History Main / InvisibleAdvertising

* ''TheWild'', the DulingShow for [[Madagascar]], was never advertised.

* {{Mirrormask}} barely turned a head on it's cinema run. Consider the visual style of that film and you'll get some idea how heavily you have to bury it for no-one to notice it.

* The director/ star of BillyJack was able to win distribution rights back from the original company when he realized they were doing this. He then started one of the first examples of saturation advertising and made it a hit.

* AdultSwim ran a show called ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_Programming_%28TV_series%29 Paid Programming]]'' at 4:30 am on News Years Eve without any on-air acknowledgment. It's like it was specifically designed to confuse viewers. If that's the case, [[http://boards.adultswim.com/t5/General-Comedy-Discussion/Icelandic-Ultrablue/m-p/52005827 it worked.]]

* AdultSwim ran a show called ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_Programming_%28TV_series%29 Paid Programming]]'' at 4:30 am without any on-air acknowledgment. It's like it was specifically designed to confuse viewers. If that's the case, [[http://boards.adultswim.com/t5/General-Comedy-Discussion/Icelandic-Ultrablue/m-p/52005827 it worked.]]

* TerryGilliam's ''TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'' had only 117 prints made for the ''entire'' US distribution. Gilliam sourly noted at the time that minor arthouse films get 400 prints.

* Adult Swim ran a show called ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_Programming_%28TV_series%29 Paid Programming]]'' at 4:30 am without any on-air acknowledgment. It's like it was specifically designed to confuse viewers. If that's the case, [[http://boards.adultswim.com/t5/General-Comedy-Discussion/Icelandic-Ultrablue/m-p/52005827 it worked.]]
* Kristin Chenowith's sitcom "Kristin" was only advertized once. It ended up ScrewedByTheNetwork after 6 episodes.

* Once ''Dollhouse'' started airing the second season, the only way to see any promos for the show were minutes before the episode aired.

* Numerous shows on AdultSwim are put on the schedule without actually being advertised, especially anime; They're getting a bit better about it, though. On the other hand, on April 18, 2008, a show (''RisingSon'', a spoof of SoapOperas focusing on the life of {{Jesus}}), premiered at ''5 o'clock in the morning''. Without any announcement of any kind except for the title appearing on the schedule. It was bad enough when they moved their new anime to 5 a.m. without advertising it...

* An early effort by SamRaimi and TheCoenBrothers, ''Crimewave'', a sort of slapstick gangster spoof was met with disastrous results when screened for audiences, and was released only in ''five theaters'' across the states. It remains lost to the winds to this very day, due to some complicated rights issues, despite some of the now-famous people in its crew.
* Numerous shows on AdultSwim are put on the schedule without actually being advertised, especially anime; ''CodeGeass'' is a recent example. They're getting a bit better about it, though. On the other hand, on April 18, 2008, a show (''RisingSon'', a spoof of SoapOperas focusing on the life of {{Jesus}}), premiered at ''5 o'clock in the morning''. Without any announcement of any kind except for the title appearing on the schedule. It was bad enough when they moved their new anime to 5 a.m. without advertising it...
** Adult Swim ran a show called ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_Programming_%28TV_series%29 Paid Programming]]'' at 4:30 am without any on-air acknowledgment. It's like it was specifically designed to confuse viewers. If that's the case, [[http://boards.adultswim.com/t5/General-Comedy-Discussion/Icelandic-Ultrablue/m-p/52005827 it worked.]]
** And on the main CartoonNetwork, {{Robotomy}} (aka {{Superjail}} for kids) was rarely acknowledged until the start of 2011, 3 whole months after its debut.
* Terry Jones' version of ''TheWindInTheWillows''. In America it played on seven screens without advertising - because while Columbia got the theatrical release rights, Disney owned the video rights. (Disney even renamed the film ''Mr Toad's Wild Ride'', after the Disneyland ride.)
* ''TheIronGiant'' was sparsely advertised initially (and was a miserable flop in theaters), but gained a higher profile on home video.

* ''TheBoondockSaints''. Granted, it was kinda justified ([[TooSoon released around the same time]] as the {{Columbine}} massacre).
* Similarly, ''BigTrouble'' was delayed due to the events of 9/11, and then given an untrumpeted release when it became clear that if they waited for 9/11 to blow over, they'd all be dead before they could release it.
* [[MiramaxFilms Harvey]] [[WeinsteinCompany Weinstein]] is pretty infamous for this.
* Videogame example: This is thought to be one of the reasons ''{{Freespace}} 2'' did not sell very well, despite overwhelming critical acclaim and praise. Particularly bad since its predecessor, ''Descent: Freespace'' gained respectable enough sales to warrant an ad campaign.

* This was one of the major death blows for the otherwise-stellar Gamecube game ''GotchaForce''.

* Kristin Chenowith's sitcom "Kristin" was only advertized once. It ended up ScrewedByTheNetwork after 6 episodes

* Also, let's not forget ''PoliceCameraAction'' and ''PoliceStop'' - which were barely advertised at the time. Ironically, the likes of ''World In Action'', ''The Cook Report'' and ''CoronationStreet'' got a mention. But they were still popular...
* ECW was famously ScrewedByTheNetwork in this way with TNN refusing to run a single ad for them, giving Paul Heyman ammo for his anti-network rants.

* Many third party {{Wii}} games get this. While {{PS3}} and {{Xbox 360}} games have advertising blitzes to ensure large openings, Wii games hardly get any, and open small, usually having to crawl to any decent sales number. So it's a SelfFulfillingProphecy on the claim those games don't sell.

* An early effort by SamRaimi and TheCoenBrothers, ''Crimewave'', a sort of slapstick gangster spoof was met with disastrous results when screened for audiences, and was released only in ''one theater'', in Kansas. It remains lost to the winds to this very day, due to some complicated rights issues, despite some of the now-famous people in its crew.
** There's no region 1 DVD, but It's available on VHS in the States and ThisTroper saw it on Encore years ago.
** Actually, the film opened in five theaters and it also played in Missouri.

* Mike Judge's ''{{Idiocracy}}''. Being a rather intelligent satire of modern culture and a lambast against ignorance and mediocrity, it's ''[[SarcasmMode only natural]]'' that the studio wanted Judge to make the film more accessible to the LowestCommonDenominator.

* {{Delgo}}. [[SoBadItsHorrible Probably just as well, really.]]

** And on the main CartoonNetwork, {{Robotomy}} (aka {{Superjail}} for kids) is rarely acknowledged.

** Adult Swim ran a show called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_Programming_%28TV_series%29 ''Paid Programming'']] at 4:30 am without any on-air acknowledgment. It's like it was specifically designed to confuse viewers. If that's the case, [[http://boards.adultswim.com/t5/General-Comedy-Discussion/Icelandic-Ultrablue/m-p/52005827 it worked.]]

* ''LetMeIn'' got this due to a distributor change less than three months before release (Relativity Media bought original distributor Overture for their distribution outlet). Rather than give an ad campaign given to most wide releases, Relativity spent most of its money promoting the movie it was facing that weekend, ''TheSocialNetwork'' (which was co-financed but not distributed by them) while the studio was completely quiet about the film (it wasn't even mentioned on Relativity's website while ''TheSocialNetwork'' was). The film grossed only $11 million.

* ''LetMeIn'' got this due a distributor change less than three months before release (Relativity Media bought original distributor Overture for their distribution outlet). Rather than give an ad campaign given to most wide releases, Relativity spent most of its money promoting the movie it was facing that weekend, ''TheSocialNetwork'' (which was co-financed but not distributed by them) while the studio was completely quiet about the film (it wasn't even mentioned on Relativity's website while ''TheSocialNetwork'' was). The film grossed only $11 million.

* ''LetMeIn'' got this due a distributor change less than three months before release (Relativity Media bought original distributor Overture for their distribution outlet). Rather than give an ad campaign given to most wide releases, Relativity spent most of its money promoting the movie it was facing that weekend, ''TheSocialNetwork'' (which was co-financed but not distributed by them) while the studio was completely quiet about the film (it wasn't even mentioned on Relativity's website while TheSocialNetwork was). The film grossed only $11 million.

* ''LetMeIn'' got this due a distributor change less than three months before release (Relativity Media bought original distributor Overture for their distribution outlet). Rather than give an ad campaign given to most wide releases, Relativity spent most of its money promoting the movie it was facing that weekend, ''TheSocialNetwork'' (which was co-financed by them but not distributed by them) while the studio was completely quiet about the film (it wasn't even mentioned on Relativity's website). The film grossed only $11 million.

!!Examples

On TV, this is one part of being ScrewedByTheNetwork. These are frequently NotScreenedForCritics.