Line #15 Main/ProductAsSuperhero


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5	[[caption-width-right:350:Cleans your kitchen in a single bound!]]
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11	->''"Ah, [Cyborg Cider-Man] is a soda superhero. Sometimes, it's easy to spot sleazy advertising."''
12	-->-- '''Saiki''', ''Manga/TheDisastrousLifeOfSaikiK''
13
14	A variety of commercials where the product, a {{Mascot}} or the product as a mascot is presented as a superhero, fighting against or protecting you from something. Sometimes, they are explicitly fighting {{Talking Pest}}s that metaphorically represent a real-life nuisance.
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16	This can be played straight, where the product really is a superhero, in the context of the ad, or silly, where the product is acting like a superhero, but probably isn't.
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18	Expect to see the product in question flying around with a cape billowing behind it, and [[SuperheroesWearTights a classic tights and underwear]] on the outside combo. In the case of dental hygiene products, you will likely see microscopic toothpaste superheroes fighting gingivitis inside a person's mouth. [[FridgeHorror Of course, the question arises as to what happens to these miniature people]] when you spit the toothpaste out.
19	----
20	!!Examples:
21	* Showing that this is OlderThanTheyThink, Captain Tootsie was a guy who appeared as far back as 1943. A mascot for Tootsie Rolls, he was a [[LanternJawOfJustice square-jawed, muscular do-gooder]] (you know, [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} kind of like that other hero]] who [[FollowTheLeader was a hit at the time]]) who appeared in single-page adventures in titles published by Archie, Fawcett, and Sunday newspapers. He even had his own title which, sadly, only lasted two issues.
22	* Advertising/UFOKamenYakisoban, a {{tokusatsu}} hero who starred in commercials for Nissin's "UFO" brand instant yakisoba, and fought against the evil "Kettler." He had his own BeatEmUp game for the [[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Famicom]], a DistaffCounterpart named Yakisobany, and even starred in a DirectToVideo movie. Twenty years later, they had him return... only to be shunned by the modern people and [[FaceHeelTurn turn evil]], only to be faced by ''new'' heroes themed around the same instant yakisoba brand.
23	* Listerine mouthwash: originally played straight, or somewhat so -- a computer-animated Listerine bottle boxing in the ring, fighting a shadowy monster, or swinging through the jungle to the tune of Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" is hard to consider "played straight" -- but now uses a guy in an obviously homemade bottle costume with a toothbrush sidekick.
24	** There's also the trenchcoat-wearing "Agent Blue".
25	* In an episode of ''Series/TheApprentice: Martha Stewart'', contestants charged with producing a live billboard for laundry stain remover Tide to Go won by depicting the product with a cape and boxing gloves to "knock out stains." (Incidentally, the boxing conceit was once used in a computer-animated spot for... Listerine. It all comes back to Listerine, folks.)
26	** And used disastrously in the UK version of ''Series/TheApprentice'', in which one team tried to sell a cereal using the superhero Pants Man. Whose superpower was [[spoiler:putting his underwear on the right way round]]. Amazingly, the idiot responsible wasn't sacked for another two weeks.
27	** Wait! He was channeling [[Manga/{{Yotsuba}} Koiwai]]! He should have won on that alone!
28	* In one stage of the game ''VideoGame/OsuTatakaeOuendan'', a violinist with indigestion takes a health drink, and its effect is represented by little superheroes doing battle with the germs attacking his stomach lining. The western remake, ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents'', used a troop of sexy nurses as a more general personification of an athlete's immune system.
29	* "Man from Glad! Man from Glad!"
30	* KOOL-AID SMASH! KOOL-AID IS THE STRONGEST ONE THERE IS! ...well, yeah. The Kool-Aid Man probably qualifies as a superhero insofar as ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk does -- what with his tendency to [[ThereWasADoor smash through walls]] to bring you that much-needed refreshment! '''[[http://www.misterkitty.org/extras/stupidcovers/stupidcomics81.html OH, YEAH!]]''' The people over at ''Webcomic/AppleGeeks'' seem to [[http://www.applegeeks.com/comics/viewcomic.php?issue=187 think he would be a good serial killer too.]]
31	** He even had [[SoBadItsGood a comic book]]. Naturally, [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] was appalled by the fact that it even existed.
32	** And if he should have to make a HeroicSacrifice, [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/7/21/ his death would not be in vain.]]
33	* Ajax had a white tornado.
34	** They used to have a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4trEWzghZM white knight]] who zapped clothes clean with beams from his magic lance.
35	* The Jolly Green Giant used to grow vegetables in a valley in the middle of who-knows-where. Though he seldom if ever did anything, a guy that size is still a force to be reckoned with.
36	* Mr. Clean is able to make any place bright and shiny, even if it's a crack house in Detroit or Bin Laden's Cave in Afghanistan. For extra credit, where does Mr. Clean wear his earring?
37	** In his ear.
38	* Scrubbing Bubbles has sentient brushes that have cleaning power.
39	* Don't forget Advertising/ErinEsurance. She actually got a ProductPlacement cameo spot in ''Series/WhoWantsToBeASuperhero''.
40	* This trope was parodied in a Creator/CartoonNetwork original animated short, "Fungus Among Us", featuring filth-fighting superheroes such as "Captain Americlean".
41	%%* Combined with ParodyProductPlacement based on the Advertising/HostessFruitPies ads in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0091.html this]] ''[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick Order of the Stick]]'' strip.
42	* Trojan Man!
43	* ''WesternAnimation/RubikTheAmazingCube'' was a cartoon from the 80s about an anthropomorphic Rubik's Cube that could fly and stuff...but only once someone had solved it.
44	* This was parodied in ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' by a series of animated sketches in which each advert's content is the metaphor used in the previous one: for example, "American Capitalism" is sold as though it were a brand of toothpaste, with Chinese Communists causing decay to teeth ("imagine this tooth is a small Asian country").
45	* The mascot of Mr Muscle used to be a scrawny, weedy nerd who was too weak to clean anything via elbow grease so needed powerful cleaning products to do the job for him. A recent ReTool turned him into a smug, chiselled ScienceHero with an American accent.
46	* [[WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow POWDERED]] [[SayMyName TOOOOAST]] [[LargeHam MAAAAAAAAAAN!]]
47	* HEY! It's MAN-OF-POPSICLE!
48	* The superheroes and villains Skechers created based on their shoes... which then spawned a [[WesternAnimation/{{Zevo 3}} cartoon adaptation]], amazingly enough. The superhero is Z-Strap, whose power has to do with velcro straps on his sneakers, letting him get dressed really quickly. What a surprise that the villain is "The Tangler."
49	* '''''"RAAAIIIID!"''''' the bugs shriek. And then the spray can with arms -- very muscular arms -- reaches up with one to tap the spray button, spewing poison vapors, and "Kills Bugs Dead." There was also an animated Orkin commercial that depicted the exterminator in a drawing style reminiscent of 60s superhero cartoons, wielding a deadly sprayer to kill cockroaches that often seemed bigger than he was. ''And'' a later, live-action/CGI ad portrayed a bug exterminator marching into a house in powered armor; a heads-up display and laser targeting pinpoint the roach, and then the man fires [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3nEM10awK4 jets of poison]] from an ArmCannon. "Target terminated."
50	* While not official (it started as an in-joke on the Japanese image board [=2chan=]), ''WebAnimation/FightKikkoman'' is a parody of this concept applied to Kikkoman soy sauce, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz-mJed_bP0&NR=1 simply must be seen to be believed]].
51	* During the period when Super Sugar Crisp was changing its name to Super Golden Crisp, the commercial mascot (Sugar Bear) gained the power to transform himself into ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhLbuuxr0cg Super Bear]]''. Super Bear was less like a superhero than a really big mean scary grizzly, however, which probably didn't go over too well with the young kids that were the cereal's target demographic.
52	* Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls appear in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMCGADFNDiQ this]] Advertising/GotMilk commercial as a tie in to their movie.
53	* At one point, the TV ads for Mighty Dog™ brand canned dog food went with a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnAFoigXIpM flying dog wearing a cape]]. He was supposed to be Mighty Dog (like Mighty Mouse, [[DontExplainTheJoke geddit?]]).
54	* Bardahl advertised its engine-cleaners in the style of ''ComicStrip/DickTracy''--you had villains such as "Gummy Rings" causing problems until the Bardahl Detective showed up and set things right.
55	* Advertising/{{Pepsiman}}, star of a series of Japanese Pepsi commercials in the late 1990s with effects by Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic. Pepsiman was a masked runner answering the call of thirsty consumers anywhere, magically delivering them Pepsi-Cola with "Schwaaa!" action (as the English blurb for his action figure puts it) and usually suffering AmusingInjuries on the side. Like UFO Kamen Yakisoban, he too got [[VideoGame/{{Pepsiman}} his own video game]] for the Platform/PlayStation, also in Japan.
56	* In the 70s and early 80s, Crest toothpaste had a series of cartoon ads where a city called Toothopolis (a city surrounded by a wall of giant - but very shiny - teeth) was constantly under attack by ugly "Cavity Creeps" ("We make holes in teeth"), only to be fought off by the city's heroic protectors, armed with tooth-hygiene-themed weaponry. (Crest, naturally.)
57	* Aquafresh toothpaste has [[http://www.aquafresh.co.uk/content/dam/global/aquafresh/Images/superhero-hero.png Captain Aquafresh]], a Superman expy whose costume and hair are in the three Aquafresh stripe colours, symbolically thumping sugary foods.
58	* Deconstructed (like everything else) in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' with Dollar Bill, a superhero created by a nationwide bank for PR purposes and to ride the superhero fad, the idea being that people would feel safer at a bank with its own superhero. This all collapsed one day, however, when Dollar Bill failed to stop a robbery at a bank he was guarding and met his end when one of the robbers [[BoomHeadshot shot him in the head]]. Though very little is shown what happened after that, no other company-created superheroes existed in the ''Watchmen'' world after that, suggesting the incident hurt the bank so much for other companies to avoid the concept.
59	* Captain Tax Time for Tax Time Tax Services, a one-shot comic published in Canada in the 1980's to advertise a tax revenue service.
60	* ''Manga/TheDisastrousLifeOfSaikiK'' has Cyborg Cider-Man, the mascot of a soda drink that Saiki's TagalongKid neighbor adores.
61	* ''Franchise/UltraSeries'':
62	** Film/UltramanZearth was initially created to advertise Idemitsu Kosan's petroleum brand of the same name. He fights against Alien Benzene, as the petroleum brand boasted less than 1% benzene content.
63	** Advertising/UltramanNice was created to advertise Bandai's ''Ultra Series'' merchandise and toys, making this an odd example where a superhero was created to advertise another superhero's merchandise.
64	** On a non-official note, buying a Garmin gives one the ability to transform into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5rxbPF09MQ an Ultraman-esque superhero to fight the evil Mapasaurus.]]
65	* The ads for the Indian antivirus software Advertising/{{Protegent}} feature a mascot named Proto, who is a personification of the software as a superhero (and a [[WesternAnimation/SuperWhy Whyatt]] [[CaptainErsatz recolor]]).
66	* In ''Series/RoboCopTheSeries'' a cartoon superhero called Commander Cash and his sidekick, Major Marketing appeared in ads for [[MegaCorp Omni Consumer Products]].
67	* Snap, Crackle and Pop, the Rice Crispies' gnome/elf mascots were reimagined as [[SupermanSubstitute Superman Substitutes]] for a while in the early '90s.
68	* ComicBook/JohnnyTurbo was an attempt to create one for the Platform/TurboGrafx16. Johnny would fight against the robot goons of [[Creator/{{Sega}} FEKA]] while promoting the console.

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