->"''News networks giving a greater voice to viewers because the social web is so popular are like a chef on the Titanic who, seeing the looming iceberg and fleeing customers, figures ice is the future and starts making snow cones.''"
-->-- AltText from "[[http://xkcd.com/756/ Public Opinion]]", ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}''

A contraction of ''Vox Populi'' (Latin for "voice of the people"), '''vox pops''' refers to a series of clips of people, presumably random people met on a street, voicing their spontaneous opinions on a given subject. Frequently seen on [[NewsBroadcast the news]], and often used in parodies of same, as in ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' and a number of late-night talk shows. Also known as a "man on the street" interview.

Refreshingly, or perhaps alarmingly, major news outlets are beginning to rely more and more on Website/{{Twitter}} for this kind of "content". Usually they'll have a newscaster ([[PunishmentDetail who presumably pissed somebody off to get that job]]) standing next to a screen the size of a man that's streaming incoming tweets as they happen. Well, that's what they claim. In reality, they're probably picking and choosing ones that neither a) [[ClusterFBomb consist entirely of the word "fuck"]] nor b) express an opinion more extreme than [[LowestCommonDenominator the news media think]] the average person has.

Compare ConfusedBystanderInterview. SuperTrope of SelectiveStupidity, cherry-picking a survey's responses to make a certain demographic look stupid.
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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In an early chapter of Part 2 of ''Manga/ChainsawMan'', a bunch of citizens are interviewed for their opinions on Chainsaw Man. The last person interviewed is [[SecretIdentity Denji]] (making [[ReestablishingCharacterMoment his first appearance in Part 2]]), who tries to [[ButHeSoundsHandsome play up Chainsaw Man's good qualities to the interviewer]].
* In the final chapter of ''Manga/GTOTheEarlyYears'', many supporting characters, and even some former antagonists, give their thoughts on the [[spoiler:supposedly dead]] Oni-Baku duo.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* One ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' story by Creator/NeilGaiman had a reporter interview various Gotham citizens on what they think of Batman's RoguesGallery. The responses ranged from "They scare me" to "The death penalty is the only language these animals will understand!" to "Dude, I'm behind on my mortgage and the garbage strike is in its third week. You think I've got time to worry about that crap?".
* There are also "man on the street" interviews in ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns''. In two placed side by side, a liberal {{hypocrite}} decries Batman's brutal methods but doesn't live in the city because of the crime, while a conservative bigot cheers Batman on and says "[[HeteronormativeCrusader Sure hope he goes after the homos next]]."
* Creator/ChipZdarsky's ''Peter Parker: The Spectactular Comicbook/SpiderMan'' run ended with a filmmaker making a documentary about Spider-Man, based around vox pop footage to show the good Spidey does ''apart'' from beating up Doctor Octopus. The bulk of the story went to a woman who's son was in a gang, and who Spidey tried to help, rather than just leaving him for the cops, interspersed with lighter moments such as the hot dog vendor who promised him free hot dogs for life, and regrets it, because he ''won't shut up'' while he's there. The final interviewee shown is Peter Parker, who says he feels like he has a conflict of interest, since he's worked with Spider-Man in several roles, before explaining what ''he'' thinks Spider-Man is all about.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In the movie ''Film/AnnieHall'', Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) is constantly having trouble with his relationship with Annie. Seeing a random couples in the street, he asks them their secrets to a good relationship. The joke is that they not only answer, but give him impossibly specific and detailed advice about his individual relationship.
* Done at the end of ''Film/TheBoondockSaints'', when reporters find that the opinions of the people on the street are divided with respect to the titular vigilantes.
* Used twice in ''Film/MeanGirls''. Once talking about [[AlphaBitch Regina]], the other referring to Cady.
* Used in ''Film/SpiderMan1'', when people give their opinion about the title character.
* ''Film/{{District 9}}'' includes vox pops of South Africans speaking their opinions about the prawns. The filmmakers got realistic performances by asking real people about their opinions on immigrants.
* Occurs at the end of ''[[Film/TheAvengers2012 The Avengers]]'', after the Battle of New York, to foreshadow the public opinion of superheroes in Phase One: most people are supportive and thankful, but some are wondering about the damage the city sustained and the fact that the Avengers themselves aren't answering to anyone.
* ''Film/WrongIsRight''. After President Lockwood admits to having ordered the assassination of King Awad after he acquired WeaponsOfMassDestruction, WTN surveys the American public on whether he was right to do so. Two men say he was right, a woman says he was wrong, while another woman replies, [[ApatheticCitizens "King who?"]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Parodied in ''Literature/MakingMoney'', where the "Vox Pops" section of a newspaper is summed up as "people in the street who didn't know anything told other people what they knew."
** In ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld IV: Judgement Day'', a character reads the "Vox Populari" column in ''The Ankh-Morpork Times'', and reflects that beginning a statement with "I reckon..." is a good sign that an opinion has been formed without the involvement of actual thought.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie'' regularly used parodies of these to break up 'proper' sketches:
-->'''Creator/{{Hugh|Laurie}}:''' See this? ''(holds up a plate)'' You could eat your dinner off this.
** More examples [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9hRIjys4Qw&ab_channel=bassdownunder here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxrD6S3n60w&ab_channel=bassdownunder here]].
* Used frequently on ''Series/TheDailyShow'', when the Best Fucking News Team Ever goes out onto the streets to survey people.
* Spoofed in ''Series/TheDayToday'' as "Speak Your Brains".
* ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'' did this during the imaginatively-titled episode "Man On The Street", asking them about the InUniverse UrbanLegend that the Dollhouse exists.
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' loved to spoof this. In one, the reporters decided to "ask the man on the street what he thinks"; the camera then shows a French lady ("I am not a man, you silly billy."), then a guy working on a rooftop ("I'm not on the street, you fairy!"), then a guy standing in the middle of a road (a literal "man on the street"), who gets run over before he can answer the question.
* Used in the first two seasons of ''Series/SexAndTheCity'', in regards to each episode's question.
* The "Jay Walking" segments in ''Series/TheTonightShow with Jay Leno''.
** The earliest version of ''The Tonight Show'', when Steve Allen was hosting, had spoofs of VoxPops with members of the show's comedy troupe as the interviewees.
* ''Series/WonderShowzen'' did this with the regular segment "Clarence's Movies," with the pretense of wanting answers to questions... but really, the only objective was to mock and piss off the people on the street until they started making death threats.
* ''Creator/CharlieBrooker's Series/{{Screenwipe}}'' deconstructed this, as well as everything else about television, in showing that the process behind VoxPops is much more complicated than it seems. [[note]]Framing the shot correctly to avoid undue advertising for commercial buildings and tweaking what the potential man on the street is wearing to get rid of logos and similar. And of course, getting all the release forms signed. And, of course of course, asking an interview subject to give the ''opposite'' of their previously stated opinion, which they cheerfully do, just to hammer home the point that you don't (usually) have any idea at all about what was said before or after the edit points.[[/note]]
* ''Series/{{Studio 3}}'' uses this regarding various kid-related topics. A roving camera ensures that kids get the chance to share what they like best, whether it's performing a new BMX trick, introducing their pets or showing off their town.
* A funny case of this was when Creator/TheBBC was looking for people to talk about the 1967 Liverpool Derby, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U_PUbQGA4U only to end up running into Tommy Lawrence, who played the goalkeeper in that match.]]
* Back in the 80s and 90s when it was a single station in UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}}, Creator/CityTV had a show revolving around this called ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speakers%27_Corner_(TV_series) Speaker's Corner]]''. People could walk up to the corner of [=CityTV=]'s studios in Toronto where there was a booth; people could enter the booth and record short videos of themselves to be broadcast (money from activating the camera would be donated to charity). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ0jnIh5iRs Here's a typical episode from 1991.]] The approach was later replicated at other TV stations across Canada; but [[ExecutiveMeddling the new owners of CityTV, Rogers]], put an end to the original in 2008 ([[TechnologyMarchesOn citing YouTube and the internet as essentially superseding the show's purpose]]).
* The game show ''Series/StreetSmarts'' was built around contestants determining the outcome of man-on-the-street interviews.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* The music video for Music/{{Cake}}'s "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" consists of people on the street listening to the song on headphones and giving their opinions of it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/DimensionX'''s "[[Recap/DimensionX50Nightfall Nightfall]]": After talking with Sheerin, the psychologist, Theremon goes out into the streets of Saro City and interviews [[CanonForeigner random people]] about what they plan to do about the [[TotalEclipseOfThePlot upcoming eclipse]]. We hear from two people; Pellet (who is a power technician) and a nameless [[TheFundamentalist cultist]].
* ''Radio/XMinusOne'''s "Recap/XMinusOneE028Nightfall": After talking with Sheerin, the psychologist, Theremon goes out into the streets of Saro City and interviews [[CanonForeigner random people]] about what they plan to do about the [[TotalEclipseOfThePlot upcoming eclipse]]. We hear from two people; Pellet (who is a power technician) and a nameless [[TheFundamentalist cultist]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/TomodachiLife'', Mii News stories are always followed by comments from two random citizens. Amusingly, they sometimes criticize Mii News itself for [[WorstNewsJudgmentEver what it chooses to air]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The song "So They Say" in ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' is mostly composed of musical versions of this, as the populace comment on Captain Hammer.
* ''Website/TheOnion'' has a regular feature called "American Voices" that is a parody of this trope. Part of the joke is that it always has the same group of pictures of supposedly-average Americans.
* TheProfessorBrothers' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyu7yevZRGw Future Thoughts]] takes the form of this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CreatureComforts'', the Oscar-winning Aardman short, was made up of interviews with ordinary people, which were then animated as zoo animals. Led to a successful TV show, followed by a not-so-successful American version.
** Tangential but interesting: Aardman was careful to keep the animators away from the interviewees, and even the interviewers. They wanted the animals chosen to be inspired by the VoxPops alone.
* The first episode of the third season of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' did this on the subject of {{muggles}} discovering the Gargoyles' existence. The comics redo the scene when retelling the episode.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', a news broadcast ran down how people felt about a proposal due to be voted on this way
-->'''Reporter:''' Opinion is quite split on the measure, with 43% of respondents supporting the measure, 42% opposing it, and 15% saying that, if given the chance, [[TakeThat they would punch rock musician Jon Bon Jovi square in the balls]].\\
'''Guy 1:''' I think it is a good idea.\\
'''Guy 2:''' I am opposed to the idea.\\
'''Lady 1:''' I support the idea.\\
'''Guy 3:''' Oh yeah, right square in the balls.
* ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' sometimes features a "mouse on the street" segment where Mickey interviews various Disney characters about a particular subject.
[[/folder]]
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->'''INTERVIEWER:''' So what do you think of this page?
->'''AVERAGE TROPER #1:''' I think it's awesome. Lots of great examples.
->'''AVERAGE TROPER #2:''' I think it sucks!
->'''AVERAGE TROPER #3:''' I think Vox Pops features are really stupid and don't reflect the opinions of average tropers at all.
->'''AVERAGE TROPER #4:''' I wish average tropers wouldn't add silly self-demonstrating [[TheStinger stingers]] to pages like this one.
->'''AVERAGE TROPER #5:''' I hate average tropers! They're so stupid!
->'''AVERAGE TROPER #6:''' I think most average tropers are way too negative and complain about things too much.
->'''AVERAGE TROPER #7:''' TV Tropes? What's that?