I don't think so - it's a specific type of Covers Always Lie where a novel, or occasionally other type of work, gets a cover that is Hotter and Sexier (and frequently bordering on NSFW) than the actual work. Seems fairly objective to me.
:(
Bump. Hollering for a clock on this one.
First key to interpreting a work: Things mean things.
Hi
Clock's set.
Zzzzzzzzzz
Looking at the trope page, I see no reason to make it subjective. There's also no reason given in the OP.
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Well, from the page is says "This trope is about covers that would cause embarrassment if someone sees you with them." Doesn't this imply that this page about a reaction to the cover?
bump, I'm not understanding how "covers that would cause embarrassment if someone sees you with them" isn't subjective.
edited 15th Sep '11 1:40:41 PM by captainpat
World's Toughest Milkman
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
It's an observation, not a definition. Whether or not you would actually be embarrassed to be seen with it has no bearing on whether it's blatantly, misleadingly sexualized. We could change "would" to "could" to clear that point up.
I've reworded the intro to describe likely content. Is the objectivity more clear now?
Alright so what makes this trope different from Sexy Packaging?
edited 15th Sep '11 3:14:49 PM by captainpat
Sexy Packaging is the super trope. It includes magazine covers and cases where the cover perfectly suits the content.
World's Toughest Milkman
It's called a supertrope. Sexy Packaging is much broader, and includes cases where the packaging is reasonably accurate or not misleading, and it applies to more than just covers for works.
Most of the example in this trope fit the context of the work.
Such as?
The trope picture for one thing. That character in the cover for that book is naked the first time she meets the protagonist. The anime and manga section has examples of character's wearing the same scantly clad outfits they wear within the work.
edited 15th Sep '11 3:31:02 PM by captainpat
I don't know about the anime examples (feel free to delete the wrong ones), but as for the image, it's there because the book is about economics, not porn. If the book is in fact porn, then it's not an example.
And porn does not equal nudity.
A lot of the examples do look off. The cover to the original Mega Man is on there for being badly-drawn, for example.
Infinite Tree: an experimental story
No, but that's the sort of cover that pornographic books often use. If a non-porn book uses it, it's contemptible.
If it's just "badly drawn," it should go.
edited 15th Sep '11 3:54:10 PM by Routerie
I'm pretty sure that nude covers for pornagraphy would be much more explicit than what being shown in that picture. Also it still fits the context for that work, regardless of what the book is about that character is nude within the work. If I'm understanding this trope correctly it's supposed to be Sexy Packaging meets Covers Always Lie. Is that correct?
edited 15th Sep '11 3:57:55 PM by captainpat
Without admitting ever having read one myself, I'll still have to say that porn books (books, with just text) generally have a sexually suggestive but not explicit cover photo.
Even if a book contains a nude character at some point, that doesn't make a sexual cover always appropriate. The Thorn Birds includes sex, including explicit sex scenes, but it has plenty more too. Its cover normally depicts a ranch, or birds. If it shows a scantily-clad woman instead (even if the text itself contains nude women, having sex), it would be a contemptible cover.
Yes, this is Sexy Packaging plus Covers Always Lie, but I think there can be something there besides sex too. Violence, swordplay. Anything lurid really.
That girl within that cover is nude for most of that book.
Zzzzzzzzzz
The page needs to get a good example scrubbing. But "The cover is lurid when the work isn't" isn't really subjective.
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
That's a discussion for Image Pickin'. I'll just say that the cover seems to sell the book on plain sex. Whoever picked the image claims the book itself is about economics.
That book goes very deep into economics, I'm just saying that the cover works within the context of work since that character is nude for the majority of that book. I'll make an Image pickin thread later.
Ok, so what's a good example of this trope? Just to get a standard for what this trope is supposed to be.
edited 15th Sep '11 5:17:25 PM by captainpat
Should we make Contemptible Cover a subjective trope?