[Interesting Trope] Attempts at fanservice/virality that failed not because they were hated, but because nobody noticed them or cared at all.

[u/mp3help]

1) Hoopy the Hoop, Portal (2007) When you defeat GLaDOS and her room is destroyed at the end of the game, debris rains down in the final cutscene, including a big metal hoop that bounces around a bit. Developer Erik Wolpaw said the team dubbed it "Hoopy the Hoop" and expected it to become the big meme of Portal. Of course, none of the fans paid much attention to the hoop since "The Cake is a Lie" became the biggest meme of the game, and overall one of the biggest video game memes of all time.

2) Burgh, Pokemon Black and White (2010) When designing Burgh, developer Yusuke Ohmura said Gamefreak had many of their female employees give input on his design to create their ideal handsome man. However, as someone who's been in the Pokemon fandom for almost 3 decades, in the 15+ years since Pokemon Black and White released, I have personally never seen any fans swoon over Burgh, or even mention him in general. If anything, characters like N and Colress are far more well-known within the fandom as the most handsome and beloved male characters of Pokemon Gen 5.

[u/Proof_Candidate_4991]

You know what's funny? I've seen those ads and I could not tell you which insurance company it is or what the callback is. I think ad designers sometimes overestimate how closely people watch commercials.

[u/Rayn_F → u/Proof_Candidate_4991]

I've seen it once so I know who's it is, but all you have to say is it's yellow and I'd know which insurance it is

[u/Threedawg → u/Rayn_F]

Its almost like insurance is such a racket they might as well spend the extra money on advertising because they literally cant think of anything else to do with it.

There is a reason why every third commercial is for one of three insurance agencies.

[u/GazelleSpringbok → u/Threedawg]

Its all a grift, the c-suite has to do something with all the money because they dont want to be exposed as the useless middle layer leeches they are. Also, sprinkle in a bunch of self-dealing like owning a stake in the ad company or building up favors for future career prospects, etc. Unfortunately, ads do work on enough of society to be worth the money because its easy to trick stupid people and when you present a bunch of sociopathic mbas with a group of stupid people to exploit, they go for the jugular. Add in laws they bribed to force us by law to buy their service. Yay, capitalism.

[u/BlatantConservative → u/Rayn_F]

Same here. Geico.

[u/le-derpina-art → u/Proof_Candidate_4991]

The only reason I know anything about them is because I'm hearing their ads every few minutes while I'm trying to shower. They genuinely shove it in your face so much.

[u/Witty-Ad5743 → u/le-derpina-art]

They have, like, four separate jingles. It's entirely unnecessary.

[u/KindBass → u/Witty-Ad5743]

The constant multiple concurrent marketing schemes are all the proof I need that insurance companies make entirely too much money.

[u/Softpretzelsandrose → u/Witty-Ad5743]

Limuemuuuuuu, liberty biberty, only pay for what you need, libertyliberty liiiiiberty liberty

[u/Deadhead_Otaku → u/Softpretzelsandrose]

Them, the ai slop spam ads, and the military spam ads forced me to finally an ad blocker. I didn't even know some of my favorite game series were rebooting because none of the ads have been relevant for years.

[u/BiAndShy57 → u/le-derpina-art]

Do insurance companies think we need to buy new insurance every week? Why are insurance ads just as common as food ads?

[u/MedusasGirlfriend69 → u/BiAndShy57]

The one that gets me is the flood of ads for the military insurance one (I legit can't remember the name and wouldn't give them free advertising anyway). Like, I get that an insurance company for military folks and their families would exist. That makes sense. But I feel like they advertise way more than their limited target audience would account for

[u/Edward_Durr → u/MedusasGirlfriend69]

What gets me is that it’s not just an add for veterans and their immediate families, the company will take you if you had a grandparent who served, which the vast majority of Americans do thanks to the draft pre-1972. At this point, it’s a service for 80% of the country that just doesn’t want to cater to the other 20%.

[u/MedusasGirlfriend69 → u/Edward_Durr]

Yeah, like my grandfather was in the army in the 50s/60s but like, the vibes of the advertising are off (not to mention that I just resent being advertised to)

[u/zombieking26 → u/le-derpina-art]

At this point, I've decided to block all of their ads. Every time you get one, you have the option to block it. I've blocked 4 of them at this point.

[u/Deadhead_Otaku → u/zombieking26]

It won't help, get an ad blocker. Before I did I had reported and blocked their ads over 100 times, they just kept reuploading them under different aliases.

[u/kataskopo → u/le-derpina-art]

Putting ads as background sounds for showering is certainly someone one can do, dang.

[u/Red_Eloquence → u/Proof_Candidate_4991]

Liberty Biberty is unfortunately burned into my brain from how much I've seen that ad. I think that's what the fuzzball is called.

[u/VoidStareBack → u/Red_Eloquence]

The funny thing is I see them running alongside their other ad campaign (the Emu and Doug one) and the older campaign is way more memorable. Not good, necessarily, but it sticks in your mind more which is what you want in advertising.

[u/IAmBabs → u/Red_Eloquence]

I hate that he's a thing. It feels like something everyone thought was a good idea over drinks, wailed the CEO while drunk, then had to go forward with in order to not have to explain they drunk emailed the CEO.

[u/haw35ome → u/IAmBabs]

Liberty bibberty feels like ceo bob got the phrase stuck in his mind, then convinced himself that it would catch on; that it’s such a genius move. And his poor minions have no choice but to be a bunch of yes men; “ok let’s go see what’s on clearance in the muppet workshop so we don’t waste a ton of money on this shit”

[u/Rise_Crafty → u/Red_Eloquence]

I can not believe that they not only continued with the idiocy of the "liberty biberty" ad's, but seemingly doubled down on it as their entire brand identity. Who the hell is running their advertising department? I know we're talking about it here, and no press is bad press, but I feel like this is bad press. No one likes this thing, or is amused by it in any way. In fact, for the most part, people seem to be actually offended by how dumb it is.

[u/Feanor4godking → u/Rise_Crafty]

I'm not gonna believe the company that thought that was a good idea is going to do a good job

[u/PeterAnthony_Jackson → u/Red_Eloquence]

There is a UK company with a name like Cover, but it is spelled in a You Knee Que way that is mostly alright, but it goes a bit too hard saying cover before going back to a squeaky high pitched voice.

[u/MoistNugget9130 → u/Proof_Candidate_4991]

It's like when they made a TV show out of the cavemen.

[u/Icy_Art7276 → u/Proof_Candidate_4991]

I remember it, just not the name of the stupid thing. I like the guy that messes up the name. He's actually funny and doesn't sound stupid. I could not tell ya what the callback is though.

[u/CoyotesVoice → u/Icy_Art7276]

It's a call-back to one of his flubs.

[u/ShatnersChestHair → u/Proof_Candidate_4991]

Liberty Mutual is the typical example for that. Like how they designed their mascot LiMu the emu because they didn't understand that no one uses the "LiMu" abbreviation outside of Liberty Mutual employees.

[u/haw35ome → u/ShatnersChestHair]

At least LiMu Emu makes sense somewhat; it rhymes with a cute animal that already exists. The fuck is liberty bibberty

[u/Ther10 → u/haw35ome]

Hubris manifest. 

[u/CyberneticCupcake → u/Proof_Candidate_4991]

I know exactly what callback it is. Doesn't mean I like it.

Hell, the original reference is a callback to earlier commercials actually taking place at Louis Valentino Jr. pier. The ones after that look greenscreened.

[u/Spirit_Wolf_Mob → u/Proof_Candidate_4991]

When there were less ads, and as kids, we used to if the ad was fun. But now there are too many ads, and they mostly just copy each other.

[u/shadowthehh → u/Proof_Candidate_4991]

I just saw the new ads for the first time less than an hour ago. I can't believe they got rid of the guy and the ostrich for that Club Penguin Puffle knockoff.