# South Park's Braniff ads

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-parks-braniff-ads/217434>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 6, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-parks-braniff-ads/217434 "2003-12-06T21:29:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-parks-braniff-ads/217434/1 "2003-12-06T21:29:50Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-parks-braniff-ads/217434/2 "2003-12-06T21:52:09Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-parks-braniff-ads/217434/3 "2003-12-07T00:45:07Z")

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That’s right. Braniff is used as a name for Parker and Stone’s “production company.”

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**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-parks-braniff-ads/217434/4 "2003-12-07T01:49:29Z")

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The perspective on the approaching nose of the plane makes it a pretty good phallic reference, too.

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**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-parks-braniff-ads/217434/5 "2003-12-08T20:06:52Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by mobo85 \*  
> \*\*That’s right. Braniff is used as a name for Parker and Stone’s “production company.” \*\*

Didn’t they call their production company something like “Very Important Productions” when they did _That’s My Bush!_ ?

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**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-parks-braniff-ads/217434/6 "2003-12-08T21:11:03Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-parks-braniff-ads/217434/7 "2003-12-08T21:15:50Z")

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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.