| 1 | A character in a TV show or movie hops onto their computer, and begins to type in a URL into a Web browser as part of the plot. Or perhaps you spot a URL in a panel of a comic book, or hear a friendly voiceover in a video game, telling you to visit their site. |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Cue every geek who saw it attempting to open up their Web browser and check the website in real life. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | This sometimes succeeds: Most media companies have rules requiring producers to buy any domain name they show on the screen before the movie or TV show is released, so that if someone actually tries to visit it, they get to do some extra marketing ''and'' avoid the risk of liability and bad publicity for effectively [=DDoS=]ing some third-party's website. Many producers create a nice Web site designed to promote the show, that usually [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall leans on the fourth wall]] by creating the website as it would be in-universe. |
| 6 | |
| 7 | A variation of this would be to just buy the domain and hold on to it for as long as possible to prevent spammers and cybercriminals from appropriating the domain name. There are companies such as [=MarkMonitor=] who specialise in this on behalf of clients who wish to keep their intellectual properties from being tarnished or misused, especially considering how some of the examples below ended up being used by porn websites of all things. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | Sometimes this can be an [[CharacterBlog in-universe blog of characters]] (which may also double as a FourthWallMailSlot). |
| 10 | |
| 11 | Pioneered by {{Alternate Reality Game}}s, and also used for ViralMarketing. Can be a form of InUniverseMarketing as well. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | In video games, this can be used as a form of ParadiegeticGameplay. See also FiveFiveFive (the prefix for fictional phone numbers) which exists for similar reasons. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | ---- |
| 16 | !!Examples: |
| 17 | |
| 18 | Due to the nature of the Web, please specify whether the URL is active or defunct when adding examples. If the site is active (at the time, anyway), please also provide a link. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 21 | |
| 22 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 23 | * One Advertising/EnergizerBunny commercial had inmyunderwear.com, devoted to online sale of underwear so that you could be "surfing in your underwear". It used to actually sell underwear, but is now a porn tube site. |
| 24 | * There's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Y2XQySgDM an Orkin pest control commercial]] wherein a giant termite mentions blinddatelove.com. Although the domain name redirects to Orkin's site now, it used to be a [[PlayedForLaughs parody of a dating website]] where half of the prospective dates were vermin. |
| 25 | * Every single Twitter account [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXfLrt90CHM in a series of commercials]] for ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted'' is real, and [[http://badguytalent.com/ the website]] that [=@RICHPLAYA33=] [[https://twitter.com/RICHPLAYA33/status/421756432367644672 tweeted about]] was real (serving as a hub for a contest where the winner would receive a trip to the movie's premiere in Los Angeles) until it was changed into a redirect to the ''Muppets Most Wanted'' page on Disney's website at some point in 2018, years after the movie's home release. The badguytalent.com website was previously spotted in a trailer, on Dominic Badguy's business card (it was changed to a fake email address when the movie actually released). |
| 26 | * Above the Influence had [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teenage_anti_drug_message_couch_security_8031b05e8fb5a69a3277255391.jpg two print ads]] [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teenage_anti_drug_message_remote_control_232bdd5b1bb6f18500899cdb7f.jpg against marijuana use]] which looked like ads for slacker-friendly jobs, such as Couch Security and a professional Remote Control operator. The ads directed readers to [[https://web.archive.org/web/20081207111240/http://www.couchsecurity.com/ now defunct]] [[https://web.archive.org/web/20081208142150/http://remotecontroloperator.com/ URLs to fill out a form]], which if one visited when the sites were still up, only consisted of an image of the ad's spokesperson mocking you for believing it was a real job and suggesting you visit the Above the Influence website instead. |
| 27 | [[/folder]] |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 30 | * Shogun's [=URLs=] from ''VisualNovel/ChaosHead'' lead to gruesome anime pictures with Haritsuke no Misa's case victims on them. |
| 31 | * In the English dub of ''Anime/DuelMasters'', Kintaro (dressed as Hakuoh) introduces himself by sending his cape flying, and tells another character that you can buy them at noveltyflyingcapes.com. Plastic Cow had registered the site for the one-shot gag. The link is currently defunct, but a reproduction of its content can be found [[http://dpak.deviantart.com/art/NoveltyFlyingCapes-com-8391283 here]]. |
| 32 | * After the ''Literature/{{Durarara}}!!'' anime began airing, fan-versions of the show's Dollars chat room were created. And now we have a site based on the idea of the group of the series. The most accurate is called [[http://dollars-bbs.org/ Dollars-bbs]] |
| 33 | * In ''Manga/InitialD'', the racing team Project D has the domain name of "project.d", despite ".d" not being a valid top-level domain. |
| 34 | %%* ''Anime/GalaxyAngelRune'' episode 8 involves [[HarassingPhoneCall haunted text messages]] being sent from the nonexistent site [=http://xgi92.hxbleg.ga=]. |
| 35 | %%* If you're quick, you can catch an ad in a newspaper in one scene from ''Manga/HidamariSketch'' for ''[[ShowWithinAShow Fashionable Detective Lovely Chocolat]]'' complete with a (nonexistent) URL: www.shqft-wed.co.jp. |
| 36 | * ''Anime/HellGirl'' has the Jigoku Tsuushin website, the site that is accessed when people want to send others to hell. Naturally, someone created an actual URL, and is only one of many Jigoku Tsuushin sites. Link [[http://www.jigokutsushin.co.nr/ here]]. |
| 37 | * In chapter 101 of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', Kaguya shows a QR code on her phone so she and Shirogame can exchange LINE [=ID=]s. Scanning it will pull up a link for purchasing the series' official LINE stickers. |
| 38 | * In ''Kiramekiman'' (one of the series from the ''Anime/TimeBokan'' franchise), the main characters are phantom thieves who announce their heists on a website named kiramekiman.com. While the show was airing, the address actually worked and brought to [[https://web.archive.org/web/20000612085536/http://www.kiramekiman.com/ the show's official website]], with the homepage featuring the calling card from the next episode to be aired. |
| 39 | * In ''Literature/NoGameNoLife'', Tet sends an email to Sora and Shiro with the weblink, "[=http://www.disboard-the-boardtop-world.info=]". Entering the site during the anime airing led to Tet presenting some sort of quiz. It was timed, in Japanese, ran on Adobe Flash, and couldn't be auto-translated. The link became defunct in 2017 and now redirects to the Kadokawa site. |
| 40 | * In ''Literature/{{Paprika}}'', the characters visit radioclub.jp. Around 2007, the real-world site deliberately gave an error page saying "Cannot find server, DC mini error" at the bottom, and contained links to the movie's website. Nowadays, the site leads to an unrelated [=YouTube=] account. |
| 41 | * Ichigo was shown posting an entry on the group's blog at one point in ''Manga/SeiyusLife''. The web address is part of the official site for the anime. |
| 42 | * ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'': The last episode of ''Alicization: War of the Underworld'' has Yui giving Kirito an IP address: 52.68.96.58. In-universe, it's the Underworld server's IP address. Out-of-universe, it contained [[https://www.reddit.com/r/swordartonline/comments/ivwj6h/the_ip_address_shown_in_todays_episode_is/ a plot-relevant wallpaper]]. Unfortunately, it no longer works, only giving a generic "misconfigured server" page nowadays. |
| 43 | * ''Manga/UntilDeathDoUsPart'' has www.prizeneck.com. Entering it once directed the user to a promotional site which had its main page replicate the site's contents in-universe. Going there now, however, redirects the visitor to the publisher's page, and attempts to see it using the Wayback Machine will lead to pages consisting almost entirely of broken images. |
| 44 | [[/folder]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 47 | * One ''Comicbook/AstroCity'' story had a character looking up the hero Roustabout on herocopia.com. If you looked up herocopia.com at the time, you got taken to the same page on Roustabout as the characters saw. These days [[http://www.herocopia.com herocopia.com]] is a sanctioned fan site for ''Comicbook/AstroCity''. |
| 48 | * In ''ComicBook/{{Checkmate}}'' Carl Draper (the [[HeelFaceTurn former villain]] Deathtrap, now Checkmate's head of security) has a blog at http://www.gideonii.com/ the address of which was visible on panel. (You need the username "CARL DRAPER" and password "wilhelmina" to access it.) |
| 49 | * A couple of characters in Glyn Dillon's ''The Nao Of Brown'' are fans of the fictional manga and anime series ''Ichi'' by the equally fictional Gil Ichiyama a teaser on the website http://ichi-anime.jp is mentioned. |
| 50 | * An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Nova}}'' had, as part of a discussion on how Richard's brother had a BigBrotherWorship attitude towards him, the idea that he subscribed to "all the fan-sites." Onscreen at the time is a real fansite, [[http://novaprimepage.com/ Nova Prime Page]]. |
| 51 | * ''ComicBook/TheWickedAndTheDivine'' #7 gives the url https://tinyletter.com/DionysianKissStory, which takes one to an actual website to subscribe to updates on the event. |
| 52 | [[/folder]] |
| 53 | |
| 54 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 55 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'': |
| 56 | ** It once used this trick: [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2000/09/07 One of the strips]] has the titular cat ordering coffee from a site called coffeequick.com, which Jim Davis apparently registered and checked for visitors IRL. |
| 57 | ** Earlier, [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2000/07/30 this strip]] had Odie registering dingleball.com. Both sites led to web games which could be found on the now-defunct official ''Garfield'' website: "Dingle Ball" for the Dingleball.com strip and "Bean Me!" for the Coffeequick.com strip. |
| 58 | * ''ComicStrip/PricklyCity'' managed to screw this one up by mentioning a fake URL ([=CoyotePAC.org=]) in one comic that the authors didn't bother to register in real life. Cue a porn spammer grabbing the real-life domain as quickly as possible after the comic was printed. Oops. |
| 59 | [[/folder]] |
| 60 | |
| 61 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 62 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' has the phone number 1-844-MML-MSNG. Calling it in RealLife gave you [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6j_CCGJqPc this gem.]] |
| 63 | * A KitschyLocalCommercial was released for the Mario Bros plumbing company from ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' complete with a link to a functional [[https://www.smbplumbing.com/ smbplumbing.com]] website. |
| 64 | * The fictional boyband ''[=4*TOWN=]'', from ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', have [[https://www.4town.com/ 4town.com]]. |
| 65 | [[/folder]] |
| 66 | |
| 67 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 68 | * ''Film/TheRing'': For a long time, http://www.moeskoislandlighthouse.com/ existed. It was moved to http://www.sweb.cz/moesko/ by fans. |
| 69 | * ''Film/{{Transformers|2007}}'': ladiesman217 [[http://www.ebay.com/usr/ladiesman217 is an actual registered e-Bay user]], with objects occasionally for sale (but unfortunately unrelated to the movie). |
| 70 | * A companion piece that ran as a sort of infomercial on the [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci Fi Channel]], called "The Curse of the Blair Witch," featured the website http://www.blairwitch.com/ for ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' that was in theaters at the same time, which was part of the very successful viral marketing campaign. The website, at the time, spoke of events in a very ATrueStoryInMyUniverse sort of way, and had a lot of people believing that, "In October 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later, their footage was found." |
| 71 | * The Creator/KevinSmith film ''Film/JayAndSilentBobStrikeBack'' features a website called Movie Poop Shoot. Not only was a real website created as a tie-in (where Smith blogged about his productions), for a while it actually operated as a legitimate movie review site (reviews from the site are even indexed by Rotten Tomatoes). |
| 72 | * In ''Film/AboutABoy'' Will talks about his day in regards of "units of time". While talking about his "web-based research" (two units) Will visits supermodelswithseethroughtops.com, yet it's never shown what's on the site. See for yourself... |
| 73 | * ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'' has a post-credits scene with http://thedailybugle.net/, an active website. |
| 74 | [[/folder]] |
| 75 | |
| 76 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 77 | * ''Literature/{{Arthur}}'': The ''Arthur's Thanksgiving'' book has an illustration of a bulletin board, and you can see what's apparently Arthur's phone number on it. According to [[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/arts/television/marc-brown-arthur-ending.html the book's author]], this was actually his own home phone number. Every Thanksgiving, kids would repeatedly call him and ask if Arthur was there. (His wife usually answered "No, he's at the library.") |
| 78 | * A first-person account of the dangers of predators in online chats was written by one Katie Tarbox and published by Penguin under the title ''[=Katie.com=]''. Only one problem: At the time of publication, the domain [=katie.com=] belonged to a completely different person who was unaffiliated with the book, and who had had the domain well before Tarbox even started writing. Someone at Penguin was ''really'' not thinking things through. Oh, and to make things even more facepalm-worthy, the original title of the book was ''[=Girl.com=]'', but Penguin was fine with scrapping ''that'' title when it found out that a porn site was at that URL at the time. Ironically enough, the domain name was sold, and now ''[=Katie.com=]'' is a porn site as well. Eventually, Penguin and Tarbox dropped the .com gimmick and retitled the book ''A Girl's Life Online''. |
| 79 | * A ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' novel had a fight with a giant hamster, with a warning that urged the reader to visit whenhamstersattack.com. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20051125030056/http://www.whenhamstersattack.com/index.php It, of course, exists]]. |
| 80 | * In Literature/TheNightCircus, when [[spoiler:Bailey becomes the modern proprietor of the circus]], his email address is listed as ''[=bailey@nightcircus.com=]''. Guess what author Erin Morgenstern's email domain name is? |
| 81 | * ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' had www.earthisours.com (defunct, though some of it exists on the Wayback Machine) and "The Yeerks Are Here" websites, (the second based on a website the kids found in 'The Warning') though the real sites were fan-made, not official. |
| 82 | * The website www.t-grad.com is described in a series ''The Secret City'' by Vadim Panov. In the fictional world, the website was used by secret ancient magic races of Moscow. The input demanded finger pressing to the screen for identification of the user. The real website doesn't demand it... or so it seems. |
| 83 | * The comedic YA sci-fi series ''Literature/{{Outernet}}'' revolved around an intergalactic computer network (the titular "Outernet") used by [[LaResistance a group of benevolent alien freedom fighters]] to exchange information and maintain communication. The web address "[=Go2Outer.net=]", which the main characters used to access the Outernet, was once a real website, which linked to an ARG role-playing game where readers could join up with the Friends Intelligence Bureau and undertake missions relating to the plot of the books. |
| 84 | * A major website within ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' is www.parahumans.net, home to the Parahumans Online wiki and forums which discuss the activities of heroes and villains. Initially, it redirected to the Worm homepage, but later it was repurposed as the location for Worm's sequel ''Literature/{{Ward}}''. |
| 85 | [[/folder]] |
| 86 | |
| 87 | [[folder:Live-action TV]] |
| 88 | * ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': In a fifth season flashback, Oliver interrogates a criminal to find out how to meet his boss. The criminal gives the IP address [[http://www.cwtv.com/ 108.166.7.161]], which redirects to the CW website. |
| 89 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': In the first episode of the new series, Rose uses a search engine called Search-Wise to find information about the Doctor; both Search-Wise.net and the conspiracy web site she finds exist in real life, the former maintained by an independent IT company as a service for British film and television program makers and the latter a creation of the BBC's web team. The series went on to accumulate a large number of tie-in web sites. |
| 90 | * ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' had Oscar Bluth's "blog" (which was static, not really a blog) imoscar.com. And as of the final episode, imnoscar.com for [[spoiler:one of Saddam Hussein's doubles, who claims he doesn't have a scar where the real Hussein does]]. Both are now defunct. |
| 91 | * ''Series/BostonPublic'': Sheryl Holt's website, holt45.com. Featured in-universe news, blogs, polls, and her flash movies in full and uncensored. The address began redirecting to Fox's front page circa summer 2003, two years after her character's last appearance, and right before the final season premiered. |
| 92 | * Walter Jr's website savewalterwhite.com from ''Series/BreakingBad'' is a real website designed to look exactly like it looked in the series. At the time the show aired, the donation button would redirect to a message by the creators encouraging to donate money to real cancer patients; now it redirects to the show's website. |
| 93 | * ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' has the porn cam site va-va-va-broom.com. When the domain was up, it resembled what was seen in the show. |
| 94 | * ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': |
| 95 | ** Dane Cook was on the show and his opening monologue concerned Website/YouTube, and how you can type any random keystrokes in and get at least one hit, including "A:F6". The next day, sure enough, there were a bunch of new videos either named or tagged A colon F6. |
| 96 | ** Several years ago there was a spoof ad for a bank called "clownpenis.fart." They were late getting online and that was the last domain name left in the entire internet. |
| 97 | ** Creator/SigourneyWeaver was looking for herself online and found a NipSlip on "eyesugar.biz," which redirects to NBC. |
| 98 | ** [=http://www.patnpattisslackssnacksandknickknacks@patnpattisbackpackshack.ack=] from one skit was defictionalized at one point. |
| 99 | * Both ''Series/TheDailyShow'' and ''Series/TheColbertReport'' have jokingly mentioned [=URLs=], which actually lead to the sites portrayed. One of the latest examples at the time of writing is https://DontTrustTheInternet.net/ |
| 100 | * ''Series/GhostWhisperer'' displayed a URL on-screen a few times. Actually going to those sites would send you to tie-ins for the series. |
| 101 | * ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'' had an episode where a character was shown writing on ''Website/TelevisionWithoutPity'' under the username whojackie. The creators/writers of the show had already written on the site under that username not only the comments that were read aloud on the episode, but also a lot of other stuff for days ahead of time. After the episode aired they even had "Joy" post on the site under Jackie's name, mirroring the events of the episode. All of the details are discussed in the ''DVDCommentary'' of that episode with some admins/mods of ''Website/TelevisionWithoutPity''. |
| 102 | * ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': |
| 103 | ** In [[Recap/TheBigBangTheoryS1E10TheLoobenfeldDecay "The Loobenfeld Decay"]], Sheldon worries that Penny will discover that Leonard lied about a symposium when she goes to a page on socalphysicsgroup.org and sees there's no scheduling conflict with her musical recital. If Penny cared the least bit about corroborating Leonard and Sheldon's prior commitment, she would use Google, which is a website Warner Bros. does not control. Prior to the episode's original airdate, the producers bought the domain name and it still points to a landing page on the Warner Bros. website as of 2022. |
| 104 | ** [=PennyBlossoms.com=] in the episode where the geeks open an online store. Yep, the site exists, and it's owned by the production company. |
| 105 | ** In addition, an actual Wolowizard Website/YouTube account posted the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JwsRg6h28c Physicists Gone Wild]]" video from [[Recap/TheBigBangTheoryS1E9TheCooperHofstadterPolarization another episode]], but then it disappeared. (thankfully, someone mirrored it) |
| 106 | * ''Series/TheITCrowd'': |
| 107 | ** Friendface.co.uk did exist, but displayed a page showing that Friendface has been "blocked by Reynholm Industries' network". |
| 108 | ** [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=TNETENNBA The Urban Dictionary page for "Tnetennba"]]. Includes "One who looks up words which have been [[ScrabbleBabble artificially created for the purpose of fiction or comedy]]". |
| 109 | ** [[http://howlonghaveyougot.com/ Howlonghaveyougot.com]] from "Return of the Golden Child" exists, and the questions match those from the episode. |
| 110 | * ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' does this constantly. Website/TheOtherWiki has a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_I_Met_Your_Mother long list]] compiled of them. For example, the rate-your-teacher website from "Subway Wars" did exist in real life for a time, and Ted is consistently rated as "Awesome" although his lecture slides are noted to feature drunk chicks on a toilet and he is said to teach at "Hogwarts Middle School -- Architecture section". |
| 111 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' Season 1 had a group of nerds with their website, Hellhound's Lair. Googling this brings up the site with a bunch of the American Urban Myths that other episodes of Supernatural had used. |
| 112 | * ''Series/ICarly'' has quite a few examples from links on its show, like: http://worldofchucks.com or http://chickapedia.com, which redirect to the iCarly website. And [[ShowWithinAShow iCarly.com itself]]. Many websites not even directly mentioned in the show as well -- for example ''[=TheSlap=]'', which appears only at the beginning of the intro credits later became [[Series/{{Victorious}} Hollywood Arts' social networking site]], as well as the ''[[Creator/DanSchneider DanWarp]]'' page. |
| 113 | ** The iCarly website no longer works, and if one types it into the search bar, it redirects to the Nickelodeon website. And if you try to go to [=TheSlap=], you will get redirected to the ''Victorious'' page on Nick.com |
| 114 | * In season 3 of ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'', a villain at one point mentions the website http://www.sylviaimports.com/. Going to that URL got you a message from the show's producers, which eventually became pretty outdated. As of 2016, the domain is for sale. |
| 115 | * There have been several ''Series/{{Lost}}'' ARG websites, the earliest of which was oceanic-air.com, a site for the InUniverse Oceanic Airlines. It also contained a few {{Easter Egg}}s for the show (no longer available). Amusingly, a later ARG site that was about the InUniverse Apollo Candy became a porn site once the producers sold the domain. |
| 116 | * ''Series/{{Felicity}}'' had http://www.noelcrane.com/ |
| 117 | * Conan O'Brien made an off-hand joke on ''Late Night'' about http://hornymanatee.com. Because of (according to Conan) legal reasons, NBC actually had to buy the URL. It used to feature fan art, plus a donation link to a manatee help group. Now it just links to NBC. |
| 118 | * ''Series/TheLWord'' would like to redirect this browser to http://www.ourchart.com/ Did you get that? It's [[ProductPlacement OurChart.com]] |
| 119 | * The final episode of ''Series/{{Monk}}'' has Monk saying that Molly hosts movie reviews at [=MollyEvansReviews.com=]. Although now defunct, the website once allowed visitors to purchase Monk [=DVDs=] and books. |
| 120 | * ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' has http://www.thescienceofdeduction.co.uk, Sherlock's personal website. |
| 121 | ** Plus, a couple of blogs: [[http://www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/ John's,]] and [[http://www.mollyhooper.co.uk/blog/ Molly's]]. |
| 122 | ** And [[http://www.connieprince.co.uk/ Connie's.]] |
| 123 | * ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'' has an episode where Charlie discovers a website called http://www.charlieharpersucks.com which has mean information about him. It used to have such information, but is now a redirect to the show's main page. |
| 124 | ** Another episode has the characters mention a couple of fake porn websites. In real life you'll be greeted by a message from the writers berating you for trying to go to a porn site. |
| 125 | * The titular character of ''Series/NathanBarley'' boasted about registering his site, Trashbat, in the Cook Islands so it would end with "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything .co.ck]]". The producers actually did the very same thing with [[http://www.trashbat.co.ck the site they set up for the show]]. |
| 126 | * Series/{{Psychoville}} featured several examples. |
| 127 | * The ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'' episode "The Tale of Station 109.1" had http://www.radiospace.com/. |
| 128 | * ''Series/{{Angel}}'' had Cordelia joking about [[http://www.oh-by-the-way-we-have-darla-stashed-here.com/ a handy website used to find Darla]]. |
| 129 | * ''Series/Jericho2006'' set up [=JenningsandRall.com=], supposedly the in-universe Web site of Jennings and Rall, the corporation with a significant role in the second season of the series. It offered hints as to events on the show. The domain name has since lapsed, but the site can be seen [[http://jenningsandrall.tomtooman.com/ here]]. |
| 130 | * ''Series/HappyEndings'' has www.steakmehometonight.com, which advertises Dave's food truck. The site has commercials for the truck, today's specials and links to the Twitter and Facebook pages (which exist) for the nonexistent food truck. |
| 131 | * ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': |
| 132 | ** Late in season 2, Stella finds out her boyfriend had posted a sex tape on the site www.aresanob.com ('Bonasera', her last name, backwards). The site had a message saying "Click here to see what Stella saw," then showed the sex tape clip and an extended promo for the next ep, "All Access" (now it just takes you to the CBS page). |
| 133 | ** 'Hung Out To Dry', the first Shane Casey episode, had http://www.kodecan.com, which was based off the real life Edoc Laundry clothing line and website, whose products appeared in the episode. It's dead now. |
| 134 | ** Lookinatchu, the online chat site from 'Unfriendly Chat' was made real for a while. |
| 135 | * Drew Carey once made a joke on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' about Brad Sherwood, playing a superhero called Prissy Boy, having the e-mail address "[=PrissyBoy@aol.com=]". After the game is done, he acknowledged that [=PrissyBoy@aol.com=] was going to get a thousand e-mails. Luckily, when they checked, they didn't find anyone. Colin Mochrie was bleeped for telling the "actors" in Hollywood Director that you could see them on "www.crap.com". |
| 136 | * ''Series/TheAmandaShow'''s recurring skit involving LoonyFan Penelope Taynt eventually had Taynt creating an in-universe fan website called "[=www.amandaplease.com=]" (named after her famous catchphrase and VerbalTic), which was devoted to praising her idol Amanda Bynes in the creepiest fashion possible. At the time the show was broadcast, it was indeed a working website, and all of the games and videos that Taynt described on her ShowWithinAShow could be found there. Though the URL itself is now defunct, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} has archived the site [[http://www.nick.com/amandaplease/ here]] (region locked to USA). |
| 137 | * ''Series/OpenHeart'' features a tie-in ''app'', "Open Heart: Unlocked", which allows viewers to access Dylan's phone. You can see texts from the characters, photos, and access Dylan’s pinblr account, which are updated in real time during and between episodes. |
| 138 | * Typing in "[=SeeStanBlog.com=]" into your web browser will merely redirect you to the Creator/DisneyChannel webpage for ''Series/DogWithABlog'', but unlike other shows' webpages the site is actually modeled closely after Stan's blog as seen on the show, including featuring [[http://disneychannel.disney.com/fatherhood?cds the blog entries he writes in the show]] ([[http://disneychannel.disney.com/another-dog-show?cds and many that aren't seen on the show]]). As of 2017, the URL redirects to the list of shows on [=DisneyNOW=]. |
| 139 | * ''Series/LazyTown'' had pixelspix.com, for the episode "Pixelspix," which redirected to the show's official website. As for 2015, the domain is for sale. |
| 140 | * In ''Series/FreshOffTheBoat'', in the episode "Phil's Phaves", Louis and Jessica find a website named [=philsphaves.com=] that reviewed Cattleman's Ranch (the restaurant that Louis owns). [[http://philsphaves.com/ Now you, too, can visit a website]] [[StylisticSuck that was designed to look like it was made in the 1990s.]] |
| 141 | * ''Series/TheHauntingHour'' episode "Argh V" shows the main character looking up something on "search.com", intended to be a BrandX version of Google. Interestingly, it links to [[https://www.search.com an actual search engine]]. |
| 142 | [[/folder]] |
| 143 | |
| 144 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 145 | * Music/AlanJackson created an "alanjacksonmemory.com" website as a tie-in to his 2000 single "www.memory". |
| 146 | * The music video for Music/CharliePuth's song "One Call Away" has him look up his girlfriend, Ellie, on the fictional social media site "promenade.club". Accessing it today will give a "server not found" message, but if you looked it up in 2020 or earlier, you'll get [[http://web.archive.org/web/20201109001209/http://promenade.club/ a recreation of Ellie's page]], complete with links to Puth's real social medias. |
| 147 | * One of Music/{{Caparezza}}'s songs ended with a spoken part mentioning the site "Staperarrivarelafinedelmondo.com" ("The End of the World is Near.com"). Now it's defunct, it used to redirect to a blog page maintained by a ConspiracyTheorist about natural disasters and the conspiracies that cause them in order to destroy the world. The stupidity of conspiracy theories is the theme of another song from that album. Sadly, a couple weeks after the album came out, [[HarsherInHindsight the 2011 Fukushima incident happened]], indirectly "proving the point" of the fake blogger. |
| 148 | * In September 2022, Music/GoodKid released a series of {{Parody Commercial}}s to promote their single "No Time to Explain." The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0swTZZ3mzQ 2000s-style infomercial]] has the URL "göödkidofficial.com" flash on-screen. Visiting the URL took you to a website styled after the 90s informercial, complete with gaudy [=GIFs=], flashing text, and scan lines over the screen. A link to the song, and the official Good Kid website, are also included. It went offline sometime in the second half of 2023. Interestingly, this was a fan-made website; Good Kid planned to make it a real site, but ran out of time. They were impressed with the fan product, though. |
| 149 | -->'''Jacob''': If a fan saw that we didn't make it, and made a real website with this stuff in it I'll be very very impressed/thankful it's not a scam. |
| 150 | * A rare variant of this (especially these days) is the use of a real phone number that people can call for a tie-in. Music/MojoNixon had a minor hit in the 1980s with "619-239-KING", where he asked listeners -- or, preferably, the man himself -- to call in if they had information about whether Music/ElvisPresley was still alive. The number was real. |
| 151 | * Music/{{Prozzak}}: The music video for "www.nevergetoveryou" shows a ".com" silently typed onto the end. The site was used to promote the song in the early 2000's and is now defunct. |
| 152 | * Typing 867-5309, from the Music/TommyTutone song name, for your area code works for the club card at many chain grocery stores in the U.S. |
| 153 | [[/folder]] |
| 154 | |
| 155 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 156 | * a RunningGag on ''Podcast/MyBrotherMyBrotherAndMe'' Justin will buy pretty much every available domain joked about on the show. The list as of August 2019 is |
| 157 | ** mysmoothface.com (redirects to MBMBaM) |
| 158 | ** teengoogle.com (redirects to Still Buffering) |
| 159 | ** blapron.com (redirects to blueapron.com/mybrother) |
| 160 | ** booboonanny.com (redirects to MBMBaM) |
| 161 | ** fartpatrol.com (redirects to MBMBaM) |
| 162 | ** trystink.com (redirects to winc.com) |
| 163 | ** griffinspacejam.com (currently down) |
| 164 | ** dadyelp.com (redirects to We Got This with Mark and Hal) |
| 165 | ** illegal.horse (redirects to mcelroy.family) |
| 166 | ** sexymugshots.com (redirects to [=McElroy=] [=YouTube=]) |
| 167 | ** myyoungestsonsseventhword-myyoungestsonsfifteenthword.pizza(appears to be down) |
| 168 | ** haunted.pizza (redirects to vote.org) |
| 169 | ** lilyisaverygoodgirl.com (redirects to Justin's twitter) |
| 170 | ** Also Travis owns buttercupisaverygoodgirl.com which contains pictures of his dog princess buttercup, and a note that she is a very good dog. |
| 171 | [[/folder]] |
| 172 | |
| 173 | [[folder:Puppet Shows]] |
| 174 | * In 2002, ''Series/SesameStreet'' episode [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_3997 3997]] featured Oscar the Grouch seeing a commercial for the grouch amusement park Six Crabs Yucky World. The commercial showed the URL [=http://yuckyworld.org/=], which Oscar subsequently visited on the show. Sesame Workshop had intended to register the site before the episode aired but the paperwork had fallen through the cracks and not been filed by air time, leading a lucky viewer to help them out -- there's actually an interesting story involving this one.[[note]]An adult viewer saw this episode when it premiered, and, amused by the .org domain, visited the Yucky World site, only to discover that the producers had neglected to register the domain. He quickly registered it himself, putting up [[http://waxwolf.com/yuckyworld.org/index-old.html a placeholder page]]. Soon thereafter, he was contacted by Sesame Workshop and transferred the domain to them, and the viewer received several e-mails from parents who had watched the show and visited the site, thanking him for keeping the domain from being registered by a ShockSite. Today the yuckyworld.org domain, while no longer functioning as a website, is still owned by Sesame Workshop.[[/note]] |
| 175 | [[/folder]] |
| 176 | |
| 177 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 178 | * Creator/WhiteWolf's ''TabletopGame/HunterTheReckoning'': The game mentioned a website with the URL "www.hunter-net.org", where the title characters would get together and discuss hunting monsters. Several websites with that URL (or something similar) were created in RealLife. |
| 179 | [[/folder]] |
| 180 | |
| 181 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 182 | * The book that came with Lanie Holland from [[Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection American Girl]]'s Girl of the Year line lists Lanie and her friend's email addresses as "hollandnotthecountry@4natr.net" and "dakotanotthestate@4natr.net" respectively. Visiting the 4natr.net domain will redirect you to the Mattel website. As mentioned above, this was done to prevent unscrupulous parties from using the domain, especially considering how it was mentioned in a children's novel. Perhaps Mattel didn't like the idea of young girls trying to visit the URL only for said children to end up in [[{{Squick}} a rather inappropriate shock site]], hence why they pre-emptively had the domain parked for themselves to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. |
| 183 | [[/folder]] |
| 184 | |
| 185 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 186 | * ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' has a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Capacity_Color_Barcode#Microsoft_Tag Microsoft Tag]] in the top floor of the mental health retreat. It directs you to a phone number, and if you let your smartphone dial it you will get the answering machine for the place you are in in the game. (The answering machine is full, so you can't leave a message.) |
| 187 | * ''VideoGame/TheCave'' has one for the Third Trial of Zenness, a variation on the ThreePlusFiveMakeFour puzzle. [[http://www.monkpuzzle.com/ This is the only page.]] Lampshaded later by The Cave, who states that using exterior sources to help you is unfair (but he'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time). |
| 188 | * The ''Film/AustinPowers'' video game spinoff ''Austin Powers: Oh, Behave!'' has www.ssh.com appear in one of its minigames. At the time, it really pointed to a random website that was related to some school, later becoming a personal website. It is now claimed by a commercial-grade product. |
| 189 | * ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'': Arkham Asylum has an in-universe Web site, www.arkhamcare.com, as does the Gotham Municipal Service, www.gothamcitymunicipal.com. |
| 190 | * The ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' games started doing this way back in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII GTA 3]]''. Anyone remember www.petsovernight.com? For a few more specific examples: |
| 191 | ** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoLibertyCityStories'' had a couple of Web sites named off by the game's radio stations, as well as appearing in the game's manual, which was written as a newspaper. |
| 192 | ** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' and ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' featured several websites used for its InUniverse Internet. All of them just redirect you to Rockstar Games if you try typing them into your browser, however. |
| 193 | * ''Videogame/{{Doom 3}}'' has various spam messages readable in the PDA that point to www.martianbuddy.com. Going on that site would give you a code to unlock two weapon lockers in the game. |
| 194 | ** As of ''[[UpdatedRerelease BFG Edition]]'', www.martianbuddy.com redirects to Bethesda's online store where you can buy more ''Doom'' games. Oddly fitting... |
| 195 | * The graffiti in one of ''Videogame/{{Portal|1}}'''s RoomFullOfCrazy includes the address http://www.aperturescience.com/ which gives {{backstory}}, and other appropriate weirdness. |
| 196 | ** Another graffiti had a username and password for the before-mentioned website (cjohnson and tier3 respectively). Logging in with said username and password would give more backstory about the game (that is, until the site was changed due to the release of ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}''). |
| 197 | * ''Videogame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' has a URL (book3rd.tv.jp, now defunct) quite visible on a billboard in the Shibukyu Main Store (aka [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed Tokyu Department Store]]) area. |
| 198 | * Two websites are mentioned in ''VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil''--one for the news channel that broadcasts in-game, and one for the rebel faction in the game. At one point, they were sites owned by the game's publisher Ubisoft, and had BonusContent in them. However, they've since expired...except for a Ubisoft UK mirror of [[http://hillyannews.uk.ubi.com/news.php the Hillyan News]] site. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20040809233016/http://irisnetwork.net/uk/ The Iris Network site]] was backed up on the Internet Archive. |
| 199 | * This ended up working out for ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', where Francis' website was digibutter.nerr, and someone bought the actual domain name at digibutter.nerr.biz for a fan site about ''Paper Mario''. |
| 200 | * ''VideoGame/EnterTheMatrix'' had websites revealed through cutscenes and the "hacking" minigame, that when visited in real life, gave you clues to unlock additional secret, usually extremely helpful things in levels, ranging from heavier weaponry to make boss fights easier (like a heavy machine gun to take down a SWAT helicopter) to unlocking an easier/stealthier/etc. route through a level. The websites were all done up as if they were in-universe sites, and you actually had to do a bit of work to find the clues you could use in game. |
| 201 | * ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'' has the player receive emails from the characters' families, which are sometimes replaced with spam mail. The spam refers to a website, either nintendo.com or pikmin.com. |
| 202 | * ''Videogame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' has maxforpresident.org[=,=] a site promoting Max as president. In canon, Max becomes the president of the United States, running against Abraham Lincoln. The site has a free download for "Episode 4: Abe Lincoln Must Die!!" as well. |
| 203 | * In ''VideoGame/AVampyreStory'', when Mona tries to read the Baroness von Kiefer's journal, the only entry she can find is instructions to visit a particular website (she doesn't get it, but Froderick tells her the message was received); at the website is...the Baroness' journal, which reveals backstory about the Baroness and her research. |
| 204 | * ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has [[http://www.ReliableExcavationDemolition.com ReliableExcavationDemolition.com]] and [[http://www.BuildersLeagueUnited.com BuildersLeagueUnited.com]] which are the names of the R.E.D. team and B.L.U. team. Humorously, the BLU site has been hijacked by the RED site. These are still active. |
| 205 | -->'''This system has been compromised'''\ |
| 206 | The page you are looking for has most likely been deleted, stolen, or corrupted.\ |
| 207 | Please try the following:\ |
| 208 | ▪ Verify that the facility hosting the Web site has not been damaged or destroyed by opposing forces. |
| 209 | ::Note that neither of these were necessary, as the game takes place in a period where the internet probably didn't exist yet, at least not as we know it. |
| 210 | ** There is also a technical support link on the error pages, which leads to another site, [[http://www.spytechindustries.com/support.asp Spytech Industries]], which somewhat ironically is no longer in service. |
| 211 | * In ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'', Yuuya suggests the player character check out the blog of [[http://pigeonblog.wordpress.com/ Brian the Pigeon]]. Apparently in the ''Hatoful'' universe, Brian is a multiple Pulitzer Prize winner for his writing. Even though Brian Pigeon is active in the 2010s, birds don't [[UpliftedAnimal become sentient]] until the 2070s, and the game takes place in 2188. |
| 212 | * The three-game series ''In Memoriam'' (the first game is known in the US as ''Missing: Since January'') from French developer Lexis Numérique live on this trope. It used Internet searches (using real and phony websites), and regularly sent emails and SMS (in the third game) to the player. |
| 213 | * ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' uses this and an in-game browser as gameplay mechanics: many investigation missions require the player to follow web addresses found on in-game cards or billboards to solve Investigation missions. [[http://orochi-group.com/ The Orochi Group]] and its eight subsidiaries are one major nexus, unsurprisingly, given their [[MegaCorp status within the game world]]. The here and Bach mission eventually rewards the clever with [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC88pAVsVZqL_L_f3RoM_EQQ a spoilerific YouTube channel]], and other missions reference other social media as well. There are also [[CharacterBlog Twitter accounts]] for some [=NPCs=], such as [[http://twitter.com/dontgetcarter Carter]]. |
| 214 | * {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/SilentHillShatteredMemories''; you can call Konami's real customer support number in-game, only for the operator to tell you you're beyond even their help. |
| 215 | * In ''[[VideoGame/HatsuneMikuProjectDIVA Hatsune Miku Project mirai]]'', your Vocaloids will occasionally order merchandise for themselves, with the packaging featuring the domain name "mirai.sg". Opening mirai.sg in real life just leads to a domain name placeholder page. Presumably, ".sg" in this context" is supposed to stand for Sega...but then why use the same TLD as Singapore, which has little to do with the game? |
| 216 | * The zombie survival game ''VideoGame/StateOfDecay'' features a fictional dinosaur-themed coffee chain called T-Rexpresso. Their web site www.trexpresso.com (now defunct) looked a lot like a real coffee shop web site and apologized for "staffing issues" due to the zombie outbreak, but also had a store where real life T-rexpresso merchandise such as coffee mugs could be bought. |
| 217 | * One ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' Nintendo Direct briefly showed a Twitter account for the in-game company Grizzco Industries, with the username @[=GrizzcoSupport=]. An account with this name does exist, but it is currently protected and cannot be accessed. |
| 218 | * In the second episode of ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'', Victoria posted a link to Kate's video on the mirror. You can actually visit the website that links to Kate's video. http://katesvid.com/ is a real link that leads to a blog with a single post and video that has been "removed" by ''Website/YouTube'', [[spoiler:citing the fact that Victoria removed the video following Kate's suicide attempt.]] They are now redirecting you to ''Creator/SquareEnix''. Use ''Website/InternetArchive'' |
| 219 | [[/folder]] |
| 220 | |
| 221 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 222 | * ''WebAnimation/TheAmazingDigitalCircus'': The Wacky Watch ParodyCommercial features the shop's weblink ([[http://thewackywatch.com thewackywatch.com]]), which redirects to the [[spoiler:InUniverse Amazing Digital Circus game trailer filled with {{Ominous Visual Glitch}}es]]. |
| 223 | * ''WebAnimation/AnimatorVsAnimation'' 4 has sticksfight.com, a website showing [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin stick figures fighting]]. It turns out that it actually [[https://sticksfight.com/ exists]]. |
| 224 | * ''WebAnimation/BrokenSaints'' does this with an IP address. |
| 225 | * Many fictional websites mentioned on ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' have domains owned by the site's owners. Those that don't usually get snatched up by fans. One example of the "fans grabbed it" was Virtualpiz.biz from e-mail "pizza joint." |
| 226 | * In a episode from ''WebAnimation/MundoUltimateNewsCp'', this is the website of Antarctica delivery company Crate Co (Pacotes Ltda): https://www.pacotes.ltda.com.aq. But when trying to access, the address will not be available. If you try to check the domain availability you will find that it is impossible to register because the '' .aq '' corresponds to Antarctica, and in the real world, only an organization that signed the Antarctic Treaty could register it. Curious. |
| 227 | * ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' had in an episode [[https://red-vs-red.tumblr.com/post/184484880367/what-whats-at-the-bottom-lemme-just-enter-that a barely visible URL]] that led to a "deleted scene". |
| 228 | [[/folder]] |
| 229 | |
| 230 | [[folder:Web Comics]] |
| 231 | * Marten's blog [[http://yellingaboutmusic.blogspot.com Yelling About Music]] (also [[http://questionablecontent.net/rlblog/ here]]) and the now-defunct [=VespAvenger=] site in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent''. |
| 232 | ** Most of the main characters also have their own Twitter pages. |
| 233 | * Randal Munroe [[{{Defictionalization}} defictionalized]] [[http://wetriffs.com WetRiffs]] ({{NSFW}}) after [[http://xkcd.com/305/ this]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip. Shortly after the [[https://xkcd.com/1025/ Tumblr]] strip, http://raccoonsexdungeon.tumblr.com was defictionalized as well. |
| 234 | * ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': Dave's ironically maintained blog: http://sweetbroshellablog.blogspot.com/ |
| 235 | ** This is also used in a roundabout-meta way earlier on, when John visits Webcomic/MSPaintAdventures in-universe [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002012 here.]] Visiting the url displayed brought curious readers to [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=3 this page,]] which [[SchrodingersGun possibly]] foreshadowed the [[SpinOff Midnight Crew Intermission]] that occurred between Acts 3 and 4. |
| 236 | ** Also when Rose [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002139 visits]] the Videogame/{{Spore}} Website/GameFAQs [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/home/926714.html page]], and when Jade [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002734 visits]] a [=FurAffinity=] [[http://www.furaffinity.net/user/vampireprincess007 user profile]]. |
| 237 | ** [[spoiler:Caliborn [[http://i-am-your-lord.deviantart.com/ has an actual deviantArt page]], registered three weeks before the relevant pages were posted, that features the "art" that was featured in said update. Caliborn even [[http://ryanphantom.tumblr.com/post/52846055129/so-this-review-already-exists left a review]] on the ''How to Draw Manga'' book used, in ''2013''.]] |
| 238 | * Parson is seen [[http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F014.jpg checking]] the hit count on his [[http://www.hamstard.com "Hamstard"]] webcomic [[StylisticSuck (24 uniques -- a record!)]] shortly before being summoned into ''{{Webcomic/Erfworld}}''. |
| 239 | * Several webcomics have shown QR codes in the comic. The codes typically point either to the comic you are reading, or to the homepage of the comic. |
| 240 | [[/folder]] |
| 241 | |
| 242 | [[folder:Web Video]] |
| 243 | * In WebVideo/{{Defunctland}}'s Handwich video, the ''Defunct Kitchen with Kevin Perjurer'' segment has a link flash on-screen for defunctland.com/handwich, claiming it's where you can get a tutorial on how to make the cones. Visiting the actual site results in a page with just one line of text (which has remained for at least two years since the video's release in 2021): |
| 244 | -->I’ll do something clever here just give me a minute. |
| 245 | * WebVideo/LoadingReadyRun has had a few of them: |
| 246 | ** For some time, the domain [[http://dickbutt.pw dickbutt.pw]] would lead to the section of their WebVideo/CommodoreHustle episode "The File" [[https://youtu.be/pEPzkRaUeUc?t=121 where Paul complains that the password to everything in the office was "dickbutt" and everyone knows it]]. The domain is currently defunct, but unregistered, so someone could buy it up and set it up again. |
| 247 | ** The domain [[http://lrr.club lrr.club]] leads to a webpage showcasing a picture of Ashley winning at [[https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/loadingreadyrun/2938-Bros-Clubbing-Bros "clubbing"]] at her and James' wedding reception by sneaking a club soda into her garter. This was intended to be the end of the meme, as the group has said no one could top that unless somehow one of the ladies managed to give birth to a club soda. |
| 248 | * ''WebVideo/MapMen'': In "You'll never guess the most popular internet country code", Mark starts the video with "www.welcometomapmen.com". [[https://welcometomapmen.com/ It's a real, currently active site]] that he and Jay made for the sake of the joke. |
| 249 | * ''WebVideo/ShortsWars'': clonevpn.com as shown in "[[https://youtu.be/4-JD05oXRSw Clone_VPN.mp4]]" used to be a real website, but eventually became unavailable. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20230719181304/http://clonevpn.com/ It was archived, however.]] |
| 250 | [[/folder]] |
| 251 | |
| 252 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 253 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': The "snake cult" members in a particular episode tell Grim to go to www.shnissugah.com to help summon an ancient Canadian Snake God. It redirects to the games section of Cartoon Network's official website. It used to redirect to [[http://web.archive.org/web/20070127151627/http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/billymandy/shnissugah/index.html an internet shrine]] to said Snake God. There was also another website that a misspelling Grim makes redirects to. |
| 254 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 255 | ** [[http://www.mrxswebpage.com/ Mr. X's Webpage]] from the episode "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" sadly doesn't exist. |
| 256 | ** One of the chalkboard gags was "butt.com is not my email address". The problem was, at the time, it ''was'' the address of a real porn site. It was later changed to "butt.butt". |
| 257 | ** According to "The President Wore Pearls", Lisa Simpson's email address is some variation of "smartgirl 6 3 underscore backslash at yahoo dot com." This wouldn't be legal, because email addresses can't contain backslashes. |
| 258 | ** The Simpsons also went to an Internet café, which had the sign "[=http://wel.com=]" (which goes to a Korean website for something called Froebel). |
| 259 | ** In the episode "Home Away from Homer," Ned rents a room to a couple of seemingly innocent female college students, who then use it for their naughty webcam site, www.sexyslumberparty.com. When the episode first aired, the URL linked to an official show site featuring pictures of the two girls. [[https://web.archive.org/web/20050828012151/http://www.sexyslumberparty.com/ It can still be viewed on Archive.org.]] |
| 260 | ** "Dorks-Gone-Wild.com" is Comic Book Guy's website from the episode "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass". For a while after the episode premiered, you could go there to see a direct recreation of the website. It even had wallpapers and an ecard sender. However, the URL is currently dead. |
| 261 | ** [[http://www.thesimpsons.com/badgers/index.htm WhatBadgersEat.com]] used to exist, being a mini Flash game. |
| 262 | ** In the episode "The Dad Who Knew Too Little", Homer gives his e-mail address as "chunkylover53@aol.com". Matt Selman, the writer of the episode, registered the e-mail address prior to the episode going out and attempted to answer any emails that were sent in for as long as possible until the backlog became too much. |
| 263 | ** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS26E13WalkingBigAndTall Walking Big and Tall]]" has the kids of Springfield put on a play to go with the new town anthem Bart and Lisa wrote. The grand finale has Maggie descending and holding a banner reading "www.springfieldwhynot.com". For a few months after this episode came out, if you went to this website, you'd be taken to a page on the FOX website where you could watch a clip from the episode. |
| 264 | ** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS26E7BlazedAndConfused Blazed and Confused]]": A ProductPlacement joke, where Milhouse talks about the production of ''Film/TheHobbit'', is followed by on-screen text that reads "NEW ZEALAND (THE MILHOUSE OF AUSTRALIA) www.nzfilmhere.nz". Viewers who went to the URL were redirected to the Simpsons website, [[https://i.imgur.com/vt6oSEZ.jpeg on a page with Milhouse saying "Made ya look!"]] This joke actually lasted longer than a few others, with the Milhouse page staying up until September 2017 (the episode premiered in February 2015). Even now, it still takes you to the FOX website. |
| 265 | ** In "Eeny Teeny Maya Moe", Moe and Maya use an instant messaging client at the URL http://single-in-springfield.com/. If you go there, it takes you to a listicle about [=URLs=] on the ''Simpsons''. |
| 266 | ** In "The Fat and the Furriest", Grampa's website is oldcoot.com. Visit it in 2022, and it's now some sort of traveling puppet show that promises "affordable, turn key, high quality, crazy funny, entertainment for the whole family". |
| 267 | ** Lisa's organic gardening blog in "Stealing First Base" is found at the URL mondaymulchings.com, and has changed owners multiple times. Shortly after the episode's premiere in March 2010, it had a message in German about a web hosting site. In February 2011, it redirected to a German ''Simpsons'' fansite, simpsonspedia, and stayed that way for a few years. It was bought by a domain parker in 2018-2019. In January 2022, it was a Chinese website for a plastic service center in Yunfu, but by May, it went offline. |
| 268 | ** "lisathemovie.com", mentioned in "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", was owned shortly after the episode came out, and reserved for a few years after. As of May 2022, it still doesn't have any content. |
| 269 | ** In "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed", Homer records Ned's lame vampire impression and plans to post it to "stupid-flanders.org". After the episode came out, a [[https://web.archive.org/web/20111117130835/http://stupid-flanders.org/ real website]] was made that hosted the video on it. |
| 270 | ** "There's Something About Marrying": The website springfieldisforgayloversofmarriage.com shown in Springfield's gay marriage tourist video was a real website, showing images pictures from the episode. It does not seem to work anymore. |
| 271 | * From ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'': [[http://glycerinejohnson.blogspot.com Glycerine Johnson dot blogspot dot com!]] |
| 272 | * ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' had the www.yzzerdd.com, a wizard with a popup-laden web site. And of ''course'' Williams Street registered the actual domain. (Note that the real-life site also spews popups-- hilarious fake ones, just like in the episode, but still...) |
| 273 | * In the first ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' film "Bender's Big Score", Bender's e-mail address is bender@ilovebender.com. Typing in www.ilovebender.com redirects to the official ''Futurama'' website. |
| 274 | * "Sue Ellen Gets Her Goose Cooked" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', (Season 6, 2001) had the game Virtual Goose, which was based at virtualgoose.com. Until 2018, the domain still redirected to the page for the Virtual Goose game on the Creator/PBSKids ''Arthur'' website. |
| 275 | * ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' has [[http://samanthagoestorestaurants.tumblr.com/ samanthagoestorestaurants.tumblr.com]]. |
| 276 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'' has [=SnoobTube=], which if you go to snoobtube.com, it will redirect to the ''Series/BigTimeRush'' page on Nickelodeon's website. Both shows have the same creator, Scott Fellows. |
| 277 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': |
| 278 | ** Before the release of "[[Recap/SouthParkS21E2PutItDown Put It Down]]", ericdontdoit.com was published -- while the URL isn't seen in the episode, Cartman's suicide prvention hashtag is "[=#EricDontDoIt=]". Viewers were invited to show their support for Cartman by signing their email. As of May 2022, you can still visit the site, but the campaign is over. |
| 279 | ** "[[Recap/SouthParkS26E1CupidYe Cupid Ye]]" has multiple scenes of Kyle and Tolkien recording Platform/TikTok videos together. If you look up the account name shown in a few scenes, [[https://www.tiktok.com/@kyletolkien23 kyletolkien23]], it's real and officially made by the ''South Park'' staff. You can watch one of the videos that Kyle and Tolkien make during the episode. It got over a million views just a day after the episode premiered. |
| 280 | [[/folder]] |
| 281 | |
| 282 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 283 | * During the 2004 debates, Dick Cheney suggested that Americans should go to factcheck.com. Unfortunately, anybody performing such a check would have been sent to a domain unaffiliated with the non-partisan factcheck.org, and which was subsequently redirected to George Soros' Web site. |
| 284 | ** In the second 2019 Democratic Debates, while everyone told the audience to go to their campaign's website, Joe Biden accidentally told people to "go to Joe 30330", which was [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190801031110/https://joshforamerica.com/ quickly snatched up by a satirical presidential campaign.]] |
| 285 | * Microsoft-based IT qualifications sometimes use contoso.com as an example domain name in their official training materials. Any student curious enough to see if there's a real website registered to this domain will find themselves redirected to the Microsoft home page. |
| 286 | * On a related note, www.example.com and .org lead to an actual web page owned by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, who reserved the domain name specifically so that it couldn't be misused by unscrupulous advertisers. |
| 287 | * Maryland released special license plates in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. These plates featured a link to starspangled200.org, a nonprofit organization. However, years later the organization ceased to exist and the website domain lapsed. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/maryland/comments/13vcr5p/maryland_war_of_1812_license_plates/ A gambling website based in the Philippines subsequently purchased the domain]], which prompted the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration to recover the URL and redirect it to its home page. |
| 288 | [[/folder]] |
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