[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/CheatsySnoops]

Liberty Mutual should've asked the Jim Henson company to make them a puppet emu.

I'm personally neutral towards Liberty Biberty, since he's nowhere near as annoying as the talking Happy Meals nor the Rabbids, but still a mediocre mascot.

[u/NodoBird → u/CheatsySnoops]

It really sucks. On one hand, I have a great appreciation for the Jim Henson company, and the art that went into the yellow abomination is genuinely something to be admired.

On the other hand, I resent the fact that an insurance company is ham-fisting a self-pleasing ad campaign that references a joke they already made that was never funny to begin with. They're saying it louder and more obnoxiously and begging us to love them. All it does is make me uncomfortable.

What does this have to do with insurance? The quality of your business? We are deeply lost in the plot here. I feel like the majority of us are just tired of hollow corporate mascots designed only to distract you from the other brands.

[u/Same-Suggestion-1936 → u/NodoBird]

I mean that's just advertising now. Wendy's Twitter account, viral marketing, fast food CEOs making video wars of themselves eating their own food, you know that was one of the smartest ad campaigns McDonald's could have done? Nobody would shut the fuck up about it for weeks, that's what gets to people now

Pretty much all advertising is ham fisting self aggrandizing humor now, but it's not really different marketing, it's always been like that. Even the ads you hate, psychology shows bad PR is better than no PR when it comes down to the market of people who are now confronted with a choice. Because as much as people hate this Liberty Bibberty fellow, don't know him, maybe he's nice and you guys are the jerks, anyway, knowing him and then by extent the company name Liberty Mutual is going to make the name stick in your head and when you're looking between the big insurance guys, the smaller ones you've never heard of, doesn't matter what you think about the Bibberty puppet, you know the name Liberty Mutual and if they can offer you a good deal you'll take the name you know over the one you don't every single time. I mean look at politics, name recognition gets you into doors, why not sales or advertising. It's proven to work

[u/NodoBird → u/Same-Suggestion-1936]

Marketing is a sick, twisted, cutthroat game of manipulation lmao.

I know it's always been like this, and it more than likely always will be. That's just capitalism. I guess the reason I hate Biberty so much is because it's a particularly egregious example.

[u/CheatsySnoops → u/NodoBird]

Like I said, LiMu should've had a puppet emu.

[u/Same-Suggestion-1936 → u/CheatsySnoops]

I don't mind the emu and Doug. I don't know what the new one is all about though I haven't seen one of the new ones yet

[u/55cHzDARKSTAR → u/CheatsySnoops]

What talking Happy Meals?

[u/CheatsySnoops → u/55cHzDARKSTAR]

This little fucker.

[u/The_Reyvan → u/CheatsySnoops]

That thing is nightmare fuel

[u/RandomFactUser → u/55cHzDARKSTAR]

In Europe, then coming to the US later on, there was a McDonald's Happy Meal mascot that essentially had eyes on the arches and a mouth on the big face of the box