Happy Fun Ball

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Just one of Happy Fun Ball's numerous warnings.

The "Happy Fun Ball" was the subject of a parody advertisement on Saturday Night Live, originally aired on NBC on February 16, 1991.

Voiced by Phil Hartman, the ad declared that Happy Fun Ball (produced by Wacky Products Incorporated, and its parent company, Global Chemical Unlimited), just $14.95, was "the toy sensation that's sweeping the nation!" However, there were a number of bizarre disclaimers which followed the ad, including "may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds" and "if Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, seek shelter and cover head." Its ingredients include "an unknown glowing substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space", and said ingredients are not to be "touched, inhaled, or looked at" if exposed due to rupture. Perhaps most famously, viewers are warned, "Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball."

The parody effectively lampooned advertisers, toy manufacturers, chemical companies, absurdly long legal disclaimers, alien conspiracies, and even mentioned the 1991 Gulf War (stating that Happy Fun Ball was being dropped by US warplanes on Iraq).

Several years later, in the beginning of one of the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer sketches, Happy Fun Ball was presented as one of the sponsors, with the claim that Happy Fun Ball was "Still legal in 16 states. It's happy. It's fun. It's Happy Fun Ball."

[edit] References in popular culture

Unreal Tournament 2004 - When grenades from the grenade launcher cause the death of your adversary, the server responds with the message "Deceased player played with Shooter's happy fun ball".
World of Warcraft - Certain enemies in the game world drop an item called 'Happy Fun Rock', which may be thrown at other players.
Mozy - The end user license agreement text displayed in the Mozy software contains (as of July 2007) the text 'DO NOT TAUNT HAPPY FUN BALL' in the middle of the lengthy 'LIMITATION OF LIABILITY' section.^[1]

[edit] References

^ Terms and Conditions: End User License Agreement. Mozy.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-17.

[edit] External links

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