Every episode of “South Park” ends with a fuzzy picture of a Braniff Airlines 727 and the words “Braniff: Believe It!” Well, WTF? Braniff has been defunct since the 80’s. What’s the idea?
It is intended as a joke, the jingle that plays is music from the duo’s first project Cannibal! The Musical. When the pilot episode was finished they did not yet have a “Created by:” production logo for a closing bumper, so they used the Braniff thing as a goof.
That’s right. Braniff is used as a name for Parker and Stone’s “production company.”
The perspective on the approaching nose of the plane makes it a pretty good phallic reference, too.
Didn’t they call their production company something like “Very Important Productions” when they did That’s My Bush! ?
Somewhere in the corporate ether, the Braniff name still exists as a property. I can’t recall details of the owner’s agreement with Parker/Stone, but it gave them permission to use the logo only in the South Park series.
In the early, early days of SP, one of the chat rooms I hung out in had a producer (not Matt or Trey but very high up) answer with “because it’s cheesy and cool, that’s why we have it!!”
I do remember their commercials from the '70’s, although not the original music.