- Trying to sell titillating or embarrassing candids of a celebrity to the media, often a tabloid
- Trying to sell titillating or embarrassing candids of a celebrity to the celebrity themselves (who is presumably paying to keep them out of the hands of said media)
- In days gone by, this used to be a regular service provided by some entertainment venues, with photographers on cruise ships, nightclubs, and amusement parks snapping (presumably flattering) candid photos and selling them to the subjects as mementos
- In anime and manga, members of a character's Instant Fan Club may take candids and sell them to other members of the Instant Fan Club
- Also in anime and manga, the School Newspaper Newshound or Shutter Bug may offer to sell someone candid pictures of their Love Interest
This may also occasionally apply to cases of persons accidentally included in a photograph or video of something else, people captured in crowd scenes, or other cases where the subject is not aware of being photographed. Sometimes overlaps with Blackmail, when the subject of the photograph (or their family, manager, etc.) really doesn't want them to be publicized, especially if it's from a Sleazy Photoshoot.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Ai Ore! Love Me!: Students at Akira's all-boys school are seen selling posters of Akira and candid shots of him shirtless, undressing, crossdressing, etc. Ai buys them all.
- Hell Girl: Before the events of the series, disgraced reporter Hajime Shibata made ends meet by selling embarrassing candid photos of celebrities back to them with the implied threat that he'll sell the photos to the tabloids if they don't pay up.
- Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!: Kanamori, the producer and financier of the titular animation club, puts up candid photos of Mizusaki at work as merchandise, taking advantage of Mizusaki's reputation as a famous fashion model to drum up interest in and sales of the club's latest production.
- Maria no Danzai: One of the ways Tsubasa Kowase makes money is by selling Panty Shots of his schoolmates online. When one of his clients makes a request for elementary school girls, Kowase replies that it is possible since he goes to an Elevator School.
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: After Asuka is introduced, she apparently receives a little Instant Fan Club, and we hear that people are selling photos of her, showing that she is popular and well adjusted, in contrast to Shinji's more reserved nature.
- Ouran High School Host Club: The host club website sells candid pictures of Haruhi taken without her knowledge. She is not pleased when she finds out. Of course, they are designed to make her look male, and some have been digitally altered to put her face on a male chest.
- Pretty Face: "Yuna's" Instant Fan Club (the kendo team) holds a swap-meet to share Yuna stuff; one guy brings "50 candids of Yuna" that he has taken. Yuna/Rando of course gets totally pissed and beats the crap out of them.
- Ranma ½: Nabiki sells photos of Akane and Girl-Type Ranma.
- School Rumble: Fuyuki has a habit of taking shots of the girls in his class to sell for money. Although, he does note when asked that he never had any of Eri Sawachika to sell. Mikoto, on the other hand, has sold out.
- Spy X Family: A politician tries to buy candid photos proving that an opponent wears a toupee for use as blackmail material. Agent Twilight, in his Establishing Character Moment, impersonates the politician with a latex mask and buys them first to keep them out of his hands.
Asian Animation
- BoBoiBoy: In season 2, Gopal explains that he's been sneaking around to take pictures of Fang, their popular yet (initially) unfriendly classmate, to sell to his fans. We are shown a montage of Gopal snapping shots of Fang while the latter is walking, eating or otherwise minding his own business.
Comic Books
- Fantastic Four: In issue #275, a sleazy tabloid takes pictures of She-Hulk sunbathing topless with the intention of selling them for a large amount of money. She-Hulk fails to stop the pictures from seeing print but is able to avoid public embarrassment thanks to the pictures being color corrected in the printing process, making the woman in the images unrecognizable as She-Hulk.
Films — Live-Action
- The Aviator: Howard Hughes buys explicit photos of his ex Katharine Hepburn and her married lover Spencer Tracy from a shady photographer (played by Willem Dafoe) in order to prevent them from reaching the tabloids.
- The Great Muppet Caper: Gonzo is taking candid shots at a dinner party in order to raise money. He tells one man that he can take a picture of him and his wife. When the man replies to Gonzo that his wife isn't feeling well, Gonzo suggests that the man's wife should be at home if she is feeling poorly. The man replies that his wife IS at home. Gonzo wisely moves on.
- That Old Feeling: One of the main characters is a paparazzo who took an infamous picture of Bette Midler's character that made her look bad, and sold it to a tabloid.
- Revenge of the Nerds: After recording the sorority girls stripping, the titular nerds are seen selling pictures of the naked girls under food on paper plates to people.
- What's Up, Tiger Lily?: Gang leader Wing Fat has taken photos of rival Shepherd Wong and his henchmen with a special hidden X-Ray camera that will produce nude pictures of them. After developing them and laughing at their chubby thighs he threatens to peddle them in every schoolyard in town unless they let him go.
Literature
- The Basic Eight: Flannery Culp sells candids of her friends to tabloids to defray legal costs.
- Full Metal Panic!: Referenced when Kurz tells a traitorous member of Mithril that after Kurz takes him out, he'll ask Tessa for a picture of herself in a swimsuit, which he'll sell to the loyal members of the crew.
- No Score by Chip Harrison: Chip briefly works for a street photographer handing out cards telling people where to buy a print of the snaps. Almost nobody does, and most of the cards end up as litter.
- Slayers: Lina Inverse recalls being beaten by her sister Luna for selling candid pictures of her.
- Station Eleven: As a paparazzo, Jeevan has dealt in these all his life. Arthur gets back in touch with Miranda shortly before the world ends to warn her that their candids (and letters) got sold. Then the world ends because of the Georgia Flu, and both Arthur and Miranda are killed, so it ceases to matter to most people except Kirsten (who collects celebrity gossip).
- Trust Me On This is a murder mystery that revolves around the staff of a particularly scuzzy tabloid newspaper. Both buying and selling candids of various fictional celebrities enter into the plot.
Live-Action TV
- Columbo episode "Identity Crisis": Columbo ties a spy to another agent (found dead on the beach) by finding photographic evidence of their meeting at an amusement park. The pictures are among those taken by a candid photographer working at the park.
- The Love Boat: Ted McGinley played a shipboard photographer in the last season or two, taking the flattering version.
- The sitcom The Naked Truth is about a well-respected, award-winning photojournalist who becomes a paparazza to make ends meet. When she first meets her colleague/professional rival/USTmate, he shows her a bunch of candids he's shopping to the tabloid. One is a photo of Macaulay Culkin sitting in dirty underwear eating what they both hope is a Cheeto.
- Power Rangers Time Force: "Full Exposure" deals with a photographer who plans to expose the Rangers' identities. He manages to get pictures of them demorphed but decides not to sell the pictures after Katie saves him.
Video Games
- Harvest Town: A cutscene shows Sherry auctioning the photos she has taken. One version has her offer Jessie's pictures (since she's a minor celebrity) to the guys, while another has her try to sell an embarrassing picture of Bill and Lee Yeung fighting each other in diapers.
- Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail!: Larry must buy pictures of his own sexual misadventures from the cruise ship's sleazy cabin boy. He only needs the pictures in order to make a fake ID.
Western Animation
- American Dad!: In "Office Spaceman", Stan finds out that Roger has been selling candids of his naked, alien self to the tabloids (even though he's supposed to be keeping a low profile) and orders him to stop. Roger complies... so he sells posed photos instead.
- The Simpsons: In the "Treehouse of Horror III" segment "Clown Without Pity", a man with a box full of naked pictures of Whoopi Goldberg exclaims that he doesn't know what he was thinking trying to sell them. He throws the box into a bottomless pit and the pit promptly throws it back.
