History HilariousInHindsight / Advertising

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

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

* An ad for ''VideoGame/TyTheTasmanianTiger'' featured three competitors -- [[Franchise/SpyroTheDragon "Dragon"]], [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot "Bandicoot"]], and [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog "Hedgehog"]] -- bandaged up after being hit with Ty's boomerang. Then Ty walks in and spooks them into flatlining. The ad is amusingly ironic now that Ty hasn't had a new (non-port) game since 2013 while all three of his competitors are continuing franchises with more mainstream popularity.

* In early 2000s there was a Gamefly store commercial where customers walked to a store that only had games such as Let's Count Sand, Bean Farmer Extreme and Let's Wait In Line. Ten years passed and Steam was filled with games such as Garbage Truck Simulator and Line Linulator.

** "Genesis does what Nintendon't" doesn't mean anything anymore now that the Wii's UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole service has Genesis games. A few years later, the Platform/Nintendo3DS is announced to have plans for Platform/GameGear games on its own Virtual Console. It didn’t happen, but the Platform/NintendoSwitch has a collection of Sega games on its virtual console and since Platform/GameBoy and Platform/GameBoyAdvance were added later, Game Gear games could happen.

* One of the first European slogans for Sony's UsefulNotes/PlayStation was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIyEqpYnEaU Do Not Underestimate The Power Of PlayStation]]. Coincidentally the console took the video game industry by storm despite people within Sony, video game journalists and consumers claiming that ItWillNeverCatchOn before release.

* [[https://youtu.be/cEN00wMFB2A In this Korean TV ad]] for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, a husband tries to lie to his skeptical wife that the new [=PS4=] that a technician installed in their living room is actually a [=WiFi=] Router called "Plash Speed". Then came the UsefulNotes/PlayStation5, which many joke look like a [=WiFi=] Router.

* UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-lCJr0yVo8 vs.]] [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation "Plaything"]]. The UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars would determine which one was worthy. It was the [=PlayStation=].

** The Game Gear commercials poked fun at the UsefulNotes/GameBoy's graphical limitations. Everyone forgot about the UsefulNotes/GameGear's existence before Nintendo even announced the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor.

** "Genesis does what Nintendon't" doesn't mean anything anymore now that the Wii's UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole service has Genesis games. A few years later, the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS is announced to have plans for UsefulNotes/GameGear games on its own Virtual Console. It didn’t happen, but the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch has a collection of Sega games on its virtual console and since UsefulNotes/GameBoy and UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance were added later, Game Gear games could happen.

*** In a way, Nintendo had the last laugh on this one. They actually did attempt to contract with Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES. The deal went sour, resulting in Sony developing the device into a [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation stand-alone console]] which went on to become a significant factor in Sega's exit from the console market altogether.

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

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gxQRM3y1Hw A 1988 ad ]] promoting the VHS release of ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet4TheDreamMaster'' took on a Christmas theme and had Robert Englund, in character as Freddy Krueger, making a quip about "Freddy's nightmare before Christmas" - this being five years before ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' was released. Later in the ad, Freddy dons a fake Santa Claus beard and makes a pun about "Santy Claws" while brandishing his iconic clawed glove - in ''Nightmare Before Christmas'', Santa is mistakenly referred to as Sandy Claws, so citizen of Halloween Town expect him to have claws.

** "Genesis does what Nintendon't" doesn't mean anything anymore now that the Wii's UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole service has Genesis games. A few years later, the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS is announced to have plans for UsefulNotes/GameGear games on its own Virtual Console. It didn’t happen, but the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch has a collection of Sega games on its virtual console and since it appears UsefulNotes/GameBoy and UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance are coming, Game Gear games could happen.

* [[https://youtu.be/jPWAirq-OQ4 A short ad]] for the 1999 Oslo Gay and Lesbian film festival in Norway features a Main/{{Disneyesque}} Literature/TheFrogPrince parody that has a princess kiss a frog that turns into another princess who she then kisses. Just 10 years later, Creator.{{Disney}} themselves would adapt ''The Frog Prince'' into an [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog animated film]] (though it's purely a heterosexual romance in Disney's film).

* In early 2000s there was a Gamefly store commercial where customers walked to a store that only had games such as Let's Count Sand, Bean Farmer Extreme and Let's Wait In Line. Ten years passed and Steam was filled with games such as Garbage Truck Simulator and Line Linulator.

** Also doubles as HarsherInHindsight, considering the Cubs finished the 2012 season losing 101 games - their worst record in 46 years.

* An ad for ''VideoGame/TyTheTasmanianTiger'' featured three competitors -- [[VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon "Dragon,"]] [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot "Bandicoot,"]] and [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog "Hedgehog"]] -- bandaged up after being hit with Ty's boomerang. Then Ty walks in and spooks them into flatlining. The ad is amusingly ironic now that Ty hasn't had a new (non-port) game since 2013 while all three of his competitors are continuing franchises with more mainstream popularity.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gxQRM3y1Hw A 1988 ad ]] promoting the VHS release of ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet4TheDreamMaster'' took on a Christmas theme and had Robert Englund, in character as Freddy Krueger, making a quip about "Freddy's nightmare before Christmas" - this being five years before ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' was released. Later in the ad, Freddy dons a fake Santa Claus beard and makes a pun about "Santy Claws" while brandishing his iconic clawed glove - in ''Nightmare Before Christmas'', Santa is mistakenly referred to as Sandy Claws, so citizen of Halloween Town expect him to have claws.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gxQRM3y1Hw A 1988 ad ]] promoting the VHS release of ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet4TheDreamMaster'' took on a Christmas theme and had Robert Englund, in character as Freddy Krueger, making a quip about "Freddy's nightmare before Christmas" - this being five years before ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' was released. Later in the ad, Freddy dons a fake Santa Claus beard and makes a pun about "Santy Claws" while brandishing his iconic clawed glove - 'in ''Nightmare Before Christmas'', Santa is mistakenly referred to as Sandy Claws, so citizen of Halloween Town expect him to have claws.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gxQRM3y1Hw A 1988 ad ]] promoting the VHS release of ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet4TheDreamMaster'' took on a Christmas theme and had Robert Englund, in character as Freddy Krueger, making a quip about "Freddy's nightmare before Christmas" - this being five years before ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' was released. Later in the ad, Freddy dons a fake Santa Claus beard and makes a pun about "Santy Claws" while brandishing his iconic clawed glove - 'in 'Nightmare Before Christmas'', Santa is mistakenly referred to as Sandy Claws, so citizen of Halloween Town expect him to have claws.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gxQRM3y1Hw A 1988 ad ]] promoting the VHS release of ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet4TheDreamMaster'' took on a Christmas theme and had Robert Englund, in character as Freddy Krueger, making a quip about "Freddy's nightmare before Christmas" - this being five years before ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' was released. Later in the ad, Freddy dons a fake Santa Claus beard and makes a pun about "Santy Claws" while brandishing his iconic clawed glove - 'in 'Nightmare Before Christmas'', Santa is mistakenly referred to as Sandy Claws, so citizens of the town of Halloween expect him to have claws.