History Main / MattressTagGag

Oh and if you remove it you void the warranty.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack: The Series'' features an alien race that's downright obsessive about law and order, complete with an ultra-brutal gulag for housing the many, many lawbreakers they round up. How strict are they? When Jay finds himself in the prison, [[WhatAreYouInFor he asks a fellow inmate what he's in for]], and, well, it turns out they take their mattress tags very seriously.

* When a woman catches reporter Film/{{Fletch}} searching her bedroom, he tries a few bluffs, including, "Mattress Police. Where are the tags on these mattresses?"

* The story "Above the Law, Below the Box Springs", in WoodyAllen's book ''Mere Anarchy''.

* An episode of the original ''{{WesternAnimation/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'' ends with the villain of the moment being thrown in jail for a variety of crimes, ending with mattress-tag ripping.

* ''Series/{{Mash}}'' pulls this one once, with the tag being from Henry's trousers rather than a mattress.

* JudgeDredd used this in a non-humorous [[TheComicallySerious (well, kinda; no-one was joking but it was still funny)]] manner. After they realize their hunch was wrong and they have raided the wrong house, in order to avoid paying compensation, the Judges find an alternate charge and give the householder a caution for "removing the safety tags from his soft furnishings".
* The short-lived ''BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'' comic-book has their arch-enemy [=DeNomolos=] releasing several evildoers (and an crooked accountant) from Hell, including "Alan! [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Murderer! Arsonist! Pillow tag tearer!]]"
* A ''{{WesternAnimation/Bonkers}}'' comic in DisneyAdventures has an especially epic example of this. After a character accidentally tears one mattress tag off -- which reads "Removing this tag is a federal offence. Go directly to jail. DoNotPassGo. Do not collect $200" -- and promptly goes off on a crime spree trying to ensure he can get away with this. Hiding it under a truckload of cherries, he crosses paths with Bonkers and Fall-Apart Rabbit when Rabbit's nose falls off and seemingly gets mixed in with the cherries. Believing they know about the mattress, he drives off with Fall-Apart Rabbit, moving up to kidnapping in addition to ripping off the tag and later attempting to burn the evidence.

** In another strip, Dilbert enters a stand up comedy competition which has the mandatory categories "Dan Quayle, Flatulence and The Warning Labels on Mattresess".

* A classic ''NationalLampoon'' cover, "The Crime Issue," done in the style of an old crime-pulp magazine cover: A shadowy room; in the background is a woman pressing her back against the wall and cringing in fear; in the foreground is a man's leather-gloved hands bending up the corner of a mattress and about to rip off the label: "This tag is not to be removed under penalty of LAW"!

* The picture and second quote above are from an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' called "Wanted: Wade", which is very similar to the above Looney Tunes example, except that Wade removes the tag from a sofa, and that he sees a police car near Roy's coop, where there is a problem with the stereo.

[[quoteright:290:[[WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/picture_9406_4407.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:290:They can't arrest me for removing this... can they?]]

[[quoteright:290:[[GarfieldAndFriends http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/picture_9406_4407.png]]]]

* L. Neil Smith's ''The Wardove'' includes the lyrics for a song, ''Do Not Remove This Tag'', sung professionally by one of the characters. The song's narrator removes the tag as a statement of her rights, but is then haunted by a feeling of having done wrong.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' set in a potential future where Darkwing has [[KnightTemplar gone mad and imprisoned anyone who commited even the most minor crimes]], he rants about how he hates criminals, ending with, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking "Especially those people who tear the tags off of pillows, I really hate them."]]

* In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0227.html the strip "AR&R"]] from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Miko the LawfulStupid KnightTemplar threatens the staff of a hotel with holy vengeance for this offense. As seen in the image above.

* The ''Series/NightCourt'' episode "Russkie Business" has recurring character Yakov Kovlenko, desperate to return to the [[SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]] to be with his sick mother, confessing to ripping out the tag of his mattress thinking it would get him deported.

[[caption-width-right:290:They can't arrest me for removing this...can they?]]

* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'', where Wade's imagination gets ahead of him, he envisions bank robbers (maybe serial killers?) [[EvenEvilHasStandards terrified]] at the prospect of sharing a cell with a pillow tag remover (''him'', no less!).
** The reason why he removed the tag? He thought it was Orson Pig's '''paper'''!

[[caption-width-right:290:What harm can it do?]]

-> ''Hey, Orson! Is this your paper here underneath the sofa?''

[[[[GarfieldAndFriends quoteright:290:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/picture_9406_4407.png]]]]

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[[quoteright:300:[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mattress-tag-gag_oots_3566.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[-[[LawfulStupid Some paladins take their job way too seriously.]]-] ]]

-> ''Orson! Is this your paper here underneath the sofa?''

-> ''Orson! Is this your paper underneath the sofa?''

* ''Film/PeeWeesBigAdventure'': Mickey, the fugitive who first picks Pee-Wee up, claims to be on the run from the police for that very reason to keep from scaring Pee-Wee; it's strongly implied that he really did something a lot worse than that.

The reason there is such a warning tag is that the tag lists such information as the materials used in making the mattress (especially, that they are "new material only" -- because of historical problems of things being stuffed with disease-ridden rags) and the country of origin. Thus, it is illegal for the ''seller'' of the mattress to remove the tag, in order to protect the consumer. The words ''"...except by the consumer"'' have been there since at least the 60s, making this a [[DiscreditedTrope Discredited]], DeadHorseTrope.

* Used in an issue of ''Magazine/{{Cracked}}'' for an article titled "You Might be Gullible If...". One entry was "...you believe those tags that say don ot remove under penalty of law" and showed a SWAT team kicking down the door just as man ripped the tag off the mattress.

* Used in an issue of ''Magazine/{{Cracked}}'' that showed a SWAT team kicking down the door just as man ripped the tag off the mattress.

* One of the LarryBoy chapter books had this listed as one of Awful Alvin's crimes.

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