http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheRedStapler

This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab.

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The situation where a work of fiction creates or affects — whether positively or negatively — Real Life demand for a certain product, good, or service. This can lead to defictionalization, where things only start being made due to demand for fictional things. It's not Product Placement, as it's usually unintentional; the fact that the product doesn't even exist might even owe itself to the use of Brand X or similar tropes — i.e. the avoidance of product placement.

Its effect is often exaggerated, though. The effects of this trope are often temporary; a permanent decline or increase in demand is usually an Urban Legend. It's also important to remember that correlation doesn't imply causation — although given the number of examples listed below, there must be a lot of interesting coincidences out there. Most of the time, the effect is positive, even when the product is portrayed negatively; advertisers call this the "Homer Simpson effect".

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The effect is named after the red Swingline stapler prominently featured in Office Space. Swingline didn't make full-size red staplers; the one in the film was a black stapler painted red. Then life would imitate art, as people demanded a red version, and they got one. Outside the U.S., this trope has other names, too. Cooking shows are particularly prone to this: the U.K. sometimes calls this the "Delia Effect", after high-profile Cooking Show host Delia Smith, to the point that her publishers will let the shops know in advance what she's about to recommend. Australia calls it the "Masterchef Effect" for similar reasons.

Defictionalization is when the demanded product comes into existence because of this trope, largely as tie-in merchandise to the show that spawned it. Shows which are trying deliberately to evoke this reaction are Merchandise-Driven.

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If a work increases demand for another work, that's the Colbert Bump; if it changes demand for a song, that's Revival by Commercialization. If it increases demand for a pet, that's Pet Fad Starter. If a name becomes popular because of a work, that's Baby Name Trend Starter. The opposite of this trope is Aluminum Christmas Trees, where something real but outlandish is shown in fiction and people think it must be fictional.

Examples

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Advertising

In the 90's, Gap made a commercial for Khaki pants showing people dancing the lindy hop. The commercial did a better job of making people all over the USA start signing up for lindy hop lessons than making them buy the pants.

A rather sweet old advert for the Yellow Pages featured an old man looking for a book called "Fly Fishing" by J. R. Hartley. The ad proved so popular that the book was later written and published.

for the Yellow Pages featured an old man looking for a book called "Fly Fishing" by J. R. Hartley. The ad proved so popular that the book was later written and published. A 2002 ad for BT communications featured a rather special telephone. The public went crazy for it.

The public went crazy for it. The grim nature of Puella Magi Madoka Magica was rather offset by some of the commercials that appeared during the breaks. The Morning Rescue advert , in particular, caught the eyes of fansubbers, to the extent that one group began editing it into episodes where it had not originally appeared. Demand for the drink shot up due to curious Westerners who, having witnessed the Memetic Mutation in progress, wanted to try it for themselves; as a result, J-List began stocking Morning Rescue in their online store.

, in particular, caught the eyes of fansubbers, to the extent that one group began editing it into episodes where it had not originally appeared. Demand for the drink shot up due to curious Westerners who, having witnessed the Memetic Mutation in progress, wanted to try it for themselves; as a result, J-List began stocking Morning Rescue in their online store. Some Target advertisements had people wearing clothes with the Target logo on them; demand was such that Target wound up making them for real.

Volkswagen had a print ad for the Polo which showed a car with every part a different color (red doors, yellow hood, blue roof, etc.). Enough people requested a car like that that VW made the Polo Harlekin.

A commercial from the Dutch insurance company OHRA (in which a mother and her daughter try to pick up their purple inflatable crocodile at the lost and found of a swimming pool, but are met with severe bureaucracy) led to a huge demand for purple inflatable crocodiles, which until then only came in the color green. It also led to the phrase "purple crocodile" becoming a metaphor for obstructive bureaucracy.

from the Dutch insurance company OHRA (in which a mother and her daughter try to pick up their purple inflatable crocodile at the lost and found of a swimming pool, but are met with severe bureaucracy) led to a huge demand for purple inflatable crocodiles, which until then only came in the color green. It also led to the phrase "purple crocodile" becoming a metaphor for obstructive bureaucracy. The US National Dairy Council once put out a series of advertisements showing cows sabotaging the marketing campaigns of a company called Big Fizz Soda, replacing their ads with ads for milk. Of course, nobody involved with the campaign thought to actually trademark the name Big Fizz Soda, so a soda company did so and promptly started selling their products under that name. Big Fizz Soda can still be found in drugstores and independent supermarkets.

Commercials for Windex would sometimes feature angry crows who would use "smear sticks" to dirty windows again. Smear sticks aren't real (or aren't called that, in any case), but home goods stores will occasionally get people asking for them.

Australian automotive accessories retailer Repco once had an ad that featured a motor enthusiast replacing his doorbell with one that made the sound of a revving engine (much to his girlfriend's disgust). They received so many inquiries about this, they started stocking a bell that made this noise.

A 2014 ad for UK supermarket Asda featured three identical garden gnomes fishing in a pond, staring in shock when a gnome in a mankini floats past on a lilo. This was to make some kind of point about the conventional gnomes representing "ordinary" supermarkets or something, but due to demand, they started selling replicas of the gnome. Mankini-gnomes already existed (one appears in Gnomeo and Juliet), but not this particular model.

Anime and Manga

Comic Books

The German comic Werner heavily featured the beer from the then-small Flensburger brewery, which was obscure even in its home in northern Germany. It was known for being among the last few German beer brands sold in swing-top bottles. Then, when the comic popularized the brand, it got so popular in Germany that the brewery had trouble keeping up with demand. Then Werner made his own beer in the sixth book, which would be Defictionalized (and stopped the free advertising for Flensburger).

"Fuck Communism" Zippo lighters only became popular ever since they were featured in Preacher.

The Transformers Wiki calls it the Bludgeon Effect: the franchise has many more toys created than there are characters in the TV show, and the Expanded Universe has a huge source of characters that you've never heard of and haven't even got a personality. The name refers to Bludgeon, a relatively minor character who became Decepticon leader late in the Marvel Comics run and stayed a prominent character in subsequent series - much more so than his unpopular toy line would have indicated. This most commonly happens to characters the IDW comics use to good effect; their toys' value online will skyrocket. The biggest beneficiary of this was not Bludgeon, but Ironfist, a character who had never been used in a story until a single appearance in an IDW comic and a Fun Publications comic. Good luck getting your hands on an intact version for less than $100.

French Space Opera comic-book Valérian invented the name Laureline for the female protagonist. It is not an unheard name for French women today.

Films — Animated

Films — Live-Action

Literature

Live-Action TV

Music

Music Videos

Virtually every music video is basically a commercial for both the artist as well as the fashion worn in the video. A famous example is the red jacket worn by Michael Jackson in the music video of Beat It from Thriller, which led to increased sales, especially among black teenagers.

Katy Perry's video for "Part of Me" has made the Volvo 200 series a somewhat popular car again, with the 260 model being particularly collectible. The version in the video was a U.S.-spec 240 GL 2.3 sedan, 1991 model year. Volvo buyers are even demanding new, retraux Volvo 240s, similar to the new MINI Cooper and Fiat 500, as they feel the S40 is too small but the S60 is too large/expensive and more of a premium executive car.

MTV popularized entire genres of music overnight, ranging from New Wave Music to Hip-Hop to Hair Metal to Grunge.

Newspaper Comics

A doll of the Pointy-Haired Boss was made, after fans demanded one, seeing one depicted in the Dilbert comic strip.

Professional Wrestling

Mexican Professional Wrestling fans have made a tradition of wearing a replica of their favorite wrestler's mask when they go to the shows. This show of support has also made inroads north of the border, with the recent success of masked wrestlers like Rey Mysterio and The Hurricane.

Wrestlers will often wear their own merchandise as product placement or simply as part of their entrance/ring gear. On occasion they don't have merchandise to begin with and their gear gains popularity, leading to this trope. Kevin Owen's most iconic T-shirt in the WWE is one he made last-minute out of a regular black shirt and duct-tape. WWE would later produce their own version with a decal instead of duct tape. The New Day attached their stable's logo to matching track suits as a way to get around the company's dress code. This would later be turned into official merchandise.

In Japan, pro wrestlers Antonio Inoki and Tiger Mask have done as much to popularize martial arts as Bruce Lee did in United States. Many martial artists unrelated to pro wrestling, like judokas, karatekas, amateur wrestlers and MMA fighters, have confessed being sucked into the martial arts world during their childhood by watching Inoki or Tiger kicking and grappling evil foes in the ring. The same can be applied to United States as well, given that many a sport wrestler can tell he begged to join the school club out of love for the WWF.

Radio

The Adventures of Superman inverted this trope significantly. In 1946, Florida-native activist Stetson Kennedy had infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan and learned its secret greetings and rituals, but the Klan at this time had grown powerful enough that the police were reluctant to stand up to them. He decided instead to pitch a story to the producers of The Adventures of Superman in which Superman takes on an Expy organization called "The Klan of the Fiery Cross". The 16-episode arc revealed the Klan secrets that Kennedy had discovered, stripping the Klan of much of its air of menace and mystery. As a result, new recruitment for the Klan dried up to almost zero within a few weeks of the initial episode broadcasts, and Kennedy and his episodes were regarded by some as "the single greatest contributor to the weakening of the Klan." Read more here.

Theatre

Video Games

Web Animation

Zippo did not make cigarette lighters with the BMW logo on them until Strong Bad was repeatedly seen using a BMW lighter.

A number of items seen on RWBY has been given official merchandise including but not limited to Jaune's PJs, Jaune's hoodie, Ruby's headphones, Pumpkin Pete's cereal (complete with Pyrrha Nikos on the box), Ruby and Yang's PJs and more.

Web Original

Western Animation

Other