Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Toptenz.net
    • Home
      • Our Faves
      • #58247 (no title)
      • Our Writers
    • Bizarre
      • Fast Five
    • Culture
      • All Culture
      • Food
      • Politics
      • Religion
      • Sports
      • Travel
    • Entertainment
      • All Entertainment
      • Arts
      • Comic Books
      • Games
      • Literature
      • Movies & Television
      • Music
    • Misc
      • All Miscellaneous
      • Crime
      • Education
      • History
      • Humor
      • People
    • Science
      • All Science
      • Animals
      • Engineering
      • Health
      • Nature
      • Technology
    • Write For Us
    • Sponsors
      • Become a Sponsor
      • Our Sponsors
    Toptenz.net
    Movies & Television

    Top Ten Fictional Brands from Movies and TV

    Evan AndrewsBy Evan AndrewsJuly 23, 2010Updated:April 2, 201921 Comments9 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Pin1K
    WhatsApp
    Reddit
    Share
    Email
    Tweet
    1K Shares

    Product placement has become downright pervasive in movies and TV, but that doesn’t mean that every brand we see onscreen is something available in stores. When licensing real world products isn’t possible, filmmakers often resort to using made up brand names in their place. Some of these have become director trademarks, while others have become in-jokes that are used in different movies and shows that otherwise have no connection to one another. Here are the ten most famous examples:

    10. Oceanic Airlines

    Seen In: Lost, numerous movies and TV shows

    Most movies these days rely on product placement as a way of making some extra cash during the production. This is why in some movies it might seem like the characters only drink Heineken or only eat at McDonald’s. But in instances where product placement isn’t feasible, filmmakers are forced to create fake companies and brand names, like Oceanic Airlines. Starting with the action movie Executive Decision in 1996, Oceanic has been the go to fictional airline for the movies. It’s often used in action movies and television shows, since no real airline would ever want their name associated with skyjackings and plane crashes. As of late, the most famous appearance of Oceanic Airlines took place on the TV show Lost. In the pilot episode, it was none other than an Oceanic airliner that crashed and marooned the characters on the island.

    9. Finder-Spyder

    Seen In: CSI, Breaking Bad, Dexter

    Image result for finder-spyder

    One of television’s most well travelled in-jokes is the use of a fictional search engine known as Finder-Spyder. When producers can’t get cleared to use Google or Yahoo in their show, they often resort to having characters use the TV world’s most popular search tool instead. Finder-Spyder is most often used in dramatic television, and it’s made appearances on everything from Breaking Bad and Prison Break to pay-cable shows like Dexter and Weeds. While the name doesn’t change, Finder-Spyder often looks different depending on the show. Breaking Bad gave it its own unique look, but other shows, like Journeyman, do their best to copy the style of the Google home page.

    8. Brawndo

    Seen In: Idiocracy

    Image result for Brawndo

    Brawndo is one of the few fictional movie products to become such a phenomenon that it started being sold in actual stores. The fake sports drink comes from Mike Judge’s 2006 cult film Idiocracy, a comedy about a dystopian society where people have become so stupid that the President is a former pro wrestler and the most popular TV show is called “Ow! My Balls!” Brawndo, A.K.A. “The Thirst Mutilator,” is a Red Bull-like energy drink that is so popular that it has replaced water in water fountains. Not only that, but because “it’s got what plants crave!” Brawndo is even used to irrigate crops, with predictably disastrous results. Idiocracy performed miserably at the box office, but it became an underground phenomenon on video, to the point that Brawndo was briefly marketed online as an actual product under the catchy slogan “It’s got electrolytes!”

    7. Big Kahuna Burger

    Seen In: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Death Proof, From Dusk till Dawn

    Certain filmmakers have become famous for populating their films with fake brand names and products of their own devising. Quentin Tarantino’s Big Kahuna Burger, a fictional, Hawaiian-themed fast food joint, is one of the most famous examples. Though the restaurant itself is never seen, food from it makes an appearance in just about every one of Tarantino’s movies. Michael Madsen’s character grabs a meal from Big Kahuna Burger in Reservoir Dogs, as does George Clooney’s in From Dusk Till Dawn,and the burgers show up in a famous scene near the beginning of Pulp Fiction, when Samuel L. Jackson’s character takes a bite of one and remarks how “tasty” it is.Several real world restaurants have since stolen the name, while even more advertise as having a “Big Kahuna Burger” on their menu.

    6. Mooby’s

    Seen In: Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II

    mooby's-restaurant

    Like Quentin Tarantino, filmmaker Kevin Smith is known for creating fictional brand names for his movies, most famously “Mooby’s,” a Disney-esque corporation that is known for its fast food restaurants, kid’s toys, and theme parks. The company’s mascot is a golden calf—a satirical reference to a Bible story about idol worship—and it’s referenced that the character is a children’s phenomenon on the level of Mickey Mouse, with television shows and even a holiday special called “A Very Mooby Christmas.” The Mooby’s corporation made its first appearance in Smith’s 1999 film Dogma, and it’s since popped up in Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks II, in which the main characters all work at a Mooby’s fast food joint.


    5. Heisler Beer

    Seen In: Training Day, Superbad, Beerfest, Malcolm in the Middle, and many others

    Image result for heisler beer malcolm in the middle

    Not all fictional movie brands are the trademark of a particular director. Heisler is a fake brand of beer that’s been making the rounds in movies and TV for years now. The fictional lager, which seems to only come in light and regular style, was first created by Independent Studio Services, a company that’s known as one of the largest suppliers of props for film and television. With dozens of appearances, Heisler Beer is certainly one of their most famous creations. It’s shown up in everything from sitcoms (Malcolm in the Middle, My Name is Earl) to mainstream comedies (Beerfest, appropriately) and dramatic films (Denzel Washington offers Ethan Hawke a Heisler in a famous scene from Training Day). Heisler is certainly ISS’s most notable fictional brew, but it’s not the only one. The company is also responsible for Jekyll Island Beer, which made an appearance on Lost, and Penzburg, which is often used in network television shows.

    4. Morley Cigarettes

    Seen In: The X-Files, 24, Spy Game, Mission: Impossible

    Like Heisler Beer, Morley Cigarettes are another fictional brand name that has been co-opted by various films and television shows. They’re clearly designed to look like the popular Marlboro brand, and feature a similar color scheme and font. Morleys have shown up in a number of films, including Spy Game and Thirteen, but they’re most well known from their use in television shows like 24, Burn Notice and Beverly Hills, 90210. Far and away the most famous use of Morley Cigarettes came in the cult television show The X-Files. That series featured an enigmatic character known as the “Cigarette Smoking Man” who would always chain-smoke Morley Cigarettes whenever he appeared on screen. Along with Morley, a few other fictional cigarette brands have shown up in films over the years. For example, Quentin Tarantino frequently has his characters smoke “Red Apple Cigarettes,” and Kevin Smith’s characters are often seen with a brand called “Nails.”

    3. Duff Beer

    Seen In: The Simpsons

    No list of fictional brand names would be complete without Duff Beer, the preferred libation of Homer Simpson, the main character of the famous TV show The Simpsons. Duff is portrayed as seemingly the only beer available in the town of Springfield, where it’s advertised by a theme park called “Duff Gardens” and an over-enthusiastic spokesperson called Duffman (Oh, yeah!). The beer is usually only seen in a regular brown style, but one early episode about a visit to the Duff brewery shows that there are other brands including “Lady Duff,” “Tartar Control Duff,” and “Henry K. Duff’s Private Reserve.”

    The massive popularity of The Simpsons has led to a number of attempts to license Duff Beer as an actual product, but the show’s creator Matt Groening has always refused out of worry that doing so might set a bad example for children. Still, this hasn’t stopped some from trying. Breweries in Mexico and Europe have both produced Duff Beer in the past, and the Fox network once successfully brought legal action against an Australian company that started marketing a Duff brand of beer.

    2. 555- Telephone Number

    Seen In: Countless movies and TV shows

    The infamous 555- telephone number might not be a consumer product like Duff Beer, but its widespread use in the world of film and TV has helped it become its own kind of brand. We’ve all seen it by now: whenever a character in a movie gives out a telephone number, it always starts out with the digits 555. This is despite the fact that, as a character points out in the movie Last Action Hero, there could only be 10,000 possible 555- phone numbers available. The 555- exchange has now become one of the all time great movie clichés, and uses of it date as far back as the 1940s. The reasons for filmmakers using the 555- telephone number are fairly simple. Telephone companies have traditionally reserved that exchange for special numbers and for use as test lines, and for years most remain unused. This was perfect for Hollywood filmmakers, who were wary about accidentally giving out someone’s real phone number and possibly subjecting them to harassment. After years of functioning almost solely as a movie prop, 555- telephone numbers actually started to be issued to the public back in 1994. Since then, only the 100 numbers from 555-0100 to 555-0199 have continued to be reserved for the movies.

    1. Acme Corporation

    Seen in: Looney Tunes cartoons, many other films and TV shows

    There is no more culturally famous fake company than Acme, the fictional corporation from the classic Looney Toons cartoon series that makes anything and everything under the sun—and all of it defective. The Acme brand is probably most famously associated with the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons, which depict a coyote that is perpetually trying to capture a speedy roadrunner by using a collection of ridiculous contraptions provided by the Acme Corporation.   These include everything from a giant rubber band (labeled as suitable “for tripping road runners”), to rocket powered roller skates. The products invariably fail to work, and the coyote always ends up on the receiving end of his own trap. Acme made appearances in Looney Tunes cartoons as early as the 1930s, but even before then it was known to pop up in movies and TV shows (it once made an appearance on I Love Lucy) as the go to generic company name. As it so happens, the popularity of the Acme brand name wasn’t just restricted to entertainment. In the real world, Acme was one of the most widely used company names in the 40s and 50s, supposedly because business owners thought its alphabetical placement at the front of the phonebook would boost sales. Its overuse eventually turned it into a kind of joke, but it remains a popular company name even today. Still, those hoping to catch a Road Runner are probably best advised to look elsewhere.

    Other Articles you Might Like

    Previous ArticleTop 10 Up and Coming Directors
    Next Article Top 10 Players of the 2010 World Cup

    21 Comments

    1. lakawak on April 16, 2013 4:39 am

      Arnold correctly pointed out to the kid in Last Action Hero that there are far more than 10,000 numbers that begin with 555 when you consider area codes.

    2. Turd Ferguson on August 8, 2012 3:01 pm

      Brawndo is obviously supposed to be a sports drink ala Gatorade, NOT an energy drink like Red Bull.

    3. val on July 21, 2012 6:03 pm

      ACME Brand now exists http://www.acme.eu/en-us

    4. randy on June 28, 2012 8:01 am

      Best fake company/product for me hands down is SKYNET
      Also a big fan of Devlin MacGregor makers of Provasic from Fugitive and spoofed in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

    5. canadaeh on May 1, 2012 10:34 am

      ACME puts Amazon to shame when it came to delivery of the product.

    6. James Herbert on February 16, 2012 7:26 am

      You can buy ACME beer which is made in California, US.

    7. Terry Bigham on January 13, 2012 3:52 am

      Along with Big Kahuna burgers you should have included Tarantino’s other fictional brand, Red Apple cigarettes. The brand, notable for its pack with a green worm in the apple, has also appeared nearly every one of Tarantino’s flicks, especially “Pulp Fiction”.

    8. Office Cleaning on January 11, 2012 7:50 pm

      Heisler Beer, Training day never thought of checking that brand out.

    9. joe on August 22, 2010 8:40 am

      duff beer is now available in italy .. ive had some very good

      • Ian on August 23, 2012 9:21 am

        Berlin as well. Was not bad.

    10. Carpet on August 13, 2010 3:42 am

      Fictional brands are fun finds in tv and movies. Here are 10 of the best.

    11. Steph on July 26, 2010 6:10 am

      Errr… ACME does exist (or at least did exist), my dad used to work there, they made those plastic stripes you use to close boxes, and I have ACME cups, notepads and more office stuff at home from those days, so either there´s some missinformation here or my Dad was actually a russian spy with a fake office, fake paper and fake business cards to back up for his fake job.

    12. Jay on July 26, 2010 2:36 am

      Surely the best product name EVER is vaPOOrize in that film with Ben Stiller envy

    13. daroofa on July 25, 2010 6:00 pm

      No Vitajex..? I'm dissaponted

    14. Justin on July 25, 2010 5:56 pm

      I agree with Walter: http://www.notarealthing.com/2010/07/the-slander-…

    15. efrain on July 23, 2010 12:17 pm

      Well…. ACME Does exist. My family owns an office supplies store and we sell ACME for decades!!!

      most common knew are stapplers… there are literally thousands of companies that uses the word ACME in their names, but the one i talk about is knwon since the 70's.

    16. Mahnu Uterna on July 23, 2010 10:57 am

      What, no Binford Tools? Not only was the brand integral to Home Improvement, it made a cameo in Tim Allens other 90s project, Toy Story.

    17. Walter on July 22, 2010 11:14 pm

      I disagree with the statement that Acme products were defective. Actually the products did work exactly as they should have. The use of the products was defective. For instance, the rocket skates accelerated at a tremendous rate but Wil E Coyote didn't take into consideration the curve of the road or the cliff or etc. But the products themselves were terrific, wish I could get me some.

      • Mahnu Uterna on July 23, 2010 10:57 am

        I especially dig the eaerthquake pills!

      • kaztaylor on August 29, 2010 7:52 pm

        In fact, ACME was an acronym for "A Company Making Everything," which of course it was in the Looney Toons universe.

      • randy on June 28, 2012 8:06 am

        …and don’t forget ACME Building Disintigrator used in ‘One Froggy Evening’ by the guy who discovers singing Michigan J Frog in the future, it worked pretty good.

    Follow us!
    • YouTube
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    New Top 10 Lists
    • How Does Hyperthymesia Work?
    • 10 Awkward Funeral Moments
    • How Does Cryptobiosis Work?
    • Is Immortality Actually Possible?
    • What is the Most Dangerous Drug in the World?

    Our newest biography website and YouTube channel. Biographics – History, One Life at a Time.

    RSS Latest Biographies from Biographics
    • King George VI – The Reluctant Monarch
    • Arnold “The Brain” Rothstein – The Founding Father of Organized Crime
    • Phil Hartman – Comedy’s Greatest Tragedy
    Most Shared New Articles
    10 Awkward Funeral Moments10 Awkward Funeral Moments0 Total Shares
    How Does Hyperthymesia Work?How Does Hyperthymesia Work?0 Total Shares

    Privacy Policy | TopTenz T-Shirts | Sponsors

    propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('toptenz_sticky_1'); });

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.