Vegemite Effect

Synonyms:
See also:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Vegemite is a salty, savory paste eaten on toast.

Fan deird1 explains The Vegemite Effect:

No matter how good something is, if you were expecting something else, you'll hate it.

It’s not just the horrible taste of salt, either. Expecting something to be salty and finding out it’s sweet will get the same reaction of disgust. Because you were expecting something else.

This breaking of expectations is one reason that fans dislike changes to their beloved source. Examples range from Dawn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer to The Empire Strikes Back

The Vegemite Effect is weird, actually: the more popular and long-running a show is, the more likely it is to go all Vegemitey at people.

The reason? It’s been on for a while, so viewers know what they think it should be like. And it’s got a lot of viewers, so they can all talk amongst themselves, and reinforce each other’s expectations.