Fictional brand

Using a trademarked product in fictional media can result in allegations of trademark dilution. Trademark dilution can occur when a brand is portrayed in a way that tarnishes or confuses the image of the brand, even when there is no competing product. For example, Pussycat Cinema was blocked from showing the pornographic film Debbie Does Dallas, as the lead actress Bambi Woods performed sexual acts in an outfit similar to those worn by the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Judge Ellsworth Van Graafeiland commented, "it is hard to believe that anyone who had seen defendants’ sexually depraved film could ever thereafter disassociate it from plaintiff’s cheerleaders." Many movies and television shows opt to use prominent but nonexistent brands. Some are tied to specific fictional universes, like the Big Kahuna Burger fast food restaurants in Quentin Tarantino's films, but many appear in unrelated properties. For example, the fictional cigarette brand Morley was created when tobacco advertising was widespread in film and television, before the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act and Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement banned cigarette advertising in television, radio, and film. Films that did not receive sponsorship from a cigarette brand might use a fictional brand like Morley. They first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, and have since been used in many films and shows including The Twilight Zone, Naked City, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Friends, Perry Mason, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The X-Files, and Mission: Impossible. The most well-known fictional brands, like Wonka Bars, have brand recognition comparable to actual products. The demand for Duff Beer was so high that multiple breweries sold "Duff" beers until legally blocked by Fox Broadcasting Company. Fox partnered with breweries to sell Duff beer in markets that did not have strong protection for fictional products, starting in Chile and later expanding into other parts of South America and Europe. Some films and shows incorporate brands as "characters" in the story. The quirky brands of Tarantino's films are juxtaposed with scenes of extreme violence. Set decorator Sandy Reynolds-Wasco says that an object like Tarantino's Red Apple Cigarettes, with its prominent grinning worm emerging from an apple, can "soften the characters, even among the incredibly bloody scenes". In the HBO series Succession, the fictional family business "Waystar" is used to characterize the Roy family who run it. The science fiction series Severance introduces the fictional "Lumon" brand and intentionally presents it in a negative light, as cold and dystopian. ==Well-known fictional brands==

Acme The Acme Corporation is a fictional manufacturer of a vast range of products. There are many backronyms to explain the word, but Acme is Greek for "zenith" or "peak". During the Second Industrial Revolution, "Acme" was used as a brand name for many mass-produced consumer goods, in part for the benefit of appearing at the front of alphabetical listings like a telephone directory or mail order catalog. Acme products are known to fail in outlandish ways that result in cartoon violence. Duff Duff Beer began as a fictional brand in The Simpsons. In 2016, Time included Duff Beer in a list of the most influential fictional companies of all time. Finder-Spyder Finder-Spyder is a fictional Web search engine that appears in numerous television shows, used in the same manner as the fictitious 555 telephone number in TV and film. It has been called "an unofficial, open source stand-in for Google and its competitors" (used as a legality-free alternative to a brand-name product), Finder-Spyder appears as a top 10 pick in "best fictional brand" lists by various online media. Morley Morley is a fictional brand of cigarettes with packaging that resembles Marlboro cigarettes. The name "Morley" is a reference to "Marleys", a once-common nickname for Marlboro cigarettes. Television programs began using Morleys in an era where Tobacco companies were allowed to sponsor television shows and pay for product placement. If no company agreed on a deal for product placement, producers would use a non-branded product like the fictional Morleys. Morleys are produced by The Earl Hays Press, a Hollywood prop packaging service. Pear Sitcom shows on the TV channel Nickelodeon often parody the tech company Apple and its products by using fake tech products from the fictional "Pear" company, such as the PearPhone (a parody of the iPhone) and the PearPad (a parody of the iPad). These parodies would often appear in the Nickelodeon sitcoms iCarly, Victorious, Sam & Cat and Henry Danger. Wonka '' (2005) on display In 1964, Roald Dahl wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory set within the fictional Wonka Chocolate Factory. The story included several fictional candy products including the Everlasting Gobstopper and the Wonka Bar. The 1971 musical Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was an adaptation of Dahl's work funded by Quaker Oats who also produced a variety of Wonka candy through their subsidiary Sunline. These candy products were largely unsuccessful and Quaker sold off Sunline by 1972. Sunline continued to make Wonka-branded candy and was later acquired by Nestlé. Although initially involved in the musical, Dahl left the project and disowned the 1971 film. After his death, Dahl's family became involved with a second film adaptation, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). This again featured Wonka branded products. ==Fictional brands lists==

• List of fictional beverages • List of fictional vehicles ==See also==