Being a huge Cash-Cow Franchise and one of the biggest properties for Paramount, SpongeBob SquarePants has fallen into this trope way too many times, especially when it comes to merchandising aimed at children younger than its 6-to-12-year-old target demographic. It doesn't help that it's often the first thing Nickelodeon airs once their Nick Jr. block ends, thus creating a sizable Periphery Demographic of children 5 and under.
- In 2009, Burger King advertised kids' meals based on the show with a commercial featuring... a "Baby Got Back" parody music video: girls in hot pants with square appliances on their backsides shaking their booties to "I like square butts and I cannot lie!" to hawk fast food and cheap toys to 6-year-olds, with The Burger King standing around them. While this actually fits pretty well with SpongeBob, the marketing itself is undeniably Misaimed.
- There are SpongeBob baby wipes and rectal thermometers on the market.
- Downplayed example: In 2012, McDonald's did a SpongeBob Happy Meal tying in for the Olympic Games in London, which is an odd choice for a collaboration, since the show is not British.
- Perhaps the most mind-baffling example of this trope is the SpongeBob Squatty Potty Stool
. - There's also a SpongeBob phone-cleaning sponge.
- It's more than a little ironic that officially licensed SpongeBob fishing poles exist. Yo ho, yo ho, near the hooks I'll never go?
- SpongeBob promotes Old Spice. Keep in mind that while the show does have a fairly large Periphery Demographic and the ad is most likely targeted towards said demographic, most people who would be seeing The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and who would be drawn to its merchandising and marketing are children.
- A SpongeBob makeup sponge exists. And it's shaped like SpongeBob, too!
- Stephen Hillenburg stated in an interview that there was a proposal for SpongeBob SquarePants fish sticks, which is odd considering the show takes place in the ocean. They were never sold after.
