History SpringtimeForHitler / RealLifeExamples

* ''Podcast/CastleSuperBeast'': Following the news of Creator/{{Xbox|GameStudios}}'s studio closures in May of 2024, WebVideo/{{Pat|StaresAt}} [[https://youtu.be/rSWohwrsRyo?&t=284 speculated]] that ''VideoGame/HiFiRush''[='s=] surprise launch was meant to have set the game up for failure -- Creator/{{Microsoft}} wanted to downsize due to their expensive merger with Creator/ActivisionBlizzard and didn't have high hopes for ''Hi-Fi RUSH'', so they [[InvisibleAdvertising did nothing to promote it]] before launch and released it in the middle of a Developer Direct, expecting it to bomb so that they could use it as an excuse to shut down its developer, Tango Gameworks. Instead, the game became a SleeperHit thanks to positive word of mouth, selling well, winning awards, and in general being one of the best-received games to come from an Xbox studio in years... which led to a massive backlash when Microsoft went ahead and shuttered Tango anyway.

* ''Podcast/CastleSuperBeast'': Following the news of Creator/{{Xbox|GameStudios}}'s studio closures in May of 2024, WebVideo/{{Pat|StaresAt}} speculated that ''VideoGame/HiFiRush''[='s=] surprise launch was meant to have set the game up for failure -- Creator/{{Microsoft}} wanted to downsize due to their expensive merger with Creator/ActivisionBlizzard and didn't have high hopes for ''Hi-Fi RUSH'', so they [[InvisibleAdvertising did nothing to promote it]] before launch and released it in the middle of a Developer Direct, expecting it to bomb so that they could use it as an excuse to shut down its developer, Tango Gameworks. Instead, the game became a SleeperHit thanks to positive word of mouth, selling well, winning awards, and in general being one of the best-received games to come from an Xbox studio in years... which led to a massive backlash when Microsoft went ahead and shuttered Tango anyway.

* Shorting a stock can become an example of this, if the buyer is unlucky. Here's how it works: someone borrows shares of stock from someone else with interest, sells the stock at a high price, and then hopes the stock price goes down so they can buy the stocks back cheap, ultimately making a profit. However, if the price of the shorted stocks goes ''up'', it forces the person who shorted the stock to buy it back at a loss. In short, you lost money because the stock you wanted to fail ended up succeeding.

* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'': The origianl ''ComicBook/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|Mirage}}'' was originally created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman as a joke -- specifically, a parody of Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}''. They self-published it, not knowing that it would end up becoming one of America's biggest {{Cash Cow Franchise}}s.

* ComicBook/SgtFuryAndHisHowlingCommandos is an interesting example, as according to Stan Lee, the comic itself was a bet between himself and management over what actually drew in the readers, with Stan Lee arguing that it was the content and the management claiming it was the covers. Stan Lee basically wagered that he could make a comic with the most cliche cover and dumbest name possible and it would be a success so long as the content was good. The management took the bet, certain that it would fail and would shut Stan Lee up. Instead of failing as expected, it became a major hit.

* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' was originally created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman as a joke -- specifically, a parody of Creator/FrankMiller's ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}''. They self-published it, not knowing that it would end up becoming one of America's biggest {{Cash Cow Franchise}}s.
* According to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUhZAL-hLRk this podcast]], the Iron Dominion arc of ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' was a joke pitch from Creator/IanFlynn, one that was inserted among his actual pitches for the comic's two-hundredth issue to make the rest look better. The Iron Dominion arc was the one that got approved, leaving Flynn having to scramble to write it in a way that made it work.
* At the dawn of MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, Creator/DCComics was having a blast with its successes, which led to competitors trying to catch up with imitations. One particular writer was forced by his publisher to follow in ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''[='=]s footsteps and create a team book to compete. However, the writer was fed up with being forced to write along with what was popular at the time and decided he had enough of the business. At the encouragement of his wife, he plotted to create a team book like his publisher wanted, but instead of what was conventional at the time, he'd fill the book with all kinds of AuthorAppeal such as money problems, squabbling teammates, and a monstrous "hero". Believing that nobody would want to read what ''he'd'' like to read, the writer expected for the book to be a major flop so he can bail out of the comics industry and pursue screenwriting for Hollywood. That writer was Creator/StanLee, and the book was ''ComicBook/TheFantasticFour'' -- and that's how we got the Franchise/MarvelUniverse.
* ComicBook/{{Venom}}'s iconic MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily and OverlyLongTongue design was because of Erik Larson. As the artist of ''Amazing Spider-Man'' at the time, he was [[CreatorsPest not fond of Venom at all]] and, to pass the time, he drew him with more teeth than he had and a long, slobbering tongue. Somehow, it caught on with the fandom and it has been an iconic look for him, though future artists cleaned him up just a little.
* When Creator/GrantMorrison started writing ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'', it was under the impression that it would be a four-issue limited series, and so Morrison basically just tried to modernize the character with some environmentalist themes and a general tone that could be described as "knockoff Creator/AlanMoore", before leaving the character for future writers to pick up on. Then the editors turned it into an ongoing and demanded Morrison stay. Morrison found the style of the early run to be overdone even then, and didn't have any good idea for where to take the character, and so wrote "The Coyote Gospel", a completely offbeat issue focusing on an {{Expy}} of [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner Wile E. Coyote]] being charged by a godlike being to travel to Animal Man's world from a different fictional universe and deliver a message, ultimately suffering a tragic final death. Though far more passionate while working on it, Morrison was convinced the issue would be seen as "absolute unreadable gibberish... that would hammer the final nail into the coffin of my fledgling career." Against all odds, it ended up being the most popular issue of the run up to that point, and encouraged Morrison to continue developing the themes and ideas that "Coyote Gospel" set up, which would go on to define both the rest of the run and Morrison's career in general.

* Jaye Davidson similarly decided to retire from acting after his starring role in ''Film/TheCryingGame'', but the producers of ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' just kept pestering him to take the role of Ra. So to get them to go away, he demanded the most outlandish salary he could think of for the role ($1 million)... and they said yes.

* Taking a page from Sokal, James A. Lindsay, Peter Boghossian, and Helen Pluckrose decided to try their own experiment by making up ''twenty'' completely [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grievance_Studies_affair bogus academic papers]]. Like Sokal, they set out to make them as ridiculous as possible, loaded with buzzwords, politically fashionable language, and radical ideological bent. By the time they admitted the hoax, only six were rejected. Four had been published, three had been accepted for publication (including an alarming one [[note]] "Our Struggle Is My Struggle: Solidarity Feminism as an Intersectional Reply to Neoliberal and Choice Feminism"[[/note]] that was merely [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Adolf Hitler's]] ''Mein Kampf'' re-written to swap out the groups the original author ranted about with AcceptableTargets), and seven were still under review. One of the published papers claiming that pet dogs participated in "rape culture" had won special recognition in its field, which is what eventually exposed the hoax.

* WebVideo/PartyCrashers: When all four members purposely try losing the minigame Crazy Cutters in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EP7YQnvWp8&t=367s Mario Party but it's Secret Santa]]", Nick somehow manages to get ''4'' points to everyone else's ''0'', much to his dismay:

* As he revealed on ''WebVideo/TrashTaste'', Creator/AleksLe considers the ''Manga/RentAGirlfriend'' manga to be a GuiltyPleasure and only auditioned for the role of [[LoserProtagonist Kazuya Kinoshita]] in the English dub to make his name visible to the studio on and keep a foot in the door on potentially auditioning for ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'' (which didn't happen). But since he didn't actually want to be in ''Rent-A-Girlfriend'', he recorded a single deliberately bad audition and submitted it, only to be cast the next day as Kazuya.

* The UsefulNotes/{{Dada}} movement of the 1920s was a potshot at man's unquestioning admiration of anything labeled "art". Dadaists such as Marcel Duchamp used things like urinals, postcards of the Mona Lisa with a mustache painted on it, and objects intended to be destroyed, offensive and otherwise without any major artistic qualities. Most surviving Dada works are considered genuine art, if only as a commentary on the definition of art.

* At the dawn of UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, Creator/DCComics was having a blast with its successes, which led to competitors trying to catch up with imitations. One particular writer was forced by his publisher to follow in ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica''[='=]s footsteps and create a team book to compete. However, the writer was fed up with being forced to write along with what was popular at the time and decided he had enough of the business. At the encouragement of his wife, he plotted to create a team book like his publisher wanted, but instead of what was conventional at the time, he'd fill the book with all kinds of AuthorAppeal such as money problems, squabbling teammates, and a monstrous "hero". Believing that nobody would want to read what ''he'd'' like to read, the writer expected for the book to be a major flop so he can bail out of the comics industry and pursue screenwriting for Hollywood. That writer was Creator/StanLee, and the book was ''ComicBook/TheFantasticFour'' -- and that's how we got the Franchise/MarvelUniverse.

* In 1955 somebody got the idea to adapt a popular episode of a TV anthology series to film. Creator/BurtLancaster and his business partner decided to fund it, figuring the low-budget picture wouldn't make any money (who would pay to see a film they could watch for free on TV?) and they could use the expenses as a tax write-off. Compounding this plan was their casting of [[Creator/ErnestBorgnine some fat, ugly guy best known for playing villains]] as the romantic lead. The film? ''Film/{{Marty}}'', which became a huge box office smash and ended up winning four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor, along with the UsefulNotes/PalmeDOr at Cannes. ''Website/{{Cracked}}'''s [[http://www.cracked.com/article_20660_5-classic-movies-made-by-people-who-wanted-them-to-fail_p2.html 5 Classic Movies Made by People Who Wanted Them to Fail]] describes its production as having "literally started out as the plot of ''The Producers''."

* Several decades before Pastafarianism, [[Literature/PrincipiaDiscordia Discordianism]], an intentionally [[UsefulNotes/{{Dada}} absurdist]] faux-religious tract achieved such a large cult following that it persists to this day.

* Did you know that Microsoft's game console family was almost never called "Platform/{{Xbox}}"? That's because Microsoft's marketing team disliked the name (which is derived from the [=DirectX=] UsefulNotes/ApplicationProgrammingInterface), and left it among the suggested names at focus testing to show its unpopularity. Instead, the focus groups loved the name, leading to it being selected.

* ''LetsPlay/TheRunawayGuys'':

* ''LetsPlay/PartyCrashers'': It's not a big surprise that Brent is TheAce when it comes to anything ''Mario Party'' related, with him winning most of the games. [[DownplayedTrope And while he isn't actively trying to lose]], he makes it apparent that he wants the others to win in later games. Unfortunately for him, the RandomNumberGod will usually have other ideas, which usually end with Brent going from dead-last to first place. Brent is not happy at all when this happens.

* When The Church were recording "Under the Milky Way", vocalist/bassist Steve Kilbey waited until everyone else left the studio and, as a joke, added an [=EBow=] guitar solo that sounded a lot like a bagpipe played backwards. The producer and the band loved it and it was left in the final mix of the song, which became a SignatureSong for the group.

* This was what happened behind the scenes of the original ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|1978}}''. Creator/{{ABC}} only greenlit it because they were hoping it would flop -- they figured so many people were playing FollowTheLeader after the success of ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' that people were going to sour on sci-fi sometime soon. They had the numbers to back it up -- no sci-fi series since ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'' had lasted longer than one season. They figured they could air ''Galactica'' as a loss-leader for their cheap sitcoms, which the audience would demand after they got bored with the sci-fi. But ''Galactica'' proved to be a huge hit, leaving ABC with a show that was too popular to cancel -- but too expensive to continue producing. They resorted to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork screwing the show over]], hoping to drive down viewership without losing face with an up-front cancellation. And the stunt didn't help ABC's sitcoms at all; none of that season's new series were hits, and last season's big hit ''Series/MorkAndMindy'' bled ratings thanks to a bad ReTool.

* ''Series/{{SCTV}}'''s Bob and Doug [=McKenzie=] were created as a TakeThat to Creator/{{CBC}}; after the program moved to the network, CBC requested that they add two minutes of "distinctively Canadian content" as {{Padding}} since it was running shorter due to having fewer commercials. The show's staff felt that the request was ridiculous; in particular, performers Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas jokingly suggested that they should just put up a map of Canada and act as [[CanadaEh stereotypically Canadian as possible]]. Moranis and Thomas ended up doing exactly that, and wound up creating the most popular characters in the show's history, as Canadians [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales loved the mocking stereotype of themselves]].

* When Alfonso Obregon Inclan did a casting test to be cast as Kakashi Hatake in the Latin America dub of the ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' anime, he REALLY didnt want to do anime, and knew just how long the series was and didnt want to work for years on a series with so many episodes. Thus he deliberately tried to bomb the audiotion, making his best to come across as bored, uninterested and dry. Unfortunately for him, the licensors felt his performance fit Kakashi's dry wit and humor so he got the part.