9. Unnovations
Appearing around the same time as tvgohome, and with a similar sensibility, Brooker took a swipe at those annoying little quirky catalogues that used to routinely fall out of the weekend newspapers. Actual products from the Innovations catalogue included items such as a phone shaped like a frog that ribbited when it rang, slippers shaped like cars, or a pillbox that came with its own water supply. All products with a germ of an idea, most of them bad, and something that Unnovations simply took to the absurdist of levels. So witness the joys of the Schizophrenia Helmet (all the fun of Schizophrenia... in a hat), Thunky-Think Mittens (gloves that come up with thoughts, so you don't have to bother) or The Mouthless Stumbling Boy Creature That Shakes Illegal Intruders To The Very Core (does what it says on the tin). Again, a sweary collection at times (
ensure you aren't offended easily before visiting the site), but it takes the perfectly insane world of marketing prose to a level of sheer stupidity that just has enough truth in it. Again, it was collected in an excellently offensive book, and also had a spin-off TV show, featuring various shopping channels mickey-takes.
Genius Moment: Mr Chocolate Talking Bear - the uncompromising talking bear that renders pleasant father-child relationships impossible. Scupper his chances with Mr. Chocolate - the talking bear that undermines your ex-partners's charm offensives with a selection of apt phases designed to shatter your child's confidence in that no-good runaround father of theirs, such as: "If daddy really loved you, he never would have left."