History Main / MemoryWipeExploitation

** In a first season episode the three sisters have cast a spell on themselves where anyone whom they question will answer truthfully. Prue takes advantage of this to be honest with her FriendOnTheForce boyfriend Andy -- she tells him the truth about her family's powers and their fight against evil and asks him if she could still have a relationship with him under those circumstances. He answers "No", and then immediately forgets the conversation when the spells wears off. [WhatTheHellHero He calls her out in a later episode]] for making a final decision based on how he reacted with only a few minutes to process it.

** In a first season episode the three sisters have cast a spell on themselves where anyone whom they question will answer truthfully. Prue takes advantage of this to be honest with her FriendOnTheForce boyfriend Andy -- she tells him the truth about her family's powers and their fight against evil and asks him if she could still have a relationship with him under those circumstances. He answers "No", and then immediately forgets the conversation when the spells wears off.[[WhatTheHellHero He calls her out in a later episode]] for making a final decision based on how he reacted with only a few minutes to process it.
** In a fifth season episode, Paige casts the same spell on her boyfriend at the time to find out how he would react to dating a witch. He was fine with that part, but then revealed that [[YourCheatingHeart he has a wife and two children]]. Paige then had to figure out how to keep him contained for the next twenty-four hours so he doesn't out her as a witch.

* In a first season episode the three sisters have cast a spell on themselves where anyone whom they question will answer truthfully. Prue takes advantage of this to be honest with her FriendOnTheForce boyfriend Andy -- she tells him the truth about her family's powers and their fight against evil and asks him if she could still have a relationship with him under those circumstances. He answers "No", and then immediately forgets the conversation when the spells wears off.[[WhatTheHellHero He calls her out in a later episode]] for making a final decision based on how he reacted with only a few minutes to process it.

* On a first-season episode of ''Series/{{Charmed}}'', the three sisters have cast a spell on themselves where anyone whom they question will answer truthfully. Prue takes advantage of this to be honest with her FriendOnTheForce boyfriend Andy -- she tells him the truth about her family's powers and their fight against evil and asks him if she could still have a relationship with him under those circumstances. He answers "No", and then immediately forgets the conversation when the spells wears off.

* In ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'', Garland knows that Bikke is planning to hold a meeting with the other Dark Warriors, as they are unhappy with Garland's leadership. Garland not only supports the idea - he even offers to cater them lunch. Just after serving lunch, Drizz'l approaches Garland and asks why Garland is being so supportive of Bikke's efforts to overthrow him. [[SkewedPriorities Garland states that he just wanted a chance to try out a new taco recipe he found.]] When Drizz'l questions this strange priority, Garland also reveals that he put amnesia peppers in the tacos, meaning he can freely mock the attempts to depose him. In an hour, everyone will have forgotten the entire affair anyway.

* Happens several times in ''Film/{{Memento}}''. Teddy has no short-term memory, so he can only hold onto events for a few minutes at a time, then he has no idea that they happened. The landlord tricks Leonard into playing rent multiple times, Natalie [[LampshadeHanging tells him to his face]] that she's doing it, leaving him desperately (and unsuccessfully) searching for a pen to write that down before it fades.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension'': Carl and Major Monogram are prepping to wipe the group's memories. Isabella asks for a moment and pulls Phineas in for a kiss, then tells Carl to fire before Phineas can interject.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': At the end of "Channel Chasers" Timmy's parents have discovered Vicky is evil and, after verbally chewing her out, fire her. After watching Vicky suffer for a bit, Timmy wishes the day's events never happened so he can keep his fairies because fairies are only given to miserable children and without Vicky, Timmy wouldn't need his fairies anymore.

A variation is to trick the amnesiac/mindwiped person into believing a lie about what happened before they lost their memories.

* Happens several times in ''Film/{{Memento}}''. The landlord tricks Leonard into playing rent multiple times, Natalie [[LampshadeHanging tells him to his face]] that she's doing it, and Teddy uses it to, among other things, tell the same jokes over and over.

* At the beginning of ''Film/{{Paycheck}}'' a female executive has sex with the protagonist since in a few hours his memory will be wiped and he will not remember it.

* ''Film/TotalRecall1990'': Richter hates Quaid because Quaid was unknowingly sleeping with Richter's wife. While Quaid is locked into a chair and about to undergo a procedure to restore his memory of being Hauser, Richter sees his chance to get revenge.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In an ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' story, the [[TheKlutz klutzy]] Archie loses his memory following an athletic mishap. Reggie toys with him by telling him he's the school's champion athlete, expecting that Archie will humiliate himself, only to be astonished when Archie proceeds to accomplish incredible athletic feats, such as a record-breaking pole vault [[AchievementsInIgnorance without using a pole]]. When Archie throws a javelin beyond school property, accidentally puncturing a guy's tire, he gets a [[InjuryBookend memory-restoring punch in the head]] and [[StatusQuoIsGod reverts to his usual clumsiness]].
[[/folder]]

* A more benign version shows up in ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', when Pimento's memory resets every five minutes or so. Jake has been forbidden by his wife Amy to tell anyone they're trying for a baby, but he's excited and is going crazy not telling anyone, so he tells Pimento, since he won't remember anyway. Except this backfires when he ''does'' remember ''just'' long enough to blurt it out in front of Jake's best friend Charles -- who is ''pissed'' Pimento was told before him.

--->'''Kryten:''' And as these events never happened, we'll have no memory of them. In which case, Mr Rimmer, sir, I should like to take this opportunity to say that you are ''the'' most obnoxious, trumped-up, ''farty'' little smeghead that has ever been my misfortune to encounter!
** In "Fathers and Suns", we find out Lister's Father's Day tradition: as [[TimeyWimeyBall he's his own dad]], after opening his Father's Day card, he makes another card to be delivered to himself next year, first getting blackout drunk so he won't remember what he's got. Later, he [[InsaneTrollLogic decides to be a better father to himself]] and, with the help of the ship's computer and her behaviour-predicting software, he repeats the blackout routine, this time creating a video giving himself instructions, ''with added punishment for not obeying said instructions''. Unfortuantely, the computer [[AIIsACrapshoot manipulates the situation]] to get Lister off the ship so she can destroy Red Dwarf.
* This is taken to a policy level as part of the twist in the ''Series/BlackMirror'' episode [[Recap/BlackMirrorWhiteBear White Bear.]] Every day, Victoria Skillane wakes up with no memories, and is chased through the streets by maniacal mask-wearers who will only commit horrific acts of violence and seemingly "ordinary" civilians filming on their cell phones who will never attempt to stop them, no matter what happens. [[spoiler: It's revealed that this is Victoria's punishment for assisting in the abduction, torture, and murder of a little girl and that every night her memory is wiped after she is forced to remember. This is specifically so that the "amusement park" visitors can engage in the exact same torture, knowing that Victoria has no idea why any of this is happening and is experiencing the same terror as her victim.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'': Po learns a technique called "Fluttering Finger Mindslip" that causes short-term memory loss. Po starts using it to get out of doing chores and being lectured, but uses it so many times that it ends up causing [[EasyAmnesia full amnesia]] on the Furious Five.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS19E9EternalMoonshineOfTheSimpsonMind "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind"]]'' has Homer, hoping to forget the memories of an odd day that led to his family apparently hating him, ordering a drink called the "Forget-Me-Shot" and asking Lenny, Carl and Moe to make BrutallyHonest comments towards him that he won't remember. This leads to some pretty mean-spirited and disturbing admissions including Lenny saying that blue pants make him look fat, [[HoYay Carl admitting that he finds his small hands attractive]] and Moe proudly proclaiming that he's spat in every one of his drinks (including the drink he serves him to wipe his memory.)

* In the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' episode "Clean Slate", Kim's father slips some "Captain Constellation" tapes into the ones being shown to Kim to restore her memories so she'll think she used to like the show.

* The "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has Homer, hoping to forget the memories of an odd day that led to his family apparently hating him, ordering a drink called the "Forget-Me-Shot" and asking Lenny, Carl and Moe to make BrutallyHonest comments towards him that he won't remember. This leads to some pretty mean-spirited and disturbing admissions including Lenny saying that blue pants make him look fat, [[HoYay Carl admitting that he finds his small hands attractive]] and Moe proudly proclaiming that he's spat in every one of his drinks (including the drink he serves him to wipe his memory.)

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'', knowing that SPHINX was gonna wipe the last few moments of Hank and Dean's memories, [[{{Jerkass}} Dr. Venture]] with sadistic glee reveals to his sons [[CloningBlues that their clones]] and the identity of their MissingMom [[TheUnreveal (Off-screen of course)]].

* ''{{ComicStrip/Foxtrot}}'': During one arc where his mother is whacked out of her gourd on cough medication, Jason repeatedly goes up to her to say she forgot to give him her allowance for the week.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

--> "What did I do to you?" Ami asked, smiling evilly. Getting the smile right had taken quite a bit of time in front of the mirror, not to mention a lot of teasing from Cathy and Jered until she managed to combine the frown and the curvature of the lips correctly. "Can't you remember?"
--> Both he and Isolda shook their heads.
--> Ami's smile widened. "Good. I could tell you, but that would make me wiping your memories a waste of time. I'd hate for my methods to get out and ruin the surprise. Besides, this way, every time can be as horrible as the first!"
* In the "[[https://charlotten-art.tumblr.com/post/182663049838/nice-kacchan-au-pages-1-10-next Nice Ka-chan]]" series of fan comics by [=CharlotteSketches=], the normally belligerent and arrogant Bakugo gets his memories temporarily wiped by a villain's Quirk, leaving him naive, sweet, and goofy. His classmates pounce upon the opportunity to be able to make friends with him, even though Midoriya is understandably concerned about Bakugo's rage when he gets his memories back. [[spoiler:Bakugo himself is horrified at the "real" him once Mineta shows footage of him from the Sports Festival and feels used and hurt by his classmates' manipulation of his condition.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/{{Overboard}}'': After RichBitch Joana falls off her yacht and gets amnesia, single father Dean convinces her that she is the stay-at-home mother of his kids.
* The ''[[Film/Overboard2018 Overboard]]'' remake had a GenderFlip version, where a Mexican [[IdleRich billionaire playboy]] rips off a carpet cleaner in Oregon, and after he falls off his yacht off the Oregon coast and loses his memory, the carpet cleaner takes him home and turns him into a HouseHusband that is also a day laborer.

-->'''Richter:''' Excuse me, Doctor. Is he gonna remember any of this?
-->'''Doctor:''' Not a thing.
-->'''Richter:''' Oh really? [''punches Quaid in the face'']

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* In ''Series/ThirtyRock'',

** In the episode ''White Hole'', the Dwarfers have to deal with the opposite of a black hole, a celestial phenomenon leaking time into the universe. Having dealt with the anomaly, they realise that the timeline they're in will shortly erase itself, leaving them with no memory of what happened. Kryten takes the opportunity to insult Rimmer.
--->'''Kryten''': And as these events never happened, we'll have no memory of them. In which case, Mr Rimmer, sir, I should like to take this opportunity to say that you are ''the'' most obnoxious, trumped-up, ''farty'' little smeghead that has ever been my misfortune to encounter!
** In ''Fathers and Suns'', we find out Lister's Father's Day tradition: as [[TimeyWimeyBall he's his own dad]], after opening his Father's Day card, he makes another card to be delivered to himself next year, first getting blackout drunk so he won't remember what he's got. Later, he [[InsaneTrollLogic decides to be a better father to himself]] and, with the help of the ship's computer and her behaviour-predicting software, he repeats the blackout routine, this time creating a video giving himself instructions, ''with added punishment for not obeying said instructions''. Unfortuantely, the computer [[AIIsACrapshoot manipulates the situation]] to get Lister off the ship so she can destroy Red Dwarf.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

-->'''Kim:''' Davan, you're doing something different than you did last time. What's it called?
-->'''Davan:''' Consenting.
-->'''Kim:''' Intriguing.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros,'' knowing that SPHINX was gonna wipe the last few moments of Hank and Dean's memories, [[{{Jerkass}} Dr. Venture]] with sadistic glee reveals to his sons [[CloningBlues that their clones]] and the identity of their MissingMom [[TheUnreveal (Off-screen of course)]].
[[/folder]]

* In ''Film/MenInBlackII'', after Agent J saves the subway passengers from being eaten by a giant worm and the train stops at the next station, he neuralyzes them and starts chewing them out for ignoring his warnings and only evaluate to the next train car when the worm starts biting on the train. He then reneuralyzes them once he realizes that he's carried on for far too long and tells them a story requesting that they enjoy using new space-efficient, energy-saving cars.
* Happens several times in ''Film/{{Memento}}''. The landlord tricks Leonard into multiple rent, Natalie explicitly [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] that she's doing it, and Teddy uses it to, among other things, tell the same jokes over and over.

* ''Film/TotalRecall1990'':Richter hates Quaid because Quaid was unknowingly sleeping with Richter's wife. While Quaid is locked into a chair and about to undergo a procedure to restore his memory of being Hauser, Richter sees his chance to get revenge.
-->Richter: Excuse me, Doctor. Is he gonna remember any of this?
-->Doctor: Not a thing.
-->Richter: Oh really? [punches Quaid in the face]

* In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Eternity Code'', Artemis and his associates agree to be mind-wiped of all fairy related memories. Right before the mind wipe begins, Holly tells Juliet if she wants any of Juliet's memories of her to survive, it should be Holly telling her that she isn't cut out to become a bodyguard. Juliet promises to try to cling to that thought, and one of the first things she does after the mind wipe is drop out of bodyguard academy and sign up with an all-female wrestling troupe.

** In another episode of 30 Rock, Liz's brother (who suffers from short-term memory loss due to an accident and who thinks he's still a teenager in the 1980s) meets Liz's co-workers; Cerie tells him that she'll meet him "later" in the hot tub, knowing he'll have another memory lapse by then.
* In the GrandFinale of ''Series/FullHouse'', Michelle had suffered TraumaInducedAmnesia. Her cousins Nicky and Alex manipulate her into thinking she let them keep a Rigby the Rhino doll before the accident. After regaining her memories, Michelle catches Nicky and Alex with the doll and makes them give it back to her.

In ''VideoGame/GetEven'', a scientist named Robert "Red" Ramsey takes advantage of Cole Black's memory loss by ''helping'' him investigate the kidnapping of a girl named Grace. [[spoiler:Prior to his memory loss, he knows about the kidnapping and was involved in it before things changed.]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In ''Manga/KemonoJihen'', Kabane is caught in a rut when a boy manages to catch him doing business with other kemono. [[{{Kitsune}} Nobimaru]] shows up and cheerfully makes the situation worse before kicking back and watching Kabane struggle to contain the mess, knowing full well that he could have resolved it at any point simply by wiping the boy's memory.
[[/folder]]

* This is used in ''Film/PurpleStorm'' where the Hong Kong Police Force's Anti-Terrorist Force is trying to interrogate Todd Nguyen, a [[FarEastAsianTerrorist Cambodian terrorist of Chinese heritage]] after the ATF realizes that he's got amnesia. Despite objections from psychologist Shirley Kwan due to moral and ethical reasons, ATF officer Ma Li takes advantage of Todd's memory loss by telling him that's been too deep with the terrorists from Cambodia as a long-term operation from the HKPF. This works in the long run since the amnesiac Todd is able to stop the terrorist plot to use a WMD weapon named Ricin-X.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension'': Carl and Major Monogram are prepping to wipe the group's memories. Isabella asks for a moment and pulls Phineas in for a kiss, then tells Carl to fire before Phineas can interject.

* The ''[[Film/Overboard2018 Overboard]]'' remake had a GenderFlip version, where a Mexican [[IddleRich billionaire playboy]] rips off a carpet cleaner in Oregon, and after he falls off his yacht off the Oregon coast and loses his memory, the carpet cleaner takes him home and turns him into a HouseHusband that is also a day laborer.