You've been usin' Brand Xssssss!

Ok, of all the tropes I've ever found myself using Brand X is pretty much my favourite. Not only do I find it kinda fun, but I find that it actually makes for a more believable and thought out world. So I ask you my fellow Tropers, what's some of the Brand X products you've created for your works?

They can be anything: Food, Technology, TV shows, Toys, Companies, the works!

To start things off. I'm going to go with JUMP! juice bars. A smoothie and juice outlet that specialize in nutritous and tasty beverages, complete with customizable supplements that you can add to your drink. Very popular in 23rd Century Seattle.

Boy Aurus has Moretti Soap. It's a heavily almond-scented hand-soap that is guaranteed to keep you germ free for at least five minutes... though it's a bit vague how they came to this conclusion.

There's also Giotto Candy which makes the best licorice in the world and Cimabue Chocolate which makes the best chocolate in the world.

The Object of War has Better Than Cheesecake, the most popular porn magazine among the armed forces.

Ace Mutt: An animated, republican americana inspired tv show about an anthromophic dog who pilots a biplane in WWI. Though originally intended for the 7-10 year old demographic, it's gained something of a cult following.

Mistletoe Cigarettes. Not a lot to elaborate on there.

Forgotten Lore has a brand of computers called vac, whose models are named multivac, omnivac, vacbook and the like. Yes, that's a reference to Asimov and Apple at the same time. The explanation of the name is that they originally produced vacuum tubes, before starting to make their own computers. Nowdays they obviously don't use vacuum tubes, but the name remained. The same setting also has a popular anime called "Robot Saviour Deus X" (the X is the roman number 10, but it's also a pun on "deus ex machina"), featuring a teenage hero piloting an experimental super robot, mankind's last hope againt the evil Space Devils from space. It has a reputation of being hard to follow, but features lots of flashy battles and stuff blowing up.

You mean like most Anime? ZING!! :D

Alrighty, here another: All-star sporting goods! This is kinda like the Nike of my Verse, and like Nike they specialize in a wide variety of sporting good equipment and fashion. They used to be really popular but kinda lost interest in the early 2000s. That was until All-Star was able to find a super-human speedster to become their mascot.

Brand X is a fun trope indeed, even if I never seem to use it as much as I'd like. The world setting in my head is constantly changing and so too are the products available in it, but there's two that always seem to pop up: Popsy Soda, a popular soft drink that sells incredibly well despite the links made between it's consumption and adolescent schizophrenia; and the heavy metal band Chromatica, who sold their souls for musical talent, but unfortunately weren't told that their popularity was proportional to the length of their hair, which led to them losing a lot of fans when the members decided to have it cut short.

edited 12th Feb '11 2:08:30 PM by Moerin

The story I'm writing largely takes place in a theatre, and with the exception of Hamlet, every play that appears is a Brand X of something. The one that becomes the most important is The Small Store Of Terror, but we also see Santa Claus Versus Cthulhu, [[Chicago Des Moines]], The Dusty Terror Talky Film, and [[Annie Taryn]].