History Main / DoNotDoThisCoolThing

This trope is especially easy to fall into when a piece of media aims for a realistic portrayal of why people get lured into things like drinking, smoking, being promiscuous, doing drugs, getting into dangerous situations, fighting awesome action sequences, etc., thereby identifying to the audience what others see in it, possibly causing them to view it in a light they hadn't previously seen it in. Conversely, if you gloss over the very real appeal, you end up with a bad habit that feels comically asinine in presentation (akin to an ad reading "[[CaptainObviousAesop Stop Punching Kittens]]"). The trick is finding the balance between getting the audience to understand the appeal and understanding why these things are bad. If the negative aspects don't come across as outweighing the appeal, this trope comes into effect. This makes the vice into ForbiddenFruit and therefore much more appealing when the audience is told not to do it. While authorial (or parental) intent may be to use the tale to discourage something, this trope happens, because they're trying to get the audience to accept that something that was just being depicted as fun, easy, exciting, profitable, advantageous, or whatever, was actually bad; to the audience, this comes across as extremely dishonest and patently false. Many people and PSA's seem to forget that just because somebody was told so, or their "parents raised them right", doesn't mean they won't do something -- nobody's parents told them it was a good habit to visit prostitutes, but many people do so and a number of them do it regularly.

This trope is especially easy to fall into when a piece of media aims for a realistic portrayal of why people get lured into things like drinking, smoking, being promiscuous, doing drugs, getting into dangerous situations, fighting awesome action sequences, etc., thereby identifying to the audience what others see in it, possibly causing them to view it in a light they hadn't previously seen it in. Conversely, if you gloss over the very real appeal, you end up with a bad habit that it seems no rational person would ever pick up (akin to an ad reading "[[CaptainObviousAesop Stop Punching Kittens]]"). The trick is finding the balance between getting the audience to understand the appeal and understanding why these things are bad. If the negative aspects don't come across as outweighing the appeal, this trope comes into effect. This makes the vice into ForbiddenFruit and therefore much more appealing when the audience is told not to do it. While authorial (or parental) intent may be to use the tale to discourage something, this trope happens, because they're trying to get the audience to accept that something that was just being depicted as fun, easy, exciting, profitable, advantageous, or whatever, was actually bad; to the audience, this comes across as extremely dishonest and patently false. Many people and PSA's seem to forget that just because somebody was told so, or their "parents raised them right", doesn't mean they won't do something -- nobody's parents told them it was a good habit to visit prostitutes, but many people do so and a number of them do it regularly.

See also EvilIsCool, EvilIsSexy, ForbiddenFruit, ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything, DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster, RiseAndFallGangsterArc, StreisandEffect, and JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs.

** An ad from the early 2000s depicts two kids in the bathroom at a concert getting high before a cop comes in and busts them. A caption appears on the screen saying "Marijuana can get you busted. Harmless?" It's telling viewers that the only problem with marijuana [[HitlerAteSugar is simply that it's illegal]], which leads the viewer to realise that there would be no problem if it was legal.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', especially the older versions of it, is rather clear in its "fascist totalitarianism is bad" message with the [[TheEmpire Imperium]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters of Man]] serving as an example of [[FascistButInefficient a dysfunctional fascist regime]]. But this aesop is watered down by how 1) the Imperium [[VillainProtagonist is the POV faction]] for [[SpotlightStealingSquad an overwhelming amount of material]] (easily 90% of the various books, codices, videogames and the likes are either from a pure Imperium P.O.V. or feature them as one of the protagonists, even getting [[Literature/HorusHeresy a hundred books long series about their backstory]]) to the detriment of other factions who aren't given as much SympatheticPOV stories; 2) the Imperium's enemies are almost never presented as being better than it (at best, they will be presented as [[BlackAndGrayMorality just as bad]], and several times where some other faction ended up appearing more moral than the Imperium they were promptly retconned to be worse); and 3) the Imperium just plain looks ''[[EvilIsCool cool]]'' and draws a lot of its imagery from Crusades-era Europe and 20th-century dictatorships. As a result, it's no surprise that a fair amount of ''40k'' fans are RootingForTheEmpire (and some even have a MisaimedFandom towards it). It got to the point that Games Workshop had to make an [[https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/11/19/the-imperium-is-driven-by-hate-warhammer-is-not/ official statement]] in November 2021 that they are not to be admired.

* One aspect of ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' is that the game wants the player to view being turned into a vampire as a hellish curse and wants them to focus on reflecting upon their undead nature and politicking in vampire world rather than fighting and action. However, this is undermined by the fact that the game's version of vampirism gives the player access to all kinds of over the top powers while also openly disregarding most of the traditional weaknesses vampires typically have, allowing skilled players to go all out with their character's abilities with minimal consequence. This has led to a sizable portion of the game's player base choosing to play it as a straightforward action game rather than the personal horror roleplay the creators intended it to be.

* Any time you see a viral clip headed "SHOCKING VIDEO", it's odds on that it will be an example of this.

If a work attempts to play down the attractive aspects and stick to the unappealing ones, the work itself may become unappealing as a result, which again [[DontShootTheMessage undermines the goal of spreading its message]]. It's [[ScyllaAndCharybdis a tricky artistic balance]]: If you ShowDontTell, you risk showing something bad as cool, but if you just tell, you're left with a boring AuthorTract saying "AndThatsTerrible." This trope was formerly called "Truffaut was right", named for French director Creator/FrancoisTruffaut who noted that you simply cannot make a truly anti-war movie.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', especially the older versions of it, is rather clear in its "fascist totalitarianism is bad" message with the [[TheEmpire Imperium]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters of Man]] serving as an example of [[FascistButInefficient a dysfunctional fascist regime]]. But this aesop is watered down by how 1) the Imperium [[VillainProtagonist is the POV faction]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad for an overwhelming amount of material]] (Easily 90% of the various books, codices, videogames and the likes are either from a pure Imperium P.O.V. or feature them as one of the protagonists, even getting [[Literature/HorusHeresy a hundred books long series about their backstory]]) to the detriment of other factions who aren't given as much SympatheticPOV stories, 2) The Imperium's enemies are almost never presented as being better than it ([[BlackAndGrayMorality at most they will be just as bad but will often be shown as worse than it]], and some of them have been outright retconned to be worse because they seemed more moral than the Imperium), and 3) the Imperium just plain looks ''[[EvilIsCool cool]]'' and draws a lot of its imagery from Crusades-era Europe and 20th-century dictatorships. As a result, it's no surprise that a fair amount of ''40k'' fans are RootingForTheEmpire (and some even have a MisaimedFandom towards it). It got to the point that Games Workshop had to make an [[https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/11/19/the-imperium-is-driven-by-hate-warhammer-is-not/ official statement]] in November 2021 that they are not to be admired.

** Many of these ads make use of TheAggressiveDrugDealer, a trope which was simply [[DeadUnicornTrope never an accurate reflection of reality]] even before it was discredited. Kids were being warned constantly to be on the lookout for [[http://youtu.be/g_mC6EZ8Jpk these shady characters]][[note]]The unrealism of this ad consists not only in the depiction of the pusher but in the smartmouth kid putting down his wares ''and the other kids listening to him''. He isn't the mature leader type that other children would take seriously.[[/note]] looking to corrupt the morals of today's youth for... [[ForTheEvulz uh]]... but as they were never encountered in real life, it caused these ads to provoke more laughter than [[ScareEmStraight fear]]. Probably the worst was an ad that had an obnoxious kid all but forcing his classmate to take a handful of marijuana cigarettes. Everything about the commercial was wrong, as the kid didn't seem to expect payment for the joints, both kids (especially the victim) looking about ten years too young to be in danger of rampant drug use being a thing among their peers, the pusher kid calling his victim a "chicken" and loudly making fun of him ''in a school hallway'' for not taking his drugs, and the kid's utterly wimpy response: "I'm not a chicken! You're a turkey!" The takeaway most kids got from this is that marijuana users might be loudmouthed jerks but they were generous, while those who didn't smoke it were hopeless nerds.

** Many of these ads make use of TheAggressiveDrugDealer, a trope which was simply [[DeadUnicornTrope never an accurate reflection of reality]] even before it was discredited. Kids were being warned constantly to be on the lookout for these shady characters looking to corrupt the morals of today's youth for... [[ForTheEvulz uh]]... but as they were never encountered in real life, it caused these ads to provoke more laughter than [[ScareEmStraight fear]]. Probably the worst was an ad that had an obnoxious kid all but forcing his classmate to take a handful of marijuana cigarettes. Everything about the commercial was wrong, as the kid didn't seem to expect payment for the joints, both kids (especially the victim) looking about ten years too young to be in danger of rampant drug use being a thing among their peers, the pusher kid calling his victim a "chicken" and loudly making fun of him ''in a school hallway'' for not taking his drugs, and the kid's utterly wimpy response: "I'm not a chicken! You're a turkey!" The takeaway most kids got from this is that marijuana users might be loudmouthed jerks but they were generous, while those who didn't smoke it were hopeless nerds.

* The ''Joe And Petunia'' series of Brit Public Information Films during the early 70s featured the titular couple wreaking havoc because of their stupidity. The tone of the shorts was ''much'' lighter and humourous than the infamously scary fare ([[KillEmAll and the high body counts]]) PIF would be remembered for, to the point they became the cause for them. The duo was so popular that it was feared people would actually imitate them, so they were apparently KilledOffForReal in ''Worn Tyres Kill'' [[GallowsHumor in their unorthodox style]]. The aforementioned nightmare-ish [=PSAs=] that followed were made as a reaction against this.

* WebVideo/SsethTzeentach's [[https://youtu.be/URJ_qSXruW0 review]] of ''VideoGame/SpaceStation13'' starts with him noting that it's a spectacular game that he would rate 10 out of 10, then in the same breath says ''not'' to play it for several reasons (the engine is probably older than whoever's watching his review, the controls and UI are insanely convoluted, it takes a ''long'' time to learn even a single role, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and the servers would melt under any significant number of new players]]). He then spends the rest of the review detailing several sessions he himself had played, every one of which ended in a ludicrous and/or hilarious fashion,[[labelnote:Examples:]]Getting banned from practicing medicine on one server after he surgically replaced a player's hands and feet with pizza; getting banned from said server entirely after "cleaning it up" of furry roleplay by flashbanging roleplayers, handcuffing them to their beds, then setting off C4 outside the hull to [[ThrownOutTheAirlock space the entire room]] before the roleplayers knew what was going on; supplying a clown player with [[SpaceX space lube]], which he used to kill almost everyone in the server by making them slip along the floor in front of medical and out an airlock he'd hacked open; slipping voice-activated bombs [[WhyAmITicking inside a newbie]], supplying him with illegal weaponry in the hopes he'd be detained and kill the chief of security by unwittingly activating the bombs, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard and dying to said bombs]] when the newbie spoke the trigger phrase before even leaving the room; playing as a cultist, getting discovered by the janitor, then failing to silence him because he tripped them up with soapy water; joining a round mid-session in time for "penis inspection day", which ended with the doctor blasting off his ass with magic and wearing it as a hat; cargo declaring independence from the rest of the station and ''winning'' it through use of conveyor belts, banana peels, and hacked soda machines to trap anyone who tried to stop them; and discovering he could force-feed players from a distance with the pneumatic cannon, immediately using it with donuts loaded with hallucinogenic drugs to incapacitate the entire server, [[KarmaHoudini and getting off scott-free]] because security assumed the chemist did it.[[/labelnote]] which predictably resulted in [[ColbertBump a huge deluge of new players picking up the game]] and causing the servers to melt down under the "Ssethtide".

A SubTrope of BrokenAesop. Sometimes the result of an AccidentalAesop or an AlternateAesopInterpretation or PoesLaw. Can overlap with CluelessAesop.

* This upbeat commercial for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHmVcYOqGe0 Gofer Cakes]], a fictitious snack cake akin to Ding Dongs. Aimed at children and teens, it is a PSA for The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports; the kids in the ad end up all sloppy and lazy from eating too much junk food. Unfortunately, many ads for real junk food work along similar principles -- the real ones try to say "this food is so tasty that it's worth being anti-social over!" The comments on the PSA confirm that [[PoesLaw the satire element went over most kids' heads,]] and seems to have turned a lot of youngsters '''on''' to [[TheRedStapler Gofer Cakes.]]

** An ad from the early 2000s depicts two kids in the bathroom at a concert getting high before a cop comes in and busts them. A caption appears on the screen saying "Marijuana can get you busted. Harmless?" It's telling viewers that the reason marijuana is bad [[HitlerAteSugar is simply because it's illegal]], without giving any adequate explanation for ''why'' that is, which leads the viewer to think that there would be no problem if it was legal.

** Many of these ads make use of TheAggressiveDrugDealer, a trope which was simply [[DeadUnicornTrope never an accurate reflection of reality]] even before it was discredited. Kids were being warned constantly to be on the lookout for these shady characters looking to corrupt the morals of today's youth for... [[ForTheEvulz uh]]... but as they were never encountered in real life, it caused these ads to provoke more laughter than [[ScareEmStraight fear]]. Probably the worst was an ad that had an obnoxious kid all but forcing his classmate to take a handful of marijuana cigarettes. Everything about the commercial was wrong, as the kid didn't seem to expect payment for the joints, both kids (especially the victim) looking about ten years too young to be in danger of rampant drug use being a thing among their peers, the pusher kid calling his victim a "chicken" and loudly making fun of him ''in a school hallway'' for not taking his drugs, and the kid's utterly wimpy response: "I'm not a chicken! You're a turkey!" The takeaway most kids got from this is that marijuana users might be loudmouthed jerks but those who didn't smoke it were hopeless nerds.

** Some ads try to send the message of "Drugs aren't cool" or "Not doing drugs is totally cool". Except some of them do this by showing a person who does think drugs are cool, and the ad intentionally goes to great lengths to give them the traits typically associated with being cool (sunglasses, leather jacket, hot girlfriend, etc), which usually makes the drug user look a lot cooler than the other person in the ad who chooses not to use drugs.

** By a similar count, many ads either heavily overstate or distort the symptoms of the drugs. Meant to scare people out of taking drugs, this only means the kids will discredit the ad in a single encounter with an actual user or five minutes on Google. How many times have you seen a marijuana user being violent and aggressive, as opposed to lounging on the sofa with a bag of chips, or giggling at nothing?
** There are ads that show the dangers of driving while under the influence of drugs. While these ones are more honest and may actually discourage people from doing so, the message that viewers get from this is "Just stay home and use drugs" or "If you're going to get high, be sure to take a cab or have a designated driver." Which, to be fair is also a pretty good message, just a very different one from the one that they wanted to convey.

** There is the famously counter-productive [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMwxWHaZUro anti-drug ad]] featuring Creator/RachaelLeighCook. The ad itself isn't so bad, but after watching it, how many people associated "drug use" with "Rachael Leigh Cook in a tanktop and tight jeans"?
*** The ad may not be as bad as some, but it does depict Cook going crazy and wrecking a kitchen to illustrate what a drug user, the user's family, etc., go through thanks to drugs. When she finishes and breathes "Any questions?", one question that comes to mind, as WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic put it: "Yeah. What drugs are ''you'' on?"

* One of the worst car advertisements ever was a magazine ad, "[[https://66.media.tumblr.com/3530682d9e097767ed232b83281b4222/tumblr_ojlg1nWVmu1rz6b2ao1_1280.jpg An Unfair Comparison Between the Javelin and the Mustang]]." And boy, was it unfair: anyone could look at the huge, detailed photos of each car and see the Mustang was more attractive and better designed. Which worked out badly for the makers of the Javelin, who placed the ad.
** Although car makers are heavily prohibited from glamorising the performance aspects of their products most television car advertisements need the disclaimer 'Professional Driver on Closed Course. Do Not Attempt' to try to counter the fact that driving across a frozen lake or a desert or round a racetrack looks pretty damn fun.
*** Which is [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope oddly extended to]] such crazy actions as driving normal speed down paved roads with leaves on it.

* A lot of anti-gun PSA's and arguments. They start out by inflating the power and lethality of weapons currently available on the civilian market. Then they show someone somewhere being victimized by a criminal with that powerful gun. Wouldn't you sleep better if you had a weapon of your own to use if someone scary like that came at you?

* Pretty blatantly stated in [[Creator/ValveCorporation Valve's]] Steam Deck [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxnr2FAADAs teardown video]]. They spend an entire minute of the five minute video explaining [[DontTryThisAtHome why taking apart the Steam Deck is a bad idea]], then go on to say that "taking things apart and putting them back together is cool, especially powerful handheld gaming computers."

* Creator/NormMacDonald pointed out the problem addressed in anti-smoking ads mentioned above with showing the effect of smoking on organs.

* Invoked in [[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/first-rehearsal-pt-6/ this]] ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'' with Davan's response to a gang of ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' fans protesting a stage-play adaptation of ''Film/ShockTreatment''. "Think of every movie or video game someone else protested that you immediately went to check out. Now you're doing that for us."
** Also, the only reason {{God}} declared homosexuality a sin was to BatmanGambit lesbians into having more sex out of spite, [[GirlOnGirlIsHot which He of course gets to watch]].

** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/smoking-kills Smoking kills]] so it's not cool, [[FridgeLogic but wait,]] don't a lot of cool things (like sharks and karate) kill also?
* "[[http://www.jasonlove.com/cartoons/00003-funny-cartoons-movies.gif Warning]]" from Jason Love's cartoons.

* In universe only in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'': [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2281 “Don’t play with fireworks, or you’ll end up with sweet robot body parts.”]]
* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', Strohl makes up a [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-06-14 plasma-cannon safety colouring book]], which Fez Bojo describes as a marketing scheme similar to this.

* This trope is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62cPPSyoQkE discussed]] by Creator/LindsayEllis, who describes this as "the satire paradox", claiming that people tend to only take the intended message [[ConfirmationBias if they already hold the view]], while people who hold the opposite view [[MisaimedFandom tend to take the opposite message.]] After all, even if they notice the critical elements of the work, they can easily dismiss them as the story simply being self-aware that its side isn't perfect. She specifically discussed the above example of ''Film/AmericanHistoryX'' - in her view, in trying to show horrifying fascists, the film ended up also making them look like physically impressive badass alpha males who proudly uphold their beliefs and drip with the imagery that made the Nazis march to war. ''Film/TheProducers'', on the other hand, is praised for averting this trope, as the Nazi imagery in the film has the piss firmly taken out of it, and the only actual Nazi character is portrayed as a pathetic buffoon.

* [[ParodiedTrope Mercilessly parodied]] in a theater warning featuring director Creator/JohnWaters. He's supposed to tell the audience that smoking is restricted in the theater but he does so by intentionally sending out mixed signals, like happily puffing on a cigarette himself and questioning the validity of the rule.

** An elementary school created and distributed customized pencils for their students to use. The pencils were emblazoned with the words, "It's Not Cool to Do Drugs." This lasted until a student pointed out that, as the pencils are sharpened, they begin to read "Cool to Do Drugs," and then later, "Do Drugs." and finally, "Drugs."

[[folder: Radio]]

* Pretty blatantly stated in [[Creator/ValveCorporation Valve's]] Steam Deck [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxnr2FAADAs teardown video]]. They spend an entire minute of the five minute video explaining why taking apart the Steam Deck is a bad idea, then go on to say that "taking things apart and putting them back together is cool, especially powerful handheld gaming computers."
* The Capri-Sun ''Advertising/RespectThePouch'' campaign shows various kids destroying their Capri-Sun pouches in creative ways (hitting it with a baseball bat, poking multiple holes in it with their straw, inflating it to use as a WhoopeeCushion, etc.), then undergoing a KarmicTransformation related to what they did to the pouch. The campaign insists that playing with the Capri-Sun pouch is a bad idea, but they just draw more attention to how fun it is to inflate and play with the pouch -- which may have been the intention.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', especially the older versions of it, is rather clear in its "fascist totalitarianism is bad" message with the [[TheEmpire Imperium]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters of Man]] serving as an example of [[FascistButInefficient a dysfunctional fascist regime]]. But this aesop is watered down by how 1) the Imperium [[VillainProtagonist is the POV faction]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad for an overwhelming material]] (Easily 90% of the various books, codices, videogames and the likes are either from a pure Imperium P.O.V. or feature them as one of the protagonists, even getting [[Literature/HorusHeresy a hundred books long series about their backstory]]) to the detriment of other factions who aren't given as much SympatheticPOV stories, 2) The Imperium's enemies are almost never presented as being better than it ([[BlackAndGrayMorality at most they will be just as bad but will often be shown as worse than it]], and some of them have been outright retconned to be worse because they seemed more moral than the Imperium), and 3) the Imperium just plain looks ''[[EvilIsCool cool]]'' and draws a lot of its imagery from Crusades-era Europe and 20th-century dictatorships. As a result, it's no surprise that a fair amount of ''40k'' fans are RootingForTheEmpire (and some even have a MisaimedFandom towards it). It got to the point that Games Workshop had to make an [[https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/11/19/the-imperium-is-driven-by-hate-warhammer-is-not/ official statement]] in November 2021 that they are not to be admired.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', especially the older versions of it, is rather clear in its "fascist totalitarianism is bad" message with the [[TheEmpire Imperium]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters of Man]] serving as an example of [[FascistButInefficient a dysfunctional fascist regime]]. But this aesop is watered down by how 1) the Imperium [[VillainProtagonist is the POV faction]] [[SpotlightStealingSquad for an overwhelming material]] (Easily 90% of the various books, codices, videogames and the likes are either from a pure Imperium P.O.V. or feature them as one of the protagonists, even getting [[Literature/HorusHeresy a hundred books long series about their backstory]]) to the detriment of other factions who aren't given as much SympatheticPOV stories, 2) The Imperium's enemies are almost never presented as being better than it ([[BlackAndGrayMorality at most they will be just as bad but will often be shown as worse than it]]), and 3) the Imperium just plain looks ''[[EvilIsCool cool]]'' and draws a lot of its imagery from Crusades-era Europe and 20th-century dictatorships. As a result, it's no surprise that a fair amount of ''40k'' fans are RootingForTheEmpire (and some even have a MisaimedFandom towards it). It got to the point that Games Workshop had to make an [[https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/11/19/the-imperium-is-driven-by-hate-warhammer-is-not/ official statement]] in November 2021 that they are not to be admired.

-->'''Ken''': For the purposes of standards and compliance, I should say, this is sarcastic. I'm not seriously suggesting listeners on Radio 4 shoudl commit tax fraud. Wink. No, seriously, I don't do tax fraud. Wink. It doesn't matter anyway. As if tax fraud has [[Creator/KenDodd ever]] ruined [[Creator/JimmyCarr a comedian]]'s career!