going off my vague and admittedly rusty memory, there were at least three major examples of this that I personally encountered:
-
- The Marvel Civil War story arc in the comics
-
- The Twilight Saga Edward Vs Jacob marketing for the movies (which admittedly was handled somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I seem to recall a fast food commercial taking it to what I hope was an intentionally absurd degree)
-
- The MCU retread of Civil War from the comics, adapted to the silver screen
-
*** 4) Edit: Injustice: gods among us (thanks to u/Kinglion for pointing that one out)***
Whether this was intentional or not is beyond the scope of this screed, but it is interesting to note how many real-world examples of this phenomenon occurred during and after these campaigns, gamergate, the ghostbusters fiasco, the trump/anti trump movements, etc.
maybe it's nothing, or maybe it's something. I honestly have no idea, but the timing is certainly interesting at the very least.
It may have had a cultural impact, but I doubt it was deliberate. Brand rivalry as a marketing tactic goes much further back than the 2000s. Pepsi vs Coke, the sneaker wars in the 90s with Nike vs Reebok vs Adidas. Ferrari vs Lamborgini. You can go back further. They do it because it sells.
yeah, but in this case, it was one brand pushing both sides of a fictional conflict.
Hell, for all I know, it's a case of "art" imitates life, lol.
still interesting to think about, though.
Again, I think the main reason is that it works as a marketing strategy, even within brands.
no doubt, lol.
I really don't know if there's anything to it, I just thought it was an interesting pattern is all.
Ferrari vs Lamborghini was an actual conflict between the founders. Ferruccio Lamborghini saved enough money to buy a Ferrari and had some criticism with the car he bought, only for Enzo Ferrari to dismiss Lamborghini and call him a tractor salesman.