History Main / InvisibleAdvertising

* While most of Creator/CyberConnect2's works avert this, the same cannot be said for their in-house ''Little Tail Bronx'' series, which has been cursed with this issue since the company's founding. ''VideoGame/TailConcerto'' was barely given any lead up in the west where it was silently dropped on the [=PlayStation=], and ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'' only got a few trailers at best with a ''Nintendo Power'' article being its only form of printed advertisement in the United States.[[note]]It should be noted that in Japan, this has become more of a zig-zagged trope as [=CyberConnect2=] and Namco Bandai did approve over ''one-hundred'' 15-second ads to promote the game.[[/note]] They tried to correct this with ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel'', but it wasn't enough, as news of the game's disappointing sales attracted some comments from people claiming they had no idea this game even existed.

* Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse:
** ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'' waited five months until release before releasing the very first trailer, thanks to a combination of long post-production cycle and executive upheaval at DC Films. Director Creator/JamesWan himself insisted on waiting until SDCC 2018 to release the first trailer as he wants to make it as faithful to the final movie as possible, especially given how previous trailers for DCEU movies have misled fans on the final product. The result ended up gaining positive reviews from critics and audiences, and the first film in the franchise to make over $1 billion worldwide.
** ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' got hit with this as Creator/WarnerBros Studios's only efforts being merely to retweet the trailers with the heavy lifting being done by parent company AT&T, their streaming service Creator/HBOMax, Creator/ZackSnyder himself and fans on social media. Reasons speculated for this include InterserviceRivalry (AT&T dictating that new releases be shown on HBO Max at the same time as their theatrical runs) to those at Creator/DCFilms who decided to move away from Snyder's vision for the film franchise after ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' trying to ensure it doesn't come back (which gained traction after WB CEO Ann Sarnoff said shortly after its release that there were no plans to pick up on it). By comparison, WB put way more effort into promoting ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', ''Film/{{Mortal Kombat|2021}}'' and ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy''. For some reason, WB also kept the "Own it now!" home video trailer unlisted on Youtube, preventing it from reaching a large viewership (though the film still sold well, word of mouth and it being a ''Justice League'' superhero ensemble film greatly helped).
** ''Film/BlueBeetle'' received little promotion ahead of release, with only two trailers ahead of release and relatively few TV spots. The film ended up having the second-lowest opening weekend in entire franchise.

* To promote Pontiac's all-new 2004 model line, GM sent out a mass mailing of fancy booklets titled "Meet the new Pontiacs". Conspicuously absent was any mention of their new captive import from Holden, the new GTO. While GM ignored the GTO, the front drive (and home-grown) G6 was extensively promoted to a similar demographic. The GTO was canceled after the 2006 model year. GM would axe the entire Pontiac division on October 31, 2010.
** GM tried to import the Holden Commodore again as the Chevrolet SS in 2014, where it [[HistoryRepeats would again run headfirst into this trope]]. Combine this with the silly and confusing name[[note]]"SS" ("super sport") in the past always referred to higher performance trim levels of different cars in the Chevy lineup rather than a separate model, creating a situation similar to what the UsefulNotes/WiiU faced[[/note]], a body that looked way too similar to other Chevrolets already on the lots, and a relatively high sticker price, and [[AcclaimedFlop only around 13,000 cars were sold despite high marks from the automotive press]], and those 13,000 people are about how many knew it existed in the first place. Production of the SS ended when the Commodore itself ceased production along with the rest of Holden in 2017.

* In the weeks leading up to the Creator/SkyOne broadcast of the second half of the only season of ''Series/TheMuppets2015'', they flooded the breaks with trailers about the return of ''Series/ModernFamily'' (in the slot immediately after). ''The Muppets'' wasn't mentioned at ''all''.

** The company started as a DVD-by-mail service but had transitioned most of its business to streaming video by the 2010s. While Netflix still operates their DVD-by-mail service, they don't spend a dime promoting it and don't even mention its existence on their signup website. For comparison, they spent nearly [[http://www.app.com/story/money/business/2017/01/21/netflix-dvd/96777006/ $1 billion]] promoting their streaming content in 2016.

* ''VideoGame/NeoTheWorldEndsWithYou'', the 2021 sequel to ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' (which was already overlooked by its more popular contemporaries in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy''), received no advertising during the lead up to its release. It's especially damning when it released a month after that year's E3, and had two showcases it could've been shown off at (Nintendo and Square Enix's), and yet it got nothing. Ironically, it's Square's financial report that noted that the game "underperformed", that brought more attention to the game, when that's something they could have done something about and just didn't. It's also worth noting that the advertising and promotion in Japan actually averts this, by way of merchandise and making an anime series of the first game to lead up to this game. But then the problem there is that the game just doesn't sell as well in Japan in spite of that effort. Even though the games have been well received critically, this game only sold roughly 27 000 copies [[note]](18 000 on the Switch, 9000 on Playstation 4)[[/note]] in its opening week in Japan, so they neglected to actually market the game in the areas that it actually ''would'' sell well.

* This is basically Cartoon Network Latin America's stance on anime during the late 2010s. ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZKai'' had NO ads for them AT ALL on the channel itself, with all publicity for the show being done via Website/YouTube (show in singular since that channel only advertised ''Super'' while ''Kai'' was outright ignored). The ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'' 2018 series only was advertised on ads that were for the channel as a whole; meanwhile ''Anime/BeybladeBurst'' was even more ignored than ''Kai'', not even having re-runs and airing without ads. Needless to say, ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' was treated the same way it was on the States, except Disney XD never took over it and thus the ''Sun & Moon'' series aired without ads. ''Anime/BakuganBattlePlanet'', interestingly enough, is the only anime airing on the channel that has both ads AND re-runs, even if few. And in case you are wondering, those are ALL anime series that aired on the channel since ''Anime/DigimonFusion'' ended its runs, and that one ALSO didn't have ads.

* While on Creator/CartoonNetwork, the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime was rarely advertised and was relegated to an early Saturday morning timeslot when [[ScrewedByTheNetwork many kids weren't even up]]. Eventually, the series changed stations to Creator/DisneyXD, which advertised it more and aired it in more accessible time slots.

* ''VideoGame/NeoTheWorldEndsWithYou'', the 2021 sequel to ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' (which was already overlooked by its more popular contemporaries in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy''), received no advertising during the lead up to its release. It's especially damning when it released a month after that year's E3, and had two showcases it could've been shown off at (Nintendo and Square Enix's), and yet it got nothing. Ironically, it's Square's financial report that noted that the game "underperformed", that brought more attention to the game, when that's something they could have done something about and just didn't. It's also worth noting that the advertising and promotion in Japan actually averts this, by way of merchandise and making an anime series of the first game to lead up to this game. But then the problem there is that the game just doesn't sell as well in Japan in spite of that effort. Even though the games have been well received, this game only sold roughly 27 000 copies in its opening week (18 000 on the Switch, 9000 on Playstation 4), so they neglected to actually market the game in the areas that it actually ''would'' sell well.

* Creator/StudioGhibli intentionally minimized promotion for ''How Do You Live?'' (retitled Anime/TheBoyAndTheHeron for the North American release), eschewing trailers, promotional stills, or any other conventional forms of advertising. The only indications that the film both existed and was coming out came from press announcements and a theatrical poster, neither of which gave any indication about the film's contents. According to producer Toshio Suzuki, the lack of advertising was done as a direct contrast with Ghibli's prior promotional campaigns, stating that "Doing the same thing you've done before, over and over, you get tired of it. So we wanted to do something different." Suzuki also mentioned that Creator/HayaoMiyazaki was worried about the lack of promotion, but nonetheless trusted the decision and felt that it was ultimately the best course of action.

* Creator/GeorgeLucas was afraid 20th Century Fox would do this to the original ''Franchise/StarWars'' film, a.k.a. ''Film/ANewHope'', so he secured the merchandising rights in the hopes that he could promote the movie if they didn't. 20th Century Fox happily handed them over, wondering [[ItWillNeverCatchOn why on Earth he wanted the worthless merchandising rights]] instead of more money up front. Lucas made a mint in action figures and X-wing fighter toys.

* Creator/StudioGhibli intentionally minimized promotion for ''How Do You Live?'', eschewing trailers, promotional stills, or any other conventional forms of advertising. The only indications that the film both existed and was coming out came from press announcements and a theatrical poster, neither of which gave any indication about the film's contents. According to producer Toshio Suzuki, the lack of advertising was done as a direct contrast with Ghibli's prior promotional campaigns, stating that "Doing the same thing you've done before, over and over, you get tired of it. So we wanted to do something different." Suzuki also mentioned that Creator/HayaoMiyazaki was worried about the lack of promotion, but nonetheless trusted the decision and felt that it was ultimately the best course of action.

* ''WesternAnimation/RubyGillmanTeenageKraken'' was given very little promotion ahead of release (the first trailer only debuted three months ahead of its June 30 release date), and ultimately resulted in Creator/DreamWorksAnimation's lowest opening weekend to date.

* ''WesternAnimation/RubyGillmanTeenageKraken'' was given very little promotion ahead of release (the first trailer only debuted three months ahead of its June 30 release date), and ended up becoming Creator/{{Dreamworks}} ' lowest opening weekend to date.

* Though [[Franchise/WinnieThePooh a juggernaut of a franchise]] and being very well-reviewed, the 2011 ''WesternAnimation/WinnieThePooh'' movie got buried twice by Disney's lack of confidence through limited publicity and being releasing against the second part of ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', effectively [[GenreKiller ending the idea of Disney creating any more traditionally-animated films]]. It was fortunately later VindicatedByVideo.

* One of its Creator/DisneyXD brethren, ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'' went through worse. Credit where credit's due, Creator/DisneyChannel ''did'' air a prologue episode about a month before the premiere, but promotion for the series evaporated about midway through the show's run, and the network (apparently fearing a following similar to the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic bronies]]) [[FridayNightDeathSlot buried the show in a 12AM Sunday timeslot.]] There's been no concrete word on the show's fate, but considering the fact that there haven't been any new episodes for over five years, it's most likely been {{cancell|ation}}ed.

* According to Toshio Suzuki, the Creator/StudioGhibli film ''How Do You Live?'' will have no advertising prior to it being released in theaters in Japan. Justified, as the film is Hayao Miyazaki's SwanSong.

* ''VideoGame/HiFiRush'' was announced and released on the same day in January 2023.

On TV, this is one part of being ScrewedByTheNetwork. These are frequently NotScreenedForCritics. Fans who actually liked them will be the ones who KeepCirculatingTheTapes. Compare to NeverTrustATrailer, when a work is intentionally mismarketed in a misleading way, as well as NoBudget when the work itself is made on a shoestring budget.

* VideoGame/HiFiRush was announced and released on the same day in January 2023.

* The trailer for ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol: The Movie'' was released two months before the film's release. In addition, the trailer's online premiere had been delayed twice before the official release. One of the original dates for the trailer's release [[https://people.com/movies/paw-patrol-the-movie-first-look-images-show-new-pups-voiced-by-kim-kardashian-and-more/ was mentioned in this article.]]

* ''America: The Motion Picture'' got no advertising aside from one trailer released three weeks before the film's release.

** With ''VideoGame/AstralChain'', the studio was arguably both aware and invested in averting the unfortunate trend by barraging the audience with dozens of gameplay trailers and development updates for months, up until the game's actual release.