History Main / InvisibleAdvertising

* This is basically Cartoon Network Latin America's stance on anime during the late 2010s. ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZKai'' had NO ads for them AT ALL on the channel itself, with all publicity for the show being done via Website/YouTube (show in singular since that channel only advertised ''Super'' while ''Kai'' was outright ignored). The ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'' 2018 series only was advertised on ads that were for the channel as a whole; meanwhile ''Anime/BeybladeBurst'' was even more ignored than ''Kai'', not even having re-runs and airing without ads. Needless to say, ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' was treated the same way it was on the States, except Disney XD never took over it and thus ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon'' aired without ads. ''Anime/BakuganBattlePlanet'', interestingly enough, is the only anime airing on the channel that has both ads AND re-runs, even if few. And in case you are wondering, those are ALL anime series that aired on the channel since ''Anime/DigimonFusion'' ended its runs, and that one ALSO didn't have ads.

* ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}}'' (''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''): It's pretty common for stories, fanmade or original, that are posted on Platform/{{Wattpad}} to be promoted on other social media such as Website/{{Facebook}} groups by means of book mock-ups, memes, banners, etc. ''Paradoxus'', however, isn't advertised by its authors. Its popularity is all due to "mouth-to-mouth" and the admittedly mediocre Wattpad algorithm. Creator/LilaGaela, a fellow fanfic creator with a greater follower base, recommended Bloom_Farella's works (this fanfic included) in her reviews book since she liked them so much.

* Creator/AdultSwim ran a show called ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_Programming_%28TV_series%29 Paid Programming]]'' at 4:30 am on without any on-air acknowledgment. It's like it was specifically designed to confuse viewers. It still got more advertising than the program's creators wanted, as it was announced at a convention. The ''Paid Programming'' slot unleashed ''Film/TooManyCooks'' upon the world, though it took a gray-market Website/YouTube upload to get it any traction.

* In an odd variant, most fans of WebVideo/{{Guru Larry|AndWez}} were not aware that he was a member of Website/ChannelAwesome until the [=#ChangeTheChannel=] scandal of March-April 2018 drew attention to it, as the site had done nothing to promote him until that point despite Larry joining the site in ''2009''. Nevertheless, he managed to attain a respectable fanbase through Website/YouTube and social media alone. When the scandal struck and sparked a mass exodus of Channel Awesome's contributors, Larry deliberately chose to stay with the site till the end ''specifically'' as a form of protest against the site for not promoting him for so long. For what it's worth, Channel Awesome continued to deal with him exactly as they had done before (perfunctorily uploading his videos to the site but otherwise not promoting or even interacting with him at all) until 2023, ''five years later'', when the site stopped updating. (It was shut down altogether the following year.) This is despite the fact that for those entire five years, with the exception of Creator/BradJones (who is close with the Walkers and part of their inner circle) he was literally the ''only'' remaining contributor to the site.

*** The series was treated horribly starting with the second season (or 'book'). Nickelodeon didn't acknowledge the show for ''15 months'' after Comic-Con 2012. When it released news of its 2013 schedule, it only stated that ''Korra'' would be premiering later that year, but gave absolutely no estimate of ''when'' it would premier. Finally, at Comic-Con 2013, it was revealed that Book 2 would premiere in September... in a FridayNightDeathSlot. Between Comic-Con and the premiere, Nickelodeon rarely aired trailers and still didn't even after the premiere. After a few episodes, the show was pushed back to 8:30 with almost no warning. After the much-anticipated Beginnings 1 and 2 aired, the show was then moved to 8 pm with the only warnings being an occasional commercial on TV, a tiny video in a corner of the show's page on Nickelodeon's site, and various TV schedule guides. The season finale premiered on ''midnight'' on a Friday night online, after a very blatant and dirty campaign by the network for viewers to "unlock" the premiere with Website/{{Tumblr}} reblogs. Knowing that the goal would easily be reached meant they had to do no promotion for the actual airing on television for it the next week as the diehards had already watched it online.

** Though that sounds like a large number, it's a drop in the bucket compared to its competitors, both in moviemaking and in streaming. Disney, in particular, spends tens of billions of dollars every year in marketing, including Hulu advertising. Netflix actually almost completely avoids offline advertisement in some major metropolitan areas. Ironically, one of those areas is Los Angeles, where its production studios are located and where outdoor advertising is dominated by its competitors--Website/{{Crunchyroll}} has more outdoor advertising in Los Angeles than Netflix. Because most of Netflix's advertising budget is online and social media, it will remain completely unseen and unnoticed by people outside of "the Netflix ecosystem" (that is, people who don't subscribe to Netflix and don't hear about Netflix programming from other people).

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Warner Bros. didn't really know what to do with ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant''; the studio kept putting off scheduling the release date several times to the point that the film's crew were worried that it would never be released. Warner eventually scheduled the opening for August 6, 1999, then gave it sparse advertising and practically no merchandising causing it to be a miserable flop in theaters; but gained a higher profile on home video and became a sleeper hit and cult classic, aided partly by the Creator/CartoonNetwork marathoning the movie on Thanksgiving, thanks to head honcho Ted Turner seeing the movie during a flight and discovering he ''really'' liked it.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'' was originally going to be a straight-to-video film. However, partway through production, Creator/WarnerBros decided to give the film a theatrical release. The film was completed in just 8-months, but Warner Bros. executives didn't give the film any marketing to speak of, so very people knew the film was in theaters even though ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' was extremely popular at the time.
* ''WesternAnimation/RockAndRule'' had no advertising for its theatrical or home video releases. American distributor Creator/{{MGM}} acted like the movie didn't even exist. It went on to become one of the worst {{Box Office Bomb}}s in animated film history as a result, making back only about '''$30,000''' of its $8 million budget.
* The Creator/{{Hasbro}}[=-=]Creator/SunbowEntertainment '80s trifecta of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'', ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie1986'' and ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeTheMovie'' '''all''' fell victim to this.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Delgo}}'' though it became clear this was more a result of NotScreenedForCritics.
* Though [[Franchise/WinnieThePooh a juggernaut of a franchise]] and being very well-reviewed, the ''WesternAnimation/WinnieThePooh2011'' got buried twice by Disney's lack of confidence through limited publicity and being releasing against the second part of ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', effectively [[GenreKiller ending the idea of Disney creating any more traditionally-animated films]]. It was fortunately later VindicatedByVideo.
* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'': The trailer was released only two months before the release, which was in [[DumpMonths January]].
* This may be why ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings'' flopped at the box office [[AcclaimedFlop despite universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike]]. Creator/{{Laika}}'s films normally receive plenty of advertising, but ''Kubo'''s ads received barely any exposure on television and online. The studio's following film, ''WesternAnimation/MissingLink'', suffered a similar fate, and being an ''even bigger'' flop than ''Kubo''.
* ''Film/OsmosisJones'' received an odd case of this in that it DID get a decent marketing budget, but Creator/WarnerBros dumped it almost entirely onto Creator/CartoonNetwork. Hence, commercial breaks on Cartoon Network were flooded with commercials and trailers for ''Osmosis Jones'', but if you didn't watch Cartoon Network, chances are you never knew it existed. Even when it received a TV series, ''WesternAnimation/OzzyAndDrix'', much of its audience was unaware it was a continuation of the movie - and the series in question aired on a ''[[Creator/KidsWB different]]'' network from the one that had advertised the movie.
* Despite getting tons of merchandise and promotion online, ''WesternAnimation/OlafsFrozenAdventure'' was only mentioned in one television commercial for ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', which was rarely run. Because of this, most audiences did not know about the feature and were surprised to see it take up the first 20 minutes of the film.
* ''WesternAnimation/TwiceUponATime'' was given an incredibly limited release, aired once on Creator/{{HBO}} and twice on Creator/CartoonNetwork, then disappeared from the public entirely, despite support from Creator/GeorgeLucas and Henry Selick.
* ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'' suffered this, lost in the shuffle of the Turner/Warner merger.
* Creator/RelativityMedia just left ''WesternAnimation/FreeBirds'' to die without any form of advertisements. No merchandise, no billboards & it didn't even have at kids meal toy tie-in nor a video game based on the movie. Weinstein company did the same exact thing to ''WesternAnimation/{{Leap}}'' 4 years prior. However, both ended up box office successes anyways.
* Creator/STXEntertainment did a large-scale promotion for their US release of ''WesternAnimation/PlaymobilTheMovie'' where most theaters sold every ticket for only $5. However, despite the reduced ticket price, ''Playmobil'' still had one of the worst openings in box office history, with a major factor being the fact that the advertising for it was pretty much non-existent outside of in-theater advertising for said promotion.
* The trailer for ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrolTheMovie'' was released two months before the film's release. In addition, the trailer's online premiere had been delayed twice before the official release. One of the original dates for the trailer's release [[https://people.com/movies/paw-patrol-the-movie-first-look-images-show-new-pups-voiced-by-kim-kardashian-and-more/ was mentioned in this article.]]
* Unlike most Sony movies, ''WesternAnimation/WishDragon'' wasn't advertised months prior to its release, which was only announced two months prior, and the ads didn't start until a few days before the launch.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericaTheMotionPicture'' got no advertising aside from one trailer released three weeks before the film's release.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyANewGeneration'' had a cast trailer released in June 2021, but not a full trailer for the actual movie until August 12.
* ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'' was barely advertised on its original release, and ended up flopping at the box office.
* ''Westernanimation/StrangeWorld'' was noted for paradoxically being a Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon entry opening in over 4000 theaters during a major holiday, and barely promoted at all by the company, with only a couple of trailers and posters at most and very little merchandise. The marketing was so barebones in fact, that many people didn't even know that the film existed at all until the week it came out. The blame was often pinned on the film releasing between two other productions that Disney gave more backing, ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'' and ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater''.
* Creator/StudioGhibli intentionally minimized promotion for ''How Do You Live?'' (retitled ''Anime/TheBoyAndTheHeron'' for the North American release), eschewing trailers, promotional stills, or any other conventional forms of advertising. The only indications that the film both existed and was coming out came from press announcements and a theatrical poster, neither of which gave any indication about the film's contents. According to producer Toshio Suzuki, the lack of advertising was done as a direct contrast with Ghibli's prior promotional campaigns, stating that "Doing the same thing you've done before, over and over, you get tired of it. So we wanted to do something different." Suzuki also mentioned that Creator/HayaoMiyazaki was worried about the lack of promotion, but nonetheless trusted the decision and felt that it was ultimately the best course of action, and it paid off as well, becoming a commercial hit in Japan.
* ''WesternAnimation/RubyGillmanTeenageKraken'' was given very little promotion ahead of release (the first trailer only debuted three months ahead of its June 30 release date), and ultimately resulted in Creator/DreamWorksAnimation's lowest opening weekend to date. The film wound up on digital just 18 days after release.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/BigTrouble'' [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents was delayed due to the events of 9/11]], and then given an untrumpeted release when it became clear that if they waited for 9/11 to blow over, they'd all be dead before they could release it.
* Harvey Weinstein's companies, Creator/MiramaxFilms and Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany, were pretty infamous for this.
* ''Film/TheBoondockSaints''. {{Justified|Trope}}, given that the MoreDakka-filled movie [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents was released shortly after]] the UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} high school massacre.
* An early effort by Creator/SamRaimi and Creator/TheCoenBrothers, ''Crimewave'', a sort of slapstick gangster spoof was met with disastrous results when screened for audiences and was released only in ''five theaters'' across the states. The VHS was long out of print by the time it finally received a DVD release in 2013.
* ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'':
** ''Film/Aquaman2018'' waited five months until release before releasing the very first trailer, thanks to a combination of long post-production cycle and executive upheaval at DC Films. Director Creator/JamesWan himself insisted on waiting until SDCC 2018 to release the first trailer as he wants to make it as faithful to the final movie as possible, especially given how previous trailers for DCEU movies have misled fans on the final product. The result ended up gaining positive reviews from critics and audiences, and the first film in the franchise to make over $1 billion worldwide.
** ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' got hit with this as Creator/WarnerBros Studios's only efforts being merely to retweet the trailers with the heavy lifting being done by parent company AT&T, their streaming service Creator/HBOMax, Creator/ZackSnyder himself and fans on social media. Reasons speculated for this include InterserviceRivalry (AT&T dictating that new releases be shown on HBO Max at the same time as their theatrical runs) to those at Creator/DCFilms who decided to move away from Snyder's vision for the film franchise after ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' trying to ensure it doesn't come back (which gained traction after WB CEO Ann Sarnoff said shortly after its release that there were no plans to pick up on it). By comparison, WB put way more effort into promoting ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', ''Film/MortalKombat2021'' and ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy''. For some reason, WB also kept the "Own it now!" home video trailer unlisted on Youtube, preventing it from reaching a large viewership (though the film still sold well, word of mouth and it being a ''Justice League'' superhero ensemble film greatly helped).
** ''Film/BlueBeetle2023'' received little promotion ahead of release, with only two trailers ahead of release and relatively few TV spots. The film ended up having the second-lowest opening weekend in entire franchise.
* ''Film/DonnieDarko'': Not, for once, because the studio was trying to sabotage the movie, but because between the small budget and the [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents unfortunate timing]] of the release of a movie in which a jet engine falling into a house is a key plot point within two months of 9/11, there was neither the resources nor the will to widely promote the movie no matter how much buzz it had gotten at Sundance.
* The 2008 feature film ''Film/TheMidnightMeatTrain''. Based on the short story by Clive Barker and directed by Japanese cult favourite Ryuhei Kitamura (''Film/GodzillaFinalWars''), the movie is a [[{{Gorn}} complete and utter bloodbath]] with the built-in typical horror movie demographic, and it didn't have a high budget. What happened? The company that was releasing it, Lionsgate, switched management while the film was nearing completion. Rather than continuing his predecessor's work and fulfilling the obligations, the new exec shunted the film into a handful of cheapo dollar theaters, without a whit of advertising. It was ''Kitamura's first American film'', and in interviews, he had indicated that he wanted to switch to making films in America permanently, despite being quite bankable in Japan.
* Averted and played straight with ''Film/ZyzzyxRoad'': It played briefly in a theater to get around a pay scale loophole, inadvertently getting attention as the lowest-grossing film in history. The film was released to DVD internationally later in 2006 as intended, earning over 10,000 times its box office receipts (not that high bar to jump through as the receipt was $30 -- which the director personally refunded). However, it still hasn't been released domestically and hasn't made back its $2,000,000 budget by foreign sales alone.
* The ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' movie. The studio behind it, Gramercy Pictures, put everything into advertising the Pamela Anderson film ''Film/BarbWire'', a Pamela Anderson vehicle in the superhero action genre which, to add insult to injury, didn't sell very many tickets.
* ''Film/MirrorMask'' barely turned a head on its cinema run. Consider the visual style of that film and you'll get some idea how heavily you have to bury it for no-one to notice it. The entire cinema run was basically an afterthought, as the studio was banking from the outset on it making its real money as a cult hit on home video.
* Creator/GeorgeLucas was afraid Twentieth Century Fox would do this to the original ''Franchise/StarWars'' film, a.k.a. ''Film/ANewHope'', so he secured the merchandising rights in the hopes that he could promote the movie if they didn't. 20th Century Fox happily handed them over, wondering [[ItWillNeverCatchOn why on Earth he wanted the worthless merchandising rights]] instead of more money up front. Lucas made a mint in action figures and X-wing fighter toys.
* Tom Laughlin, the director/star of ''Film/BillyJack'', was able to win distribution rights back from the original company when he realized they were doing this. He then started one of the first examples of saturation advertising and made it a hit.
* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'' had only 117 prints made for the ''entire'' US distribution. Gilliam sourly noted at the time that minor arthouse films got 400 prints; the culprit was a regime change at Creator/ColumbiaPictures.
* ''Theatre/{{Thirteen}}'' is the theatrical example of this. It didn't have any television commercials, instead relying on a few print ads and internet videos.
* Creator/JamesGunn suffered this twice in a row.
** Universal hardly promoted ''Film/{{Slither}}'' despite its critical acclaim and later tried to blame the film's failure on Gunn for not making it more accessible.
** It happened again with ''Film/{{Super}}''. After IFC Films spent over a million to buy the rights, they sat on it and only released a trailer four weeks before opening. Other than a few posters, there was almost no marketing on the film and it died in limited release (also some theatres won't play it due to it being unrated, as the director and studio expected an NC-17 rating).[[note]]It eventually got an R rating for its home video release[[/note]] Thankfully, the movie did really well during its simultaneous Video On Demand release, where it was IFC Films' highest-grossing VOD title for a while.
* ''Film/LetMeIn'' got this due to a distributor change less than three months before release (Relativity Media bought original distributor Overture for their distribution outlet). Rather than give an ad campaign given to most wide releases, Relativity spent most of its money promoting the movie it was facing that weekend, ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' (which was co-financed but not distributed by them) while the studio was completely quiet about the film (it wasn't even mentioned on Relativity's website while ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'' was). The film grossed only $12 million in the USA.
* Creator/DimensionFilms, as well as owner Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany, was notorious for doing this, films like ''Film/Venom2005'', ''Texas Rangers'' (which was inexplicably shelved for over a year) and ''Film/DOADeadOrAlive'' were given very limited releases with virtually no advertising whatsoever.
* [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]] was rather infamous for this. Some examples include:
** They barely marketed ''Film/TheBigYear'' (only putting out a trailer a month before opening and having very little television exposure) despite having three big names in the cast (Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/JackBlack and Creator/OwenWilson), an established supporting cast and a director whose last two films grossed over $100 million. Also, the marketing hid the film's entire plot (three men on a year-long birdwatching journey, which was based on a non-fiction book).
** ''Film/{{Tigerland}}'': Zero advertising.
** ''Film/Ravenous1999'': Very little advertising which also mismarketed it as a teen-oriented horror film.
** ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'': Zero advertising (of course, given that it was on the contractual-minimum ''six screens'' nationwide, almost any ads would have been a waste of money).
** Even after the Creator/{{Disney}} buyout, most Fox movies that Disney had to contractually release in theaters were undersold due to Disney prioritizing its tentpole {{Cash Cow Franchise}}s. Costly movies like ''Film/AdAstra'' and ''Film/TheLastDuel'' ended up {{Acclaimed Flop}}s as a result (though in the latter case, the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic didn't help either). There's a fair bet that the ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' [[Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater sequels]] won't suffer from this, however, for [[CashCowFranchise obvious reasons]].
*** In particular, there's the last two Film/XMenFilmSeries releases, no matter if they were reliable moneymakers. ''Film/DarkPhoenix'' already had bad buzz, but with Fox's marketing team being mostly fired in the takeover, it was so underpromoted that awareness for the much lower profile ''Film/Rocketman2019'' was higher, resulting in it becoming a $133 million bomb. And ''Film/TheNewMutants'' didn't release its official trailer until less than three months before its [[TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment long delayed]] spring 2020 release date (and even then the movie got delayed yet again to that summer as a result of the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic closing down movie theatres and messing with movie production and keeping most audiences at home).
*** ''Film/TheEmptyMan'' got even less exposure than even ''The New Mutants'', with its trailer and poster not debuting until ''one week'' before its release.
* Intentionally invoked by Paramount for ''Film/BrainDonors'' to sink the movie after the Zucker brothers left the studio before its release.
* This trope also affected ''The Way'', an indie film by Creator/EmilioEstevez. It was to the point that the director's father/star Creator/MartinSheen went on various talk shows to drum up publicity.
* Paramount did this to ''Not Fade Away'', a drama about rock music from Creator/DavidChase. Released it into a crowded Christmas field (and expanding to 500 theatres two weeks later), there was almost no marketing or publicity done for it and the studio more or less swept it under the rug while heavily promoting long on the shelf fare like ''Film/HanselAndGretelWitchHunters''.
* In contrast to the lengthy but cryptic lead-in to the original ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}'', Paramount waited until two months before release to announce ''Film/TenCloverfieldLane'' with a surprise trailer in front of ''Film/ThirteenHoursTheSecretSoldiersOfBenghazi'', blindsiding film journalism completely. Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, however, and the surprise trailer led to significant hype for the film, which became a notable box office hit.
** Two years later, Creator/{{Netflix}}, which had purchased ''Film/TheCloverfieldParadox'' off of Paramount, one-upped the ''10 Cloverfield Lane'' ad campaign by launching a Super Bowl ad for ''Paradox'' that announced the film would release '''as soon as the game ended'''. This led to the title becoming a ratings hit for the streamer, terrible reviews and audience reception be damned.
* Another Christmas 2012 Paramount release [[http://www.reviewjournal.com/mike-weatherford/less-more-terry-fator-mirage that suffered for this]] was ''Film/CirqueDuSoleilWorldsAway''. Paramount only got it on about 800 screens in North America, screens that were shared with other movies; it managed only ''two showings per day'' at each venue. There was a trailer and a TV spot or two but no other promotional efforts, possibly because Paramount couldn't figure out ''how'' to promote a film that, while produced by Creator/JamesCameron, had no name performers in the cast (it's a compilation of Cirque live show performances linked by an ExcusePlot). As well, Paramount may have been preoccupied not only with another production they opened that particular day, ''Film/JackReacher'', but also with wringing every last drop out of [=DreamWorks'=] ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'' before the holiday season was over, as that film -- aimed at the same family audience, but a far more expensive, heavily-hyped effort -- was underperforming at the box office.
* Disney partially did this with ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted'': The Muppets [[ViralMarketing conquered social media websites by force]] but peculiarly abstained from doing real-life ads. [[http://www.toughpigs.com/muppets-less-wanted/ As a Muppet fan pointed out]], its release period [[DuelingMovies rival]] ''WesternAnimation/MrPeabodyAndSherman'' did the exact opposite with its marketing and proceeded to defeat underperforming Muppets at the box office, showing why you shouldn't put all your eggs in the ViralMarketing basket, especially if you're trying to reach a family audience. (That ''Muppets Most Wanted'' opened up against the CriticProof teen phenomenon ''Film/{{Divergent}}'' AND that Disney had [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier a blockbuster of their own]] to unleash just two weeks later really didn't help.)
* While the failure of ''Film/ReturnToOZ'' is often blamed on NightmareFuel that didn't sit well with the target audience (and not without reason), a lesser-known factor was Michael Eisner taking over as CEO. The film, along with other projects championed by the former regime, got dumped into theaters with little advertising, save for reviews that criticized the darker aspects. While a few high-profile fans, such as Creator/HarlanEllison, encouraged audiences to see it before it vanished, the film flopped as expected, putting an end to the directing career of Walter Murch.
* Terry Jones' version of ''Film/{{The Wind in the Willows|1996}}''. In America, it played on seven screens without advertising, and the rights got dumped to Disney due to Columbia Pictures executives simply having no faith in it (the film's poor box-office in its native UK most likely was a factor).
* ''Film/{{Tomb Raider|2018}}'' was barely promoted (despite that being an established film reboot of the [[Film/LaraCroftTombRaider 2001 film]], and like that being based on [[Franchise/TombRaider a successful game series]] - namely, [[VideoGame/TombRaider2013 a 2013 reinvention]]). Not even any information or details on the production were given. Though as expected, it debuted on opening weekend on March 16 being a financial flop; earning $22 million in second place behind ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'', and was a domestic bomb. This made matters worse given its studio, Creator/WarnerBros, was heavily promoting ''Film/ReadyPlayerOne'' (released two weeks later) more than the ''Tomb Raider'' reboot.
* In an unusual case for a big-budget tentpole release, ''Film/{{Solo}}'', which was a TroubledProduction and fired its directors shortly before photography was scheduled to wrap and was almost entirely reshot, was frequently cited for its complete lack of promotion. Scheduled for a May 25, 2018 release, it wasn't until early February, less than four months before the release date, that Lucasfilm finally put out a trailer and promotional material for the film. For reference, the trailer for the prior ''Star Wars'' film, ''Film/TheLastJedi'', debuted eight months before its release date. The result was the first film in the saga to be considered a financial disappointment, leading to Disney putting any further spinoffs on hold (at least for the time being).
* ''Film/SpaceJamANewLegacy'': The first trailer for the film was released only three months before its July 2021 release date.
* With the 1971 movie ''Film/WakeInFright'', Creator/UnitedArtists did nothing to promote the movie outside one trailer for it. To make matters worse, the film opened in America in a single theater on the east side of New York, on a Sunday night, '''during a blizzard.'''
* Despite rave reviews following its Cannes premiere, Creator/{{Disney}} did very, very little to advertise ''Film/TheStraightStory'', and it only played in about 140 theaters and was quietly released on home video.
* ''Film/{{Below}}'' got delayed for over eight months and was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork deliberately under-advertised by Dimension Films]]; not only did it still not have a trailer or a poster less than two weeks prior to its release, David Twohy had to create the official website himself.
* Creator/{{MGM}} invoked this trope with ''Film/PoltergeistIII'' after the tragic death of Creator/HeatherORourke four months before release, in order to avoid coming off as exploitative.
* ''Film/JungleCruise'' had the misfortune of its first trailer being released right before the COVID-19 pandemic. After that event happened, nothing was heard about it (aside from a release date change) until May 2021, when it was announced that it would be released on Creator/DisneyPlus as a Premier Access title. Instead, Disney decided to focus its marketing on ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' and ''Film/{{Cruella}}''.
* Increasingly becoming the norm with films released during the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic; in the face of frequently shifting release dates and hybrid availability in theaters and digital platforms, studios have begun to hold off on releasing even trailers until 1-3 months in advance, which is similar to the advertising timeframe for television shows. Many titles set for dual premieres on Creator/HBOMax and theaters held off until barely a month was left to go (notably ''Film/ThoseWhoWishMeDead'' and ''Film/TheConjuringTheDevilMadeMeDoIt''), while ''Film/AQuietPlacePartII'' (which ''was'' heavily advertised prior to the pandemic - its original debut was even planned for the exact week where COVID closed theaters worldwide) didn't receive a "Final Trailer" until less than four weeks before release.
* ''Film/{{Infinite}}'' got its first trailer less than two '''weeks''' prior to its debut on Creator/ParamountPlus.
* ''Film/ChaosWalking2021'' got a bit of media buzz when it first went into principal production in 2017, but after it was delayed for reshoots once Lionsgate reportedly declared the original cut to be "unreleasable", the only thing most media outlets talked about was 'what went wrong'; it then got no coverage for over two years before a trailer was finally released in November 2020, by which point a lot of people had forgotten this movie even existed save for the occasional "So when is this thing coming out?" And this was only ''two months'' before its original January 2021 release date until it got shunted to March. Aside from that trailer, a handful of teasers and clips, and a few interviews with the cast and crew the same month it was released, the movie got little advertising at all.
* ''Film/{{Anna}}'' had already suffered delays, but with director Creator/LucBesson caught up in accusations of sexual assault, got released with very little marketing, such as press junkets or screenings for critics.
* ''Film/MadameWeb2024'' had just one major trailer released three months before its release (all prior Film/SonysSpiderManUniverse movies had at least three trailers and more than seven months between the first teaser and theatrical release), and only about two weeks before the movie hit theatres did Sony start releasing smaller ads.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Book advertising in the United States on television since the age of ''Dianetics'' ended is incredibly rare, and always badly done; you can blame works like Kitty Kelley's unauthorized biographies and networks afraid of multi-million dollar libel lawsuits on the current rarity of them. The most publishers can seem to muster is a zoom-in and out of the book cover, a vague plot synopsis written with deep {{Narm}}, a couple of reviews from an author in the same field, and then a drop of "at all booksellers, or as an e-book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble". Only Creator/JamesPatterson seems to put any effort into his book ads, and he has to bankroll them on his own. Thankfully online book ads definitely have more effort put into them, and the publishing industry has put their eggs into the more reliable television interview circuit, where an author can go onto a talk show and sell the book on their own terms.
* Creator/DavidLangford [[https://ansible.uk/writing/ft86.html once said]] that his publishers, unable to decide if one of his books should be marketed as fiction or non-fiction, settled for the compromise position of not marketing it at all. He also wrote [[https://ansible.uk/writing/platens1.html#bookofwar a lengthy piece]] about the vanishing publicity budget for ''War in 2080'', which eventually ran to "a small ad in the back of the'' Gamekeepers' and Poachers' Gazette''".
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* InvisibleAdvertising/Film

* In an odd variant, most fans of WebVideo/{{Guru Larry|AndWez}} were not aware that he was a member of Website/ChannelAwesome until the [=#ChangeTheChannel=] scandal of March-April 2018 drew attention to it, as the site had done nothing to promote him until that point despite Larry joining the site in ''2009''. Nevertheless, he managed to attain a respectable fanbase through Website/YouTube and social media alone. When the scandal struck and sparked a mass exodus of Channel Awesome's contributors, Larry deliberately chose to stay with the site till the end ''specifically'' as a form of protest against the site for not promoting him for so long. For what it's worth, Channel Awesome continued to deal with him exactly as they had done before (perfunctorily uploading his videos to the site but otherwise not promoting or even interacting with him at all) until 2023, ''five years later'', when the site stopped updating. (It was shut down altogether the following year.) This is despite the fact that for those entire five years, with the exception of Creator/BradJones (who is close with the Walkers and ''de facto'' part of their inner circle) he was literally the ''only'' remaining contributor to the site.

* In an odd variant, most fans of WebVideo/{{Guru Larry|AndWez}} were not aware that he was a member of Website/ChannelAwesome until the [=#ChangeTheChannel=] scandal of March-April 2018 drew attention to it, as the site had done nothing to promote him until that point despite Larry joining the site in ''2009''. Nevertheless, he managed to attain a respectable fanbase through Website/YouTube and social media alone. When the scandal struck and sparked a mass exodus of Channel Awesome's contributors, Larry deliberately chose to stay with the site till the end ''specifically'' as a form of protest against the site for not promoting him for so long. For what it's worth, Channel Awesome continued to deal with him exactly as they had done before (perfunctorily uploading his videos to the site but otherwise not promoting or even interacting with him at all) until 2023, ''five years later'', when the site stopped updating. (It was shut down altogether the following year.) This is despite the fact that for those entire five years, with the exception of WebVideo/BradJones (who is close with the Walkers and ''de facto'' part of their inner circle) he was literally the ''only'' remaining contributor to the site.

* In an odd variant, most fans of WebVideo/{{Guru Larry|AndWez}} were not aware that he was a member of Website/ChannelAwesome until the [=#ChangeTheChannel=] scandal of March-April 2018 drew attention to it, as the site had done nothing to promote him until that point despite Larry joining the site in ''2009''. Nevertheless, he managed to attain a respectable fanbase through Website/YouTube and social media alone. When the scandal struck and sparked a mass exodus of Channel Awesome's contributors, Larry deliberately chose to stay with the site till the end ''specifically'' as a form of protest against the site for not promoting him for so long. For what it's worth, Channel Awesome continued to deal with him exactly as they had done before (perfunctorily uploading his videos to the site but otherwise not promoting or even interacting with him at all) until 2023, ''five years later'', when the site stopped updating. (It was shut down altogether the following year.)

* In an odd variant, most fans of WebVideo/{{Guru Larry|AndWez}} were not aware that he was a member of Website/ChannelAwesome until the [=#ChangeTheChannel=] scandal of March-April 2018 drew attention to it, as the site had done nothing to promote him until that point despite Larry joining the site in ''2009''. Nevertheless, he managed to attain a respectable fanbase through Website/YouTube and social media alone. When the scandal struck and sparked a mass exodus of Channel Awesome's contributors, Larry deliberately chose to stay with the site till the end ''specifically'' as a form of protest against the site for not promoting him for so long.

* Tesla Inc. has [[https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/8/22421873/elon-musk-snl-jokes-thud-why never used paid advertising or endorsements]], as CEO Elon Musk prefers to invest into research and development and let its customers advertise its vehicles via word of mouth. He dissolved what little they had of a public relations department in 2020, mainly so he didn't have to deal with PR requests at all. Perhaps following the results with Tesla, Elon Musk has adopted this strategy in general for the businesses that he owns, with zero paid advertisements and instead using word of mouth with his personal statements and announcements as the seed.

* Tesla Inc. has [[https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/8/22421873/elon-musk-snl-jokes-thud-why never used paid advertising or endorsements]], as CEO Elon Musk prefers to invest into research and development and let its customers advertise its vehicles via word of mouth. He dissolved what little they had of a public relations department in 2020, mainly so he didn't have to deal with PR requests at all.

* To promote Pontiac's all-new 2004 model line, GM sent out a mass mailing of fancy booklets titled "Meet the new Pontiacs". Conspicuously absent was any mention of their new captive import from Holden, the new GTO. While GM ignored the GTO, the front drive (and home-grown) G6 was extensively promoted to a similar demographic. The GTO was canceled after the 2006 model year. GM would axe the entire Pontiac division on October 31, 2010. GM tried to import the Holden Commodore again as the Chevrolet SS in 2014, where it [[HistoryRepeats would again run headfirst into this trope]]. Combine this with the silly and confusing name[[note]]"SS" ("super sport") in the past always referred to higher performance trim levels of different cars in the Chevy lineup rather than a separate model, creating a situation similar to what the UsefulNotes/WiiU faced[[/note]], a body that looked way too similar to other Chevrolets already on the lots, and a relatively high sticker price, and [[AcclaimedFlop only around 13,000 cars were sold despite high marks from the automotive press]], and those 13,000 people are about how many knew it existed in the first place. Production of the SS ended when the Commodore itself ceased production along with the rest of Holden in 2017.

* One of the many reasons Nintendo's games don't sell quite as well in the UK, is because Nintendo of Europe's attempts at advertising them are, in a summary, "on their website, in the official magazine and maybe on the Disney Channel if you're lucky". Okay, the most important games ever (think ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', mainstream ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' platformer, or perhaps ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' or even ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' if you're lucky) might get a commercial during a lesser-known TV show, but anything else may as well not be advertised at all in the region. It's even worse in Poland, where there are absolutely no advertisements for Nintendo's games. The only Nintendo advertisement in the country since a long time was a commercial for the Wii, which played way after the console's original launch, and a commercial for the Nintendo 3DS, which was one of the international ads with terrible dubbing. Both commercials received very little air time. As a result, Nintendo made no effort to advertise the UsefulNotes/WiiU, and finding the console at a retail shop is a borderline miracle. Likely as a result of the massive failure of the Wii U and learning from their mistakes, Nintendo has [[AvertedTrope averted this trope]] ''with an absolute vengeance'' with regards to their follow-up console, the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. Their extremely aggressive advertising of the console and its big hit games is one reason why the Switch sold so staggeringly well during its opening months[[note]]The Switch has sold 906,000 units in the US alone during the first 29 days, making it the fastest-selling console in Nintendo's history[[/note]].

** Most ''UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn'' games went without advertising at all in the US, as SEGA of America at this point had dried up most of their funds from their rampant overspending, meaning the marketing budget was cut substantially.
** The ''UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast'' was generally an improvement over the Saturn in terms of advertising in the US, but much like the Genesis, had a tendency to prioritize sports games. As SEGA of America began to lose faith in the console however, commercials came to be few and far between, and very little games got much advertising at all.

* Creator/{{CAVE}}'s UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch ports of ''VideoGame/{{Mushihimesama}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Espgaluda}} II'', and ''VideoGame/DoDonPachi Resurrection'' were prominently featured on a Japanese Nintendo Direct in June 2021 and on Nintendo's Japanese social media accounts, but despite ''Mushihimesama'' and ''Espgaluda II'' getting same-day international releases they did not get any promotion from Nintendo whatsoever overseas. The most promotion the three ports got outside of Japan were on CAVE's Twitter account and on localized trailers on [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy27jNSrxUPYWvX_pFamUdw the YouTube channel]] of Live Wire, the team in charge of the CAVE ports for Switch; it's still something, but will certainly not spread very well to those not already familiar with CAVE.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}}'' series, despite being well-received by critics, barely got any advertising outside of Japan, and the ads that the US ''did'' get involved MisaimedMarketing with print ads like [[https://40.media.tumblr.com/a8650f8713f76665d39e0e8613e04561/tumblr_mp1pij2qwV1s99uvdo1_1280.jpg this one]]. No wonder the series is an AcclaimedFlop.

* Do you remember seeing even a ''single'' advertisement for ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas?'' This is seriously HarsherInHindsight considering Creator/DreamWorksAnimation based its abandonment of classical animation on this film's box office failure, when they themselves sabotaged it so completely.
* ''Westernanimation/StrangeWorld'' was noted for being paradoxically a Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon entry opening in over 4000 theaters during a major holiday, and barely promoted at all by the company, with only a couple of trailers and posters at most and very little merchandise. The marketing was so barebones in fact, that many people didn't even know that the film existed at all until the week it came out. The blame was often pinned on the film releasing between two other productions that Disney gave more backing, ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'' and ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater''.

* ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}}'' (''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''): It's pretty common for stories, fanmade or original, that are posted on Website/{{Wattpad}} to be promoted on other social media such as Website/{{Facebook}} groups by means of book mock-ups, memes, banners, etc. ''Paradoxus'', however, isn't advertised by its authors. Its popularity is all due to "mouth-to-mouth" and the admittedly mediocre Wattpad algorithm. Creator/LilaGaela, a fellow fanfic creator with a greater follower base, recommended Bloom_Farella's works (this fanfic included) in her reviews book since she liked them so much.

** The company started as a DVD-by-mail service but had transitioned most of its business to streaming video by the 2010s. Back when Netflix still operated their DVD-by-mail service, they didn't spend a dime promoting it and never even mentioned its existence on their signup website. For comparison, they spent nearly [[http://www.app.com/story/money/business/2017/01/21/netflix-dvd/96777006/ $1 billion]] promoting their streaming content in 2016.

** The ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' at least got a couple of print ads here and there, but in terms of TV spots, the most it ever got was an offhand mention of the original game in an ad that was far more focused on ''VideoGame/ThunderBlade''.

* While Creator/{{Sega}} is known in North America for their memorable, ruthless and utterly insane ad campaign in the early 90s, they were far more guilty of this than one would expect. SEGA of America typically prioritized three things in their marketing; [[TheProblemWithLicensedGamesLicensed games,]] sports games, and Sonic. This came at the cost of most of their main original titles (particularly the ones from Japan) getting absolutely no advertising whatsoever.

** ''VideoGame/GunstarHeroes'' was doomed to this fate on account of a feud between Mac Senour and the guy in charge of marketing the game.[[note]] Senour did not mention the guy's name.[[/note]] The game received no marketing whatsoever, leaving third party magazines to pick up the slack.

* While Creator/{{Sega}} is known in North America for their memorable, ruthless and utterly insane ad campaign in the early 90s, they were far more guilty of this than one would expect. SEGA of America typically prioritized three things in their marketing; Licensed games, sports games, and Sonic. This came at the cost of most of their main original titles (particularly the ones from Japan) getting absolutely no advertising whatsoever.

** Creator/{{Sega}}'s advertising efforts in North America dwindled significantly around the second half of TheNewTens. Basically, if it's not a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' game, advertising is limited to SEGA's social media page, limiting the attention the game will get substantially.

* Creator/{{Sega}}'s advertising efforts in North America dwindled significantly around the second half of TheNewTens. Basically, if it's not a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' game, advertising is limited to SEGA's social media page, limiting the attention the game will get substantially.

* In November of 2021, Creator/{{Freeform}} discontinued its' ''Kickoff to Christmas'' block in favor of airing their ''Fun Day'' block all month. However, unlike ''Kickoff to Christmas'', this was barely advertised at all on their social media, with the only movies to get promotion being airings of ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'', ''[[Film/TheParentTrap1998 The Parent Trap]]'', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'' and a marathon of ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries'' films, with the rest of the promotion on their social media hyping up ''25 Days Of Christmas''. Adding salt to the wound, most of the movies that made their Freeform premieres that month (most notably ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'') weren't advertised as such, with the exception of ''The Simpsons Movie''.
* The March 2022 episode premieres of ''Series/DonkeyHodie'' were advertised like this, with most episodes not getting advertised until after PBS aired them, with the exception of "A Night Out; Poetry Problem" and "Swoop-A-Rino; Duck Duck's Great Adventure" (likely due to its' use of "You've Got To Do It" from ''Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood''). To make matters worse, the latter was advertised only 10 minutes before it aired on TV.

* This is ''very'' common for games made by smaller game studios. Most games have a publisher who handles the marketing and distribution. Since TheNewTens, digital distribution has become much more widespread and it's become easier to release a game with a smaller publisher or even self-publish. This has however come with a downside - most independent game studios don't have the budget to run commercials on television, buy banner ads, or run advertisements in magazines. Thus, a lot rely mostly via word-of-mouth marketing on [=YouTube=], Twitch, or gaming blogs after their initial Kickstarter. (Assuming they even ''have'' one) And even then, for every grassroots success like ''VideoGame/StardewValley'' or ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'', there are about three or four games like ''VideoGame/ThimbleweedPark'', ''VideoGame/DreamfallChapters'', ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'', and ''VideoGame/YoutubersLife'' that release quietly and at best become a modest success. Even [[SleeperHit sleeper hits]] like ''VideoGame/TheWitcher'' or ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'' are rather uncommon. Steam deserves special mention here - Steam had [[https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/10/16873446/steam-release-dates-2017 over 7600 games released in 2017 alone]], and gets more and more each year. (With [[UpdatedRerelease rereleases]] also counting) This makes it ''very'' hard for smaller games to get noticed.

** Outside of Japan, ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'' had lots of internet ads, but no television or print advertising ''at all''. Even worse is the fact that the internet ads kept emphasizing the fact that it's on the Nintendo eShop, which led people to believe that it's an eShop exclusive title. Because of this, and heavy amounts of promotion on the eShop, it has sold exceptionally better on the eShop than it has in retail. When [=PlatinumGames=] took the reins themselves to publish the [[UpdatedRerelease remaster]] for Switch, PC and [=PS4=], there was barely any promotion for the game following the initial Kickstarter. Though this can be justified by Platinum having little in terms of a marketing budget.