept, with issue-long parodies of ''Franchise/StarWars'' and then-current movies. It wasn't helped that a prolific editor for the comic is a proud geek who loves adding references to his fandoms, such as ''Series/GameOfThrones'' and ''Film/{{Alien}}'' (which, let's be honest, have no business being acknowledged by a children's book).
** On the other hand, the characters have also been ''fuel'' for this trope, as business and events trying to appeal to kids loved slapping Monica's face (or an {{Expy}}'s) on a product.
** The Chuck Billy spinoff comic, despite technically taking place during present-day, it pretty much portrays country life as an idyllic 1940ies farming village (Chuck's farm doesn't even have electricity, despite the fact that at least 90% of the homes in Brazil have power since the 2000s). His CityMouse cousin's frequent visits make the contrast all the more grating.
* The Chilean comic ''ComicBook/{{Condorito}}'' does this: later issues have jokes involving Website/{{Facebook}}, Blackberry phones, and many of the covers made a parody of then-recent movies.

** The {{retool}} of the book that came about after Creator/GailSimone left the title has Barbara moving to a trendy new neighborhood and becoming a hipster. Like the ''Young Avengers'' example below, the [=ReTool=] also has a greatly expanded focus on social media.
** One story has Batgirl fighting video game-themed villains who are designed to look like Music/DaftPunk and are literally named Co-Op and FTW, all the while making retro video game references. Bleeding Cool described it as Batgirl trying to be ComicBook/ScottPilgrim.

* Kieron Gillen's ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' series has this. The characters seem to be constantly posting to their equivalent of Tumblr for whatever reason, and spewing references that really just sound like Gillen's is trying to ''sound'' young.
* ''ComicBook/{{Inhumanity}}'' has this in the use of Twitter in order to tell us what some people think about the new Inhumans. Also, a newly awakened Inhuman, instead of, you know, going to the Avengers or any other superhero, decides to just keep taking photos of herself and posting them to Facebook.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}'': As the series went on some stories start to fall into this trope. An example is ''Nerorock'', a story Sleen drew in the 1980s in which Nero starts a successful rock band. Adhemar claims to be a ''rock music'' fan and then names several artists and bands that Sleen clearly just transcribed from a hit parade list, because many of them are from very different musical genres.
* Works of Dennis Hopeless frequently fall victim to this. ''Comicbook/AvengersArena'' drew a lot of snark for shoving Internet-slang words like "hater" and "waifu" into the conversations while completely misusing them. ''Avengers Undercover'' had a character do the "shaky leg" dance and others commenting how cool it is. And then there's his Spider-Woman run, where the main character throws so many references in the first pages alone that [[PoesLaw it almost feels like a parody of writers who are desperate to sound young]]. Even more egregious later in ''ComicBook/AvengersUndercover'', which gave a shout out to ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' due to the anime's message being focused on {{Determinator}} nature of the protagonists in contradiction to the comic book with its notoriety of UnfortunateImplications on [[ShellShockedVeteran the survivors of Arena]] as turning into villains due to their trauma.
* [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks The Dark Age of Comics]] was essentially this happening on an ''industry-wide scale''. After the success of dark, violent comics like ''{{ComicBook/Watchmen}}'' and ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'', companies became convinced that DarkerAndEdgier was what audiences wanted and glutted the market with comic after comic of edgy NinetiesAntiHeroes who killed criminals left and right. This example backfired so bad it almost caused the entire industry to collapse.

* The mid-'60s were notorious for this, with comic creators trying to cash-in on the current youth trends and counterculture. A notable example were the ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'', although it was somewhat toned down when Marv Wolfman and Len Wein came on board.
* The 2015 ''Comicbook/BlackCanary'' comic, spinning off from "Batgirl of Burnside" mentioned above, has Dinah as the lead singer of an indie band called Black Canary. However [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools this one is agreed to have worked pretty well]], with many considering it to be a well-executed series.

* ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' suffered a bad case of this when Creator/TerryMoore took over, made all the worse because his ideas of how to appear "hip" included having Molly declare that TV is "like Website/YouTube for old people" and having Xavin impersonate Creator/KevinSmith.
** ''ComicBook/RainbowRowellsRunaways'' also falls prey to this, due to trying to make the team more current despite their premiere being nearly ten years past. The most jarring example is Nico singing along to a Music/CarlyRaeJepsen song; while Jepsen is popular with the LGBT community, and Nico has recently come out as bisexual, she has only been out for about a week in-universe, and is not particularly known for a love of popular music.

* ''Comicbook/CaptainAmericaSamWilson'' ran into this with a group of one-shot villains called the Bombshells, a parody of college leftists. While student radicals are nothing new, it's the Bombshells' use of phrases like "safe space," "problematic," and "mansplain" [[https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/01/04/marvels-ann-coulter-vs-safe-space-terrorists-todays-captain-america/ that causes them to fall under this trope]].

* ''New Warriors 2020'' got plenty of flak when it was revealed for the fact that its new characters were basically walking attempts to make the writers look hip. Of particular note are Screentime (a "meme-obsessed teen" whose powers apparently came from "experimental Internet gas", however ''that'' works) and the twins Snowflake and Safespace (named after terms on the Internet that usually get used as insults against the minorities they're trying to portray positively, with the former seemingly having no personality beyond being nonbinary). At the very least, Marvel seems to have listened to the backlash on this one -- it was delayed indefinitely along with all the other ''ComicBook/{{Outlawed}}'' event titles when COVID-19 hit, and then apparently cancelled altogether. And if you think they were bad, [[https://youtu.be/oLVebLhsG7w enjoy the trailer for Children of the Atom]].
* Unlike Marvel, who were at least willing to listen to fan feedback, Creator/DCComics has recently been breathing this trope in their ''Creator/DCInk'' young adult graphic novels such as ''ComicBook/GothamHigh'' and ''ComicBook/IAmNotStarfire''. Especially the latter with its [[TotallyRadical portrayal of teenagers]] as nothing more than Gen Z culture stereotypes. Such as Mandy ordering drinks from a Starbucks rip off, Claire loving boba enough to wear a shirt about it, Mandy and Lincoln being goths that politically align with anarchists, Mandy believing college is a scam, Mandy running an account on knockoff-Instagram that's dedicated to pictures of her pet Cockatoo and that's the ''least'' of it.

** ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeContinentalDrift'' cast Music/NickiMinaj and Music/{{Drake}} as characters just because the studio perceived them as being hip with the kids. It even has the characters dance along to a generic auto-tuned pop song in the end credits. Considering this is the fourth movie of a franchise that began in 2002, these elements can't help but feel like the filmmakers are falling into this.
** Painfully confirmed in ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeCollisionCourse''. Throughout the film, mentions of hashtags and profile pictures are dropped almost at random, blatantly contradicting the fact that the series' setting is ''prehistoric times''. This has become one of the larger targets of the film's already wide criticism.
* Aside from a joke about emojis in one trailer and Music/FloRida and Music/MeghanTrainor's contributions to the soundtrack, ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'' largely defies this trope completely. Charles Schulz's estate and family had a large hand in the production and wanted to keep the same timeless feel of the source material, so they made it a point to exclude any pop-culture references or bits of technology that didn't appear in the original comic strip.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie'' was made [[SequelGap 13 years]] after [[WesternAnimation/HeyArnold the original series]] ended. The show already felt [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece somewhat dated]] in 2004 due to Helga Pataki's father being a wealthy beeper salesmen during a time when beepers were becoming obsolete and being replaced by cellphones. ''The Jungle Movie'' tried to take advantage of TechnologyMarchesOn by having Rhonda Lloyd use a smartphone and showing that Big Bob Pataki's beeper business was on its last legs. While it seems reasonable at first glance, it comes across as this trope because ''The Jungle Movie'' takes place [[TwentyMinutesIntoThePast only about a year and a half after the final episode]] of ''Hey Arnold!'', so technology would not have advanced ''that'' much in such a short amount of time.
* The ''Franchise/{{Trolls}}'' franchise, which is based on the [[LongRunners long-running]] line of [[Franchise/TrollDolls Troll dolls]], has run into this at least twice:

* ''WesternAnimation/{{SCOOB}}'' is said to suffer from this. Some of the attempts to convey [[SettingUpdate a more modern feeling]] have had mixed responses, such as Brian dabbing in his entrance, Dynomutt calling him a [[ManChild large adult son]], the references to Netflix, Velma talking about [[TestosteronePoisoning toxic masculinity]], Dick Dastardly's anti-millennial stance, and even Creator/SimonCowell in an already-dated ''Series/AmericanIdol'' reference. However, the franchise has always had references to popular trends, or people of the time. Even [[WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou the original series]] was guilty of this.

* When the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4IoUo_ZJkY trailer]] for the [[Film/TheThreeStooges Three Stooges]] movie was shown to be rife with this, complete with a modern setting, an iPhone, and even the cast of the ''Series/JerseyShore'', many people who hadn't heard anything about the film since Sean Penn was involved (which implied a more serious biography of the Stooges) were, to say the least, surprised. When people hoping these were just [[NeverTrustATrailer gags made for the trailer]] saw it and found out that ''Jersey Shore'' is not only a big part of the film but is also instrumental to the plot, they were '''pissed''', although it does take a bit of the sting out that [[TakeThatScrappy they spend the entirety of their appearance getting the crap knocked out of them by Moe]].

* An in-universe example is the whole point of ''Film/TheInternship''. Two salesmen whose careers have been [[TechnologyMarchesOn made obsolete by the digital age]] try to get a coveted internship at Website/{{Google}}.
* Creator/{{Lifetime}}'s 2014 television film ''Film/GrumpyCatsWorstChristmasEver'' is a ''perfect'' (or shall we say, [[IncrediblyLamePun ''purrfect'']]) example of this trope in action.

* Some 1950s RedScare films are very much like the gangster films of the '30s, '40s, and '50s. Basically, they just changed "the mob" to "communists" to make the movie seem more topical.

* ''Film/{{Barbershop}}: The Next Cut'' was always going to have a hard time avoiding accusations of this, considering that [[SequelGap it's a 2016 sequel to a movie that came out in 2002]], and the only other ''Barbershop'' sequel came out in ''2004''. But when the movie's ad campaign also heavily advertises a new character played by Music/NickiMinaj, and the trailers namedrop selfies, hashtags, "Safe Spaces", and the election of UsefulNotes/BarackObama (who in 2016 was in his ''last year'' in office), well...
* While very few people will argue that ''Film/BlackPanther2018'' didn’t deserve its three technical Oscars for score, costume design, and production design, its best picture nomination is seen as this by some. Especially once the planned best popular film category got canned.
* ''Film/PeterRabbit'' has become widely reviled for this. The timeless countryside feel of the original stories has been given a SettingUpdate to cram in fart jokes, cultural references and pop music, and even the creators themselves have bragged about it being a "'''contemporary''' comedy with attitude". This was taken [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]] by the marketing when [[http://comicbook.com/movies/2018/01/08/peter-rabbit-wonder-woman-logan-parody/ posters were released depicting the characters parodying popular films from the previous year]].
* Zigzagged with ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle''. Upon release of the first trailer, many fans took its premise as this compared to [[Film/{{Jumanji}} the first movie's]] -- four teens get [[TrappedInTVLand sucked into a video game]] versus [[TheGameComeToLife The Board Game Come to Life]]. However, the film itself is largely an aversion, lacking gratuitous pop-culture references, and the video game aspect itself is plot-important, allowing for the FreakyFridayFlip that makes up the backbone of the movie. The film also provides an in-universe example: when Alex sees Jumanji as a board game in the opening, he scoffs, says, "Who plays board games anymore?", and goes back to his video game. That night, Jumanji transforms into a video game console, which he unwittingly plays. Even then, and despite the fact that the movie is made by Sony Pictures, the Jumanji console looks more like a classic '80s Atari 2600 instead of a more contemporary [=PlayStation=]. This was also a minor RunningGag in the original, that the game had to manipulate events even before proper play began because it couldn't find enough people willing to play otherwise.

* ''Film/TheBananaSplits'' is probably one of the most infamous examples of this trope of the late 2010's. The whole concept of [[Series/TheBananaSplits characters from a classic TV show]] becoming HostileAnimatronics who murder people sounds like it was made in a desperate attempt to keep the property alive, in addition to being a rather blatant ripoff of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys''.

* Literature/BrownsPineRidgeStories: An in-story variation occurs in the tenth chapter. Local merchants in 1965 organize the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McRae,_Georgia McRae]]-Helena Treasure Hunt" because they "got tired of seeing its citizens shopping in Vidalia, Dublin, Douglas". While the treasure hunt does generate interest that creates a short-term surge of economic activity, as history has shown [[DoomedByCanon it was neither to last]] nor any more effective as other examples on this list in revitalizing anything.
* Owing to ValuesDissonance and TechnologyMarchesOn, post-1980s adaptations of the novel ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' have dealt with this trope. Compulsive gum-chewer Violet Beauregarde and TV addict Mike Teavee have undergone a great deal of MenaceDecay over the years, so their personalities and habits have to be rethought in order to make them sufficiently obnoxious to warrant IronicHell punishments. The challenge is to make their habits of-the-moment while turning out to be endemic of larger issues that won't date as easily. Both of the following adaptations also take place in {{Retro Universe}}s where styles and technologies of various past eras rub shoulders with those of the present. [[Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory In the 2005 film adaptation]], Mike is a jaded InsufferableGenius obsessed with violent video games as well as TV. Violet is a GoGetterGirl with a StageMom, both of whom are fixated on winning any competition that comes their way. [[Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory In the 2013 stage musical]], Mike's obsession with electronics of all kinds is used to keep him occupied so he doesn't cause as much real-world trouble as he otherwise would, as he is an EnfantTerrible whom no adult seems capable of controlling. Violet is a resident of HorribleHollywood whose father has helped parlay her non-talent of gum-chewing into a CashCowFranchise (in the same way that reality show stars and people like Creator/ParisHilton or Creator/KimKardashian [[FamousForBeingFamous become famous]]). The GenreRoulette of the songs associates Mike with techno and Violet with kid-friendly rap -- but also disco.
* [[http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc334/makzii/12990938_10154176871753783_5627065708669801550_n_zps83edagb4.jpg This]] edition of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', told entirely [[http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc334/makzii/12439346_10154176871748783_4684349759779195133_n_zpszhfe7x3g.jpg with text speak]] [[http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc334/makzii/12963473_10154176871743783_8898059012303324166_n_zpst4jng3ee.jpg and emojis]]. It has such lines as Lady Macbeth saying "Did he RSVP?". [[http://i525.photobucket.com/albums/cc334/makzii/12994550_10154176871758783_974154014973744443_n_zps4isvtwkc.jpg Two more plays were given the same treatment,]] maybe in an attempt to connect to younger readers in a TotallyRadical way, maybe to amuse people who already were fans of the original play, possibly both.

* To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Creator/BeatrixPotter in 2016, Warne published new editions of five of her best known books, with covers by "Great British designers", looking not unlike Penguin Modern Classics. The most blatant example of this trope was ''Literature/TheTaleOfPeterRabbit'', which shows Peter in a black beanie and a denim jacket covered in patches, one of which declares him to be "[[{{Pun}} Rad(ish)]]".
* ''Literature/RainbowMagic'' has run into this trope in recent years, creating various fairies that seem designed to capitalize on current trends among kids. Examples would be Sasha the Slime Fairy, Zainab the Squishy Toy Fairy, Jae the Boy Band Fairy (whose design seems heavily influenced by K-Pop bands), and Kat the Jungle Fairy (an {{Expy}} of Music/KatyPerry as she appeared in the music video for "Roar"). There's also Tiana the Toy Fairy, who is literally the fairy-sona of a then-popular toy reviewer on [=YouTube=].

* Creator/BobHope constantly attempted this in the '70s and on. As Series/{{Frasier}} told Niles, "Don't use slang. You sound like Bob Hope when he acts like [[Series/HappyDays The Fonz]]." Creator/LorneMichaels once said that one of the reasons he wanted to do the things ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' did in its early seasons was the way that, when Bob Hope did sketches on his shows where he pretended to smoke marijuana, he [[PlayingDrunk acted drunk]] afterwards.

** ''Doctor Who'' sums this trope up with the character of Ace; a clear attempt to be relevant and "with it" for the youth of the day, her "wicked" fashion style and "ace" dialogue was frequently considered either laughable or cringeworthy at the time, never mind later on. The writer reportedly ''tried'' for accuracy, hanging out with real kids to get a sense of who they were and how they acted, but ExecutiveMeddling resulted in actual teenage slang and speaking patterns being tossed out. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]], for the most part -- she's often regarded as one of the best companions by the fans, thanks to the famous scene where she wrecks a Dalek with a ''baseball bat''.
** While not as egregious as some other examples, the new ''Doctor Who'' series can suffer from this, too -- numerous celebrity cameos and pop-culture references are scattered across multiple episodes but can leave them feeling very dated in a short space of time.

*** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld The End of the World]]" amusingly used this trope by residents of the distant future referring to Music/BritneySpears' music as "a traditional ballad". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBw5tOeXWkY This is not the first time in the show that current pop music was described as "classical".]][[note]]Should the link disappear: [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E8TheChase the First Doctor, Vicki, Barbara and Ian are watching]] ''Music/TheBeatles,'' which Vicki considers classical music.[[/note]]

*** When the Master returned in the new series, he was updated into a [[PopCulturedBadass murderous pop culture junkie.]] He is shown watching an episode of ''Series/{{Teletubbies}}'' (supposedly a ShoutOut to the original series where he watches an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheClangers'') and has pop music played when he releases the Toclafane to decimate the Earth's population ("Voodoo Child", by Rogue Traders) and at the start of Series 3's finale whilst he is wheeling the Doctor around on a wheelchair ("I Can't Decide" by the Scissor Sisters). However, this falls more into SoundtrackDissonance territory just to show how much of a maniac the Master is.
*** Amusingly used in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E8ColdWar Cold War]]", set in the titular war during the eighties on a Russian nuclear sub. Soviet Professor Grisenko is a fan of British Europop, listening to [[Music/DuranDuran "Hungry Like the Wolf"]] on a Walkman. When he learns the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald are from the future, he asks for details about the fate of something important to him. At first, it looks like he wants to know about major events yet to come concerning the Cold War's outcome- which could derail history given the right answer in the wrong place and wrong time, should someone wish to alter its course. He simply wants to know if Music/{{Ultravox}} broke up by 2013[[note]]it would be hard to answer it with a simple yes or no, because while they dissolved in 1986, they also made a reunion album in 2012[[/note]].
* The final season of ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' was like this at times. In the wake of the runaway success of ''Series/AllInTheFamily''[[note]]which was also on Saturday nights[[/note]], ''The Brady Bunch'' had an episode that didn't involve the Bradys at all, in which a white family adopted a black and an Asian kid. (A bigoted neighbor in the episode is expressly compared to Archie Bunker.) "Kelly's Kids," the episode in question, was a PoorlyDisguisedPilot which didn't sell -- not at the time, anyway; Creator/SherwoodSchwartz eventually succeeded in selling the concept as ''Together We Stand''. [[http://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/togetherwestand/ See this article for more details.]]
* An episode of ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'', where Ethan and Devin are playing a painfully bad {{Expy}} of ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', screams of this trope.
* The episode of ''Series/{{Today}}'' where they did the Harlem Shake (and managed to temporarily kill the meme) for Valentine's Day screamed this.
* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' does this ''a lot'', in part because of how heavily the show relies on RippedFromTheHeadlines:

* Ever since Dr. Santino moved to V3 on ''Series/NecessaryRoughness'', annoying instances of this trope have popped up, usually in the form of her boss name-dropping his supposed celebrity friends. The sad thing is, the show was actually ahead of the curve several months earlier, when it had a story arc about a fictional football player coming out as gay -- several months before real-life basketball player Jason Collins did.
* ''Series/GregTheBunny'' had an in-universe example. Gil asks Jimmy how they can update "Sweetknuckle Junction" for a more modern audience. The result includes changing Count Blah into a rapper named Count A'ight (which he repeated mispronounces as ah-ig-it), sexing up Dottie, and painting Junction Jack silver, suspending him from the rafters, and renaming him Cybo-Jack. ("It's finally happened. They made me into a puppet.") They also add a strobe light effect which ends up giving the kids in the focus group seizures, resulting in them abandoning the retool.

* MTV's famed reality shows, ''Series/TheRealWorld'' and ''Series/RoadRules'' (before the latter was canceled) have dealt with this, namely trying to catch up when later shows were able to come through the door they opened and were able to take it even further. ''The Real World'' started with average people generally acting somewhat normally (at least as normal as they could under the circumstances). However, after seeing the popularity of trashy shows that reveled in their drunken debauchery like ''The Bachelor,'' they started hiring model-ready cast members and generally turned up the sex, violence and drama. ''Road Rules,'' on the other hand, started out much more like ''Real World'' on an RV, with the challenges supposed to be rather sedate team-building exercises . However, once more extreme reality competitions such as ''Fear Factor'' came along, the challenges became much more extreme and gross-out.
* Disney's ''Series/AdventuresInWonderland'' has traces of this: the White Rabbit travels via roller skates (a popular fad in the '90s), and the Tweedle brothers are reimagined as hip-hop dancing rappers (complete with MC Hammer-esque outfits). It's odd considering that Disney was essentially trying to prove that a book written in the ''1860s''--or, at least, its hold on the intellectual property--was still relevant.
* The sixth season of ''Series/CameraCafe'' which came out in 2017, five years after the end of the previous one, and [[ChannelHop was brought]] to the second channel of Italian state television, reeks of this trope. The company [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld has been sold to the Chinese]], the episodes reference often apps, social networks, new technologies and fads like the "mannequin challenge", there's talks of immigrants like one of their new co-workers, however despite all this the episodes still go on about the same way as always. Some say that it's meant to show how office life never really changes, others say that for that reason such specific references aren't needed and will one day turn the season six episodes into an UnintentionalPeriodPiece.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' does this intentionally in one of the earlier episodes. Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank stage a re-enactment of the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. Why? In Dr. Forrester's own words, "Because we pride ourselves on being current and topical." The episode was filmed in the early 1990s -- the tennis match in question had taken place roughly twenty years earlier. The series is inadvertently becoming this as riffs based on pop cultural references current or recently current at the time fade from public consciousness. An annotation of the riffs has been in the works for some time.
* ''Series/{{Insecure}}'' has an in-universe example with the fictional '90s ShowWithinAShow ''Kev'yn''. A clip is shown of the modern reboot which features a character dressed as Colin Kaepernick kneeling and saying "Hashtag Metoo!"
* BBC Scotland's startup has a clip from a show called "Up For It". Now, this wouldn't be so bad... [[https://twitter.com/InactiveUser3/status/1420800003665235977 had the clip not contained dabbing after a contestant caught an egg.]] And even though the show is no longer broadcasted on the channel, it's been unchanged for a while, and because of that, it's unfortunately not going away any time soon.
* ''Series/{{Superstore}}'' has an in-universe example: The titular store, Cloud 9, adopts an animated mascot, MC Cloud, who awkwardly uses hip-hop slang and refers to the store as his "bae". He also seems to be in an [[{{Squick}} inexplicable]] InterspeciesRomance with a human woman.

* Creator/DisneyChannel created an "emojified" version of ''Film/{{Descendants}} 2'' (a franchise that already could fall under this trope at times), which is essentially the same movie with emojis, filters, image macro-style text, and other Internet edits incorporated into several scenes.

* In 2020, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} premiered ''Unfiltered'', a show that screams this trope. Examples include references to memes like dabbing, “Deal with It”, a social media segment and even text that said “2020 is cancelled”. Hell, the entire concept is The Masked Singer with Snapchat-like filters.
* The last few seasons of ''Series/ModernFamily'' reek of this, such as in the season 10 premiere which makes a [[UnfortunateImplications throwaway joke about the #metoo movement]], references to Quibi and Tiktok, the use of a song by Music/{{Lizzo}}, a joke about Donald Trump's border wall, and the entire family dressing in onesies for a Christmas episode. Earlier seasons had their finger firmly on the pulse of contemporary culture, but you could tell they were actually ''trying'' and the episodes have a timeless feel to them.

* ''Magazine/{{Cracked}}'' (which was a print magazine until it went online in 2007), despite usually being pretty good about avoiding this trope, would occasionally stumble into it. One of the worst examples was in 1995, when they attempted to parody some of the new video games that summer and came up with something called ''NBA Gam'' -- "the slammin'est, gammin'est game of them all!" (Groan.) The joke was that it was basically ''NBA Jam'', but with the teams' ''cheerleaders'' playing, and the "cover image" showed screaming bimbos in shorts and tank tops hurling each other through the air (the cartoonist apparently having confused basketball with wrestling). In addition to the obvious ValuesDissonance of the premise [[CatFight ("Look at these girls elbowing and shoving each other! They think they're guys! Ha, ha!")]], the pun was an obvious reference to "gams," the early 20th-century slang word for women's legs (itself derived from the French word ''jambes'', meaning....well....[[ShapedLikeItself "legs"]]); problem was, that word had been outdated for nearly two generations by the time ''Cracked'' used it (and worse, most kids who were reading probably just assumed they had misspelled the word "game," thus nearly ruining the joke). In any case, the joke became [[DiscreditedTrope discredited]] the very next year, when female basketball players launched their own version of the NBA.

** An odd example for 2012: Billy asks to go out as a specific character, "Tactical Sergeant Tarkus from the Blood Ravens 4th Company in ''Warhammer 40,000''", despite the fact ''Warhammer 40000'' is extremely obscure outside geek circles (and ''Tarkus'' is obscure even among 40k fans). But it was hilarious watching people on /tg/, the 4chan board that deals with ''40k'', slowly coming to the realization that yes, ''Family Circus'' of all things had just referenced Tarkus.

** Creator/{{Seanbaby}} points out the awkwardness of this in an article about the comic. One strip has a computer monitor displaying static (i.e. "snow") in order for the kids to deliver the punchline "[[{{Pun}} winter-net]]". How many times has ''your'' monitor displayed TV-style "snow"? Even ''[=TVs=]'' rarely display TV-style snow now!
* ''ComicStrip/{{Blondie}}'' has taken to this. The jokes have generally been about how out-of-touch Dagwood is with modern society, but the "modern society" the reader is often shown still feels like it's trapped in a time warp. Most references to modern technology come from Elmo, a small child who somehow affords every "hip" new product despite being a small child.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' occasionally delved into this, especially from the 1970s onwards -- usually through having Snoopy picking up on then-current fads. This arguably reached its apex (or nadir) with the '80s TV special ''[[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4icq0g It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown]]''.

** [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Peppermint Patty owes her entire existence to this trope]]. At the height of the late 1960s feminist movement, Schulz decided he needed to introduce a female character who wasn't stereotypically feminine. Apparently, it was a somewhat big deal at the time that she (gasp!) wore shorts and sandals (even though girls had been wearing shorts and sandals since the '40s at the latest). There was even a major story arc revolving around her getting in trouble at school for wearing shorts and sandals. Sally Brown and Lucy Van Pelt also got in on the action by switching from dresses to slacks in the final 20 or so years of the run.

** Then there's [[http://joshreads.com/?p=26332 this]] 2015 example from ''ComicStrip/{{BC}}'', which randomly references ''WebComic/RageComics''.
* ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' fell into this in the '60s and '70s as original writer Chester Gould tried desperately to keep the strip relevant with the changing times. This led to him giving the strip a sci-fi swerve, where Tracy met the moon people and the police force gained moon technology -- his son even married one of the moon people, "Moon Maid". This led to problems when the Apollo Moon Landings showed the moon barren of all life, forcing him to eventually drop many of these elements. In the '70s, he tried to update Tracy's distinct look with long hair and a mustache, along with a hippie sidekick named "Groovy Grove". The mustache went over so poorly he later drew a strip in which several characters pinned Tracy down and shaved it off. Gould's successor, Max Allan Collins, had both Moon Maid and Groovy Grove killed off as soon as he inherited the strip. Later writer Dick Locher was ''far'' too displaced from reality to make many references like this (although he did have Tracy fight a terrorist with the PunnyName of Al Kinda, and introduced a communications officer called Lt. Teevo). The current team of Curtis and Staton have included a computer criminal named Phishface, and a rock star who is secretly an undercover cop battling [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil digital piracy]].
* ''ComicStrip/LilAbner'' introduced student radicals called SWINE (Students Wildly Indignant at Nearly Everything) during TheSixties in a combination of this trope and AuthorTract, as the conservative Al Capp felt the increasing need to vent his disgust with the political/cultural developments of the era.

* When ''ComicStrip/{{Nancy}}'' got taken over by Olivia Jaimes, things like smartphones and computers started making their way into the comic. This is either a case of We're Still Relevant, Dammit trying desperately to grab the attention of The Youths instead of the timelessness of previous runs, or a much-needed SettingUpdate to work with the reality kids face nowadays. In any case, Jaimes is aware enough about this trope that she [[TrollingCreator gleefully]] parodies it in [[https://www.gocomics.com/nancy/2018/09/03 this infamous strip]], depicting Nancy riding down the sidewalk on a hoverboard while carrying a selfie stick, wearing Airbuds, and saying: "[[TotallyRadical Sluggo is lit]]".

* WWE commentators constantly mentioning Website/{{Twitter}} or current pop culture comes across this way a lot of times.

** One example came when Vince was doing commentary for a match featuring Avatar, who was Wrestling/AlSnow under a mask. The commentary crew was speculating as to the identity of the new wrestler, when Vince pipes up with, "Maybe it's Bart!" Cue blank looks from the other commentators, at which point Vince clarifies with, "You know, from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''?" The Simpsons at this point had been on the air for 5-6 years. Which would make [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_vs._Patty_and_Selma the relevant season 6 episode]] contemporary, so it actually ''was'' relevant this time.
* This is how [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] came off when they brought in "Robbie E" and "Cookie" with a ''Series/JerseyShore'' gimmick. And then they actually brought in J-Woww to feud with Cookie. For 15 minutes. Speaking of, Robbie's still around with the same gimmick, and he's in a stable with another example of this trope, ''Series/BigBrother'' seasons 10 and 11 alum Jessie Godderz! To be fair, the two have gained somewhat of a following as comedy {{jobber}}s.

* WWE has always been doing this. They had a wrestler dressed as Franchise/{{Batman}} ([[SarcasmMode imaginatively]] known as "Battman") in the mid-1960s, when the TV show was a hit. During the mid-1990s they had Rad Radford, who dressed like a grunge-rock musician. Some of WWE's most popular and enduring gimmicks started out this way: Wrestling/{{Edge}}, for example, in his original "Brood" incarnation with his BadassLongcoat and CoolShades and vampire fangs, was strikingly reminiscent of the title character of ''Film/{{Blade}}'', which had just hit theaters at the time. And Wrestling/JohnCena's "rapper" gimmick, while ostensibly a parody of "Marky Mark" Wahlberg, obviously owed a great deal of its success to the early-2000s popularity of Music/{{Eminem}}.
* In ProfessionalWrestling this trope is used well when it's [[InvokedTrope deliberately invoked]] for comedy or satirical purposes. The tag team "Cryme Tyme" became darlings of the fans despite trafficking in "Yo-yo-yo!"/"in the 'hood" stereotypes that had already been cliched for over a decade. Ditto with [[Wrestling/GlennGilbertti "Disco Inferno"]] (in the late '90s). Wrestling/{{WCW}} would, unfortunately, go back to that well again with "That '70s Guy" Wrestling/MikeAwesome after ''Series/That70sShow'' became a hit. It didn't come off nearly as funny or clever the second time around.

* ''Franchise/TheMuppets'' are known to suffer from this from time to time, and handle it with various levels of success. Most of the time they pull it off rather well, but a few cases stand out as blatant attempts at this:

** In the same vein, [[Film/TheMuppets the 2011 film]] does this trope, but decides to bring back what made them entertaining in ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' and the subsequent movies pre-''From Space''. It was a success.
** In TheEighties, Miss Piggy got in on the then current celebrity-exercise craze with ''[[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Miss_Piggy%27s_Aerobique_Exercise_Workout_Album Miss Piggy's Aerobique Exercise Workout Album]]'', based on the "Snackcercise" skit in ''The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show''. The cover specifically parodies ''Creator/JaneFonda's Workout''.
** Then there's 2002's ''Film/ItsAVeryMerryMuppetChristmasMovie'', which reeks of trying to make the Muppets "hip" and "relevant", with pop culture references and [[DemographicallyInappropriateHumour adult humor]] galore.
* ''Series/SesameStreet'' will occasionally change its theme song to reflect music trends of the time:

* ''Radio/TheArchers'' lives and breathes this, being as it is an extreme {{Long Runner|s}} that was originally a wartime {{Edutainment}} serial. New episodes continually reference modern farming life and developments, as well as contemporary pop culture and even weather events (such as flooding arcs during periods of heavy downpour in real life).

* Creator/AndrewLloydWebber is fond of this sort of thing, much to the general dismay of fans of his work. A prime example is his decision to change ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'' character Rum Tum Tugger from a Music/MickJagger-esque rockstar to a hip-hop "street cat" in 2014. Tugger's update was [[http://www.yahoo.com/news/rum-tum-tugger-rap-west-end-revival-cats-162018089.html met with criticism]]. Both critics and theatre fans condemned the re-working of the character, and by the time of the Broadway revival two years later, the original Rockstar Tugger was back, with all productions following suit.

* A new production of the one-woman song cycle ''Theatre/TellMeOnASunday'' (with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black) opened in London in 2003, starring Denise Van Outen. Revisions were made to update the show for the early 2000s (whereas it had previously been set in the 1980s). The girl writes home to her friends via email using a laptop, keeps urging her mother to buy a computer as mailing letters is "so old-fashioned", and also uses an online dating service. However, as [[https://web.archive.org/web/20100212124615/http://theatre-musical.com:80/songdance/recordings.html one fan said]], ''Tell Me on a Sunday'' works better as an UnintentionalPeriodPiece because with the instant communication we have today the girl would not feel so isolated from the world she left behind. Leaving one's family and moving to another country would have been a much bigger deal in the 1980s (and earlier) when the cost of long-distance phone calls was high and it took days to receive a letter in the mail. ''Series/{{Friends}}'' and ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' are also mentioned; ironically references such as those and even sending emails on a laptop (as opposed to, say, texting on a smartphone as has become more common) now date ''that'' version.

* Even the Ride/DisneyThemeParks are not immune to attempting this. Just about every addition and/or change that Disney has ever made to the parks involving contemporary [=IPs=] (even if it's one of their own) has provoked accusations of this from hardcore old-school fans. Although they're not entirely wrong because there has indeed been more than a few times where they were guilty of this trope...
** The entire ''Disney Dance Crew'' show. They even turned "[[Ride/PiratesOfTheCaribbean A Pirate's Life For Me]]" into a rap and changed one of the lyrics to "Drink up me Gangstas Yo-Ho!"
** ''[[Ride/TheEnchantedTikiRoom The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)]]'', an updated version of ''The Enchanted Tiki Room'' starring [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Iago]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Zazu]] that ran at the Magic Kingdom from 1998 until 2011 has to be one of Disney's worst attempts at a modern update of their attractions in history. The combination of "hip" showbiz and popular culture elements of the time combined with Iago's cynical attitude towards the classic characters angered so many Disney fans that they saw the fire that ended that version's run as a godsend.

** The ''Celebrate! A Street Party!'' parade quickly fell into this after finishing its brief two-year run. The parade floats and dancer costumes were very contemporary, [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse Mickey]] and [[WesternAnimation/MinnieMouse Minnie]] were dressed in costumes that scream "late 2000s", and prominently featured songs by ''Series/HannahMontana'' and ''Music/RickyMartin'' on its soundtrack.
** Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration, the seasonal castle stage show that debuted during the 2016 Christmas event, features a song about texting loved ones on Christmas, complete with the characters pulling out oversized prop mobile phones. Thankfully the rest of the show isn't as bad, with appearances by fan-favorite characters like Clarabelle Cow, José Carioca, and Panchito singing popular Christmas songs.[[note]]Including one from ''Film/TheMuppetChristmasCarol'' oddly enough.[[/note]]

** The 1980s revival/retool, while avoiding the political issues of war by having a well-defined, clearly-evil enemy bent on [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]], still fell victim to this trope in the early 1990s with the introduction of the [[GreenAesop Eco-Warriors]] and [[DrugsAreBad Drug Elimination Force]]. (The former were even {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in the comics when one of the Eco-Warriors points out that their new battle suits are made from ''recycled action figures!'') The new lineups didn't prove popular, so they went with [[HighlyVisibleNinja neon-colored ninjas]] until the line died out.

** The Dreamwave comics were another good example of this trope before they grew their [[CutShort short-lived]] [[GrowingTheBeard beard]]. The first mini-series was basically an average G1 cartoon plot only with "edgy" scenes with Decepticons actually, explicitly killing people (which [[OlderThanYouThink they did anyway in the old stuff]], just not with humans). Add to that Pat Lee's atrocious art which was desperately trying to style itself after manga just as anime and manga were getting popular in the US (a useless gesture, as Transformers, specifically G1, ''already had'' anime/manga stylings). The IDW comics are ''a lot'' better in this regard, partly because they're intended for adults and don't have to pander to kids in order to sell toys.
** [[Film/TransformersFilmSeries The Live-Action films]] have a lot of this too, despite being decidedly ''not'' for kids, what with the rampant swearing, sex jokes, and nightmarish violence. ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' infamously had [[TheScrappy Skids and Mudflap]], two obnoxious, gangsta Autobots who were included solely because Hasbro thought kids would like "hip" characters like that.
** ''Transformers'' seems to be a magnet for this trope. Another example would be the "Bot Shots" line, presumably made to cash in on the popularity of ''TabletopGame/{{Bakugan}}''.

* Franchise/{{Lego}} has been guilty of this one more than one occasion.

** In a very similar case to the G2 Transformers commercial, for the 2006 Piraka set line, ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' also attempted to promote their sets with a shoddy rap song, as well as forcing the characters into a "gangsta'" setting, complete with the villains lounging around in their fortress which is surrounded with chain fences, sitting on sofas, chewing bubblegum, and doing various other activities that not only had nothing to do with the official story, but clashed something fierce with the image the franchise had built up in the previous years. This was not the first example: beginning from '05, just about all of the commercials had various rock songs attached to them, replacing the tribal music and even creeping into the movies.

* Creator/{{Disney}}'s ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' [[PlayingWithATrope plays with]] this trope. While it is an attempt by Disney to make WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse relevant again, the people really screaming "We're still relevant, dammit!" are the characters ''in'' the game. The people living in Wasteland have been abandoned and forgotten by those who created them, and some of them want to use Mickey as a means to leave Wasteland and be loved again. Also an inversion in that their efforts to make Mickey as a character relevant again was by ''restoring'' him to how the character was originally portrayed in the [[{{Reconstruction}} early '30s]]. Special mention goes to WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit who happens to be Walt Disney's earliest character before Mickey became his newest flagship, his main motivation in the game is to take out Mickey and take his place. By then Oswald's prominence resurged once again, and he is then featured in newer Disney works.

** One could argue that this started as early as the ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 games]]. The more complex and melodramatic stories of these games could be seen as an attempt to keep Sonic relevant in an age where [=RPGs=] like ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' were making waves in the industry for their complex stories. The producers themselves envisioned the games as sort of a Sonic RPG, though it's worth noting that Creator/{{Sega}} already had a storied RPG history with titles like ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' and ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'' before ''Sonic Adventure,'' and it's also likely this perception arose because the genre's popularity exploded in the West due to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII,'' which was relatively close to ''Sonic Adventure'''s release date.
** ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'': This game's attempted DarkerAndEdgier image, specifically the inclusion of guns and swearing, could be seen as Sonic Team's attempt to transplant their early [[TheNineties '90s]] MascotWithAttitude into a radically altered video game industry dominated by RatedMForMoney fare like ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' and ''Franchise/{{Halo}}.'' It... failed, and is considered by many to be the start of Sonic's DorkAge, one that no-one is sure that he's left yet. While the concept was sound, the execution just wasn't.
** The ''Sonic'' franchise, in general, has had this accusation thrown against it time and time again. There have been numerous attempts to revitalise Sonic's image with the general public, and the results range from middling to ineffective to only dating him further, partly because of the long list of things [[NeverLiveItDown/VideoGames that the general public will never let the franchise let slide]]. For example, ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' (which post-release just up-and-up put a [[https://twitter.com/sonic_hedgehog/status/934472087313506304 Sanic shirt]] into the game as free DLC).
** However, it should be noted that Sonic is the {{Trope Maker|s}} for the MascotWithAttitude trope. Fans sometimes argue that it's pointless to complain that Sonic is acting TotallyRadical in an attempt to become hip and cool and appeal to kids, since ([[DubPersonalityChange at least in America]]) Sonic was like this since he was created.

** Its attempt to stay relevant after over 10 years on the market was to include Website/{{Twitter}} integration and the ability to have your character take selfies in patch 6.1 -- attempts that weren't particularly appreciated since they were the only updates the game got during what was otherwise a ''seven-month'' dry spell for content after the launch of ''Warlords of Draenor'' in November 2014. It has also dabbled into this trope before with some of the references in its expansion packs in order to remain relevant.

* ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' is fairly notorious for this. As the poster child for DevelopmentHell in video games, by the time it finally came out, most of its jokes and references were nearly a decade old. Notable examples include a TakeThat to keycard hunting (something that had long since been abandoned with ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''-inspired modern military shooters -- worse, its "unique and hilarious" subversion is a [[PressXToNotDie quick-time event]] to pull the door open manually, which by then was an even ''bigger'' cliche than keycards could have ever dreamed), a LeeroyJenkins joke (based on something from 2005), one-liners lifted from ''Duke Nukem''-based Website/YouTube videos made back in 2007, the [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Holsom]] [[Creator/MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen Twins]] (based on people who haven't been relevant since 2004), and a reference to Creator/ChristianBale's rant on the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' from 2009. The gameplay itself was generally considered [[FollowTheLeader similar to]] that of ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', which [[IndecisiveParody becomes laughable]] when the protagonist of a game with a two-gun limit and RegeneratingHealth kicks off a level that is very clearly inspired by one from ''VideoGame/Halo2'' by proudly proclaiming that "power armor is for pussies" (not to mention it's ''also'' out of date, as the height of the Master Chief's popularity was in 2007).
* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFullFrontalAssault'' uses memes as comedy, has a TotallyRadical mission control, and a villain who spits Internet memes and hacks your ship to play the Trololo Song on repeat. Creator/InsomniacGames wisely decided not to do things like this for the next entry in the franchise.
* If increasing levels of content from 2010s pop culture (''especially VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'') and videos made to tie in to contemporary games, movies, comics, and shows are anything to go by, ''VideoGame/{{MUGEN}}'' may be accused of this, although this just as well falls into UnintentionalPeriodPiece given that the vast majority of this is [[GameMod on the fandom's part]] rather than the game itself. It doesn't help that lots of older characters are ''nowhere'' near as popular as they used to be.
* The bonus Gladio and Ignis chapter added to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' in response to fan outcry adds a jab at Kellyanne Conway's "alternative facts" howler. While it's well done and appropriate to the scene, it sticks out a mile in a game where the main story beats had been written over ten years earlier [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece and allegorise a very different political environment.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}'' fell into this with the release of Such Cold Skadi. A skin for Skadi parodying the Doge meme. The meme was most popular around 2013. The skin was released in ''2017''.
* Although the game itself is still fairly new, as well as the game the character in question came from, ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'' gives us [[VideoGame/{{Overwatch}} Zarya's]] dance emote: dabbing. Not only is this wildly out of character for Zarya, it reeks of Creator/BlizzardEntertainment trying to be "hip with the kids". Thankfully, her dance emote in ''Overwatch'' is much more sensible: an aerobics routine that involves a lot of flexing.
* In ''VideoGame/MarioPlusRabbidsKingdomBattle'', Luigi may dab after he employs a turret when not standing near cover. Unlike many instances of this trope, it was met with a fairly warm reception from fans. This was likely because ''Mario + Rabbids'' runs on absurdity, and Luigi's characterization as a cute nerd means it's fairly in character for him to do something "hip" in a (failed) attempt to be cool.

* ''VideoGame/BravelySecond'' has numerous memes in the Japanese release, which attracted plenty of criticism for this reason. The English release thankfully cut it down, but the localizers couldn't resist throwing some in. The most immediately obvious one is squirrels having an attack called These Nuts.
* ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' has a big issue with this, with a lot of references to then-recent games that very quickly become dated. This is especially prominent in the localization, due to the lead translator's love of stuffing in memes even when they weren't there in the Japanese script. While some timeless examples like ''Mario'' and ''Tetris'' exist (especially in the first game), alongside some surprisingly pretty dated [[note]]we're talking 1970s dated[[/note]] and obscure stuff, most of the stuff referenced will be from the then-recent past.

* ''VideoGame/BattlefieldV'' had this with the completely unasked for {{Battle Royale Game}} called "Firestorm". It wasted significant developer time, it was poorly made in comparison to the standards of other BR games, had a delayed launch and once launched, no-one played it because it wasn't what Battlefield players want from the franchise.
* ''VideoGame/Battlefield2042'' suffered significantly at launch from being viewed in this manner. EA & Dice removed the class system that formed the core of the franchise's gameplay for 20 years. Classes were replaced by "Specialists", knock-offs of popular & profitable HeroShooter games like ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'' or Overwatch, and were given cheerful personalities even though they are homeless refugees forced to fight for survival. DICE also created a 4 player per team mode, "Hazard Zone", a cheap imitation of ''VideoGame/EscapeFromTarkov'' that was never asked for. While marketing managed to get 4.5 million pre-orders the community response to seeing the full game in action was exceptionally hostile then EA's poor communication & content delays angered the fandom. The game was effectively dead 3 months after launch.

** Satirized in "[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/223809# A New Bunny]]" (very, very {{N|otSafeForWork}}SFW language). It mocks ''WesternAnimation/LoonaticsUnleashed'' as one of the Ur-examples of blatantly trying to make "updated" versions of older characters so that today's kids will like them more. This exchange exemplifies this trope:

* WebVideo/TheMusicVideoShow [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoltUrO0w5w accuses]] Music/GwenStefani of doing this in the mid-2000s.

* Website/TheAgonyBooth and the switchover to video recaps as opposed to written ones has came off as this to some. Many feel that they are now just a Website/ChannelAwesome [[FollowTheLeader ripoff]]. It doesn't help that a message pops up when opening one of the old text recaps, begging people to watch their videos.

** This would soon follow suit in the revival seasons (starting with ''Film/JurassicWorld'') with the Critic making clipless reviews of then-recent movies for two reasons: [[TakeThat False copyright claims]] and [[FollowTheLeader their then-recent popularity]]. However, it didn't fare any well for its fans [[BrokenBase since his style of clipless reviews tend to get divided in most cases.]] While some reviews make sense when covering a remake of a nostalgic property and comparing said remake to the original, more often than not, it feels like the series is just trying to copy the trend of reviewing new movies.

* ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'' has an InUniverse case of this in the "Jack the Ripper vs. Hannibal Lecter" video. The former says "I'm terrorising London, fuck the 7/7 bombers", which causes the latter to accuse him of trying to stay relevant by stealing from headlines.

* Many "gaming" related webcomics like ''Girlz 'N' Games'', and some blogs made heavy use of ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' references even after several years of the game being released. Which landed them straight in this territory.

* The [[https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowKids/ r/FellowKids]] subreddit has various examples of this in real life.
* Dictionaries with a lot of tradition behind them are sometimes accused of this when they add "fashionable" words to their listings. For instance, the Oxford English Dictionary was mocked around the Internet after it added the entries "OMG" and "LOL". However, as language is something that constantly evolves, this trope might only be natural for dictionaries. After all, dictionaries aim to record the language as it is being used today, and the OED records English from all eras, whether they be neologisms or words that have been obsolete for centuries.

* Many Website/{{GoAnimate}} creators have used extensions like Requestly to bring back non-business themes likely fall under this trope, due to the fact that when the non-business themes were removed as part of that company's transistion from HTML 5 on January 4, 2016, some of those themes were already past their prime, particularly the White Houserz and Politics & Celebrity due to the eventual end of UsefulNotes/BarackObama's 2nd term as president of the United States. Ironically, in recent years, [=GoAnimate=] (now known as Vyond) has been experiencing this themselves, as both businesses and the [=GoAnimate=] community itself have gradually moved away from using the site directly, in favour of newer platforms like Website/{{Plotagon}}, as well as utilising source port programs of the original Legacy Video Maker such as Wrapper Offline and [=GoAnifire=] that don't require taking out an expensive subscription to Vyond, thus allowing the community to continue to survive against all odds.

* ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'''s attempts to prove that the franchise was still relevant at the turn of the millennium by allegorizing on the subject of UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror could get heavy-handed at times. It was particularly bad considering that ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine]]'' had managed to do a far better job regarding terrorism, military occupations and colonialism years ''before'' the War on Terror had even started, through a happenstance involving the backstory of the setting and several major characters being involved in fighting a decades long, brutal war of occupation & genocide.

* ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'''s attempts to prove that the franchise was still relevant at the turn of the millennium by allegorizing on the subject of UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror could get heavy-handed at times. It was particularly bad considering that ''[['Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine]]'' had managed to do a far better job regarding terrorism, military occupations and colonialism years ''before'' the War on Terror had even started, through a happenstance involving the backstory of the setting and several major characters being involved in fighting a decades long, brutal war of occupation & genocide.

* [[WebVideo/TheMusicVideoShow The Music Video Show]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoltUrO0w5w accuses]] Music/GwenStefani of doing this in the mid-2000s.

* WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman: Invoked InUniverse with ''The [=BoJack=] Horseman Show''. [=BoJack=]'s motive for creating it was to break his former squeaky-clean image as a sitcom dad from ''Horsin' Around'', and tried to make it the edgiest comedy show possible. This ended up backfiring in a big way, leading to his reputation as a has-been hack of an actor at the start of the series.

* ''VideoGame/Battlefield2042'' suffered significantly at launch from being viewed in this manner. EA & Dice removed the class system that formed the core of the franchise's gameplay since the original Battlefield 1942 from 2002 as well as getting rid of core features like a scoreboard and voice comms. Classes were replaced with gadget using "Specialists", a knock-off of how popular HeroShooter games like ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'' or Overwatch work, with the side benefit to EA/DICE that they can sell dozens of skins for each individual character. These characters were also given cheerful "personality" during what is meant to be an apocalyptic world where homeless refugees are forced to fight for survival. DICE also spent a huge amount of work on a 4 player per team mode called "Hazard Zone", which was viewed as a cheap imitation of ''VideoGame/EscapeFromTarkov'' that was never asked for. While the EA marketing machine managed to earn 4.5 million pre-orders, the community response to seeing the full game in action was exceptionally hostile, EA made some communication blunders that angered the fandom repeatedly and the game was effectively dead 3 months from launch.

* In a very similar case to the G2 Transformers commercial, for the 2006 Piraka set line, ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' also attempted to promote their sets with a shoddy rap song, as well as forcing the characters into a "gangsta'" setting, complete with the villains lounging around in their fortress which is surrounded with chain fences, sitting on sofas, chewing bubblegum, and doing various other activities that not only had nothing to do with the official story, but clashed something fierce with the image the franchise had built up in the previous years. This was not the first example: beginning from '05, just about all of the commercials had various rock songs attached to them, replacing the tribal music and even creeping into the movies.

* ''Franchise/{{Lego}}'''s answer to appealing to the modern generation? The appallingly unsuccessful [=TikTok=] ripoff known as ''Lego VIDIYO'', which features characters like "Party Llama", "Discowboy" and "Alien DJ".

* ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'''s attempts to prove that the franchise was still relevant at the turn of the millennium by allegorizing on the subject of UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror could get heavy-handed at times.

** One could argue that this started as early as the ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 games]]. The more complex and melodramatic stories of these games could be seen as an attempt to keep Sonic relevant in an age where [=RPGs=] like ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' were making waves in the industry for their complex stories. The producers themselves envisioned the games as sort of a Sonic RPG, though it's worth noting that Creator/{{Sega}} already had a storied RPG history before ''Sonic Adventure,'' and it's also likely this perception arose because the genre's popularity exploded in the West due to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII,'' which was relatively close to ''Sonic Adventure'''s release date.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3qnPyC6qgM Satur-Yay-Aaah!!]] (no, that's not a typo) commercials from General Mills absolutely ''reek'' of this, featuring the Advertising/TrixRabbit, Chip the Wolf, Sonny the Cocoa Puffs Bird, [[RememberTheNewGuy a talking orange]] voiced by Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson, a kid voiced by Finn from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', and...Honey the Honey Drop, who hasn't been in a commercial since TheEighties. The commercials feature, among other things, an extremely sporadic and out-of-place ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' reference, and artstyles, sets and language that are clearly trying to emulate ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' and ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', but in the end, resemble ''WesternAnimation/{{Breadwinners}}'' more than anything.

* ''Comicbook/NickSpencersCaptainAmerica'' ran into this with a group of one-shot villains called the Bombshells, a parody of college leftists. While student radicals are nothing new, it's the Bombshells' use of phrases like "safe space," "problematic," and "mansplain" [[https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/01/04/marvels-ann-coulter-vs-safe-space-terrorists-todays-captain-america/ that causes them to fall under this trope]].

** ''WesternAnimation/IceAge4ContinentalDrift'' cast Music/NickiMinaj and Music/{{Drake}} as characters just because the studio perceived them as being hip with the kids. It even has the characters dance along to a generic auto-tuned pop song in the end credits. Considering this is the fourth movie of a franchise that began in 2002, these elements can't help but feel like the filmmakers are falling into this.
** Painfully confirmed in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge5CollisionCourse''. Throughout the film, mentions of hashtags and profile pictures are dropped almost at random, blatantly contradicting the fact that the series' setting is ''prehistoric times''. This has become one of the larger targets of the film's already wide criticism.

See also PopularityPolynomial, MascotWithAttitude, DiscreditedMeme, FollowTheLeader, TwoDecadesBehind, LongRunnerTechMarchesOn, SocietyMarchesOn, JumpingTheShark, NetworkDecay, MagazineDecay, JiveTurkey, PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy, and more than a few [[TheScrappy Scrappies]] and cases of MisaimedMarketing. Contrast GrowingWithTheAudience. Its inversions are DiscoDan, AnyoneRememberPogs, and MisterSandmanSequence, which are dated references to show how something ''isn't'' hip and modern (or in the former two's cases, irrelevant).

* ''Magazine/{{Cracked}}'' (which was a print magazine until it went online in 2007), despite usually being pretty good about avoiding this trope, would occasionally stumble into it. One of the worst examples was in 1995, when they attempted to parody some of the new video games that summer and came up with something called ''NBA Gam'' -- "the slammin'est, gammin'est game of them all!" (Groan.) The joke was that it was basically ''NBA Jam'', but with the teams' ''cheerleaders'' playing, and the "cover image" showed screaming bimbos in shorts and tank tops hurling each other through the air (the cartoonist apparently having confused basketball with wrestling). In addition to the obvious ValuesDissonance of the premise [[CatFight ("Look at these girls elbowing and shoving each other! They think they're guys! Ha, ha!")]], the pun was an obvious reference to "gams," the early 20th-century slang word for women's legs (itself derived from the French word ''jambes'', meaning....well....[[ShapedLikeItself "legs"]]); problem was, that word had been outdated for nearly two generations by the time ''Cracked'' used it (and worse, most kids who were reading probably just assumed they had misspelled the word "game," thus nearly ruining the joke). In any case, the joke became [[DiscreditedTrope discredited]] the very next year, when [[SocietyMarchesOn female basketball players launched their own version of the NBA]].

* ''[[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' [[FranchiseOriginalSIn has used memes and popular culture since day one]]. Videos from around 2016 onwards tend to have a heavier focus on them, either due to popular demand or satire purposes.

* An aversion/lampshade hanging occurred in ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8-q7w4aJfw Bane Plays]] VideoGame/SlenderTheArrival'', as [[Film/TheDarkKnightRises Bane]] notes how irrelevant the series is even just a year later -- in what turned out to be the last "Bane Plays" video made before a "series finale" in 2016.

* Related to above, read the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p1eVLEbOIw YouTube comments on]] Creator/{{HBO}}'s ''Beware the Slenderman'' video, with many mocking HBO's documentary of depicting a meme/creepypasta that died in popularity in 2012.

* One episode of AOK's ''[[WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer Dora The Grownup]]'' has Dora, making a pun on her "Have you ever..." "Me too!" RunningGag, say "Hashtag: Me too!" after the FakeInteractivity pause that follows her question.

*** Season 2's "Tooth and Claw" prominently featured kung fu monks in Victorian era Scotland. The very Caucasian monks start fighting with a style ripped almost completely from Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon, a reference that was six years old by that airdate. No explanation is given as to why said monks are there fighting in a such manner, and indeed by the halfway point they have completely disappeared in favor of a more traditional Who monster.

* ''[[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' [[FranchiseOriginalSIn has used memes and popular culture since day one]]. Videos from around 2016 or so tend to have a heavier focus on them, either due to popular demand or satire purposes.

* ''[[Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]]'' has used memes and popular culture since day one. Videos from around 2016 or so tend to have a heavier focus on them, either due to popular demand or satire purposes.

* Restaurant chain Wendy's had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMnuz0wdqdU this commercial]] for reactions from eating their Jalapeno Fresco Spicy Chicken sandwich. Where the "Memer" turns into an ImageMacro while saying "Like a Boss", the "Selfiers" where one takes a selfie and the [[UpToEleven other takes the selfie]], while the "Behind-The-Timeser" who says "It's the bomb. Raise the roof!" [[{{Hypocrite}} is considered lame.]]

* A series of anti-texting-while-driving [=PSAs=] from Australia, called "Don't Be a Dickhead", fall into this trope. It proclaims that every time you use a mobile phone while driving, gingers (or "[[ItIsPronouncedTroPay gingaz]]") [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLTCOb0BMus get laid]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGgkV033Sos redheads get wings]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HWOwLT7S18 emos are born]].[[labelnote:note]]Which, [[FridgeLogic when you think about it]], means you're ''helping'' people by texting and driving, in a way other than removing yourself from the gene pool, anyway.[[/labelnote]]

* In [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks the Sixties]], ComicBook/JimmyOlsen was frequently used as the spokesman of this trope. He was, at various points, a hippie, ''a Beatle'' (in Ancient Rome, no less!), a wide variety of superheroes, and many other things, most of which fall under the WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs[=/=]SoBadItsGood heading. Once again, it's become sort of a RunningGag, focused on at places like ''Website/SuperDickery''.
** The example with the longest ramifications was when the Jimmy Olsen title was written by Creator/JackKirby, who used the craziness to introduce {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} and the [[Comicbook/NewGods Fourth World mythos]] to the wider [[Franchise/TheDCU DC Universe]].

* Lampshaded for humour in a 1990s ''ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'' comic, in which Catwoman comes up against Comicbook/TwoFace -- who is toting as henchmen two ridiculously outdated (even for the time) Goth {{Mooks}}. When the fact that Goths aren't exactly hip anymore is raised, Catwoman snarks that "time moves slower in Arkham".

* ''New Warriors 2020'' got plenty of flak when it was revealed for the fact that its new characters were basically walking attempts to make the writers look hip. Of particular note are Screentime (a "meme-obsessed teen" whose powers apparently came from "experimental Internet gas", however ''that'' works) and the twins Snowflake and Safespace (named after terms on the Internet that usually get used as insults against the minorities they're trying to portray positively, with the former seemingly having no personality beyond being nonbinary). At the very least, Marvel seems to have listened to the backlash on this one -- it was delayed indefinitely along with all the other ''ComicBook/{{Outlawed}}'' event titles when COVID-19 hit, and then apparently cancelled altogether.
** And if you think they were bad, [[https://youtu.be/oLVebLhsG7w enjoy the trailer for Children of the Atom]]
* Unlike Marvel, who were at least willing to listen to fan feedback, Creator/DCComics has recently been breathing this trope in their ''Creator/DCInk'' young adult graphic novels such as ''ComicBook/GothamHigh'' and ''ComicBook/IAmNotStarfire''. Especially the latter with its [[TotallyRadical portrayal of teenagers]] as nothing more than Gen Z culture stereotypes. Such as Mandy ordering drinks from a Starbucks rip off, Claire loving boba enough to wear a shirt about it, Mandy and Lincoln are goths that politically align with anarchists, Mandy belies college is a scam, Mandy runs has an account on knockoff-Instagram that's dedicated to pictures of her pet Cockatoo and that's the ''least'' of it.

* ''Film/PeterRabbit'' has become widely reviled for this. The timeless countryside feel of the original stories has been given a SettingUpdate to cram in fart jokes, cultural references and pop music, and even the creators themselves have bragged about it being a "'''contemporary''' comedy with attitude". This was taken UpToEleven by the marketing when [[http://comicbook.com/movies/2018/01/08/peter-rabbit-wonder-woman-logan-parody/ posters were released depicting the characters parodying popular films from the previous year]].

* To celebrate the 150th aniversary of the birth of Creator/BeatrixPotter in 2016, Warne published new editions of five of her best known books, with covers by "Great British designers", looking not unlike Penguin Modern Classics. The most blatant example of this trope was ''Literature/TheTaleOfPeterRabbit'', which shows Peter in a black beanie and a denim jacket covered in patches, one of which declares him to be "[[{{Pun}} Rad(ish)]]".

*** Season 2's "Tooth and Claw" prominently featured kung fu monks in Victorian era Scotland. The very caucausian monks start fighting with a style ripped almost completely from Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon, a reference that was six years old by that airdate. No explanation is given as to why said monks are there fighting in a such manner, and indeed by the halfway point they have completely disappeared in favor of a more traditional Who monster.

* BBC Scotland's startup has a clip from a show called "Up For It". Now, this wouldn't be so bad... [[https://twitter.com/InactiveUser3/status/1420800003665235977 had the clip not contained dabbing after a contestant caught an egg.]] And even though the show is no longer broadcasted on the channel, it's been unchanged for a while, and because of that, it's unfortunatley not going away any time soon.

* Wrestling/{{Sting}}, who had spent the last 15 years ripping-off Eric Draven from ''Film/TheCrow'', then starts ripping off ComicBook/TheJoker from ''Film/TheDarkKnight''. In 2011, three years after the film's release.

* The scene where Shang-Chi and Katie sing "[[Music/LilNasX Old Town Road]]" at the karaoke bar in ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'' can be seen as this, because the song was already two years old by the time the movie came out.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyANewGeneration'', Pipp, the younger of the two Pegasus princesses, is portrayed as being a tech-obsessed social media addict like the Celestiadamn Millennials or Gen-Z'ers.