History Main / RiggedContest

* Coke versus Pepsi. Pepsi frequently run ads that have side-by-side blind taste tests, the results being people preferred Pepsi. And while they do cite their research, the problem is with the study is inherently flawed. Pepsi is the sweeter of the two, and in a sip-type test, people will naturally prefer the sweeter of the two. When Coke ran their own test, using full serving-size amounts, Coke won.

* Coke versus Pepsi. Pepsi ran side-by-side blind taste tests, the results being people preferred Pepsi. The problem is, Pepsi is the sweeter of the two, and in a sip-type test, people will prefer the sweeter of the options. When Coke ran their own test, using full serving-size amounts, Coke won.

!!Examples:

* In ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'', Tom Riddle organises the "True Triwizard Tournament", touted as an opportunity to finally settle the question of whether muggle-born, half-blood, or pure-blood wizards are superior. Leaving aside the problem of small sample sizes, the Tournament itself was thoroughly albeit subtly rigged to ensure a pure-blood victory, from hand-picking interesting-but-weak muggle-born contestants -- or skilled-but-obnoxious ones who alienate the public -- to designing judging metrics tailored to the specific strengths of the preferred winner, to putting the favorite in a starting position with less obstacles. [[spoiler: Too bad Riddle's chosen winner was "Rigel Black", who's actually half-blood Harriett Potter in disguise.]]

* Both ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish'' by Creator/DouglasAdams and ''The Unadulterated Cat'' by Creator/TerryPratchett refer to pet food adverts in which the rival brands have been doused with motor oil. Both Arthur Dent's friend's dog and Pratchett's "Real Cat" pick the wrong one anyway; the dog out of [[DogsAreDumb stupidity]] and the cat out of [[CatsAreMean bloody-mindedness]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' pulled this with their [[https://www.equestriadaily.com/2017/07/discovery-family-asks-who-do-you-think.html Who is Twilight Sparkle's BBF]] contest. Viewers were asked to vote on either Princess Celestia or Starlight Glimmer, and the winner would be featured in back-to-back episodes. Of course, Princess Celestia has only had two episodes to begin with, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E1CelestialAdvice Celestial Advice]] and [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E10ARoyalProblem A Royal Problem]], both of which heavily featured (read: debatably starred) Starlight Glimmer. As fans waited six whole seasons to finally get said Princess Celestia episodes, they were lightning quick in pointing this out.

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Now, usually, the product for which the rigged contest is being held ''is'' faster or more efficient. (No one wants the FTC or international equivalent sicced on them.) But that's no excuse for having the person who's using the leading competitor be totally incompetent -- that's assuming [[ViewersAreMorons Consumers Are Morons]].

* It wasn't exactly a contest, but who all remembers the Volvo commercial that featured the enormous Bearfoot monster truck smashing a row of cars flat, except of course for the stubbornly resistant Volvo wagon?
** I remember that one. It was revealed afterwards that they reinforced the Volvo in order to survive the multiple takes necessary when filming a commercial.

<<|CommercialsTropes|>>

* Rogers Canada has the infamous commercial showing a clueless customer who is using the competition. The picture on their screen is lower-res than standard definition, and stretched to the point that everything was twice as wide as it should be. Basically it tried to scare customers into thinking that Bell's HD was considerably worse than regular TV.