History TakeThat / Advertising

* Apple Computer has a long history of TakeThat ads (but please, [[UsefulNotes/ComputerWars no OS warring here]] for the sake of sanity!):

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAN61QK0aUI&ab_channel=Upside Ford]] parodied the Cadillac ELR ''Poolside'' ad featuring Creator/NealMcDonough by featuring a woman who promoted urban farming and extolling the virtues of working hard for progress, not material gain. Cadillac's ad was criticized for being elitist.

* An ad campaign from KFC took aim at fried chicken shops that [[BlandNameProduct imitate their branding]] with a TV [[https://youtu.be/BwUSZdFY_IM ad]] showing the Colonel driving around a high street with fried chicken shops with names like "Texen Fried Chicken", "Memphis Fried Chicken" and so on which the narrator describes as "home of the imitators" and a print [[https://www.famouscampaigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/KFC15.jpg ad]] with a collage of photos of similary named fried chicken shops in alphabetical order (AFC, BFC, CFC, etc all except for K)

* Apple Computer has a long history of TakeThat ads (but please, [[MediaNotes/ComputerWars no OS warring here]] for the sake of sanity!):

* Apple Computer has a long history of TakeThat ads (but please, [[UsefulNotes/ComputerWars no OS warring here]] for the sake of sanity!):

* Back in The80s, when commercial UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}} was in its infancy, a vendor called "MT XINU" (which is [[TradeSnark "UNIX™"]] [[BackwardsName spelled backwards]]), published [[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ashaferian/Drive/master/Mt.Xinu%20BSD%20Poster.png this poster]] depicting a 4.2 BSD-powered X-Wing speeding away from an AT&T logo writhed in flames, with the {{Tagline}} "4.2 > V." [[labelnote:longer explanation]]AT&T had just lost their long-running antitrust lawsuit regarding the Bell System and were being forced to divest it; however, as a ConsolationPrize, they were being allowed to sell computers (and thus UNIX) at retail, which led to UNIX System V's first release in 1983. However, System V was slow, expensive, and had many gratuitous changes to it that many UNIX hackers, who cut their teeth on the older and faster UNIX Version 7, found unappealing compared to the not ''quite'' as slick but more featureful releases from the University of California at Berkeley (the B in BSD). MT XINU was one of the first companies to port and package BSD, and System V made AT&T an easy target, especially considering their new logo at the time--which they still use a variant of in TheNew20s--strongly resembled the [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]]... As for the TradeSnark, it comes from an example of OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope that dates back to the mid-1970s and eventually became a meme; AT&T insisted that all mentions of UNIX in ads and documentation be qualified with a "UNIX™ is a trademark of Bell Labs" disclaimer.[[/labelnote]]

*** There was another one, seen in an article in the Italian edition of the ''Nintendo Official Magazine'', discussing - you guessed it - the UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars themselves. It was a printed ad, showing a dog between the Platform/GameGear and the Platform/GameBoy, with the sentence: "If you were '''[[BoldInflation colorblind]]''' and had an IQ of less than twelve, then you wouldn't care which portable you had. Of course, you wouldn't care if you drank from the toilet, either." [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgVv1VHo15k Here's the TV version.]] Most notably, in retrospective, the writer of the article said "so basically, in other words, their message was, [[DontExplainTheJoke if you prefer the Game Boy over the Game Gear, then you're a dog.]] The world replied with a simple "woof."

** The famous Super Bowl ''Advertising/NineteenEightyFour'' commercial that heralded the first UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh, was meant to portray then-dominant Creator/{{IBM}} as Big Brother.

* Ads for ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996'' on the original UsefulNotes/PlayStation had a guy dressed as Crash show up at Nintendo headquarters with a megaphone, to taunt "Plumber-Boy". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTi5EaocGaY "You're hurting my elbow!"]] When Crash started appearing on Nintendo consoles, ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' had a faux-interview with Crash in which this trope was {{lampshade|Hanging}}d with Crash saying something to the effect that his antics in the commercial were "Nothing personal, it was all business related."

* The American commercial for ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' has Marcus (the spokesperson for the UsefulNotes/{{P|layStationPortable}}SP during its later years, in a spinoff from the Kevin Butler ads) saying about the game "This isn't some kiddie game that cousins play!" It's quite obvious he was making a stab at the DS, because a great majority of the DS's games are kid-friendly.

* UsefulNotes/{{P|layStation2}}S2 commercials from the 2002-2003 timeframe used the slogan "The only place to play".

** Sega even tried it with the UsefulNotes/PlayStation when the ill-fated UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn was released. Ads for the system and for one of its killer apps, ''VideoGame/NIGHTSIntoDreams'', referred to the [=PlayStation=] as "Plaything" and included such imagery as [[NightmareFuel a baby with a grown man's head]] and someone dropping a [=PlayStation=] console off a building. Sega were ''really damn bitter''.

*** There was another one, seen in an article in the Italian edition of the ''Nintendo Official Magazine'', discussing - you guessed it - the UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars themselves. It was a printed ad, showing a dog between the UsefulNotes/GameGear and the UsefulNotes/GameBoy, with the sentence: "If you were '''[[BoldInflation colorblind]]''' and had an IQ of less than twelve, then you wouldn't care which portable you had. Of course, you wouldn't care if you drank from the toilet, either." [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgVv1VHo15k Here's the TV version.]] Most notably, in retrospective, the writer of the article said "so basically, in other words, their message was, [[DontExplainTheJoke if you prefer the Game Boy over the Game Gear, then you're a dog.]] The world replied with a simple "woof."

*** One of the earliest take thats Nintendo issued at Sega was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw3xlQETf6k this]] Australian commercial for ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1989'', which featured a take that to the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem.
** Though Sega did some more take-thats of their own in 2001 -- while Sony was having problems with not having enough UsefulNotes/PlayStation2's on the shelves, during that year's E3 conference in Los Angeles, Sega drove a truck around the parking lot with a large message printed on the side: "Our condolences to Sony regarding their console shortage problems." This was accompanied by an even bigger picture of a young boy sticking his tongue out.
*** And speaking of Sony's problems, Microsoft's UsefulNotes/XBox360 campaigning during UsefulNotes/{{P|layStation3}}S3's launch was pure Take That glory. Highlights were crashing Sony's live broadcast launch party held on a ship by parking another ship in the background with a large Xbox 360 poster on the side, and Microsoft employees offering chairs for people queuing up for game stores on launch day, each chair decorated with an advert for a website where you could read Microsoft's sympathies for people having to wait in rain when they could have just played a 360 ages before.

** Ads for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 made numerous shots at the Xbox One, which had an unveiling that did not go over well.

* A Panasonic UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer commercial from 1994 (?) depicted a UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis and UsefulNotes/{{S|uperNintendoEntertainmentSystem}}NES being dropped into a toybox, with the narration "If you're not playing with a Panasonic 3DO system, then what ''are'' you playing with?" The commercial then cuts to footage from various 3DO games, then it cuts back to the toybox with the narration saying something along the lines of "Say goodbye to your old toys", and then it abruptly cuts to a static picture of the 3DO logo as we hear a gunshot.

* Back in TheEighties, when commercial UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}} was in its infancy, a vendor called "MT XINU" (which is [[TradeSnark "UNIX™"]] [[BackwardsName spelled backwards]]), published [[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ashaferian/Drive/master/Mt.Xinu%20BSD%20Poster.png this poster]] depicting a 4.2 BSD-powered X-Wing speeding away from an AT&T logo writhed in flames, with the {{Tagline}} "4.2 > V." [[labelnote:longer explanation]]AT&T had just lost their long-running antitrust lawsuit regarding the Bell System and were being forced to divest it; however, as a ConsolationPrize, they were being allowed to sell computers (and thus UNIX) at retail, which led to UNIX System V's first release in 1983. However, System V was slow, expensive, and had many gratuitous changes to it that many UNIX hackers, who cut their teeth on the older and faster UNIX Version 7, found unappealing compared to the not ''quite'' as slick but more featureful releases from the University of California at Berkeley (the B in BSD). MT XINU was one of the first companies to port and package BSD, and System V made AT&T an easy target, especially considering their new logo at the time--which they still use a variant of in TheNewTwenties--strongly resembled the [[Franchise/StarWars Death Star]]... As for the TradeSnark, it comes from an example of OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope that dates back to the mid-1970s and eventually became a meme; AT&T insisted that all mentions of UNIX in ads and documentation be qualified with a "UNIX™ is a trademark of Bell Labs" disclaimer.[[/labelnote]]

* Subway's ads in TheNewTens are trying to be Take Thats against fast food, but look more like Take Thats against ''anyone who eats it'', implying that [[FelonyMisdemeanor even one fast food meal "comes with" long lasting life ruining side effects.]] There's a specific campaign in which people start breaking chairs, popping buttons off their shirt and so on the second they sink their teeth into a burger. (One of these ads ends with someone taking a bag into their car from the drive-thru, and the tires immediately blow out.)

* In TheNineties Taco Bell once had a marketing campaign with ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' characters. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GAPx-8Yhg8 Boris Badenov sold "Boring McBoris Burgers"]], which were so dull the people of Frostbite Falls found [[AGoodOldFashionedPaintWatching watching grass grow]] to be entertaining (The grass later revealing to be Astro Turf). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF3tNF3NTFg One ad]] had Natasha note "What we want is what we get!", poking fun at a then-current [=McDonald's=] slogan. June Foray reprised her role of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Natasha for the commercials.

* Ads for [=DiGiorno=] frozen pizza often brag [[TagLine "It's not delivery; it's [=DiGiorno=]!"]], suggesting that the quality of their pizzas is on par with or even better than that of delivery pizza chains.

* Ads for [=DiGiorno=] frozen pizza often brag that the pizza is "not delivery; it's [=DiGiorno=]!", suggesting that the quality of their pizzas is on par with or even better than that of delivery pizza chains.

* The late Creator/BillyMays made an updated commercial for the Zorbeez absorbant towel where, at one point, he brags about the Zorbeez's washability, then [[https://youtu.be/CFdjbKDTTJU?t=40 taunts]], "Did ya get that, camera guy? -- a jab at Creator/VinceOffer's [=ShamWow=] commercial where [[https://youtu.be/1Q39yGLPkMY?t=51 he famously interjects]] "[[SignatureLine You followin' me, camera guy?]]" Mays saw Offer as TheRival and also disliked him, claiming that Offer ripped off some of his pitches.

* The late Creator/BillyMays made a commercial for the Zorbeez absorbant towel where, at one point, he [[https://youtu.be/CFdjbKDTTJU?t=40 brags about the Zorbeez's washability, then taunts, "Did ya get that, camera guy?]] -- a jab at Creator/VinceOffer's [=ShamWow=] commercial where he famously interjects "You followin' me, camera guy?" Mays saw Offer as TheRival and also disliked him, claiming that Offer ripped off some of his pitches.

* A TV spot for "The Jungle," a local children's playplace, asked a rhetorical question: "Where would you rather play? At home, or at the Jungle?" The "at home" scene depicted a monochrome shot of a couple kids playing on a Nintendo 64, looking bored, with the caption "Bo-o-ring!" in the upper left corner.

*** One of the earliest take thats Nintendo issued at Sega was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw3xlQETf6k this]] Australian commercial for ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'', which featured a take that to the UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem.

** Another Verizon commercial also pokes fun at ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' of all things with the Edward Cullen CaptainErsatz dumping the Bella Swan stand in because her phone (clearly an AT&T phone) has poor 3G coverage and running off only to find a bunch of girls with Verizon phones...and then a werewolf hits on "Bella".

* Indian mobile service provider Airtel has a series of ads featuring one young girl who brags about the very fast and very powerful 4G network, and often challenges random people to a test of network speed and connectivity. This ad's frequency across media, its overly bold claims and also frequent network connectivity issues with Airtel have annoyed so many Indians that the '4G girl', as she is called, has ended up becoming mocked and a subject of Take Thats time and again. Eventually, a new ad was released, where she is holidaying with her friends in the Northeastern part of India, where there may not be 4G coverage, while her friends keep [[TakeThatMe mocking her]] for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgoejZvAdbU talking non-stop and how the public gets a break from her]].

* Scotties has a bus stop ad series featuring a crying face captioned with two different hypothetical TearJerker scenarios (for example, [[https://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/scotties_broken_heart_broken_phone "Broken heart"/"Broken phone"]]). [[https://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/scotties_hillary_wins_donald_wins One particular ad]] that came out around the 2016 election had the double-barreled potshot [[SadisticChoice "Hillary wins"/"Donald wins"]].

* Print ads for the Atari Jaguar had a cartoon Jaguar about to attack [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros Mario, Yoshi,]] and Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog.

* In a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_EFGMyfYoc Pizza Hut advertisement]] promoting ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', two Hill Valley teens from 1989 travel to the year 2015 in the [=DeLorean=] and soon start craving for pizza. One of them suggests, "What about that place that delivers?" They approach a building with a sign on the window saying "We Deliver". The camera tilts up, and what is the name of the building they've come to? '''Domino's Hardware'''. This revelation causes them to wonder, "What happened to them?"