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Fictional brands are often created to avoid legal entanglements, but also for laughs!

Some of these brands have become director trademarks, while others have become inside jokes that are used in different movies and shows that otherwise have no connection to one another.

Every now and then, a fictional brand stands out from the pack, sometimes even putting real brands to shame. The best fictional brands can transcend from mere props and become as impactful as any real brand. Or even better, they’re so good that they become a reality!

I’ve collected some of the most iconic fictional brands from watching my favourite shows and movies.

Wonka Bar

The film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory needed all sorts of product packaging for the fictional Willy Wonka company. Wonka Bar turned into a candy bar icon, luring in generations of kids longing for a taste of that magical chocolate. It was such a success that Nestlé corporation bought the rights to the name and created an actual Wonka brand! 

Morley Cigarettes 

Clearly designed to look like the popular Marlboro brand with similar colour and font, Morley Cigarettes were created to ensure the film industry wasn’t giving away free product placement to cigarette companies.  The cigarette brand first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (smoked by psychiatrist Dr. Fred Richman), and since has appeared in dozens of popular films and TV shows like The X-Files, 24, The Walking Dead, Spy Game and Mission: Impossible, cementing the brand as the number one choice of cigarette for fictional characters. 

Ghostbusters 

The Ghostbusters logo is both the titular fictional company logo and the centrepiece of several massive marketing campaigns. The logo is so well designed that it regularly shows up on lists of the most recognized brands, even 34 years after the first film hit theatres. It’s my favourite logo of the pack. It even has a theme song to go with it!

Jurassic Park

I know what you’re thinking – “Jurassic Park is the name of the movie, not a brand.” But it’s both! Jurassic Park is one of the few films to share its name with its titular fictional corporation, and have a branding strategy to match. The iconic T-Rex skeleton silhouette serves as both the company logo and the centrepiece of the film’s marketing strategy. The branding in the film also goes a step above most others, with a gaudy style that seems to fit perfectly for an over-marketed zoo/amusement park.

Duff Beer 

Duff Beer is Homer Simpson’s beverage of choice — he once famously proclaimed alcohol to be “the cause of, and the solution to, all of life’s problems.” But Duff Beer’s popularity extends well beyond Springfield with copycats trying to pop up left and right. Numerous lawsuits have been filed against companies that have attempted to market a real-life version of “that wonderful Duff!”

Acme Corporation

There is no more culturally famous fake company than Acme Corporation.  The fictional corporation from the classic Looney Toons cartoon series is an acronym for “A Company that Makes Everything”. And it makes anything and everything under the sun – and all of it defective. The Acme brand is 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.” 

RITA GOMES – GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Rita, newbie to the team, came all the way from Portugal to spice things up. Always with her mini cup of espresso in her hand and selling her country as the best in the world. She’s curious and adventurous, always striving to learn, absorb what the world has to offer and input it into her work.