History Main / MisaimedMerchandising

** There is also [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-6_OpzWBTeU a promo]] for ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' that uses "Dammit" by Music/Blink182''. While the title is a NonAppearingTitle and the only lyric heard in the promo is "Well, I guess this is growing up," the uncut song has an F-bomb.

** DC Comics' [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/54753_blackcanary_w1_a.jpg Black Canary Barbie]]

* ''Series/{{LazyTown}}'' aired on the preteen-oriented Creator/{{Jetix}} in Central and Eastern Europe, a strange decision considering the show's target audience in most other countries was a pre-school audience. The same applies to its run on Creator/{{YTV}} in Canada, where it aired alongside shows targeted towards older kids. While YTV DID actually have a preschool block in the 90s and early 2000s, that block was long gone from the channel by the time Lazytown started airing (they did try another attempt at a preschool block with YTV Playtime a few years later, but Lazytown was gone from the channel by that point)

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' had [[https://www.amazon.com/Family-Guy-Knex-Series-1/dp/B07FDSS6MY Knex sets]] aimed at people as young as eight years old, when the target demographic are teens and adults. The actual show also contains tons of BlackComedy, among other not-so kid-friendly themes.

* Downplayed example: ''Theatre/DearEvanHansen'' has a lot of marketing geared towards inspiring the audience, with the [[EngineeredHashtag hashtag]] [[YouAreNotAlone "#YouWillBeFound"]] used often. This is based on the in-universe campaign "The Connor Project", and while the campaign ''does'' empower Evan, Connor's family, and thousands of others, it's still based around a major mischaracterization of a suicide victim, and Evan exploits this lie for attention.
* The ''Theatre/LesMiserable'' social media frequently edits the famous poster image of young Cosette for holidays (never French holidays, either) and sporting events that the young abused child with the ThousandYardStare would have no need to celebrate. Most glaringly, they photoshopped the starving, neglected French orphan [[https://www.tumblr.com/lesmissocials-fuckedup/734820278658531328/this-also-sounds-like-a-good-time-to-remind?source=share enjoying a feast on American Thanksgiving.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''-branded [[https://www.reddit.com/r/CrappyDesign/comments/l16x27/a_bag_of_apples_with_a_character_on_it_that_got/ apples were created by a Dutch company.]] This seems all fine, until you remember that the protagonist of the story gets poisoned from eating an apple.

* For several years, Harlequin published a ''successful'' line of ExtrudedBookProduct romance novels set in the oh-so-romantic world of... [=NASCAR=].[[note]]It seems that Japanese girls do enjoy manga meant for boys regarding fast cars with a hint of romance in them (ie, they're the PeripheryDemographic of the Manga/WanganMidnight and Manga/InitialD mangas). So maybe they may have done market research... in the wrong market.[[/note]]

* Ben and Jerry's Netflix-themed ice cream is given the name of "Netflix and Chill'd." Either this is intentual innuendo, or the marketing people didn't do their research on the term, but either way, it is very strange to see when taking into account what "chill" [[IntercoursewithYou means in this context...]]

* ''Literature/TheDarknessOutsideUs'': The book is marketed, primarily, as an YA QueerRomance about astronauts from warring nations sent on a space mission to rescue one's sister. The novel is pretty dark, actually, [[spoiler:the main characters die at the end of each chapter, replaced by clones in the next one, making for a rpetty heartwrenching read]], and many readers wished it was marketed primarily as an adult sci-fi mystery.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'', a video game franchise that's [[UsefulNotes/EntertainmentSoftwareRatingBoard rated Mature]] in the U.S., has tie-in [[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mega-Bloks-Call-Duty-Troopers/dp/B00FJ1IHUA Mega Bloks]].

* In the 90's, there were plans for Creator/FoxKids to do a SaturdayMorningCartoon adaptation of Creator/RobLiefeld's ''Comicbook/YoungbloodImageComics''. The franchise's claim to fame is that it's part of [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks the trend of]] DarkerAndEdgier, HotterAndSexier, BloodierAndGorier comics starring teams of violent {{Nineties Anti Hero}}es, which makes you wonder why someone would look at that and think "This would be GREAT as a kid's show!"

* UsefulNotes/GameBoy shower gel, in a black, brick-like container modeled after the original Game Boy. The A and B buttons work for a mini-pinball game in the 'screen'.

* One [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBGu0VqosOw Japanese commerical]] for the UsefulNotes/WiiWare ports of the ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' trilogy features a family of three, including a young child, happily playing through them. These are extremely text-heavy games about [[AlwaysMurder murder trials]]. Even considering [[ValuesDissonance Japan's looser standards on what's acceptable for children]], it's an odd thing to market to families -- most children are unlikely to be interested in games starring a lawyer and focused mainly on courtroom proceedings.

* There's already a bunch of ''Series/SquidGame'' merchandise, even though the whole message of the show is that capitalism makes us do horrible things to each other. It was also frequently one of the most popular user-made levels on ''Platform/{{Roblox}}'', which only made it ''more'' popular with children.

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