Another "joke that became reality" happened in the UK a while ago. There was a comedy series in the 1980s called "Not the Nine O'Clock News" - a parody news programme with Mel Smith, Griff Rhys-Jones, and Pamela Stephenson. They did an item about lorry (truck) drivers, in which the pleasure of squashing hedgehogs was touted as a major benefit of the occupation
. Not too long after that, hedgehog-flavour crisps (chips) appeared on the market and were very successful
.
As a follow-up, though, these crisps were actually flavoured with pork fat, and the manufacturer were prosecuted by the UK's Office of Fair Trading on a charge of false advertising. They had to change the packaging to specify that they weren't actually made from hedgehogs.