Line #93 Main/CensorDecoy


1	[[quoteright:330:[[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FinnJakeDecoy_8586.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:330:On the left: what they [[ExecutiveMeddling couldn't show on TV]]. On the right: [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar what they got away with instead.]][[note]][[NeverBareHeaded Not sure how Finn's hat survived, though]].[[/note]]]]
3
4	->''"We purposely left in stuff that you don't even want in the scene. Because you have to give them something to cut so they feel like they've pissed on it, somewhat. So we left the sex scene, just... basically, we put in every second of footage we could. A four-minute sex scene, it's just ridiculous. It is not the way it should have been cut, you know, it was bad, it was not even good for the movie, and we ended up shooting, like, extra shots, that we didn't even want to put in there, that we just put in there. You push the line way back so maybe they only cut to here...."''
5	-->-- '''Creator/MattStone''' on ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'', interviewed in ''Film/ThisFilmIsNotYetRated''
6
7	Censors generally feel an obligation to do their job. When they see something that they know they should be screening for indecent content, they're liable to toss something out, just so that everyone knows they're on the lookout. An overly permissive censor board would sort of defeat the whole purpose. Anything that's the least bit edgy needs to be shaved down at least a little.
8
9	Some wily filmmakers realize this and make a simple deduction. If we assume that the censors are going to cut out X amount of material no matter what's in the product, then the censors can be distracted by CrossingTheLineTwice, heck, maybe three times. Because that DoubleEntendre about pencils looks pretty darn innocent compared to a ten-minute action-sequence involving [[Film/{{Dogma}} a demon made of crap]].
10
11	That's how the Censor Decoy should work in theory -- it's something so offensive that it's the only thing the censors are supposed to pay attention to. Creators write extra lines, produce extra scenes, even design extra characters fully expecting all this work to die in the editing room. [[BatmanGambit Hopefully this sacrifice ensures the survival of the questionable parts that the creators]] ''[[BatmanGambit really]]'' [[BatmanGambit wanted to include]]. If the gamble succeeds, we have to take the word of the creators that this is actually going on. The entire point of the decoy is so that we never have to see it.
12
13	Of course, sometimes the censors somehow inexplicably miss something that clearly crosses the line and, well, [[SpringtimeForHitler it's going in the final product]]. Other times, they catch both the decoy ''and'' the naughty bits it was supposed to conceal, resulting in [[ExecutiveMeddling business as usual]]. (Well, at least the creators made them work a little harder.)
14
15	A form of GettingCrapPastTheRadar (especially if the over-the-top scene is chosen over the toned-down scene, or if the writers often use the Censor Decoy to get whatever they want past the censors and the censors keep falling for it). Compare CorrectionBait, where you make a glaringly obvious error to get a complainer off your tail, or to be a {{Troll}}. See also TestingTheEditors, when a creator puts something in the work to make sure their editor is paying attention. Contrast RefugeInAudacity, which often operates on the premise that some offensive content is ''so'' outrageous that any rational person would have to view it as harmless. Compare SurprisinglyLenientCensor for occasions when the censors think the edgy stuff is OK.
16	----
17	!!Examples
18
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Comics]]
22	* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': Scott Adams once submitted a strip featuring a cop firing his gun at some suspects. It didn't pass muster. So he submitted a new version where the panel of the gun actually firing just contained the text "BANG BANG BANG". Still too violent, as the strip still showed a cop holding a gun. So as a joke he did a version that was the same as the first one except the cop fired actual bullets ''from [[DonutMessWithACop a donut]]''. He did this to point out that it was the firing, not the gun itself that was violent, and that therefore the second one should be acceptable. The editors apparently had the opposite opinion, and it was published [[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2005-08-04/ donut and all.]]
23	* Frank Cho's ''ComicStrip/LibertyMeadows'' website basically only shows the strips that were deemed unfit to print (and thus are unavailable for sale) many of which push this trope (and a few even {{lampshade\|Hanging}} it by Cho's AuthorAvatar showing up in the last panel and lamenting that his editor will never let this get published.)
24	* ''ComicStrip/{{Foxtrot}}'' in-universe example: Jason and Marcus ask for money to rent "Big Slashing Mommas with Chainsaw Daughters", which is shot down immediately. Jason then says they'll just rent ''Film/{{Scarface}}'', which works.
25	* Jim Davis, back in the 80s, once submitted a ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' comic his syndicate, where Garfield, [[HighOnCatnip after finding a plot of catnip,]] [[WhatDidIDoLastNight ends up waking up in Atlantic City with a Barbie doll.]] He did it as a joke not expecting them to run it as it depicted drugs, gambling, sex [[MurderArsonAndJaywalking and a copyright violation to boot.]] Much to his surprise, they ran it.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Film]]
29	* In ''Film/AnimalHouse'', the writers figured that the ratings board would object to implying sex with a 16-year-old, so they did the scene with her claiming to be 13, expecting to have to go back and "correct" the scene. They were surprised when the scene was not considered objectionable.
30	* In ''Film/CitizenKane'', Creator/OrsonWelles originally had his "There Is A Man" musical sequence take place inside a whorehouse, but it was cut due to UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode's rules against anything remotely sexual in film. He was hoping that it would distract from the many disparaging references to William Randolph Hearst.
31	* In ''Film/{{Casino}}'', the infamous HeadInAVise scene was added to draw the censor's attention away from the record breaking use of profanity and the other scenes of violence. Apparently, this didn't work, as both the vise scene and the other questionable scenes were left intact. Scorcese tried a similar tactic in ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet''. This time, only an hour's worth of footage got the ax, though that may have been because of time constraints, not content.
32	* The 1954 biopic ''Film/DeepInMyHeart'' includes a pas de deux between Creator/CydCharisse and James Mitchell, set to the song "One Alone", that is obviously a sex scene (it features extremely suggestive partnering moves and concludes with the man in a state of postcoital exhaustion). Charisse, Mitchell, and director Stanley Donen all later admitted to being shocked that the censors failed to realize what was happening; Charisse speculated that they were all too hung up on the high cut of her skirt to notice the actual steps.
33	* When famous Soviet comedy director Leonid Gaidai presented his new film, ''Film/TheDiamondArm'', to the censors, he added a nuclear explosion footage into the epilogue - and argued furiously to keep it. This allowed him to sneak in some "controversial" (by that time's standards) material such as striptease, drunken debauchery and references to prostitution.
34	** Gaidai did that in two other films. ''Film/KidnappingCaucasianStyle'' starts with [[ThoseTwoGuys Those Three Guys]] writing a bad word on a fence, before hurriedly writing "feature film" when a cop walks by. As soon as the censors demanded the scene removed, Gaidai told his friends, "I knew they'd remove it and calm down."
35	** In ''Film/IvanVasilievichChangesProfession'', Gaidai initially included an up-close shot of the float pen George gave to the Swedish ambassador, which had the image of a girl in a swimsuit lose her swimsuit if the pen is flipped over (hence the ambassador's [[AllMenArePerverts reaction]]). Naturally, the censors demanded the shot removed. Gaidai fought furiously to keep it (his acting experience helped), until the censors finally put their foot down and told him, "This isn't Hollywood." As expected, Gaidai told his friends that it was exactly what he'd planned.
36	* Creator/AlfredHitchcock famously put a shot of Marion Crane's buttocks in his original cut of ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' so the censors would let him keep a plot-important scene of a flushed toilet, which at the time would not have been allowed to be shown on film.
37	* Creator/SethRogen and Evan Goldberg [[http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-this-is-the-end-mpaa-rating-20130604,0,3201458.story admitted]] that they attempted this for apocalyptic comedy ''Film/ThisIsTheEnd'', including sexually-explicit material they assumed would get an NC-17 rating, allowing them to cut it down to an R. They were surprised when the MPAA gave the uncut movie an R.
38	* It's how Creator/MaeWest's bawdy one-liners got past UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode in the first place.
39	* Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone have said that their original cut of ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' was rated NC-17. Then they retooled it by taking out the "offensive" stuff and putting in things that "were five times worse". The new cut was rated R. [[http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/09/ps-this-is-my-favorite-memo-ever.html Here]] is a memo written by Matt Stone detailing what he thinks should replace the scenes the Censor Board noted as too far.
40	** Even the movie's ''title'' was an example of this. Parker and Stone originally wanted to call the movie ''South Park: All Hell Breaks Loose'', but the suits vetoed it on grounds that the title could not contain profanity. The duo sarcastically suggested "Bigger, Longer, and Uncut" as a subtitle, and were flabbergasted when the executives missed the obvious phallic DoubleEntendre.
41	** They included explicit puppet sex in ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'' as a more traditional attempt at this. It worked perfectly - the original cut got the NC-17 for just this scene. With the alterations, they resubmitted it for an R. As a bonus, the "uncut" version gained more notoriety than it ever would have otherwise. Parker and Stone confirmed that this was a deliberate example on-camera in the documentary ''Film/ThisFilmIsNotYetRated''. The final version was less than half of the originally filmed sex scene. Reportedly, the original was so filthy that some of the puppeteers refused to show up for work that day.
42	* In Spain, during [[UsefulNotes/TheFrancoRegime Franco's oppressive fascist regime]], one trick that filmmakers used to get crap past the radar is they would write the script they wanted to make, then submit a different script for approval, knowing it would get marked for change. When they submitted the original script, the censors would see that everything marked for change had been and approve the script, letting the filmmakers do almost whatever they wanted. The most infamous example of this was Creator/LuisBunuel's ''Film/{{Viridiana}}'', whom even after using the above tricks submitting incredibly tame versions of the script and footage the Censor-approved cut was still deemed a bit too indecent to be premiered in Cannes Festival as Spain's representative; but because the film could be premiered as an independent one, film's star Silvia Pinal smuggled on the uncensored version to be show instead of the Spain-approved one. This stunt cost Buñuel his Spanish passport.
43	* On a meta level, this is one of the ways Yiddish words sneaked into American English. Faced with censorship boards at the studio and local level that would object to certain terminology and phrases in "standard" English, the filmmakers (many were Jewish), would sneak objectionable insults and phrases in via YiddishAsASecondLanguage. The trick only worked until the words caught on, though. Creator/MelBrooks movies all but run on this trope.
44	* Creator/DavidFincher pulled off something like this in ''Film/FightClub'' (similarly to Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone with the title of ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut''). A producer ordered him to change the bit from [[Literature/FightClub the book]] in which Marla Singer declares, "I want to have your abortion." Fincher agreed on the condition that he only had to change it once, and the producer took the bait. The replacement line? "''[[CrossesTheLineTwice Oh my god, I haven't been fucked like that since grade school.]]''" The censor told Fincher to change the now-worse line back to the original one, but since [[ExactWords she'd agreed to only change it once]], it was left in. Also, Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter only said the line because [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage she didn't realize that "grade school" is the American equivalent to "primary school" in Britain]]. She said if she'd known what she was asked to say, she'd have insisted on a rewrite.
45	* ''Film/MurderOnTheOrientExpress2017'': A variant aimed at book purists. When directing and starring as Literature/HerculePoirot, Creator/KennethBranagh gave himself a [[https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2017/06/01/15/murderontheorientexpress.jpg frankly ridiculous mustache.]] It was later explained that this was done so that everyone forgot that Poirot was portrayed as blond, graying, tall and fit rather than the book’s rotund, short, [[DyeHard black-haired]] detective. By all accounts it worked.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Jokes]]
49
50	* An old Russian joke goes something like this: a young screenwriter complains to his mentor that his script is always turned down by the censoring board. The mentor advises him to insert a scene with a flying green dog. Afterwards, the censors says after reading the new draft: "The script has improved by leaps and bounds, but what's that stupid green dog doing in a work of SocialistRealism? Lose the dog, and you're good to go!"
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52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Literature]]
55	* Lampshaded in Randy Alcorn's ''Dominion,'' in which columnist Clarence Abernathy puts several Censor Decoys in his column for his politically correct editor.
56	* InUniverse example in the Literature/{{Xanth}} novel ''Heaven Cent''. Prince Dolph wants to go on a quest with his friend Grundy Golem, but Grundy is a known trouble maker, and he doesn't think his parents will approve. So he comes up with a list of companions he thinks they will find even ''more'' objectionable, so they will acquiesce to Grundy. It backfires, they approve his first suggestion, and he ends up traveling with animated skeleton Marrow Bones, who's actually a pretty level-headed and reasonable guy.
57	* In the ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' novel ''Liberty's Crusade'', protagonist Michael Liberty, a reporter, does this to mollify the Confederate censors his news bureau reports to. For instance, he runs a report about a colonial Command Center that had been overrun and [[TheCorruption infested]] by the then-recently-discovered [[BugWar Zerg Swarm]]. In order to get his frank descriptions of the aliens and their methods to air, he put in both a pro-Confederate slant (with shots of colonial soldiers bravely mowing down zerglings) and a censor decoy in the form of a mention that the colony post wasn't on any Confederate maps, which he was sure would be cut. While suspicious-sounding at first, [[TriviallyObvious this is really a meaningless detail]], since Command Centers [[BaseOnWheels can lift off and fly]].
58	* Spade calls Wilmer a "gunsel" in ''Literature/TheMalteseFalcon''. Creator/DashiellHammett wrote for the ''Black Mask'' pulp magazine, whose editor was perhaps a bit too genteel for his post. He would keep rejecting uses of underworld slang as being unfitting for the readership. In one such story, Hammett put a sly test to the editor. Knowing full well what both meant, he included references to "gooseberry lay" (hobo slang for clothes unguarded on a line ripe for theft) and "gunsel" (Yiddish slang for "a young homosexual man kept as an older man's lover"). The editor struck "gooseberry lay", but left in "gunsel," assuming it was an odd way of saying "gunman." Due to it being reused in ''The Maltese Falcon'' both book and film, it took on the latter meaning by common usage, even making its way into children's fare such as ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
62	* ''Series/TheGongShow'' regularly offered acts they knew would outrage the censors, so as to get other stuff through. The trick [[SpringtimeForHitler infamously backfired]] when The Popsicle Twins -- two cute girls who sat on stage sucking on popsicles in [[EroticEating the most blatantly suggestive way imaginable]] -- actually made it onto the air. ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrRySiQMV2I/ See it here.]]) The two girls' performance made the live Eastern/Central broadcast, but higher-ups wised up before the Mountain/Pacific showing was due to go on, cutting it from the tape. The incident later made the ''Gong Show Movie.''
63	* ''Series/TheWildWildWest'': Due to a particularly virulent MediaWatchdog situation concerning TV Violence, the creators admitted to staging two versions of a number of fight scenes, one unnecessarily brutal, and the one they actually wanted to show on air, submitting the first one to network censors so they would accept the "compromise" of the second one.
64	* ''Series/TheWeirdAlShow'' would occasionally try this to get past the insane ExecutiveMeddling the show was put under, only to find that the censors would usually not have any problems with them. This included a clip from Al's "Franchise/JurassicPark" music video where [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney the Dinosaur]] is gruesomely decapitated, and Harvey the hamster crawling out of Al's mouth. Some of the writers claim that the network actually left in the decoys ''in favor'' of the stuff it was meant to distract from.
65	* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.
66	** In "A Private Little War" Captain Kirk comes across native girl Nona bathing naked in the river, and we see a brief glimpse of [[{{Sideboob}} the side of her body]] as she wraps a robe about herself. The creators included a breast shot knowing the censors would cut it down to the tantalising glimpse they actually wanted.
67	** A variant was done for the filming of ''Plato's Stepchildren''. The script called for Uhura and Kirk to kiss (commonly and mistakenly referenced as the first scripted, onscreen, interracial kiss on TV at the time[[note]]Though it was the first kiss between a white person and an African-American, in a time when this was unacceptable, so its place in TV history is justifiable.[[/note]]), but the network called for the scene to be filmed with and without the kiss, to decide later which to use. William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols deliberately screwed up every take of the non-kiss scene, [[note]]And by "screwed up", we mean that Shatner followed their instructions about "not kissing Uhura" [[BotheringByTheBook to the letter]], by violently shaking her back and forth and bellowing "''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I! WON'T KISS! YOU!]] '''[[ChewingTheScenery I! WON'T! KISS! YOU!]]'''''" as [[LargeHam only Shatner can]], reducing the scene to [[{{Narm}} an unusable joke]][[/note]] making the version with the kiss the best option. The producers were prepared for that: someone mentioned that such a risqué (for the time) scene might get cut short, so they modified the script for the scene to take a lot longer than they intended, so even if the censors would object to it, they could suggest to cut down its length as a compromise. In the end, this wasn't even needed.
68	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' writer Sera Gamble outright admitted they over-do the gore and violence in order to get their desired scenes in instead.
69	* ''Series/GrowingPains'': Ever wondered how Boner got his name? This trope is to blame.
70	* In ''Series/SayYesToTheDress'', one bride tried to enact this trope (she wanted 'sexy,' her parents wanted 'modest') by asking for a VERY revealing dress first so that the dresses she actually liked would seem tamer. It sort of worked, though the parents realized fairly quickly that the first dress was a deliberate distraction.
71	* ''Series/BrassEye'' was made with a lot of censor bait. One of many examples [[http://sotcaa.org/history/sotcaa2000/sotcaa2000_frame.html?/history/sotcaa2000/editnews/brasseye.html (#3 here)]]: a spoof news report about a male U.S. senator who, during a press conference, gets an overwhelming urge to masturbate in full public view. The actor is seen 'ejaculating' from a prosthetic rubber penis, and his fake semen shoots into the audience. Channel 4's request to the program makers: "blur out the penis". That was all that had to be changed.
72	* Referenced on ''Series/MadMen''. When a TV show loses sponsorship for an episode centering on abortion, the Agency has to find new sponsors. How was the episode allowed to be made? The original script featured cannibals.
73	* On ''Series/{{MASH}}'' the writers started regularly including twice as many "Damns" as they wanted, because they knew the censors would always send a note back saying "Cut the number of swears in half".
74	* With mother Marion's coaching, Joanie tried this on her father on ''Series/HappyDays''. Wanting permission to buy new clothes, she first modeled a halter top and hot pants. Howard predictably blew a gasket, and then approved of the dress she modeled next. Their trick seemed to work--but Howard muttered after they left the room, "I don't know why they do this every time," indicating he was not fooled.
75	* ''Series/{{Ultraseven}}'' had a non-censorship variant: when writer Akio Jissoji submitted a script for an episode involving Dan and Soga being stranded on a planet ruled by androids, it was rejected for not featuring any of the show's iconic monster battles. In response, he submitted a script involving Seven fighting 51 different monsters, which would have been horrendously expensive to film on the show's budget. The executives told him he could film his original script instead, which became "Nightmare on Planet 4."
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Music]]
79	* Music/ThePolice's first single "Roxanne" was banned by the BBC for being about prostitution, so they tried to publicise that to sell "Can't Stand Losing You". The BBC sidestepped them by banning it due to its cover (Stewart Copeland standing on a block of ice with a noose around his neck), not even bothering to look at the lyrics.
80	* The radio edit of Music/LilJon's "Get Low" censored the line "To all skeet skeet motherfucker, to all skeet skeet goddamn!" with a repeated "Skeet skeet skeet skeet skeet skeet". "Skeet" is a slang term for semen, and somehow repeating said word multiple times is ''less'' explicit than just two skeets and a PrecisionFStrike. Eventually averted, as by 2017 or so the radio version has the entire chorus vocals being omitted.
81	-->'''Creator/DaveChappelle''': You know what's so dope about "skeet"? White people don't know what it means yet! When they figure it out, they're gonna be like "my God, what have we done?"
82	* Music/TheKinks managed to do this ''by accident'' with "Lola." The BBC was so busy getting them to change the mention of Coca-Cola to cherry cola to comply with their strict rules about {{product placement}} that they completely missed the song's meaning.
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Pinball]]
86	* In a case of Feature Decoy, veteran pinball designer Creator/GregKmiec would always put in two new features in every game that he designed for Creator/{{Bally}}, one that he wanted along with a more expensive decoy. During review, Bally's design executives would inevitably insist on removing the expensive feature, allowing Kmiec's preferred toy to remain.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Radio]]
90	* An unintentional example from the series ''Radio/ImSorryIllReadThatAgain''. One script featured a reference to a 'cowpoke' which the writers included thinking only of it as an alternative name for a cowboy...but the BBC objected violently to the word. The arguments over this completely overlooked the fact that the script also featured a character called 'Martha Farquar'
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Video Games]]
94	* According to Hironobu Sakaguchi, one of the scenario writers for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Motomu Toriyama, kept writing 'tricky little events that kept on being edited', writing scenes full of extreme content that would get toned down to the edgy scenes he wanted. He wrote the [[RedLightDistrict Wall Market]] arc, which is still by a long way the [[HotterAndSexier most raunchy]] subplot ever to be in a ''Final Fantasy'' game, but his first draft was far more detailed, about three times as long and involved accidental paedophilia (it's possible for Cloud to obtain Marlene's underwear, although both he and the person who gave them to him are under the impression that they're Tifa's) amongst other highly inappropriate things. When the other team members saw the scene, they all said 'no', and so instead we get Cloud having sex with a male prostitute in a hot tub. [[https://tcrf.net/Final_Fantasy_VII/Unused_Text#Honey_Bee_Inn The original version]] is still available on the disc in DummiedOut form, though the script was garbled and was only decoded over a decade later.
95	* Most of the bleak and dark concept art for ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' that came from early leaks for the game was created more to test what Creator/{{Disney}} would allow rather then being intended for usage.
96	* A really funny and non-offensive variation in ''VideoGame/BattleChess'' by the artist who drew the Queen. He knew he was working with meddlesome executives, and he also knew exactly what he wanted the Queen to look like, how she should move, etc. So he drew her animations exactly like he wanted... And then added a pet duck that made no sense in the context. The executive told him it looked great except the duck had to go, and he ended up with exactly the original design. This led to the coining of the term "Atwood's duck" in computer programming: deliberately adding obvious and easily-removable mistakes, like the duck, for corporate to pick out.
97	* In Polygon's oral history of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'', the character designer Creator/MichaelKirkbride got frustrated with Creator/ToddHoward's complaints that stuff he was doing was 'too weird', and started drawing two alternate versions of every design - one that was the one he wanted to be in the game, and one that was "fucking crazy". He would show the extreme design to Howard, who would ask him to tone it down, then present the real version, which Howard would say was perfect.
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Western Animation]]
101	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': The writers use the scene of Fry, Leela, and Amy naked in the same steam room from "[[Recap/FuturamaS2E5WhyMustIBeACrustaceanInLove Why Must I Be A Crustacean in Love]]" as an example of how the censors let them get away with that scene in comparison to what's being put on the chopping block. Usually, this argument will result in whatever scene the censors want removed to be left in.
102	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'':
103	** Harley Quinn asking Mr. J if he wanted to "rev up his Harley". Though this apparently ''was'' the censored version! (As opposed to "Ride On".) The "ride your Harley" joke appears in the "Mad Love" ComicBook that the episode was adapted from. The original version also had her in a more explicit pose; leaning back, knees apart, as if straddling an old fashioned motorcycle.
104	** In the commentary for one of the episodes, Timm and Dini are chatting and one outright admits that they routinely planted Censor Decoys in their show, only for the other to [[EverybodyKnewAlready shush him and tell him not to reveal trade secrets]].
105	* When designing swimsuits for Azula and Ty Lee in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'''s obligatory [[BeachEpisode beach episode]], the artists intentionally created designs that were far too revealing to be used in the actual show. When the censors shot down these original designs, they were "redesigned" into the swimsuits they had intended to use to begin with--which were still risqué, but not as much. Naturally, the censors allowed the new ones through.
106	* Shown in the page image, the episode "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS1E11Wizard Wizard]]" of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' had Finn, Jake, and two old men are caught in an explosion that burns their clothing off. Originally, they were going to have Finn and the old men walking around with a beaver censoring their crotches. Cartoon Network thought the beaver GagCensor was too racy and opted for something better -- in this case, wooden logs (which may seem silly until you realize that "wood" has long been used as a euphemism for male erections).
107	** For the episode "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS1E5TheEnchiridion The Enchiridion!]]", the team used ''[[https://www.flickr.com/photos/84568447@N00/4535584270 this]]'' as their decoy title card so that [[https://www.flickr.com/photos/84568447@N00/4534952905 this one]] wouldn't look so bad. It didn't work and it ended up with more sunshine, smiles and the knife replaced with a baguette.
108	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' got away with many of their adult jokes by using this tactic, according to [[WordOfGod the creators]] in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's [[http://channelawesome.com/nostalgia-critic-animaniacs-tribute-part-2/ Animaniacs Trbute.]] With the infamous "finger[[Music/{{Prince}} prints]]" bit, the show's writer admitted it was thrown in just to give the censor a laugh but apparently (''somehow'') got through:
109	--> We put that in, and just said "you know, let the censor have a laugh and call us". I guess the censor was away that week ([[{{Corpsing}} starts laughing]]) because that's still in there!
110	* In ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo'', [[https://www.animationmagazine.net/people/steve-marmel-co-exec-producer-head-writer-for-yin-yang-yo/ co-writer Steve Marmel has stated]] that in one instance where Yang gets a wedgie, the original quote was, "Oww! My boy parts!" That was turned down by Disney and replaced by "Oww! My undercarriage!"
111	* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' episode "Antics on Ice" Skipper is trying to come up with a reason that he and Kowalski were absent while Private was watching the show. Kowalski mimes (behind Private's back) what he should tell Private. Kowalski is wildly slapping his body with his flippers. Skipper interprets this as what sounds like "touching ourselves?" or seems to. Many argue that he's saying "punching ourselves?". Sound effects muffled the line as did Skipper's usual style of enunciation.
112	* It's said that ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' does this on a regular basis. Supposedly they shove in an incredibly offensive clip that has no chance of airing on regular TV and isn't even part of the regular script just to desensitize the review board to the rest of the episode.
113	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
114	** A rare ''inverted'' version comes from Creator/LaurenFaust figuring that Hasbro wouldn't want the monsters to be too scary for a young girls' show, so she submitted drawings of an incredibly goofy-looking manticore and dainty, feminine dragons. Hasbro's response was that ''they weren't scary enough'', and pushed for more menacing creature designs.
115	** An example played straight might have happened with Season 8, episode 13 "The Mean 6". In the leaked version, there is a scene where [[spoiler:the "mean" versions of the Mane 6 are turned back into wood, and the melting looks very creepy. In the final version, the creepiness is dialed back a bit.]]
116	** In the development of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017'', this was done to develop Klugetown, as revealed in the [[AllThereInTheManual official art book]]. In order to get the version that was in the final film -- a NotSoSafeHarbor the mane six encounter where where outsiders are either sold to the SlaveMarket or [[OrganTheft dismembered and have their body parts sold]] -- they had to dial the look and tone of the location to such an extreme that what they wanted to go for seemed comparatively tame. The version they presented and Hasbro had them tone down was a town built around a giant dragon skeleton with the inhabitants mining the dragon's crystalized heart.
117	* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' had an inversion in "Mr. Saturday Knight". The original version had a joke about "half and half", which the censors cracked down on. It was replaced with the ''more'' vulgar "Cleveland steamer", which got past because they thought the writers made the term up. [[note]] A "Cleveland Steamer" is a sexual act involving defecating on one's partner, then rolling around in it. Yes, really. [[/note]]
118	* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon ''WesternAnimation/AnItchInTime'', about a dog tormented by a flea, one scene has the itching dog scooting across the floor on his butt, then turn to the camera and say "Hey, I'd better cut this out, I may get to likin' it!" Reportedly, this was done by Creator/BobClampett to give UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode something to cut, but they didn't.
119	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CensorDecoy