"Troper, would you like to eat some Panda Cheese?"
Nah, I've got to describe it first.
Panda Cheese is an obscure cheese brand from Egypt. (Well, they’re obscure outside Egypt. In Egypt they’re one of the market leaders.) However, they were known for their 2010 series of advertisements which went viral on the internet and even managed to win two grands prix at the 2010 Dubai Lynx. It became a minor Memetic Mutation in the internet with some people doing a parodies of it.
The ads start out with someone offering someone else a Panda Cheese product to eat and the person refusing it for whatever reasons. A panda appears out of nowhere on-screen as "True Love Ways" by Buddy Holly (specifically the version with The Picks singing backup
) plays, stares at the person for a while and then starts violently destroying their things. The implicit message being that you shouldn't refuse anything Panda Cheese makes in the first place.
The ads were also the subject of one of the Fine Bros' "Kids React" episodes.
All the ads can be seen at this link.
Tropes:
- Abusive Advertising: If you don't buy its cheese, there will be consequences...
- Bears Are Bad News: This panda bear is really bad news for anyone who doesn't want to buy Panda Cheese.
- Berserk Button: If someone rejects Panda Cheese, no matter the reason, The Panda will appear to angry break the nearest object he has at hand.
- Call-Back: The ad with the father and son in the grocery store has a sequel. They're back in the supermarket again, the son asks about Panda Cheese again, the Panda appears again... and the dad, knowing how this is going to end, gets the cheese, then gets more when the Panda continues to stare. In the end, the two are spared the wrath of the Panda.
- Death Glare: The panda just stares at his victims when he appears. Combined with his smile, it's clear that things are about to get very bad.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- A panda will come and ruin your day, all because you refuse to try his cheese.
- In one of the ads, the Panda disconnects the feeding tube from a hospital patient's IV because he wasn't hungry. We can presume that he needed those fluids to live, judging by the look on the nurse's face.
- The Dreaded: Everyone stares in horror when the Panda shows up.
- Jerkass: The Panda, who destroys everything just because someone doesn't want to eat the product. In one case, he implicitly murdered a person over it (by unplugging a hospital patient's feeding tube).
- Jerkass Has a Point: While The Panda is far from a friendly bear, he did have a reason to follow the two customers who initially had their shopping trolley tipped to one side when they refused to purchase Panda Cheese. When they returned to the supermarket again, they purchased two boxes of said product, although The Panda followed them to the checkout to ensure they didn't throw them away.
- Karma Houdini: The panda never faces any punishment for his overreactions to people not buying his cheese, not even the time he was implied to have killed a person.
- Later-Installment Weirdness: In 2014, Panda Cheese released a new ad describing the benefits of Panda Cheese. The panda is shown doing a variety of things. However, he doesn't destroy anything. "True Love Ways" isn't heard either.
- Leitmotif: When the Panda appears, Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways" plays.
- Mascot: The Panda, for Panda Cheese of course.
- Misplaced Retribution: In one commercial the Panda appears in a restaurant kitchen and roughs up the place, because a customer ordered something without cheese.
- Not Good with Rejection: The Panda. Refuse to eat his cheese, and he will ruin your day.
- Oh, Crap!: The reaction of the people when they see the Panda.
- Slasher Smile: The Panda only has a smile on its face, even when it's simmering with rage and about to ruin your day.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: "True Love Ways", a calm and soothing love song, plays right before the Panda fucks you up.
- Space Whale Aesop: You better get this product, or a panda will come and destroy your things.
- The Spook: The Panda itself. It instantaneously appears out of the blue. We know nothing of its origins or if it's supernatural or anything else.
- Strictly Formula: As described above.
- Taken Off Life Support: One of the ads has the panda remove a hospital patient's feeding tube because he didn't want to eat Panda Cheese, much to the nurse's horror.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In the 2014 commercial, the Panda is seen in a relatively amicable light. He takes a trip with his friends, goes to parties, and even helps a stranger with directions. Though it should be noted that nobody in the commercial refuses to use Panda Cheese, so perhaps the commercial is simply a depiction of his life when nobody pushes his Berserk Button.
- Tranquil Fury: The Panda is oddly calm and very chilled out even when it's smashing up the stuff of the current person of the week who said no to the cheese.
- "Just you know why... why you and I... will by and by— (the computer of the troper writing this article is then smashed to pieces by the panda)
Panda. You just don't say 'no' to it."
