Top Ten Fictional Brands from Movies and TV

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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.

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9. Finder-Spyder

Seen In: CSI, Breaking Bad, Dexter

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.

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8. Brawndo

Seen In: Idiocracy

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!”

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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.

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6. Mooby’s

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

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.