bait and switch
10
6.8
- noun
- /beɪt ənd swɪtʃ/
:
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- The advertisement for the car seemed appealing, but it turned out to be a bait and switch when they showed me the higher-priced models.
I think there's the mis sell, the bullshit, the bait and switch, which is where click bait comes from.
- I think there's the mis sell, the bullshit, the bait and switch, which is where click bait comes from.
- So the my my fundamental argument with Randy is not so much that he's wrong, but that he's facilitating a bait and switch.
- Perhaps the court thought the store was engaging in deceptive bait and switch marketing tactics and wanted to find a way to penalize the Score store.
- The betrayal of really thinking that you clearly saw someone and then having them do that bait and switch.
- So doesn't mean that this has been a bait and switch or something from day one or that it is now.
- The modern version of performance anxiety is that your technology is going to fail and there's a little bit of a bait and switch.
Examples
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I wonder if brands could bring a class action suit against FB for this bait-and-switch practice.
Blog text (10) -
Don't you see it's all a big bait and switch?
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So, in sales, it's called a bait and switch.
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- And it was a total bait and switch.
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It's called the bait and switch.
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But the organization has played bait and switch on these subjects before.
Academic text (2011) -
What we are dealing with here goes beyond a simple bait and switch.
Blog text (30) -
There were no surprises, no bait and switch, no hidden agenda.
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They did the old "bait and switch."
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I really think it amounts to a "bait and switch" and am angered that it's legal.
Blog text (31)
Synonyms
1
4.8
A suggestion to buy a more expensive or extra item
1
9.9
A way of selling that uses pushy, dishonest methods to get attention
Cheating people to get their money or an advantage
How Deceptive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'bait' (an enticing offer) and 'switch' (a replacement) make the general idea of luring someone and then substituting something predictable, so a learner can infer a strategy of being tricked. However, the specific commercial tactic — advertising a low-priced item and then persuading purchase of a more expensive one — is an idiomatic, pragmatic detail that typically requires exposure, so the expression is not fully transparent.
Etymology
Bait and switch comes from a sales trick: a shop advertises a cheap product as bait to bring customers in, then makes a quick switch to push a more expensive item instead. So the phrase means 'a trick' to make people buy something pricier.