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SpongeBob SquarePants
(aka: Sponge Bob Square Pants)

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Being a huge Cash-Cow Franchise and one of the biggest properties for Paramount, SpongeBob SquarePants has fallen into this trope way too many times, especially when it comes to merchandising aimed at children younger than its 6-to-12-year-old target demographic. It doesn't help that it's often the first thing Nickelodeon airs once their Nick Jr. block ends (similarly this happens on the UK's Channel 5 on weekends, immediately after their Milkshake! preschool block ends), thus creating a sizable Periphery Demographic of children 5 and under. As the show's original child fanbase has grown up, there have also been a few absurdities aimed at the other Periphery Demographic of adult fans.


  • In 2009, Burger King advertised kids' meals based on the show with a commercial featuring... a "Baby Got Back" parody music video: girls in hot pants with square appliances on their backsides shaking their booties to "I like square butts and I cannot lie!" to hawk fast food and cheap toys to 6-year-olds, with The Burger King standing around them. While this actually fits pretty well with SpongeBob, the marketing itself is undeniably Misaimed.
  • There are SpongeBob baby wipes and rectal thermometers on the market.
  • In 2012, McDonald's did a SpongeBob Happy Meal tying in for the Olympic Games in London, which is an odd choice for a collaboration, since the show is not British.
  • Perhaps the most mind-baffling example of this trope is the SpongeBob Squatty Potty Stool.
  • There's also a SpongeBob phone-cleaning sponge.
  • It's more than a little ironic that officially licensed SpongeBob fishing poles exist, especially as an entire episode was dedicated to SpongeBob and Patrick being told to avoid fishing hooks. "Yo ho, yo ho, near the hooks I'll never go" indeed.
  • SpongeBob promotes Old Spice. Keep in mind that while the show does have a fairly large Periphery Demographic and the ad is most likely targeted towards said demographic, most people who would be seeing The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and who would be drawn to its merchandising and marketing are children. This sort of marketing would continue for multiple years afterwards, including with Dr. Squatch SpongeBob-themed men's soap, albeit slightly less absurd because adult fans overwhelmingly favor the older episodes and therefore marketing to them based on the series as a whole makes more sense than with a newer movie.
  • A SpongeBob makeup sponge exists. And it's shaped like SpongeBob, too!
  • Stephen Hillenburg stated in an interview that there was a proposal for SpongeBob SquarePants fish sticks, which is odd considering the show takes place in the ocean and has anthropomorphic fish as characters. They were never sold after.
  • Around 2010-2011, there was once a Polish road safety campaign featuring the titular main character himself, who's notorious for being a bad driver in the show. Unless he's driving a sandwich, of course.

Alternative Title(s): Sponge Bob Square Pants

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