History Main / JumpOffABridgeRebuttal

* Straight example in ''Series/MyBrotherAndMe'': D.D. wants a haircut like his two best friends are getting.
-->'''His Mother:''' So? If the two of them were going to jump off a bridge, would you jump, too?\\
'''Melanie:''' ''[big sister]'' Do you have to ask? You know he would.
* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'': After Carl Robinson defeats Uncle Phil in a LandslideElection thanks to [[AttackOfThePoliticalAd a smear campaign]], Will [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech tells him off]], capping it off by saying "If you don't like it, you can drop dead!". No sooner does Will finish than Robinson immediately has a fatal heart attack.
-->'''Will:''' Come on, man! If I told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?!

* ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' had this dialogue in one episode:
-->'''Ward:''' Would you expect Wally to jump off a roof just because Chip did?\\
'''Beaver:''' How high a roof, Dad?
* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' subverted this in one episode:
-->'''Col. Flagg:''' This Chandler fellow decides he doesn't want to fight anymore. Soon other soldiers decide not to fight anymore. You know what will happen if everyone decides not to fight anymore?\\
'''B.J.:''' Peace?
* From ''Series/TheMentalist'':
-->'''Jane:''' Let me ask you something. If Director Bertram wanted a CBI presence to jump off a cliff, would you and your CBI presence jump off that cliff?\\
'''Lisbon:''' If there was overtime, sure.
* When ''Series/TheOsbournes'' had their reality program, Jack went to the beach with some friends who all thought it would be fun to jump off a pier. Jack did it, landed wrong, broke his arm and had to call his mom from the hospital. Sharon asked, "Why did you do that?". Jack answered, "Because all my friends were doing it." Sharon probably realized asking the stock phrase would be rather foolish.
* In an episode of ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'', the twins want to go bungee jumping, but their mother says no.
-->'''Cody:''' Bob's parents said ''he'' could go.\\
'''Carrie:''' And if Bob's parents let him jump off a bridge, would you want to do that too? \\
'''Zack:''' If we were attached to a bungee cord.

* In the ''Series/WelcomeFreshmen'' episode "Conformity", when Walter's dad learns he's participating in a ridiculous sport because everyone else is, he gives this rebuttal to Walter, who assures him that he wouldn't.
-->'''Walter:''' We don't jump of cliffs anymore. Now we jump off crates.
* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' Raj is trying to convince his parents to let him go to the Arctic; which leads to this exchange:
-->'''Mrs. Koothrappali:''' If the other guys jumped in the Bay of Bengal and tried to swim to Sri Lanka, would you follow them?\\
'''Raj:''' If you were standing behind me nagging, I might.
** Also happens in "The Transporter Malfunction".
-->'''Tiny [[Franchise/StarTrek Spock]]:''' I am very disappointed in you. You broke your toy and switched it with Leonard's. You should be ashamed of yourself.\\
'''Sheldon:''' You're the one who told me to play with it!\\
'''Tiny Spock:''' If I told you to jump off the bridge of the Enterprise, would you do it?\\
'''Sheldon:''' If I got on the bridge of the Enterprise, I would never ever leave.\\
'''Tiny Spock:''' Trust me, it gets old after a while.
* A variant appears in ''Series/{{Outnumbered}}'', where the question (asked to Karen) is about following her brother Ben's example if he stuck his head in an oven. Karen replies that Ben's head would be in there, so she wouldn't be able to.
* ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'': When Alan takes a shining to the mother of Jake's friend, Charlie, [[HypocriticalHumor of all people]], expresses his disapproval, only for Alan to tell him he's the last person to criticize him, considering the latter had short-lived relationships with women affiliated with Jake (his aunt and grade school teacher to name a few).
-->'''Charlie:''' If I jump off a bridge and land on top of some broad Jake knows, that makes it okay for you to do it too?\\
'''Alan:''' What?

* In the late 1950s or early 1960s, there was a Saturday morning panel show for pre-teens and young adults with a Series/WhatWouldYouDo theme. In one episode, a girl of about twelve is an initiate in a club called the Rats (perhaps "Lemmings" might have been a bit on the nose). When the Rats vote to dye their hair as a badge of membership, the girl does so, accompanied by parents and siblings giving her the "Jump Off a Bridge" Rebuttal. [[MyHairCameOutGreen Her hair comes out grey]]. Horrified, she conceals it beneath a scarf, and when the club president comes over to check out her dye job, she screams that membership in the society has made her "an old woman before my time", dramatically rips off the scarf and tears down the homemade Rats banner on the wall. The leader does not take it well.
* In one episode of ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', Jake sarcastically asks Holt if he should jump off a bridge if Rosa did immediately before. Holt then points out that if Rosa did jump off a bridge, she likely would have made a careful judgement as to whether or not she would have survived the fall, then tells Jake to go ahead and jump after her.
* In an episode of ''Series/CobraKai'', [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Johnny]] attempts to break [[PacifistDojo Team Miyagi-Do]] out of their reactive attitude with a RoofHopping exercise, which they understandably hesitate to participate in. When [[ActionGirl Sam]] points out that her father (who is also Miyagi-Do's sensei) would not approve of the exercise, Johnny attempts to use this line of reasoning on Sam, only for her to [[AnalogyBackfire point out]] that Johnny is literally asking the students to jump off a building. [[spoiler:Sam ends up being the first to make the jump, after a little more cajoling and a motivational speech from Johnny.]]

* The comic strip ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' which deals primarily with teen-parent relationships seems to enjoy this trope. Jeremy's rebuttals to the question of jumping off a bridge have included: "For a free T-Shirt? Yeah!", "No, but I might be tempted to push you over" and "If it kept me from hearing that stupid cliché again, I'd be first in line."

* Calvin's mom in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' comes up with a much more effective variant that actually convinces Calvin (who never listens to reason) immediately. Calvin says his dad should start smoking cigars because they're all the rage, but Mom says "Flatulence could be all the rage, but it would still be disgusting."

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12652330/10/eXtra-power-twin eXtra power twin]]'' Harry's parents sent him to his abusive aunt and uncle because Dumbledore claimed he was a [[MuggleBornOfMages squib]].
-->'''Harry:''' Dumbledore. Dumbledore. Do you people not have your own opinion? Tell me, if Dumbledore told you to drown me, would you have done that?\\
'''James:''' Of course not!\\
'''Harry:''' Well, based on your actions, I don't really believe you.

* ''Film/{{Heathers}}'' asks the question, "If the coolest kids in school committed suicide, would others follow?" Despite everyone's assumption that the answer was 'yes', the total of others shown to actually follow rather than being pushed was one. Because there was [[MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome nothing popular or attractive about that one example, it was almost completely overlooked by media and education establishments]].

* ''Film/SuicideClub'': Proven. The whole movie is about a wave of suicides among schoolchildren all over the country for seemingly no apparent reason. A group of school-kids are on the roof talking about the recent wave of suicides. One says, "We should kill ourselves too!" Guess what happens? The whole lot of them end up jumping off the building. One girl left who's too scared ends up dragging a friend along screaming "Now we have to! We have to!" Turns out [[spoiler: the current hot idol band is sending [[SubliminalSeduction subliminal messages]] in their songs encouraging young people to kill themselves]]. They never explain why, but it's Japanese cinema, what do you expect?

* ''Radio/OldHarrysGame'', the sitcom set in Hell. Thomas is talking to a woman who killed herself because she listened to him when to told her to commit fraud and was subsequently arrested (or something like that). He denies responsibility "If I told you to put your head in the oven... OK, bad example".
* At the beginning of the ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresDoubleActs'' episode "Here's What We Do", 19-year-old Pidge asks his year younger and somewhat clueless friend Gavin if he's prepared to follow his instructions without question. Gavin replies no because his Gran's always saying "I suppose you'd jump off a bridge if Pidge told you to" and he tells her he wouldn't. Pidge points out he's unlikely to tell Gavin to jump off a bridge, and if he ''did'' there'd be a good reason for it, and Gavin agrees. [[spoiler: At the end of the episode Pidge does, in fact, tell Gavin they need to jump off a bridge. Gavin decides not to.]]

* Parodied in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', where [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100312 Agatha tells Gil that he does not get to die just because "everyone else did"!]]

* Parodied in [[http://static.nichtlustig.de/toondb/020906.html this]] German cartoon:
-->'''Lemming Mother:''' All the other kids have got a scooter and that's why you need one, too? And if all the other kids jumped off a cliff... erm... okay, you get the scooter.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': A variation occurs in the episode "Driving Miss Angelica", where Angelica has successfully tricked Chuckie into being her slave, and she now blames him when her orders have gotten them trapped in a closet.
-->'''Chuckie:''' But, Angelica, you ordered me to come up here.\\
'''Angelica:''' Do you always do everything I tell you? If I told you to jump off a bridge, would you?!\\
'''Chuckie:''' Probably.
* Used straight in the ''[[WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily Proud Family]]'' episode "Hip-Hop Helicopter" in regards to a concert.
-->'''Penny:''' ...But daddy, all my friends are going.\\
'''Oscar:''' If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do that too?\\
'''Penny:''' If it was fun.\\
'''Oscar:''' Fun?!
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'', Lilo wants to see Sludge Mummies, which Mertle's mother is taking Mertle to see, and Lilo wants to go, but Nani refuses to let her, leading to this exchange:
-->'''Lilo:''' Mertle gets to see PG movies, her mom goes with her.\\
'''Nani:''' Ooh, and if Mertle's mom jumped off a cliff, I supposed you want me to do that, too?\\
'''Lilo:''' Wow, would you?
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** When Bart got an earring in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E19SimpsonTide Simpson Tide]]":
--->'''Marge:''' What on earth possessed you to get an earring?\\
'''Bart:''' Milhouse has one.\\
'''Marge:''' If Milhouse jumped off a cliff...\\
'''Bart:''' Milhouse jumped off a cliff?! I'm there!
** Reversed to Bart's confusion in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E8TheHawHawedCouple The Haw Hawed Couple]]":
--->'''Bart:''' I can't go [to Nelson's birthday party]. No one else is!\\
'''Marge:''' If no one else jumped off the Empire State Building, would you not jump?\\
'''Bart:''' ...kinda?
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' [[Recap/FuturamaS1E1SpacePilot3000 pilot]], Bender refuses to bend bars, saying he's only programmed to bend girders.
-->'''Fry:''' If you were programmed to jump off a bridge, would you?\\
'''Bender:''' I'll have to check my program. ''[small pause]'' Yep.
** {{Invoked|Trope}} again by Bender in "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E13FryAndTheSlurmFactory Fry and the Slurm Factory]]" when, after Fry and Leela both jump into [[CharlieAndTheChocolateParody the factory's Slurm river]] (Fry [[TooDumbToLive because he wants a drink]], Leela to rescue him), he surfaces with them:
--->'''Leela:''' Bender, why did you jump in?\\
'''Bender:''' Everybody was doin' it. I just wanted to be popular.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'': Vince, a fourth-grader, is talking with his parents about a wildly popular movie that they won't let him go see.
-->'''Vince:''' But all the other kids have seen ''Nitwitz 3''!\\
'''Vince's Dad:''' If all the other kids jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?\\
'''Vince:''' If that's all they were gonna talk about afterwards, yeah!

* ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'' "That Darn Ghost"
-->'''Lula:''' So if everyone had the plague, you'd want it too?\\
'''Candy:''' Yes! DUH!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTarzan'': A kid injures himself after trying to imitate Tarzan, citing his ability to jump from the top of a waterfall and land safely. His aunt begins to ask the question before realizing it's a poor example.
* From the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Excaliferb!" during a LeapOfFaith moment:
-->'''Buford/Bufavulous:''' Mother always told me if all the other kids were jumping off a cliff, I should too.\\
'''Baljeet/Baljeetolas:''' Your mother said that?\\
'''Buford/Bufavulous:''' She was not a nurturer. Let's go! ''[jumps]''

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': When Zeus denies Selene and Storkules permission to help Donald's family he asks:
-->'''Zeus:''' If the mortals jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?\\
'''Storkules:''' (''in tears'') ''[[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder Yes, father]]''! [[DumbassHasAPoint For I am immortal]]!
* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny asks this question to Michael in ''WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue'' in regards to all of his friends trying weed. When Michael doesn't answer, Bugs just says, "I guess you would. Not very bright... not very bright."

If this is used on a sufficiently smart-assed character, they are likely to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] AnalogyBackfire by finding a reason why they ''would'' jump. [[DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm Dumber]] [[TooDumbToFool ones]] may do it by accident. For a brief period in the 90s, the most common response was to say something along the lines of "No, bridge-jumping is tomorrow," and explain that the kid character was also participating in bungee jumping.

* Used straight in a ''[[WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily Proud Family]]'' episode in regards to a concert.

'''Oscar:''' If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it?\\

* At the beginning of the ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresDoubleActs'' episode "This Is What We Do", 19-year-old Pidge asks his year younger and somewhat clueless friend Gavin if he's prepared to follow his instructions without question. Gavin replies no because his Gran's always saying "I suppose you'd jump off a bridge if Pidge told you to" and he tells her he wouldn't. Pidge points out he's unlikely to tell Gavin to jump off a bridge, and if he ''did'' there'd be a good reason for it, and Gavin agrees. [[spoiler: At the end of the episode Pidge does, in fact, tell Gavin they need to jump off a bridge. Gavin decides not to.]]

** When Bart got an earring:

** Reversed to Bart's confusion:

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' pilot, Bender refuses to bend bars, saying he's only programmed to bend girders.

** {{Invoked|Trope}} again by Bender in "Fry and the Slurm Factory" when, after Fry and Leela both jump into [[CharlieAndTheChocolateParody the factory's Slurm river]] (Fry [[TooDumbToLive because he wants a drink]], Leela to rescue him), he surfaces with them:

->'''Jimmy:''' But dad, all my friends are gonna be there!\\

--> '''Jimmy:''' But, Dad! All my friends are going!
--> '''Hugh:''' Now, Son, [[IceCreamKoan if all your friends were named Cliff, would you jump off them?]]

* ''[[Series/TheHauntingHour]]'' episode "Checking Out" has the protagonist's parents asking the bridge question, to which he replies "If I could drive to it". This example is actually important as later on [[spoiler: the protagonist says the question to snap his parents out of mind control.]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* In the [[{{Narm}} infamous]] advertisement for ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'', Crash claims that Cortex went to a self-help seminar and is now willing to help him out. What did Crash tell him in response?
-->'''Crash:''' Why don't ''you'' take a twelve-step program off a ten-step pier?
[[/folder]]

--> '''Rei:''' [[BluntYes Yes.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' episode "Ladies' Night at the Lodge", Barney gets chewed out by Betty for buying a new Water Buffalo hat, despite nothing being wrong with the old one.

** {{Invoked}} again by Bender in "Fry and the Slurm Factory" when, after Fry and Leela both jump into [[CharlieAndTheChocolateParody the factory's Slurm river]] (Fry [[TooDumbToLive because he wants a drink]], Leela to rescue him), he surfaces with them:
--->'''Leela:''' Bender, why did you jump in?\\

* In a episode of ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' when Lilo wants to see Sludge mummies, which Mertle’s mother is taking Mertle to see and Lilo wants to go but Nani refuses let her and this leads to this exchange
-->'''Lilo:''' Mertle gets to see P-G movies, her mom goes with her.\\
'''Nani:''' Ooh, and if Mertle’s mom jumped off a cliff, I supposed you want me to do that too?\\

--->'''Leela:''' Bender, why did you jump in?
--->'''Bender:''' Everybody was doin' it. I just wanted to be popular.

--->'''Zeus:''' If the mortals jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?\\

* ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'': When Alan takes a shining to the mother of Jake's friend, Charlie, [[HypocriticalHumor of all people]], expresses his disapproval, only for Alan to tell him he's the last person to criticize him, considering the former had short-lived relationships with women affiliated with Jake (his aunt and grade school teacher to name a few).

* The [[Series/TheHauntingHour Haunting Hour]] episode "Checking Out" has the protagonist's parents asking the bridge question, to which he replies "If I could drive to it". This example is actually important as later on [[spoiler: the protagonist says the question to snap his parents out of mind control.]]

-->'''Mrs. Koothrappali:''' If your friends jumped into the Ganges would you follow them?\\
'''Raj:''' If you're standing there nagging me, I might.

* In the TV movie ''The Initiation Of Sarah'' Sarah's sister wants them to join the sorority together and Sarah asks "If I jumped off a bridge...?". Her sister cuts her off and insists that she would, reminding her of an incident in their childhood where she jumped off a garage roof after Sarah told her to.

* In a episode of ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' when Lilo wants to see Sludge mummies, which Mertle’s mother taking Mertle too see and Lilo wants to go but Nani refuses let her and this leads to this exchange

* In a episode of ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' when Lilo wants to see Sludge mummies, which Mertle’s mother taking her and Lilo wants to go but Nani refuses let her and this leads to this exchange

* In a episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/Lilo&Stitch:TheSeries]]'' when Lilo wants to see Sludge mummies, which Mertle’s mother taking her and Lilo wants to go but Nani refuses let her and this leads to this exchange

* In a episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series when Lilo wants to see Sludge mummies, which Mertle’s mother taking her and Lilo wants to go but Nani refuses let her and this leads to this exchange