History Main / PartiallyConcealedLabelGag

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Yzma tries to poison Kuzco so she can become ruler. Unfortunately, when Kronk pours the potion into Kuzco's drink, he [[BalefulPolymorph transforms into a llama]] instead of dying. Yzma then looks at the bottle Kronk used and notices that the label is peeling, unfolding it to reveal that instead of a skull, it is actually a llama silhouette.

* ''VideoGame/{{Superliminal}}'': While traversing through a dark, horror-themed area, the player sees a sign through a doorway that reads "DIE". Going through the doorway reveals the "sign" to actually be stacked cases which read "DIET SODA".

* ''VideoGame/{{Superliminal}}'': While traversing through a dark, horror-themed area, a stack of soda can cases appears partially obscured by a doorway at the end of one hall, with the text on it reading "DIE". Getting through the doorway and seeing it properly reveals to read "DIET SODA".

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' episode "Battle of the Bands", Catdog joins a "battle of the bands" contest after seeing a poster that reads "Battle of the Bands, Nearburg's Best", along with a $1,000 reward. Part of the poster flies off and lands at the Greasers' feet, instead reading "Battle of Nearburg's Best". The Greasers enter the battle too, but mistake it for a literal fight rather than a music battle between bands.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' episode "Battle of the Bands", Catdog joins a "battle of the bands" contest after seeing a poster that reads "Battle of the Bands, Nearburg's Best", along with a $1,000 reward. Part of the poster flies off and lands at the Greasers' feet, instead reading "Battle of Nearburg's Best". The Greasers enter the battle too but mistake it for a literal fight rather than a music battle between bands.

* A variant happens in a ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch, where [[WesternAnimation/WonderPets the Wonder Pets]] rescue a baby cow. They think the cow is sad and bring him to a nearby building labelled "Laughterhouse" to cheer him up. Unfortunately, the owner of the building then arrives and comments that he forgot to paint the letter "S" on his ''slaughterhouse''.

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--> '''Scott:''' That's where the death-y aftertaste came from! I should really work on my thumb placement more. ''(Passes out on desk)''

* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Krusty Koncessionaires" which features Mr. Krabs with a new advertising banner for the Krusty Krab:

* One ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch has [[WesternAnimation/WonderPets the Wonder Pets]] rescuing a baby cow. They think the cow is sad and bring him to a nearby building labeled "Laughterhouse" to cheer him up...unfortunately, the owner of the building then arrives and comments that he forgot to paint the letter "S" on his ''slaughterhouse.''

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E22TheySavedLisasBrain They Saved Lisa's Brain]]", Lisa sees Reverend Lovejoy driving the "Book Mobile" and she advises him to get ''Literature/Fahrenheit451''. Later, as the van moves away from the branch hiding part of the vehicle, this car read the slogan "Book '''[[BookBurning Burning]]''' Mobile".

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Stripperella}}'' once fought crime in a museum which exhibits ''the world largest pen is [[spoiler:here]]''.

* ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'': In George and Harold's comic about the lunch ladies, a teacher accidentally creates zombies by burying the dead lunch ladies on a hill with a sign saying "bury dead stuff here". After he leaves, lightning strikes a tree covering the sign, revealing it saying: "Warning: this hill is haunted. Whatever you do, DON'T bury dead stuff here."

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': In "Oskar Can't Read?", as a final test to see if Oskar has conquered his illiteracy and learned to read, Arnold drops him off in a far-off part of town with written directions on how to get back home. When Oskar gets to the part where he has to take a subway to Sheffingtown, he looks up at the train schedule, which is partially obscured by a cart carrying a tall stack of luggage, and sees that the next train is going to Sheffing'''ston'''. Once he goes to board it, the cart gets pushed away, revealing more of the schedule and info that the Sheffing'''town''' train was the other way.
* One ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch has [[WesternAnimation/WonderPets the Wonder Pets]] bring a cow friend of theirs to a slaughterhouse thinking it's a comedy club because the owner of the slaughterhouse didn't add an "S" to the slaughterhouse's sign until near the end of the sketch, making it read "Laughterhouse")

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Yzma tries to poison Kuzco so she could become ruler. Unfortunately, when Kronk poured the potion into Kuzco's drink, he [[BalefulPolymorph transforms into a llama]] instead of dying. Yzma then looks at the bottle Kronk used and notices that the label is peeling, unfolding it to reveal that instead of a skull, it was actually a llama silhouette.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Yzma tries to poison Kuzco so she could become ruler. Unfortunately, when Kronk poured the potion into Kuzco's drink, he [[BalefulPolymorph transforms into a llama]] instead of dying. Yzma then looks at the bottle Kronk used, and notices that the label is peeling, unfolding it to reveal that instead of a skull, it was actually a llama silhouette.

** In episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E9SideshowBobsLastGleaming Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming]]", Homer is at an air show where he spots a banner beyond a crowd of people advertising "Free Duff". Overjoyed, he heads over to the counter and empties 8 cups at once. Then the crowd dissolves and we get a better look at the banner which actually reads "Alcohol-Free Duff - $6". Homer has to resort to a fake {{Fainting}} attack in order to get out of paying those $48. Watch the scene [[https://youtu.be/Pvz9pA0EtPg?t=56 here]].

* One ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch has [[WesternAnimation/WonderPets the Wonder Pets]] bring a cow friend of theirs to a slaughterhouse thinking it's a comedy club because the owner of the slaughterhouse didn't add an "S" to the slaugherhouse's sign until near the end of the sketch, making it read "Laughterhouse")

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* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Yzma tries to poison Kuzco so she could become ruler. Unfortunately, when Kronk poured the potion into Kuzco's drink, he [[BalefulPolymorph transforms into a llama]] instead of dying. Yzma then looks at the bottle Kronk used, and notices that the label is pealing, unfolding it to reveal that instead of a skull, it was actually a llama silhouette.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Yzma tries to poison Kuzco so she could become ruler. Unfortunately, when Kronk poured the potion into Kuzco's drink, he [[BalefulPolymorph transforms into a llama]] instead of dying. Yzma then looks at the bottle Kronk used, and notices that label is pealing, unfolding it to reveal that instead of a skull, it was actually a llama silhouette.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Yzma tries to poison Kuzco and grabs a potion with a skull on the label. But when Kuzco ingests the potion, he [[BalefulPolymorph transforms into a llama]] instead of dying. Yzma looks at the bottle again to confirm she grabbed the right one, and notices the label was folded funny--unfolding it reveals the skull was actually a llama silhouette.

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** In episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E9SideshowBobsLastGleaming Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming]]", Homer is on an Air Show where he spots a banner beyond a crowd of people advertising "Free Duff". Overjoyed, he heads over to the counter and empties 8 cups at once. Then the crowd dissolves and we get a better look at the banner which actually reads "Alcohol-Free Duff - $6". Homer has to resort to a fake {{Fainting}} attack in order to get out of paying those $48. Watch the scene [[https://youtu.be/Pvz9pA0EtPg?t=56 here]].

** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E13AndMaggieMakesThree And Maggie Makes Three]]" tells the story of Maggie's birth. Homer quits his job at the power plant to work at a bowling alley, but he has to return to the power plant eventually because he makes more money working there and he needs to support Maggie. When he returns, Mr. Burns puts a plaque over his desk that reads "don't forget, you're here forever." In the present day, Homer has now put pictures of Maggie over the plaque, making it read "do it for her."

* One ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch has some characters bring a cow friend of theirs to a slaughterhouse thinking it's a comedy club because the obscured characters made it read like "s" ''laughter'' factory?.

Compare SignsOfDisrepair, where certain letters of the sign are missing to spell out something different. See CueCardPause for when a sentence is misleading because it's incomplete. See StoppedReadingTooSoon for a self-inflicted variation of this trope.

* ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'': In George and Harold's comic about the lunch ladies, a teacher accidentally creates zombies by burying the dead lunch ladies on a hill with a sign saying "bury dead stuff here". After he leaves, lightning strikes a tree covering the sign, revealing it said: "Warning: this hill is haunted. Whatever you do, DON'T bury dead stuff here."

* ''VideoGame/{{Superliminal}}'': While traversing through a dark, horror themed area, a stack of soda can cases appears partially obscured by a doorway at the end of one hall, with the text on it reading "DIE". Getting through the doorway and seeing it properly reveals to read "DIET SODA".

* One ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch has some characters bring a cow friend of theirs to a slaughter house thinking it?s a comedy club because the obscured characters made ir read like ?s" ''laughter'' factory?.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E10TheSpringfieldFiles The Springfield Files]]", Homer finds a sign that reads "DIE" while stumbling around Springfield drunk. He screams in horror, then the wind blows a tree out of the way, revealing the sign to say "DIET." Homer screams even louder at this.

* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment:'' Tobias is looking for work as an actor, so he goes to a news stand and grabs what he thinks is an issue of ''Actor Pull'' magazine. But part of the cover was obscured by the magazine right next to it--he actually grabbed the latest issue of ''Tractor Pull'', a magazine for farmers.

** In one of the "Itchy and Scratchy" sketches, Itchy purposely covers up the letter "s" on an advertisement board reading "We spay your pet - $75" so it would read "We pay your pet - $75". Scratchy falls for the offer and ends up StrappedToAnOperatingTable. Watch the scene [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV112-2HK5I here]].

** In the "Treehouse of Horror I" segment "Hungry Are the Damned" (a parody of ''To Serve Man''), Lisa finds a cookbook titled "How To Cook Humans". One of the aliens blows dust off the cover, revealing the title says "How To Cook '''For''' Humans". Then Lisa blows more dust, showing "How To Cook '''Forty''' Humans", then the alien takes the book back and blows off even more dust, showing the full title "How To Cook For Forty Humans".
** In "Bart of Darkness", Bart thinks Ned Flanders has murdered his wife and sends Lisa into his house to investigate. Lisa goes to the freezer and pulls out a green bag labeled "human head", horrifying her and Bart. She is relieved after wiping off more frost, revealing it to be a "Sc'''human''' Farms '''head''' of lettuce".
** In "The Springfield Files," Homer finds a sign that reads "DIE" while stumbling around Springfield drunk. He screams in horror, then the wind blows a tree out of the way, revealing the sign to say "DIET." Homer screams even louder at this.
** "And Maggie Makes Three" tells the story of Maggie's birth. Homer quits his job at the power plant to work at a bowling alley, but he has to return to the power plant eventually because he makes more money working there and he needs to support Maggie. When he returns, Mr. Burns puts a plaque over his desk that reads "don't forget, you're here forever." In the present day, Homer has now put pictures of Maggie over the plaque, making it read "do it for her."
** In "Homer Defined", Homer almost causes a nuclear meltdown when he ignores the core temperature gauge on his dashboard, which was obscured by excess jelly from a donut he was eating.

** In "Lost Our Lisa", Lisa gets lost taking the wrong bus and stumbles upon a military base.

** In "They Saved Lisa's Brain", Lisa sees Reverend Lovejoy driving the "Book Mobile" and she advises him to get ''Literature/Fahrenheit451''. Later, as the van moves away from the branch hiding part of the vehicle, this car read the slogan "Book '''[[BookBurning Burning]]''' Mobile".
** In "Midnight Towboy", Homer is driving around in search of milk, but none of the places he goes to have any. At one point, he sees a sign, partially obscured by a tree, which appears to say "MILK", but actually reads "Creator/MrT Is the Lion King".
** In "Apocalypse Cow", Homer is going to save Bart's cow, Lou, from slaughter. He looks through binoculars and sees a "laughter house," which he likes the idea of. He zooms out and notices it's a slaughterhouse, and screams.
** In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRCYtOSKLP8 this official Sky 1]] channel bumper that aired in the UK, Scratchy is being wheeled through a hospital and sees a sign that reads "A&E" (an emergency room). He gets closer and finds it to be a Super Killing L'''ase'''r. While Scratchy remains initially unharmed from the laser, the operating table he's strapped to flips over and is then shattered by the laser, cutting him apart.
** In "Treehouse of Horror XVI" (season 17), Bart gets into a fight at the zoo. He lands in the peacock habitat, and is relieved, until a peacock moves and reveals it to be a ''mutant'' peacock habitat. The peacocks reveal their many eyes and close in on Bart.

* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'': In "Hooray! Todd Episode!", Todd attends a fashion show as a celebrity's date. He reads a sign as "El Entrance" and, assuming it's Spanish, walks in to join the audience. However, a toucan's beak was blocking the sign, which really said "''Model'' Entrance," and Todd ends up on the runway.

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