Advertising Tropes

(aka: Commercials Tropes)

10 Following

An index of tropes about the advertising, marketing, and promotion of commercial products.

These are usually Tropes Hidden from Audience, in order to compel them to act or buy.

See Advertising for a list of works.

General:

• 20% More Awesome: An ad uses statistics to measure non-quantifiable things.
• 30-Day Free Trial: Limited access to a product.
• Absolute Comparative: Describing a product as "better" without mentioning what it's being compared to.
• Absurd Brand Name: When the name of the product or service is something you wouldn't expect a marketing team to approve.
• Abusive Advertising: Ads that threaten to harm anyone who doesn't buy the product being advertised.
• Ad-Break Double-Take: An establishing shot or establishing line that appears on both sides of a commercial break.
• Ad Bumpers: Brief clips that show the viewer when ad breaks are beginning or ending.
• Ad Dissonance: An advertisement juxtaposes the real world.
• Ad Reward: Advertisements used in lieu of paying real money for players to gain additional in-game bonuses.
• Advertisement Game
• Advertising by Association: Promoting a lesser-known or new product by comparing it to a popular or long-established product.
• Advertising Campaigns
• Advertising Disguised as News
• Advertising-Only Continuity: Commercials for merchandising tie-ins depict events that are not consistent with the canon of the work the merchandise is a tie-in of.
• Advert-Overloaded Future: Advertisements will be everywhere in the future.
• Allegedly Free Game: A game is advertised as free-to-play, but the free version is deliberately scaled-down or limited; playing the 'real' game requires payment.
• All-Natural Snake Oil: Using buzzwords like "natural" to advertise a product.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: A game is advertised differently depending on the region.
• Animate Body Parts: Body parts that display human capabilities, often used for skincare products.
• Annoying Pop-Up Ad: Pop-up ads that show up at the most unfortunate of times.
• Appliance Defenestration: Customers are apparently so dissatisfied with the rival's product that they hurl it from the nearest window.
• Asbestos-Free Cereal: Promoting an irrelevant or universal feature of the product as a selling point.
• Attack of the Political Ad
• Attract Mode: A video game encourages you to play it by giving you a brief demonstration to show basic gameplay and/or a tutorial on how to play it. More common in the old days of video arcades; but they're still used in modern games from time to time.
• Beer Commercials
• "Before" and "After" Pictures: Photos of customers allegedly taken before and after they used the advertised product, as proof of its effectiveness.
• Better Than New
• Billboard
• Bite the Wax Tadpole: Slogans and brand names that do not translate well into other languages.
• Blipvert
• Blue Liquid Absorbent: Blue liquid used to represent bodily fluids like blood or urine (e.g. in a tampon commercial).
• Brand Name Takeover
• Brand Names Are Better
• Brand X: Brands are replaced with generic sounding names.
• Breakaway Advertisement: The ad becomes more famous than its product.
• Breakfast Cereal Mascot
• Bumper Sticker
• Cable/Satellite Mudslinging: Cable advertisements that insult their competitors.
• Character Shill: A character in-universe advertises a product mid-show.
• Christmas Creep: Selling Christmas-related stuff out of season.
• City Shout-Outs
• Clarke's Law for Girls' Toys: Boys' toys use technology. Girls' toys use magic!
• Colbert Bump: An obscure thing gets more attention after being referenced in a more well-known work.
• Commercial Break Cliffhanger: An episode of a television show ends on a cliffhanger right before the commercial break, the cliffhanger being resolved once the commercial break is over.
• Commercialized Christmas
• Commercial Pop-Up: A trend of a commercial blurb in the form of a "pop-up" style graphic (audio optional) during a show.
• Commercial Switcheroo: It looks like they're selling one product, but it turns out the commercial is for a different product.
• Competing Product Potshot: A product's advertisement makes fun of its competition.
• Consumer Conspiracy: Here is the product but don't tell the company that makes it that I told you it exists.
• Corporate-Sponsored Superhero: Superheroes sponsored by real world products.
• Crunchtastic: Using meaningless words to advertise a product.
• Dada Ad: An ad that makes no sense.
• The Dead Rise to Advertise: An advertisement has the product endorsed by deceased celebrities.
• Deceptively Simple Demonstration: The product's use is easier than it sounds.
• Design Student's Orgasm: Confusing visuals in advertisements.
• The Dinnermobile: Food vehicles used for advertising edible products.
• Disney Owns This Trope: A company holds a trademark for something that doesn't seem copyrightable.
• Dualvertisement: Two ads in one.
• Embarrassing Ad Gig: An in-universe character gets to star in an embarrassing commercial.
• Enforced Plug: The story stops to advertise something.
• #EngineeredHashtag: A hashtag made by a corporation to advertise something.
• Everything Talks: The microwave, the oven, and even the dog can tell you that this particular brand of pizza rolls is the best.
• Excuse Question: "Competitions" that only involve a very easy question to answer for entry.
• Eye Catch
• Face on the Cover
• Fake Food
• Fake Video Camera View
• Forced Meme
• Fourth Wall Greeting
• Freemium
• Free Prize at the Bottom: The once-common free prizes at the bottom of cereal boxes, soft drink cans/cups, etc.
• Get the Sensation: "This is how using Product X will make you feel!"
• Ghost in the Machine
• Gourmet Pet Food: Pet food is advertised as fancy.
• Gratuitous Special Effects
• Head-and-Hip Pose: A modeling pose which enhances a woman's shape by calling attention to her upper and lower body.
• Here Comes the Science: A commercial that features a pseudoscience monologue (with illustrations!) about the product.
• Hive-Mind Testimonial
• Homogenous Multinational Ad Campaign: An ad campaign is designed to cater to several markets without needing modifications.
• Hope Mongering: Appealing to the customer's hope for a better future to advertise a product.
• Imagine Spot
• In-Universe Marketing
• Insane Proprietor: Big Jake is crazy! He's practically giving these cars away!
• Internet Ads
• Invisible Advertising
• iProduct
• Itasha: Cars painted or stickered with cartoon characters (usually those from anime/manga).
• Japandering: Celebrities star in foreign-exclusive commercials which would otherwise be a source of embarrassment back home.
• Jerks Use Body Spray: Scented body spray (esp. when used excessively) and its association with the jerkasses and douchebag.
• Kitschy Local Commercial: Filmed on location by the boss's nephew, and it shows...
• Let's Meet the Meat: Food portrayed as sentient and eager to be eaten.
• Letters 2 Numbers: Numbers used in place of letters.
• Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition
• Lite Crème: An alternate spelling of an ingredient or ingredients which the product does not actually contain.
• Logo Joke
• Made in Country X
• Mail-Order Novelty: A tchotchke advertised in a magazine or comic book, which (usually) just ends up being utterly useless.
• The Man Is Sticking It to the Man: So-called rebellion against the system, advertised by said system.
• Mascot: A fictional character used to represent a product or company.
• Men Buy from Mars, Women Buy from Venus
• Merchandising the Monster: A dangerous villain or evil force being used for all ages marketing, but in universe.
• Microtransactions
• Misaimed Merchandising: A work of fiction has advertisements and merchandise tie-ins that appear to miss the point of the work's story or message or come off as very strange to the people who have seen the work.
• Model Couple
• Modeling Poses
• Never Needs Sharpening: Spinning a glaring design flaw to make it seem like a desirable feature.
• New and Improved
• New Look, Same Great Taste!:
• Obsessive Spokesperson: Has an unhealthy obsession with the product they're advertising.
• Offer Void in Nebraska
• Operators Are Standing By: A product is implied to be limited time only by saying that operators are awaiting calls.
• Organ Autonomy: Independently sentient body parts have a good chance to appear in commercials, especially if the product advertised is food, drink or medication.
• Our Product Sucks: The advertisement unabashedly states that the product advertised is worthless, either as Self-Deprecation or to manipulate customer interest via Reverse Psychology.
• Our Slogan Is Terrible: A slogan that stinks.
• Overly Cool Play Space: When toys (or other things meant for children) are shown being played with in environments regular kids won't have access to.
• Parity Product Paradox
• Parody Commercial: A comedy sketch consisting of a commercial for a fictional product.
• Parody Product Placement: A work pokes fun at the concept of Product Placement.
• Payment Plan Pitch: Make something expensive look cheap by emphasizing the price of separate multiple payments.
• Pictorial Letter Substitution: Replacing a letter (or part of a letter) with an image of something else with a similar shape. Often used in title logos.
• Pistol Pose: Often used for movie posters and game box art for marketing purposes.
• Polish the Turd: The advertisement lies about the product being better than it actually is.
• Poverty Porn: Exploiting footage of poverty to elicit sympathy and generate sales or charitable donations.
• The Power of Cheese
• Pre-Order Bonus: Pre-ordering a video game gets you exclusive content.
• Product as Superhero
• Product Placement: A work of fiction features real-life products.
• Product Placement Name
• Product-Promotion Parade: A sequence in a Merchandise-Driven work dedicated to quickly listing off the new characters and/or accessories you can buy.
• Product Switcheroo Ad: Demonstrating that a cheap product is so high-quality that it could pass for its pricier counterparts.
• Propaganda Piece
• Publicity Stunt
• Public Relations Ad: An ad meant to improve the government/company's public image.
• Put a Face on the Company: A product's ads strongly associate it with someone.
• Repeating Ad
• Reverse Psychology Marketing
• Ridiculously Loud Commercial
• Rigged Contest
• Scare Campaign
• Scare 'Em Straight: A public service announcement tries to persuade people to avoid doing bad things by convincing them that terrible things will happen to them if they end up straying from the straight and narrow.
• Screaming Cut to the Break: A segment of the story or episode ends with a scream - followed by a cut to commercials.
• Self-Promotion Disguised As News: The network promotes its own content by means of a fake news report (on its own news station).
• Sex for Product: The ad convinces the viewer that they'll be more successful with the gender they are attracted to if they use this product.
• Sex Sells: Ads use fanservice to try and sell the product.
• Sexy Packaging
• Shaving Is Science: Shaving implements are advertised as being ridiculously high-tech.
• Shoddy Knockoff Product: A very poor ripoff of the actual product that's in high demand.
• Side-by-Side Demonstration: A demonstration of the advertised product's effectiveness compared to another leading brand.
• Side Effects Include...
• Sigil Spam
• Similar to the Show: An advertisement made to be confused for part of the program it's running alongside.
• Slices, Dices, and Makes Julienne Fries
• Slogans: A clever statement associated with the advertised product explaining why the audience should buy it.
• Stealth Cigarette Commercial
• Stepford Consumer: The customer is happy and excited about the product they're plugging, often excessively so.
• Strawman Product: Mudslinging a competitor's product to uplift the one being advertised.
• Stuck on Band-Aid Brand: Characters in commercials will always use the full trademarked name of a product.
• Subliminal Advertising
• Subliminal Seduction
• Super Bowl Special (also known as FIFA World Cup Special)
• Surprise Release: A work is released the same day it’s announced.
• Taglines
• Talking Pest: A mascot who is a member of the species the product is designed to wipe out.
• Tape Switch: The broadcasting booth operator messes up the order of the tapes.
• Thematic Sequel Logo Change
  • Sequel Logo in Ruins
• Token Trio
• Too Incompetent to Operate a Blanket: The ad tries to convince the audience the product is needed by showing people without the product being unable to do what the product is designed for.
• Totally Radical: The ad uses outdated slang in a misguided attempt to appeal to the younger generations.
• Unisex Series, Gendered Merchandise
• Up Marketing: Certain advertising gimmics used to target the demographic actually able to afford your expensive product.
• Very False Advertising
• Viral Marketing
• "Wanted!" Poster
• We Care
• We Don't Suck Anymore
• What Were They Selling Again?: The ad is so weird or disturbing that the audience quickly forgets what was being advertised.
• Wolverine Publicity
• Xtreme Kool Letterz

Breakfast Cereals:

• Adjacent to This Complete Breakfast: An ad for a sugary breakfast cereal claims to be part of a complete breakfast, when it's more accurate to say that it is next to a far more healthy breakfast.
• Cereal-Induced Superpowers
• Cereal Vice Reward: The ad shows consumers indulging in immoral or even illegal behaviour in order to obtain the advertised product, supposedly because it is just that good.
• Magically Delicious: Using fantastical or fictional elements as a way to advertise a product without actually depicting it.

Disclaimers:

• Batteries Not Included
• Do Not Attempt
• I Approved This Message
• Motor Mouth
• Rattling Off Legal: The voice-over rapidly mentions legal disclaimers as the commercial nears its end.
• Unreadable Disclaimer

Medical:

• I'm Not a Doctor, but I Play One on TV
• Nine out of Ten Doctors Agree
• Side Effects Include...
• Spice Rack Panacea

Music:

• Isn't It Ironic?: An ad uses a song whose subject matter is inappropriate or unfitting for the situation.
• Jingle: A song that is used to advertise stuff.
• Phone Number Jingle: The phone number of a service is sung.
• Repurposed Pop Song: A pre-existing song is repurposed as an advertising jingle.
• Top Ten Jingle: An advertising jingle becomes wildly popular, so it's turned into a full song.

Stock Phrases:

• Advertising Stock Phrases: Standard phrases used/originated in advertising.
• ...And 99¢: Advertising gimmick used to create the illusion that a product is cheaper than it really is.
• But Wait, There's More!: Announcing that the product has more features in case the audience hasn't become interested yet.
• Not Available in Stores: A product's exclusivity is implied by announcing it can only be purchased online or by calling.
• Now How Much Would You Pay: You'd pay thousands for a miracle product, right? It's cheaper actually.
• Please Subscribe to Our Channel
• This Product Will Change Your Life
• Viewers Like You

Notable Venues:

• Prime Time
  • Prime Time Cartoon
• Saturday-Morning Cartoon
• Super Bowl
• Weekday Afternoon Cartoon

Other:

• Advertising Campaigns
• B-Roll: Illustrative, often publicitary footage inserted into real-time broadcasts.

Reactions to advertising:

• Ad Turds