Basic Trope: A character tries to abstain from or avoid something, but is constantly tempted.
- Straight: Alice tries to give up drinking. However, Bob tries to offer her a beer, then she drives off only to be stuck in traffic near a liquor shop, a Charlie's Beer truck passing by, and a billboard advertising wine. At home, all of her books, plus the TV, newspaper, radio, and Internet all have references to alcohol in them.
- Exaggerated: As soon as Alice utters the phrase, "I'm no longer going to drink alcohol," everyone she knows instantly becomes an alcoholic, she sees liquor shops and bars everywhere she goes, and every channel on her TV suddenly shows people drinking alcohol.
- Downplayed: Alice only finds one or two references to drinking when she tries to give it up but they do annoy her.
- Justified:
- Alice never told Bob about her giving up drinking so he thought he was being nice by offering her a drink.
- Alice was just unlucky and noticing it more with the other drinking references.
- Charlie's Beer has its main brewery close by, so it's common to see one of their trucks drive by at least six times per hour.
- Inverted:
- As soon as Alice decides to give up drinking, Bob (whom she never told and who often offers beer to other people) runs out of beer, the liquor shop closes, the Charlie's Beet truck driver is seen dumping the beer cans inside into the trash, the billboard advertising wine is taken down and there is nothing related to drinking at all on the TV, newspaper, Internet, and radio.
- Alice, a person who never drinks alcohol, decides to take up drinking alcohol. However, her friend Bob begins to protest against being an alcoholic at a bar, her TV shows a very creepy alcohol PSA, and she gets stuck in a traffic jam with a billboard saying not to drink alcohol.
- Alice decides to take up drinking alcohol. Bob offers her a beer, and she gets stuck in traffic near a liquor shop and a billboard advertising wine. At home, all of her books, plus the TV, newspaper, radio, and Internet all have references to alcohol in them.
- As soon as Alice decides to give up drinking, her friend Bob begins to protest against being an alcoholic at a bar, her TV shows a very creepy alcohol PSA, and she gets stuck in a traffic jam with a billboard saying not to drink alcohol.
- Subverted: Bob tries to offer Alice a beer but that was the only trouble she had with giving up drinking in regards to finding references to alcohol.
- Double Subverted: She finds a bunch of annoying alcohol references later, though.
- Parodied: The billboard reads "BIG ANNOYING SIGN WITH A PICTURE OF A WINE GLASS JUST TO BOTHER PEOPLE TRYING TO GIVE UP DRINKING"
- Zig-Zagged: In addition to Alice finding references to drinking on her quest to give up alcohol, she also finds a few references to not drinking.
- Averted:
- Alice never tries to give up drinking.
- Alice gives up drinking without being bothered by alcohol references.
- Enforced:
- The creators wanted to make Alice the Chew Toy or The Woobie.
- Cringe Comedy
- The executives demanded An Aesop about not giving in to temptation.
- The creators needed to have Alice give up drinking without making the work seem preachy.
- Lampshaded: "Oh look, another beer ad. What a twist."
- Invoked: Bob is The Bully and tries to show Alice alcohol in order to prevent her giving up.
- Exploited: The owners of the liquor store sell Alice a drink from her being tempted by seeing them.
- Defied: Bob makes sure to keep all references to drinking away from Alice until she is fine with not drinking.
- Discussed: "I hope no alcoholic references show up when I'm trying not to drink alcohol!"
- Conversed: "Why do these characters always find references to what they're trying to avoid?"
- Implied: Alice tosses a newspaper away angrily after seeing an ad for alcohol.
- Decontructed: Alice gives into temptation and fails to give up drinking.
- Reconstructed: When she tells Bob about how she's giving up drinking, he helps her stick to her guns.
- Played for Laughs: People are chasing Alice down with bottles chanting "CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!"
- Played for Drama: Alice is trying to give up alcohol because she's pregnant and believes One Drink Will Kill the Baby and those references push her to almost drinking but not quite for the baby's sake.
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