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[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1650671470086935700 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]
An advertiser's gimmick, designed to make expensive items or services seem cheap.
The beauty of this method is that it can make expensive items seem inexpensive while meeting Truth in Advertising Laws. "You can feed a child in DarkestAfrica for less than a can of soda a day!" And it's true. But the charity wants the payments a month at a time, and $1.50 per day just goes by so much more quietly than $46.50 all at once. (In the UK, the DarkestAfrica example is famously and memetically "just two pounds a month," and such appeals are often parodied).
Often used with items such as computers, charitable donations, or [[ViewersLikeYou PBS stations]]. Popular with the charities, even if you do realize this will add up to a not-insignificant sum, a few pennies a day still isn't much, and you'll likely spend them anyway—why not on something that'll make the world a better place? Also popular with objects that are supposed to save more in the long run than the extra initial cost.
Gym payment plans are often structured around this kind of thing, but in reverse. $365 a year sounds so much better as "a dollar a workout" (if you even go to the gym every day -- and they don't suddenly charge you any less if you ''don't'').
Often seen in similar contexts to FourEqualPaymentsOf. In some ways, this is crueler than advertising the installment plan.
Charity advertisements of this style may be associated with PovertyPorn. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Despite the name, it's not actually]] [[PayingInCoins paying for it in pennies]].
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!!Examples:
* This is especially prevalent in charity advertising. For sixty cents a day (less than you pay for your coffee, you heartless bastard!) you could save the life of this child[=/=]puppy[=/=][[InspirationallyDisadvantaged mentally challenged panda]]. It sounds like a pittance until you realize that you're agreeing to have thirty dollars taken out of your account ''every month.'' Of course, unless you literally have zero income, that ''is'' still a pittance, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools they just made it more digestible]].
** On this very site, an ad for Doctors Without Borders: "25 cents a day can help Doctors Without Borders give emergency care to those who need it most." Of course, you need to pay for at least a month at a time. Though it might be argued that $90.50 a year ($90.75 in a leap year) is still a pretty good bargain if it achieves what it claims, when a single coffee a day will probably set you back over $700 during that time!
* Parodied in a letter to British comic ''ComicBook/{{Viz}}'' - "A donation of just £2 a month supplies an African village with water says my water company, yet they charge me £10 a week, the robbing sods."
* [=ThermoSpa=] hottubs say that you can own a hottub for about $1.50 a day. That may be true, but there's still the big upfront fee associated with buying the hottub (especially one with all the bells and whistles), no matter how low-maintenance it might be.
* The UK's [[UsefulNotes/TVLicensing television licensing authority]] likes to use this one as well.
* ''WebVideo/TheAngryGrandpa'': Grandpa parodies this, asking viewers if they have an extra dollar to help his family regain power while calling out his wife for not paying the light bill.
* Played with in an episode of ''Series/TheOfficeUS''. Michael Scott buys an insurance policy that is "...only a cup of coffee an hour."
* The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch "39 Cents" parodies DarkestAfrica charity commercials of this nature, as the poor villagers in the background quickly take offense to the commercial's star asking for a donation of "only 39 cents a day." When he repeatedly refuses their urging to raise the amount asked for, they take him hostage and use the commercial to demand a $200 ransom.
--> '''Village Woman:''' How you gonna save our lives with just 39 cents? 'Cause I'm tryna do the math in my head but I just can't see it.
* ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'': In "Jeff Bezos vs. Mansa Musa," Bezos mocks Mali's economic decline in a way that sounds like a charity ad.
--> '''Bezos:''' I feed your whole country for the price of a cup of coffee per day!
* The flip side of "Save hundreds a year!" When the advertised product ''costs'' money, the sum is divided into the smallest possible units, even when it cannot be paid for that way. (Pennies a day, billed monthly.) When the product ''saves'' money, the sum is totaled for an entire year-- again, even when the payment cannot be annual. (Save hundreds a year on your monthly bill.)
** Politicians are fond of this one. Some change they are proposing will generate revenue or savings of X billions of dollars -- over 10 years.
----
An advertiser's gimmick, designed to make expensive items or services seem cheap.
The beauty of this method is that it can make expensive items seem inexpensive while meeting Truth in Advertising Laws. "You can feed a child in DarkestAfrica for less than a can of soda a day!" And it's true. But the charity wants the payments a month at a time, and $1.50 per day just goes by so much more quietly than $46.50 all at once. (In the UK, the DarkestAfrica example is famously and memetically "just two pounds a month," and such appeals are often parodied).
Often used with items such as computers, charitable donations, or [[ViewersLikeYou PBS stations]]. Popular with the charities, even if you do realize this will add up to a not-insignificant sum, a few pennies a day still isn't much, and you'll likely spend them anyway—why not on something that'll make the world a better place? Also popular with objects that are supposed to save more in the long run than the extra initial cost.
Gym payment plans are often structured around this kind of thing, but in reverse. $365 a year sounds so much better as "a dollar a workout" (if you even go to the gym every day -- and they don't suddenly charge you any less if you ''don't'').
Often seen in similar contexts to FourEqualPaymentsOf. In some ways, this is crueler than advertising the installment plan.
Charity advertisements of this style may be associated with PovertyPorn. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Despite the name, it's not actually]] [[PayingInCoins paying for it in pennies]].
----
!!Examples:
* This is especially prevalent in charity advertising. For sixty cents a day (less than you pay for your coffee, you heartless bastard!) you could save the life of this child[=/=]puppy[=/=][[InspirationallyDisadvantaged mentally challenged panda]]. It sounds like a pittance until you realize that you're agreeing to have thirty dollars taken out of your account ''every month.'' Of course, unless you literally have zero income, that ''is'' still a pittance, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools they just made it more digestible]].
** On this very site, an ad for Doctors Without Borders: "25 cents a day can help Doctors Without Borders give emergency care to those who need it most." Of course, you need to pay for at least a month at a time. Though it might be argued that $90.50 a year ($90.75 in a leap year) is still a pretty good bargain if it achieves what it claims, when a single coffee a day will probably set you back over $700 during that time!
* Parodied in a letter to British comic ''ComicBook/{{Viz}}'' - "A donation of just £2 a month supplies an African village with water says my water company, yet they charge me £10 a week, the robbing sods."
* [=ThermoSpa=] hottubs say that you can own a hottub for about $1.50 a day. That may be true, but there's still the big upfront fee associated with buying the hottub (especially one with all the bells and whistles), no matter how low-maintenance it might be.
* The UK's [[UsefulNotes/TVLicensing television licensing authority]] likes to use this one as well.
* ''WebVideo/TheAngryGrandpa'': Grandpa parodies this, asking viewers if they have an extra dollar to help his family regain power while calling out his wife for not paying the light bill.
* Played with in an episode of ''Series/TheOfficeUS''. Michael Scott buys an insurance policy that is "...only a cup of coffee an hour."
* The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch "39 Cents" parodies DarkestAfrica charity commercials of this nature, as the poor villagers in the background quickly take offense to the commercial's star asking for a donation of "only 39 cents a day." When he repeatedly refuses their urging to raise the amount asked for, they take him hostage and use the commercial to demand a $200 ransom.
--> '''Village Woman:''' How you gonna save our lives with just 39 cents? 'Cause I'm tryna do the math in my head but I just can't see it.
* ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'': In "Jeff Bezos vs. Mansa Musa," Bezos mocks Mali's economic decline in a way that sounds like a charity ad.
--> '''Bezos:''' I feed your whole country for the price of a cup of coffee per day!
* The flip side of "Save hundreds a year!" When the advertised product ''costs'' money, the sum is divided into the smallest possible units, even when it cannot be paid for that way. (Pennies a day, billed monthly.) When the product ''saves'' money, the sum is totaled for an entire year-- again, even when the payment cannot be annual. (Save hundreds a year on your monthly bill.)
** Politicians are fond of this one. Some change they are proposing will generate revenue or savings of X billions of dollars -- over 10 years.
----
to:
An advertiser's gimmick, designed to make expensive items or services seem cheap.
The beauty of this method is that it can make expensive items seem inexpensive while meeting Truth in Advertising Laws. "You can feed a child in DarkestAfrica for less than a can of soda a day!" And it's true. But the charity wants the payments a month at a time, and $1.50 per day just goes by so much more quietly than $46.50 all at once. (In the UK, the DarkestAfrica example is famously and memetically "just two pounds a month," and such appeals are often parodied).
Often used with items such as computers, charitable donations, or [[ViewersLikeYou PBS stations]]. Popular with the charities, even if you do realize this will add up to a not-insignificant sum, a few pennies a day still isn't much, and you'll likely spend them anyway—why not on something that'll make the world a better place? Also popular with objects that are supposed to save more in the long run than the extra initial cost.
Gym payment plans are often structured around this kind of thing, but in reverse. $365 a year sounds so much better as "a dollar a workout" (if you even go to the gym every day -- and they don't suddenly charge you any less if you ''don't'').
Often seen in similar contexts to FourEqualPaymentsOf. In some ways, this is crueler than advertising the installment plan.
Charity advertisements of this style may be associated with PovertyPorn. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Despite the name, it's not actually]] [[PayingInCoins paying for it in pennies]].
----
!!Examples:
* This is especially prevalent in charity advertising. For sixty cents a day (less than you pay for your coffee, you heartless bastard!) you could save the life of this child[=/=]puppy[=/=][[InspirationallyDisadvantaged mentally challenged panda]]. It sounds like a pittance until you realize that you're agreeing to have thirty dollars taken out of your account ''every month.'' Of course, unless you literally have zero income, that ''is'' still a pittance, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools they just made it more digestible]].
** On this very site, an ad for Doctors Without Borders: "25 cents a day can help Doctors Without Borders give emergency care to those who need it most." Of course, you need to pay for at least a month at a time. Though it might be argued that $90.50 a year ($90.75 in a leap year) is still a pretty good bargain if it achieves what it claims, when a single coffee a day will probably set you back over $700 during that time!
* Parodied in a letter to British comic ''ComicBook/{{Viz}}'' - "A donation of just £2 a month supplies an African village with water says my water company, yet they charge me £10 a week, the robbing sods."
* [=ThermoSpa=] hottubs say that you can own a hottub for about $1.50 a day. That may be true, but there's still the big upfront fee associated with buying the hottub (especially one with all the bells and whistles), no matter how low-maintenance it might be.
* The UK's [[UsefulNotes/TVLicensing television licensing authority]] likes to use this one as well.
* ''WebVideo/TheAngryGrandpa'': Grandpa parodies this, asking viewers if they have an extra dollar to help his family regain power while calling out his wife for not paying the light bill.
* Played with in an episode of ''Series/TheOfficeUS''. Michael Scott buys an insurance policy that is "...only a cup of coffee an hour."
* The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch "39 Cents" parodies DarkestAfrica charity commercials of this nature, as the poor villagers in the background quickly take offense to the commercial's star asking for a donation of "only 39 cents a day." When he repeatedly refuses their urging to raise the amount asked for, they take him hostage and use the commercial to demand a $200 ransom.
--> '''Village Woman:''' How you gonna save our lives with just 39 cents? 'Cause I'm tryna do the math in my head but I just can't see it.
* ''WebVideo/EpicRapBattlesOfHistory'': In "Jeff Bezos vs. Mansa Musa," Bezos mocks Mali's economic decline in a way that sounds like a charity ad.
--> '''Bezos:''' I feed your whole country for the price of a cup of coffee per day!
* The flip side of "Save hundreds a year!" When the advertised product ''costs'' money, the sum is divided into the smallest possible units, even when it cannot be paid for that way. (Pennies a day, billed monthly.) When the product ''saves'' money, the sum is totaled for an entire year-- again, even when the payment cannot be annual. (Save hundreds a year on your monthly bill.)
** Politicians are fond of this one. Some change they are proposing will generate revenue or savings of X billions of dollars -- over 10 years.
----
