Line #204 Main/TheManIsStickingItToTheMan


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[Creator/{{Banksy}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/destroy-capitalism_9638.png]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:[[HypocriticalHumor Destroying capitalism, one overpriced, sweatshop-manufactured T-shirt at a time]].]]
6	->'''Hobbes:''' So basically, this maverick is urging people to express their individuality through conformity in brand-name selection?\
7	'''Calvin:''' Well, it sounded more defiant the way ''he'' said it.
8	-->-- ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''
9
10	When a large commercial corporation tells you via commercial that the best way to rebel against corporate social assimilation is to buy their products. Will often involve what [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Lindsay Naegle]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' refers to as a "[[RuleAbidingRebel spokesrebel]]". Also can refer to any commercial that attacks its general field, but claims ''they'' are rooting for the underdog, and are taking a stand against the greed of all the others. [[{{Hypocrite}} So give them your money.]] See: Lawyers, car salesmen, phone providers, etc. There is ConspicuousConsumption at work here.
11
12	The concept was popularized by the economist Joseph Schumpeter[[note]] based on theories by Creator/KarlMarx which have been unironically adopted by Wall Street as good business advice[[/note]] as "creative destruction". The basic principle is that, in an economy with a finite amount of wealth, entrepreneurs and companies are incentivized to come up with ways to devalue the wealth controlled by "the establishment" and claim it for themselves, forcing the establishment to either evolve or collapse into bankruptcy. Often, this creative destruction takes the form of new technologies and more efficient production processes (like streaming services and ride-sharing apps putting video rental stores and traditional taxicabs out of business), but it can also include seizing on social trends and moral crusades (such as attacking companies over human rights or environmental issues to position their own product as the "moral[=/=]green alternative"). In Schumpeter's view, capitalism is not just a static, monolithic bloc of monopolies but an endless churn of businesses and entrepreneurs attacking and destroying the wealth of the old guard, [[MeetTheNewBoss rising in triumph to become the new guard]], and then [[FullCircleRevolution being destroyed by the newer guard when their time is up]].
13
14	Since the free market is a vast array of agents acting individually, the hypothetical singular "The Man", when used as the face of capitalist excess, has become associated with two competing functions. The Man is seen as a representative of censorship and regulation, yet The Man also favors demolishing censorship and regulation in order to pursue profit at the cost of altruism. So a company which manufactures edgy, offensive content will call on people to "stand up" against censorship groups as some kind of cry for freedom, yet the ultimate goal is to make more profit for themselves. They may also be driven to respond to changes in society and tensions of its time and appeal to the needs and sensibilities of the public, even if they themselves don't share the same inclinations or if the public sentiment is being manipulated by yet ''another'' business angling to make money. The main concern of any business is self-preservation, and changing with the times is a historically proven method.
15
16	The antithesis of the BandWagonTechnique, and often used by competitors of companies that can use said technique. Tends to invoke the RuleAbidingRebel, since by nature they're telling you to rebel by joining a status quo. {{Hipster}}s are known to fall for this sort of trick.
17
18	StealthCigaretteCommercial is a specific instance where tobacco companies are required by law to make anti-smoking {{Public Service Announcement}}s. Rather predictably, the resulting [=PSAs=] tend to be along the lines of DoNotDoThisCoolThing.
19
20	The commercial may refer specifically to [[BlamingTheMan "The Man"]]. A type of StrawHypocrite. Compare WeDontSuckAnymore and BitingTheHandHumor. See also DisobeyThisMessage. A more violent example could lead to a StagedPopulistUprising.
21
22	[[noreallife]]
23	----
24	!!Administrivia/InUniverseExamplesOnly:
25
26	[[foldercontrol]]
27
28	[[folder:Advertising]]
29	* [[LampshadeHanging Acknowledged]] in a commercial for a specific cellphone carrier, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG-VB5xb6KM Sprint:]]
30	-->'''Underling:''' Is that your new Sprint Phone?
31	-->'''CEO:''' Uh huh, with Sprint's new fair and flexible plans no one can tell me what to do. I can talk when and how I want. It is my little way of sticking it to The Man.
32	-->'''Underling:''' ...but you ''are'' The Man.
33	-->'''CEO:''' I know.
34	-->'''Underling:''' So... you're sticking it to yourself?
35	-->'''CEO:''' ...Maybe.
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Comic Books]]
39	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan2099'': Miguel starts as a corporate executive and scientist working for the EvilInc Alchemax, very close to become {{Corrupt\|CorporateExecutive}}ed himself. Initially, the only reason he fights against Alchemax's {{Corporate Samurai}}s is because he's angry at the CEO Tyler Stone for getting him addicted to [[FantasticDrug Rapture]], or self defense from those hired to capture Spider-Man. Part of his CharacterDevelopment over the course of the series is to geniunly want to erase the negative influence of Alchemax after seeing how much harm they do; he never actually opposes the concept of a MegaCorp, he just believes they must be ethical.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
43	* Several commentators on the documentary ''Film/TheCorporation'' note this trope's existence in RealLife. However, it's not presented as all doom-and-gloom -- they also note that, as long as demand for anti-corporate material exists, the corporations within a capitalist system will always provide supply to meet that demand, thus allowing for resistance and possibly even eventual subversion of them.
44	* ''Film/TheAdjustmentBureau'' references this when Norris, a Senatorial candidate, admits that despite his small-town anti-conformist tone he has his entire appearance, his speeches, and even his ''backstory'' dictated by careful studies from large corporations to find what will get the best reaction from the population.
45	* The movie ''Film/TheChase1994'' provides an excellent example of the two incarnations of "The Man" coming into conflict, with the film intrinsically claiming that the "hip" Man is somehow less of a Man than the stodgy old corporate Man. Kristy Swanson is the daughter of a mega-successful California businessman. After she is kidnapped by a desperate prison escapee (played by Creator/CharlieSheen) and finds herself [[AMatchMadeInStockholm slowly falling in love with him]], she decides she's had enough of her father trying to control her life. Long story short, the couple abscond to Mexico ... and how do they "rebel" when they get there? [[TropicalEpilogue They lie on the beach and drink margaritas]] – something the girl's father most likely did a lot of in private himself.
46	* Discussed in ''Film/CitizenKane'', where Charles Foster Kane, heir to the sixth largest private fortune, becomes a crusading publisher/editor who takes a progressive platform against wealthy interest holders. Walter Thatcher specifically brings up Charles' attack on the Public Transit Corporation of which he himself is a shareholder, to which Kane responds by noting that a rich man taking the cause of reform might keep the commies from doing so:
47	--> '''Charles''': The trouble is, you don't realize you're talking to two people. As Charles Foster Kane who owns 82,364 shares of Public Transit Preferred. [[ObfuscatingStupidity See, I do have a general idea of my holdings]]. I sympathize with you. Kane is a scoundrel. His paper should be closed, a committee formed to boycott him. [[RefugeInAudacity If you can form such a committee, put me down for a contribution of $1,000]]. On the other hand, [[DaEditor I am the publisher of the Inquirer]]. As such it's my duty; I'll let you in on a little secret, it is also my ''pleasure'' to see that the working people of this community aren't robbed blind by a pack of money-mad pirates, just because they have no one to look after their interests! You see, I have money and property. [[TheMoralSubstitute If I don't look after the interests of the underprivileged]], somebody else will. [[DirtyCommunists Maybe somebody without money or property]]. [[RedScare That would be too bad]].
48	* Creator/FrankTashlin's ''Film/TheGirlCantHelpIt'' showed this. TheFifties Rock and Roll era was basically run by gangsters from TheThirties who turned legitimate. One of the gangsters, played by Edmond O'Brien, wants to cash in on the youth market by launching his own pop sensation and finds out his ex-rival now runs the big music company. At the end of film, he becomes a rising pop star himself and his rival is so impressed with his success that he hires him and gives him a contract, because hey, he's a hit with the kids.
49	* In one memorable scene from ''Film/UnderTheSilverLake'', the protagonist Sam, who idolizes countercultural music and Kurt Cobain in particular, meets a mysterious, impossibly ancient songwriter who claims to have written all hit songs of the the last three generations and at least one piece attributed to Beethoven. During their conversation, the Songwriter mercilessly dismantles Sam's worldview, pointing out that all the protest songs championed by young people who think they're rebelling against the mainstream are just commercial products that ultimately serve only to make the old, wealthy patrons of the entertainment industry like himself even richer. As with everything else in the film, it is not clear whether the scene is meant to be taken at face value or just a product of Sam's [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness increasingly unraveling mind]], but either way, the social commentary is very explicit. For added symbolism, the scene culminates in [[spoiler:a violent confrontation during which Sam beats the Songwriter to death with Kurt Cobain's iconic Fender Mustang guitar]].
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Literature]]
53	* The entire history of this phenomenon - at least in America - is traced by economist Thomas Frank in his book ''The Conquest of Cool''. Frank points out that the "do-what-you-wanna-do" philosophy of TheSixties was actually an aesthetic crafted by ''Series/MadMen''-style Madison Avenue types. That's right: the "cultural revolution" that supposedly turned everything we knew about the world completely upside-down was the handiwork of middle-class kids aping the consumer culture of the guys in suits they claimed to despise.
54	* Richard Hofstadter noted the presence of this trope. He argued that American history is fundamentally about consensus (with the single exception of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar) rather than polarization between pro-and-anti-business interests. In his book, ''The American Political Tradition'', Hofstadter noted that parties often present or dress up their platform on anti-capitalist themes while at the same time furthering business interests and tricking the public into believing that they really are going to reform the system:
55	--> ''The fierceness of the political struggles has often been misleading: for the range of vision embraced by the primary contestants in the major parties has always been bounded by the horizons of property and enterprise.''
56	* This is the main theme of the non-fiction book ''[[http://www.amazon.ca/Rebel-Sell-Culture-Cant-Jammed/dp/0006394914 The Rebel Sell]]'' by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter. Namely, there is no "system" against which to rebel, and the desire to fight conformity and make ourselves distinctive is essentially the very thing which promotes consumer capitalism.
57	* French literary critic Creator/RolandBarthes called this "Operation Margarine" in his book ''Mythologies'' and in the post-script he identifies the same point arrived by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter.
58	* Hilariously inverted in the fifth ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' book. The school puts up posters saying things like "Mindless Conformity - It's Fun!" or "Individuality Causes Pain!"
59	* Creator/GeorgeOrwell's ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' has this as a prominent theme. The InfoDump book at the story's midpoint argues that throughout history there have only been three groups of people: the High, the Middle and the Low. The entire history of civilization could be summed up as a battle between the Middle and the High; the High trying to retain their position, the Middle trying to usurp it by duping the Low to their cause.
60	* Tom Wolfe coined the phrase "radical chic" to describe rich establishment liberals who support radical groups like the Black Panthers by donating money or hosting parties for them, just so long that they don't [[NotInMyBackyard actually have to do anything that would affect their upper class lifestyle]]. The phrase first appeared in an article Wolfe wrote for New York magazine titled "Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's", which was reprinted in ''Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers'' and ''The Purple Decades''.[[note]]This book was highly criticized by later writers who noted that Wolfe was unfair to Leonard Bernstein and the Panthers[[/note]]
61	* Jim Munroe's ''[[https://jimmunroe.net/category/books/angry-young-spaceman Angry Young Spaceman]]'': In a future where parents can buy membership in a subculture as a birthday present for their kids, protagonist Sam Breen belongs to the rebellious non-commercial "pug" subculture (a sort of free-roaming fight club) that was created by the young people themselves. Then he sees an interview with the creator of pug revealing that it was just another manufactured subculture, viral-marketed to seem like spontaneous rebellion.
62	* In the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novel ''The Highest Science'', record companies in the future openly manufacture new music trends and associated subcultures, which teens are supposed to shift to instantly, but one character isn't being fooled. No matter how much the companies try to sell the light, poppy "freakster" sound to him, he knows the deep, rebellious "headster" movement was ''real''. His DespairEventHorizon is seeing his musical idol in freakster clothes, being interviewed about how his headster lyrics were a load of drug-addled nonsense.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
66	* ''Series/MadTV1995'' episode #213 had an opening sequence with a statement from "The Man". He makes it quite clear that it is impossible to Stick It To The Man, to Put One Over on The Man, or to Get By The Man, because The Man is watching at all times.
67	* Jack O'Neil(l) from ''Series/StargateSG1'' complains about his inability to stick it to the man after he gets a promotion. He likes sticking it to the man. But now he ''is'' the man. At which point Jackson helpfully suggests he could try sticking it to himself.
68	* Forms part of the DownerEnding of ''Series/BlackMirror'''s "[[Recap/BlackMirrorFifteenMillionMerits Fifteen Million Merits]]" -- after an impassioned speech decrying the society he is living in with a glass shard to his throat, Bing sells out and begins delivering similar speeches on behalf of said society. The glass shard he now uses as a prop even becomes a popular item for others to own via their virtual avatars.
69	* In Season 3 of ''Series/TheBoys2019'', {{narcissist}}ic "hero" Homelander has a VillainousBreakdown and rants about EvilInc Vought controlling his entire life on live television. This resonates with his fanbase and his additional popularity leads to him [[TyrantTakesTheHelm performing a hostile takeover of Vought]] while painting himself as an anti-establishment figure. Soon he becomes a {{Trumplica}} ranting about unfair treatment by the media... [[MegaCorp which he now owns]].
70	* In one episode of ''Series/{{Coupling}}'', Sally tries to claim that the Lefties are essentially the "struggling rebels". Patrick points out that the Left has not only been mainstream for quite some time, but has ''held a majority'' for several years. Howard, a GayConservative Jane is trying to seduce, sides with Patrick despite Sally's insistence that as a gay man he [[CategoryTraitor should be on her side]].
71	-->'''Sally''': Come The Revolution--
72	-->'''Patrick''': What revolution? You guys are in power, we're the revolution now.
73	-->'''Sally:''' ''[horrified]'' No. That can't be right...
74	-->'''Patrick''': ''[mocking]'' You're the [[TheEmpire Evil Empire]].
75	-->'''Howard''': Yes! It's like ''Franchise/StarWars'', and Patrick and me, ''we're'' the Rebel Alliance.
76	---> ''[They start humming the Star Wars theme]''
77	* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': Detective John Munch is an avid conspiracy theorist and actively voices suspicion of all branches of government, including the justice system of which he is a part.
78	* A newspaper opinion piece once featured the captain of a 'satirical panel game' protesting vigorously that Cedric Brown over at British Gas was getting £10,000 of public money for just three days of work a week. Producer Harry Thompson (of ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' amongst other things) pointed out that the satirist was getting £10,000 of public money for three hours of work a week.
79	* In an episode of ''Series/LosSimuladores'', a teenage kid dressed as a stereotypical goth wants help to cure her sister from her bulimia and anorexia. Mario Santos agrees to help him and notes that his clothes, supposedly there to express non conformity and anarchism, were sold to him by major retailers and that "the industry of rebellion is quite lucrative". His advice is "if you want to be a rebel, you have to wear a suit and a tie". At the end of the episode we see him in a [[SharpDressedMan nice suit]] walking with confidence around awed students.
80	* ''Series/{{Euphoria}}'': In "Trouble Don't Last Always", Ali complains that advertisers and businesses have weaponized "revolutions" to sell things, which he thinks stops actual change, or at least controls the impact. He relates that Nike put up a sign reading "Our people matter" (about black people) while still charging a bundle for sneakers, which costs them nothing, looks good and lets them still charge the same huge price (he notes they were likely made by slaves or near enough in China too).
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Music]]
84	* Music/SaraBareilles' "Love Song", a catchy, major-label "corporate" pop song, is a slam by Bareilles against her record label for trying to force her to write a love song before they'd allow her album to be released.
85	%%* Music/JonathanCoulton's "Sticking It To Myself."
86	* The entire post-''Illmatic'' career of Nas can be considered playing this trope straight, as he's been long considered an icon of antithesis to "commercial" hip hop while also owing his career to radio-friendly songs and media hype. The most glaring moment was him naming one of his albums "Hip Hop is Dead" as a response to what he feels is extensive ExecutiveMeddling in the genre; it also happened to be his first album released under Def Jam Records, the biggest hip hop label in the world and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Music, and the album itself was made in collaboration with many mainstream artists and producers.
87	* Music/{{Tool}}'s "Hooker With A Penis" lampoons this trope. In it, the speaker is confronted by a former fan who accuses him of "selling out" with his latest album. The speaker laughs in his face and tells him that he sold out long ago. That's ''how'' the fan ever heard of him in the first place. The fan is also covered head to toe in product brands: Vans shoes, Levi 501s, a ''Music/BeastieBoys'' t-shirt and is drinking Coke.
88	* ''Psychosocial'' by Music/{{Slipknot}} brings this up with the line about "Packaging subversion."
89	* Music/{{Ayria}}'s song "Selling Rebellion" is pretty much all about this trope.
90	* "Uniform" by Music/BlocParty is about, in its own words, "Commerce dressed up as rebellion".
91	* Music/TheClash for their part, acknowledged and dealt with this discrepancy in their music. Their single "Complete Control" is an angsty, furious Punk anthem about the fact that recording companies and radios owned the airwaves and they determine and sell the most youth-appealing songs for money that the singers will never see a cent of, all just to cash in on the rebellious youth sentiment of the era.
92	--> "Complete control / even over this song"
93	** Their song "Hate and War" also addressed this trope:
94	--> "An' if I close my eyes\
95	They will not go away\
96	You have to deal with it\
97	It is the currency
98	** Of course much later, Clash ran into controversy when they allowed one of their songs to be used by Jaguar. Joe Strummer defended this out of solidarity with the auto workers for Jaguar's factories who were suffering as a result of UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher's crackdown on manufacturing.
99	** Their famous tagline "The only band that matters"--created by the marketing staff at CBS Records.
100	* Music/PorcupineTree’s "The Sound of Muzak" delves into this:
101	--> Music of the future makes you wanna rage
102	--> But it’s made by millionaires who are nearly twice your age
103	* The Crass song "Punk is Dead" is about how this trope has killed what punk rock was in the seventies, turning it into "just another product for the consumer's head."
104	* [[{{Music/Voltaire}} The Industrial Revolution (And How It Ruined My Life)]] has a part about looking down on the masses and buying a rebel brand, just like everyone else.
105	* "[[http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/anthrax/packagedrebellion.html Packaged Rebellion]]" by Music/{{Anthrax}} is all about this.
106	* Music/PinkFloyd's "[[Music/WishYouWereHere1975 Welcome to the Machine]]" explores this; when the supposedly edgy, rebellious band finally encounter the Machine of the music industry, it is able to correctly guess and predict their every move. Because the music industry is ''built'' around supposedly edgy, rebellious bands, and they're ultimately just as big a cog of the industry as the suits and executives are.
107	* Music/{{CAKE}}'s "Rock 'N' Roll Lifestyle" criticizes the entire rock industry for practicing this behavior -- from the fans who spend thousands of dollars to craft a "rebellious" image to the singer that smashes his guitar, not because he's protesting the system, but because it's what's expected of him at this point (and he'll just buy a new one anyways, only to smash it again...the cycle goes on).
108	* Music/DavidBowie's [[Music/HunkyDory "Life on Mars?"]] features the lines "now the workers have struck for fame/'cause Lennon's on sale again." This plays off of Music/JohnLennon's [[Music/JohnLennonPlasticOnoBand "Working Class Hero"]] (which came out six months prior to the album's recording sessions) and his last name's similarity to that of UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin to suggest that communism, a staunchly anti-commercial ideology, has itself become a commercial product to be bought and sold.
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
112	* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'':
113	** The strip has a [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1992/03/18 take]] on this:
114	-->'''Calvin''': Mom, can I have some money to buy a Satan-worshiping, suicide-advocating heavy metal album?\
115	'''Mom''': Calvin, the fact that these bands haven't killed themselves in ritual self-sacrifice shows that they're just in it for the money like everyone else. It's all for effect. If you want to shock and provoke, be sincere about it.[[note]]Paradoxically, many heavy metal bands have used Calvin's mother's argument to their own ends, as a defense of their free speech rights. When Music/JudasPriest were accused of inserting secret messages into one of their songs to persuade listeners to commit suicide, they retorted that [[PragmaticVillainy making their fans kill themselves would be counterproductive to the band's fortunes, since no one would be left alive to buy Judas Priest albums]].[[/note]]
116	** The page quote comes from a shoe commercial Calvin was impressed by, with a rock climber who'd quit his job to do this. Hobbes dissects it immediately, asking how he could afford the shoes without a job, while ridiculing his status as a rebellious individual since he urges people to all buy these shoes.
117	* A cartoon in a high-school political science textbook showed the irony of teenagers objecting to uniforms in public schools. It shows a long line of "cool" hip-hop aficionados wearing identical brand-name athletic clothing and saying "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis School. Uniforms. Would. Make. Us. All. Look. The. Same.]]" in creepy "cult member" fashion. John Lydon said something similar about gigging with the Sex Pistols and being annoyed that the audience were all dressed like him and the other band members rather than being individualistic: "I didn't get into punk to join the army".
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Radio]]
121	* From ''Radio/OpieAndAnthony'': "The $6.95/month FUGITIVE [[http://i.imgur.com/gGaIc7D.jpg IS ON THE LOOSE!]]"
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	%%[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
125	%%* TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}} invokes this trope and plays it unashamedly straight.
126	%%[[/folder]]
127
128
129	[[folder:Video Games]]
130	* The [[RunningGag brand war]] between [[ShoutOut Pequods]] and [[Literature/MobyDick Quee Queeg]]s coffee shops in ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'' has shades of this, [[spoiler: especially after TheReveal that the war ''itself'' is a scam. Both chains are secretly owned by the same company. Which is in turn owned by TheIlluminati, the ultimate "Man".]]
131	* {{Discussed\|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' through Joyce Messier, a CoolOldLady and self-aware corporate agent (she calls herself "deuille", or "devil"). During the conversation about the philosophy of ultraliberalism (basically libertarianism) she bitterly states that this trope is pretty much inevitable:
132	-->'''Joyce''': Capital has the ability to subsume all critiques into itself. Even those who would critique capital end up reinforcing it instead.
133	* The [[MegaCorp Vladof Corporation]] in ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' always mentions in its radio adverts that true socialist warriors and the proletariat buy Vladof to overthrow the [[{{Hypocrisy}} capitalist pigs]].
134	* ''VideoGame/CapsuleServant'' has this as its own self-deprecating premise. Holy Grail Wars have been turned into a MerchandiseDriven battle toy monopoly where Servants are little more than cute gashapon prizes, and whoever has the most (or [[BribingYourWayToVictory spends enough to get the best ones]]) wins. Keep in mind this was made before ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' did the same thing much more seriously, and that its standalone release happened during the latter's tenure... and was ported by [=DelightWorks=], the exact same company that published ''Grand Order'' at the time.
135	[[/folder]]
136
137	[[folder:Webcomics]]
138	* Pop star Brittany Wyoming in ''Webcomic/AtArmsLength'' promotes an image of rebelliousness and individuality, [[http://atarmslength.smackjeeves.com/comics/898138/thesongremainsthesame-3/ which is of course carefully crafted by her record label]].
139	* ''Webcomic/LearningWithMangaFGO'': Assassin figures out that this is Gudako's shameful weakness: she puts on an image of being rebellious and controversial while voicing her complaints on how [=DelightWorks=] runs their [[VideoGame/FateGrandOrder parent game]], but since she's also on their payroll, she can't go whole hog with them.
140	[[/folder]]
141
142	[[folder:Web Original]]
143	* Done more literally than usual in the ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' cartoon "Cool Things". Homestar needs to buy some paint from Bubs' concession stand, but Bubs insists that he's closed. Then Homestar asks Bubs if he'll bum some paint for him, and Bubs says that he never misses a chance to stick it to the man (who is actually himself), and gives Homestar the paint free of charge.
144	* Discussed by Creator/LindsayEllis in "''{{Theatre/RENT}}'': Look Pretty And Do As Little As Possible". Because Broadway shows are so expensive, only those with large amounts of spending money can attend them. Thus, shows have to perform a balancing act between being trendy- maybe even a little edgy- and not alienating their wealthy audiences, which can lead to this trope.
145	** Ellis also discussed this phenomenon in "Woke Disney", where she talks about how Disney's live-action remakes of its animated films (in particular, ''Film/Dumbo2019'' and ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017'') offer shallow social commentary on subjects like race and feminism that nevertheless plays into Disney's interests by supporting the status quo instead of advocating for change.
146	* Discussed by Creator/TimRogers in his ''WebVideo/ActionButton'' review of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''. One of the video's segments sees Tim ruminating on the cultural zeitgeist surrounding ''Doom'' in the late [[TheEighties '80's]] and most of the [[TheNineties '90's]], which leads to a digression regarding advertising of the era, especially advertising that targeted boys in their teens. Tim notices that the majority of the TV commercials of the time seemed to attempt to paint that consuming the products they were hawking, even if said product was extremely innocuous, as an act of, not if not outright rebellion, then at the very least contrarianism against "boring" and "authoritarian" adults. Tim considers the crowing example of this a commercial for Bubble Tape that consisted of little more than of a series of ugly and middled-aged authority figures saying that they "hate" Bubble Tape for some not-really-defined reason, before finishing with the slogan "For you -- Not them".
147	[[/folder]]
148
149	[[folder:Western Animation]]
150	* The titular character of ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' sums up this trope nicely in "The Lost Girls":
151	-->"As far as I can make out, 'edgy' occurs when middlebrow, middle-aged profiteers are looking to suck the energy -- not to mention the spending money -- out of the "youth culture". So they come up with this fake concept of seeming to be dangerous when every move they make is the result of market research and a corporate master plan."
152	* Satirized throughout ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
153	** In "The Heartbroke Kid", Springfield Elementary School puts in "edgy" vending machines--Ralph Wiggum says, "It's fun to obey the machine." The corporate mascots Scammer and Z-Dog are described by their creators as "spokesrebels".
154	** The Banksy opening is a most prominent example of this, [[http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1942324 showing how horrible conditions in a sweatshop producing merchandise for ''The Simpsons'' supposedly are.]] [[http://2bangkok.com/2bangkok-simpsons-kader.html The operative word is "Supposedly"]].
155	** One early piece of ''Simpsons'' [[TheMerch merchandise]] was a talking Bart doll whose sayings included "Hey, kids out there in TV Land! You're being duped!"
156	[[/folder]]
157	%%
158	%%
159	%%Due to complaining, only in-universe examples may be listed, and real life examples are no longer allowed.
160	%%
161	%%

Context Main / TheManIsStickingItToTheMan