History Main / CensorDecoy

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' got away with many of their adult jokes by using this tactic, according to [[WordOfGod the creators]] in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's [[http://channelawesome.com/nostalgia-critic-animaniacs-tribute-part-2/ Animaniacs Trbute.]] Take UpToEleven with the infamous "fingerprints" bit, which the show's writer admitted was thrown in just to give the censor a laugh but apparently (''somehow'') got through:

* Jim Davis, back in the 80s, once submitted a Garfield comic his syndicate, where Garfield, [[HighOnCatnip after finding a plot of catnip,]] [[WhatDidIDoLastNight ends up waking up in Atlantic City with a Barbie doll.]] He did it as a joke not expecting them to run it as it depicted drugs, gambling, sex [[MurderArsonAndJaywalking and a copyright violation to boot.]] Much to his surprise, they ran it.

A form of GettingCrapPastTheRadar (especially if the over-the-top scene is chosen over the toned-down scene, or if the writers often use the Censor Decoy to get whatever they want past the censors and the censors [[WhatAnIdiot keep falling for it]]). Compare CorrectionBait, where you make a glaringly obvious error to get a complainer off your tail, or to be a {{Troll}}. See also TestingTheEditors, when a creator puts something in the work to make sure their editor is paying attention. Contrast RefugeInAudacity, which often operates on the premise that some offensive content is ''so'' outrageous that any rational person would have to view it as harmless. Compare SurprisinglyLenientCensor for occasions when the censors think the edgy stuff is OK.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'': Scott Adams once submitted a strip featuring a cop firing his gun at some suspects. It didn't pass muster. So he submitted a new version where the panel of the gun actually firing just contained the text "BANG BANG BANG". Still too violent, as the strip still showed a cop holding a gun. So as a joke he did a version that was the same as the first one except the cop fired actual bullets ''from [[DonutMessWithACop a donut]]''. He did this to point out that it was the firing, not the gun itself that was violent, and that therefore the second one should be acceptable. The editors apparently had the opposite opinion, and it was published [[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2005-08-04/ donut and all]].

* Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone
** ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut''
** The two have said that their original cut was rated NC-17. Then they retooled it by taking out the "offensive" stuff and putting in things that "were five times worse". The new cut was rated R. [[http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/09/ps-this-is-my-favorite-memo-ever.html Here]] is a memo written by Matt Stone detailing what he thinks should replace the scenes the Censor Board noted as too far.

* An ''inverted'' version during the development of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. Creator/LaurenFaust figured that Hasbro wouldn't want the monsters to be too scary for a young girls' show, so she submitted drawings of an incredibly goofy-looking manticore and dainty, feminine dragons. Hasbro's response was that ''they weren't scary enough'', and pushed for more menacing creature designs.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' had an inversion in "Mr. Saturday Knight". The original version had a joke about "half and half", which the censors cracked down on. It was replaced with the ''more'' vulgar "Cleveland steamer", which got past because they thought the writers made the term up.

* ''Series/TheWeirdAlShow'' would occasionally try this to get past the insane ExecutiveMeddling the show was put under, only to find that the censors would usually not have any problems with them. This included a clip from Al's "Franchise/JurassicPark" music video where [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney the Dinosaur]] is gruesomely decapitated, and Harvey the hamster crawling out of Al's mouth.
** Some of the writers claim that the network actually left in the decoys ''in favor'' of the stuff it was meant to distract from.

* Possibly used in universe by Bronn in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' when he asks Cersei permission to name his new wife's ChildByRape Tywin after Cersei's deceased father. She unsurprisingly vetoes it, so he "compromises" by naming the child Tyrion after Cersei's brother and his former employer, the implication being that was his goal all along and the first request was to make the second look better by comparison.

** The two have said that their original cut of ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' was rated NC-17, then they retooled it by taking out the "offensive" stuff and putting in things that "were five times worse". The new cut was rated R. [[http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/09/ps-this-is-my-favorite-memo-ever.html Here]] is a memo written by Matt Stone detailing what he thinks should replace the scenes the Censor Board noted as too far.

** Another famous example is Spade calling Wilmer a "gunsel" in ''The Maltese Falcon''. This was, according to ''Series/PerryMason'' creator Earle Stanley Gardner, wholly down to his friend and fellow famous novelist Creator/DashiellHammett and an odd instance of this trope. Both of them wrote for the ''Black Mask'' pulp magazine, whose editor was perhaps a bit too genteel for his post. He would keep rejecting uses of underworld slang as being unfitting for the readership [[note]][[{{Hypocrite}} the same readership that he was perfectly fine with publishing stories containing gangsters performing severe violence upon each other for?]][[/note]]. In one such story, Hammett put a sly test to the editor. Knowing full well what both meant, he included references to "gooseberry lay"[[note]]a hobo/tramp saying meaning clothes unguarded on a line ripe for theft[[/note]] and "gunsel" [[note]]a Yiddish slang word meaning "a young homosexual man kept as an older gay man's lover"[[/note]] into a story. The editor struck "gooseberry lay", but left in "gunsel", assuming it was an odd way of saying "gunman". Due to it being reused in ''The Maltese Falcon'' both book and film, it did take on the latter meaning by osmosis, and it's ''still'' under the radar as at least one online dictionary still defines "gunsel" as a "gun-toting hitman or criminal"[[note]]It was even approved for broadcast in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', a show targeted at ''children''[[/note]].

** Another famous example is Spade calling Wilmer a "gunsel" in ''The Maltese Falcon''. This was, according to ''Series/PerryMason'' creator Earle Stanley Gardner, wholly down to his friend and fellow famous novelist Creator/DashiellHammett and an odd instance of this trope. Both of them wrote for the ''Black Mask'' pulp magazine, whose editor was perhaps a bit too genteel for his post. He would keep rejecting uses of underworld slang as being unfitting for the readership [[note]][[{{Hypocrite}} the same readership that he was perfectly fine with publishing stories containing gangsters performing severe violence upon each other for?]][[/note]]. In one such story, Hammett put a sly test to the editor. Knowing full well what both meant, he included references to "gooseberry lay"[[note]]a hobo/tramp saying meaning clothes unguarded on a line ripe for theft[[/note]] and "gunsel" [[note]]a Yiddish slang word meaning "a young homosexual man kept as an older gay man's lover"[[/note]] into a story. The editor struck "gooseberry lay", but left in "gunsel", assuming it was an odd way of saying "gunman". Due to it being reused in ''The Maltese Falcon'' both book and film, it did take on the latter meaning by osmosis, and it's ''still'' under the radar as at least one online dictionary still defines "gunsel" as a "gun-toting hitman or criminal".

* Creator/DavidFincher pulled off something like this with ''Film/FightClub'' (similarly to Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone with ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut''). A producer ordered him to change the bit from [[Literature/FightClub the book]] in which Marla Singer declares, "I want to have your abortion." Fincher agreed on the condition that he only had to change it once, and the producer took the bait -- but boy did she regret it. The replacement line? "''Oh my god, I haven't been fucked like that since grade school.''" The censor told Finch to change the now-worse line back to the original one, but since [[ExactWords she agreed to only change it once]], it was left in.

** For the episode "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS1E5TheEnchiridion The Enchiridion!]]", the team used ''[[http://cdn2.artofthetitle.com/assets/sm/upload/ar/qv/98/b8/at_title_card_alt.jpg this]]'' as their decoy title card so that [[https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4043/4534952905_6875b855ae_b.jpg this one]] wouldn't look so bad. It didn't work and it ended up with more sunshine, smiles and the knife replaced with a baguette.
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Animaniacs}}'' got away with many of their adult jokes by using this tactic, according to [[WordOfGod the creators]] in WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic's [[http://channelawesome.com/nostalgia-critic-animaniacs-tribute-part-2/ Animaniacs Trbute.]] Take UpToEleven with the infamous "fingerprints" bit, which the show's writer admitted was thrown in just to give the censor a laugh but apparently (''somehow'') got through:

* An unintentional version of this occurred early in ''ComicStrip/BabyBlues.'' The creators had thought of a joke in which dad Daryl asks for milk in his coffee and mom Wanda provides it (offscreen) by squirting her breast milk directly into the cup, accompanied with a shout of "Bullseye!", prompting Daryl to remark he was really going to miss it when she stopped breastfeeding. The comic's creators knew this wouldn't be allowed, but sent it to their editor anyway to give her a laugh. What they didn't realize until it was too late was that their editor wasn't in the office that week and her substitute merely waved the strip on through. Rather predictably, it's one of the most popular strips from the comic.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' had this happen unintentionally as well. Jim Davis submitted a strip where Garfield takes catnip and wakes up the next morning in Atlantic City with a Barbie doll and his editor ''approved'' it. [[DontExplainTheJoke However, most]] ''[[DontExplainTheJoke readers]]'' [[DontExplainTheJoke apparently missed the marijuana/prostitution gag as well, which was probably why Davis felt he had to explain it in his twentieth-anniversary retrospective book in 1998.]]

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'':
** Scott Adams once submitted a strip featuring a cop firing his gun at some suspects. It didn't pass muster. So he submitted a new version where the panel of the gun actually firing just contained the text "BANG BANG BANG". Still too violent, as the strip still showed a cop holding a gun. So as a joke he did a version that was the same as the first one except the cop fired actual bullets ''from [[DonutMessWithACop a donut]]''. He did this to point out that it was the firing, not the gun itself that was violent, and that therefore the second one should be acceptable. The editors apparently had the opposite opinion, and it was published [[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2005-08-04/ donut and all]].
** An in-universe example had Wally intentionally turn in a document in the wrong font. The idea being that the boss always finds something stupid to change, so he made something that was obvious but easy to change.

* According to Creator/HironobuSakaguchi, one of the scenario writers for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Motomu Toriyama, kept writing 'tricky little events that kept on being edited', writing scenes full of extreme content that would get toned down to the edgy scenes he wanted. He wrote the [[RedLightDistrict Wall Market]] arc, which is still by a long way the [[HotterAndSexier most raunchy]] subplot ever to be in a ''Final Fantasy'' game, but his first draft was far more detailed, about three times as long and involved accidental paedophilia (it's possible for Cloud to obtain Marlene's underwear, although both he and the person who gave them to him are under the impression that they're Tifa's) amongst other highly inappropriate things. When the other team members saw the scene, they all said 'no', and so instead we get Cloud having sex with a male prostitute in a hot tub. [[https://tcrf.net/Final_Fantasy_VII/Unused_Text#Honey_Bee_Inn The original version]] is still available on the disc in DummiedOut form, though the script was garbled and was only decoded over a decade later.

* A really funny and non-offensive variation in ''VideoGame/BattleChess'' by the artist who drew the Queen. He knew he was working with meddlesome executives, and he also knew exactly what he wanted the Queen to look like, how she should move, etc. So he drew her animations exactly like he wanted... And then added a pet duck that made no sense in the context. The executive told him it looked great except the duck had to go, and he ended up with exactly the original design.

* The original swimsuits worn by Azula and Ty Lee in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'''s obligatory [[BeachEpisode beach episode]] were a lot more revealing. When the censors shot down the original designs. The new designs, which were still risqué, but not as much, were chosen instead.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': The writers use the scene of Fry, Leela, and Amy naked in the same steam room from "[[Recap/FuturamaS2E9WhyMustIBeACrustaceanInLove Why Must I Be A Crustacean in Love]]" as an example of how the censors let them get away with that scene in comparison to what's being put on the chopping block. Usually, this argument will result in whatever scene the censors want removed to be left in.

* According to Creator/HironobuSakaguchi, one of the scenario writers for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', Motomu Toriyama, kept writing 'tricky little events that kept on being edited', writing scenes full of extreme content that would get toned down to the [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar edgy]] scenes he wanted. He wrote the [[RedLightDistrict Wall Market]] arc, which is still by a long way the [[HotterAndSexier most raunchy]] subplot ever to be in a ''Final Fantasy'' game, but his first draft was far more detailed, about three times as long and involved accidental paedophilia (it's possible for Cloud to obtain Marlene's underwear, although both he and the person who gave them to him are under the impression that they're Tifa's) amongst other highly inappropriate things. When the other team members saw the scene, they all said 'no', and so instead we get Cloud having sex with a male prostitute in a hot tub. [[https://tcrf.net/Final_Fantasy_VII/Unused_Text#Honey_Bee_Inn The original version]] is still available on the disc in DummiedOut form, though the script was garbled and was only decoded over a decade later.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' had an inversion in "Mr. Saturday Knight". The original version had a joke about "half and half", which the censors cracked down on. It was replaced with the ''more'' vulgar "Cleveland steamer", which [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar got past because they thought the writers made the term up]].

[[caption-width-right:330:On the left: what they [[ExecutiveMeddling couldn't show on TV]]. On the right: [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar what they got away with instead.]]]]

That's how the Censor Decoy should work in theory -- it's something so offensive that it's the only thing the censors are supposed to pay attention to. Creators write extra lines, produce extra scenes, even design extra characters fully expecting all this work to die in the editing room. Hopefully this sacrifice ensures the survival of the questionable parts the creators ''really'' wanted to include. If the gamble succeeds, we have to take the word of the creators that this is actually going on. The entire point of the decoy is so that we never have to see it.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': The writers use the scene of Fry, Leela, and Amy naked in the same steam room from "Why Must I Be A Crustacean in Love" as an example of how the censors let them get away with that scene in comparison to what's being put on the chopping block. Usually, this argument will result in whatever scene the censors want removed to be left in.

* On a meta level, this is one of the ways Yiddish words sneaked into American English. Faced with censorship boards at the studio and local level that would object to certain terminology and phrases in "standard" English, the filmmakers (many were Jewish), would sneak objectionable insults and phrases in via YiddishAsASecondLanguage. The trick only worked until the words caught on, though. Creator/MelBrooks movies all but run on this trope. Another famous example is Spade calling Wilmer a "gunsel" in ''The Maltese Falcon''. Censors at the time assumed it was an odd way of saying gunman, but in Yiddish slang, it means "a young homosexual man kept as an older gay man's lover". It's ''still'' under the radar as at least one online dictionary still defines "gunsel" as a "gun-toting hitman or criminal".

* In ''WesternAnimation/YinYangYo'', co-writer Steve Marmel has stated that in one instance where Yang gets a wedgie, the original quote was, "Oww! My boy parts!" That was turned down by Disney and replaced by "Oww! My undercarriage!"

* On a meta level, this is one of the ways Yiddish words sneaked into American English. Faced with censorship boards at the studio and local level that would object to certain terminology and phrases in "standard" English, the filmmakers (many were Jewish), would sneak objectionable insults and phrases in via YiddishAsASecondLanguage. The trick only worked until the words caught on, though. Creator/MelBrooks movies all but run on this trope. Another famous example is Spade calling Wilmer a "gunsel" in ''The Maltese Falcon''. Censors at the time assumed it was an odd way of saying gunman, but in Yiddish slang it means a young man kept by an elder one. It's ''still'' under the radar as at least one online dictionary defines the word as "criminal with a gun."

** Scott Adams once submitted a strip featuring a cop firing his gun at some suspects. It didn't pass muster. So he submitted a new version where the panel of the gun actually firing just contained the text "BANG BANG BANG". Still too violent, as the strip still showed a cop holding a gun. So as a joke he did a version that was the same as the first one except the cop fired actual bullets ''from [[DonutMessWithACop a donut]]''. He did this to point out that it was the firing, not the gun itself that was violent, and that therefore the second one should be acceptable. Joke's on him, it was published [[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2005-08-04/ donut and all]].

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' creator Scott Adams once submitted a strip featuring a cop firing his gun at some suspects. It didn't pass muster. So he submitted a new version where the panel of the gun actually firing just contained the text "BANG BANG BANG". Still too violent, as the strip still showed a cop holding a gun. So as a joke he did a version that was the same as the first one except the cop fired actual bullets ''from a donut''. He did this to point out that it was the firing, not the gun itself that was violent, and that therefore the second one should be acceptable. Joke's on him, it was published [[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2005-08-04/ donut and all]]. An in-universe example had Wally intentionally turn in a document in the wrong font. The idea being that the boss always finds something stupid to change, so he made something that was obvious but easy to change.

* In ''Film/{{Casino}}'', the infamous HeadInAVise scene was added to draw the censor's attention away from the record breaking use of profanity and the other scenes of violence. Apparently, this didn't work, as both the vice scene and the other questionable scenes were left intact. Scorcese tried a similar tactic in ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet''. This time, only an hour's worth of footage got the ax, though that may have been because of time constraints, not content.

Some wily filmmakers realize this and make a simple deduction. If we assume that the censors are going to cut out X amount of material no matter what's in the product, then the censors can be distracted by CrossingTheLineTwice, heck, maybe three times. Because that DoubleEntendre about pencils looks pretty darn innocent compared to a ten-minute action-sequence involving [[Film/{{Dogma}} a demon made of crap.]]

A form of GettingCrapPastTheRadar (especially if the over-the-top scene is chosen over the toned-down scene, or if the writers often use the Censor Decoy to get whatever they want past the censors and the censors [[WhatAnIdiot keep falling for it]]). Compare CorrectionBait, where you make a glaringly obvious error to get a complainer off your tail, or to be a {{Troll}}. Contrast RefugeInAudacity, which often operates on the premise that some offensive content is ''so'' outrageous that any rational person would have to view it as harmless. Compare SurprisinglyLenientCensor for occasions when the censors think the edgy stuff is OK.

* ''{{ComicStrip/Dilbert}}'' creator Scott Adams once submitted a strip featuring a cop firing his gun at some suspects. It didn't pass muster. So he submitted a new version where the panel of the gun actually firing just contained the text "BANG BANG BANG". Still too violent, as the strip still showed a cop holding a gun. So as a joke he did a version that was the same as the first one except the cop fired actual bullets ''from a donut''. He did this to point out that it was the firing, not the gun itself that was violent, and that therefore the second one should be acceptable. Joke's on him, it was published [[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2005-08-04/ donut and all]]. An in-universe example had Wally intentionally turn in a document in the wrong font. The idea being that the boss always finds something stupid to change, so he made something that was obvious but easy to change.

* ''Creator/DonRosa'' filled his comics with tiny Hidden Mickeys and other extra things like that to distract the censors from cutting D.U.C.K.s and actual plot points.

* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'' contains a scene in which Reno and New Jersey, while traversing the Banzai compound, pass a piece of industrial [[CowTools equipment with a watermelon]] lodged in it. New Jersey asks "why is there a watermelon there?" to which Reno replies "I'll tell you later." (He never does.) This meaningless scene is an un-detected decoy that the writers and directors put in to check whether the frustrated executives, who had been trying in vain to steer the film away from the far-silly end of the SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness, were still paying attention. When the scene raised no objections, the creators knew the censors had ''given up'' and they were free to be as goofy as they pleased.

* Creator/BenAffleck and Creator/MattDamon used an interesting variant in ''Film/GoodWillHunting'', according to producer [[Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany Harvey Weinstein]]. The original script pitched to studio executives included an out-of-nowhere homoerotic SexScene between two characters who were never identified as gay. When Weinstein questioned why it was there, Affleck and Damon answered:
--> "That’s the scene that we wrote to find out whether guys in your job actually read the script, because every studio executive we went to ... no one brought that scene up, or maybe people thought it was a mistake or maybe nobody read it themselves... You’re the only guy that brought it up. You get the movie."
** It's a case of creators recognizing the value of executives and using a decoy to test whether they were paying attention. Affleck and Damon did not want a star-struck producer to inadvertently give them ProtectionFromEditors.