History Main / FlashMobCoverUp

* Creator/TimBurton's ''{{Film/Batman}}'': Joker appears among some mimes in order to perform a murder with a deadly quill pen, and he arranges a parade with balloons full of poisonous Smilex gas.
** This became [[OnceAnEpisode a recurring theme]] in every Burton/Schumacher Bat-film afterward, from the "giant Christmas package" publicity stunt (''BatmanReturns'') to the high-tech company party at which Batman's true identity is electronically deduced (''BatmanForever'') to Poison Ivy and Bane dressing in gorilla costumes to infiltrate a tropical-themed party (''BatmanAndRobin''). [[GenreBlind You'd think Gothamites would learn to shy away from public events entirely at some point.]]

* The remake of ''TheThomasCrownAffair'' with PierceBrosnan has Thomas Crown, inspired by the painting The Son of Man, dressed in suit and Bowler hat escaping by arranging several other men in the same outfit appearing.

* Subverted in ''Film/QuickChange''. A man dressed as a clown robs a bank and takes hostages. The police chief thinks the man will dress some of the hostages as clowns and then try to escape in the middle of them, making it impossible for the police to tell which one is him. Instead he changes into civilian clothes and escapes by pretending to be one of the hostages.

** This became [[OnceAnEpisode a recurring theme]] in every Burton/Schumacher Bat-film afterward, from the "giant Christmas package" publicity stunt (''BatmanReturns'') to the high-tech company party at which Batman's true identity is electronically deduced in ''BatmanForever'' to Poison Ivy and Bane dressing in gorilla costumes to infiltrate a tropical-themed party in ''BatmanAndRobin''.

This trope describes situations where a character sets up a flash mob or similar situation for the express purpose of obscuring or otherwise facilitating a separate, secret purposes. This is often, though not exclusively, for criminal reasons.

** This became [[OnceAnEpisode a recurring theme]] in every Burton/Schumacher Bat-film afterward, from the "giant Christmas package" publicity stunt (''BatmanReturns'') to the "get my own company party robbed as a cover for cracking Batman's true identity" trick in ''BatmanForever'' to Poison Ivy and Bane dressing in gorilla costumes to infiltrate a tropical-themed party.

* TimBurton's ''{{Film/Batman}}'': Joker appears among some mimes in order to perform a murder with a deadly quill pen, and he arranges a parade with balloons full of poisonous Smilex gas.

* In one episode of ''{{Castle}},'' a kidnapper requires a ransom payment in a specific make of backpack. When the drop is made, the cops take down a man with that style of backpack, only to find that this trope was in effect.

* Inverted in the musical ''Oliver!'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

* Two examples from ''{{Leverage}}:''

* ''LittleBrother'', by Cory Doctorow, provides an example of this; the Xnet was used to set up an event based on a vampire LARP [[spoiler:in order to provide cover for Marcus and Ange to meet up with a DHS mole]].

* Averted in the musical ''Oliver!'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

* Averted in the musical ''{{Oliver!}}'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

* Averted in the musical ''Theater/Oliver!'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

[[AC:Theater}}
* Averted in the musical ''{{Theater/Oliver!}}'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

* Averted in the musical ''{{Theater/Oliver!}}'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

* Averted in the musical ''{{Film/Oliver!}}'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

* Averted in the musical ''{{Film/Oliver}}'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

* Averted in the musical ''{{Film/Oliver!}}'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

* Averted in the musical ''{{Oliver!}}'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

* Averted in the musical ''Oliver!'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

* Averted in the musical ''Oliver'' in that it's done to ''prevent'' a crime. Barmaid Nancy starts giving out beer and getting her customers to sing a rather lively bawdy ballad, in order to let Oliver, who'd been kidnapped by the villainous Sikes, escape unnoticed. It doesn't fool Sikes' dog, however.

[[AC:Literature]]
* ''LittleBrother'', by Cory Doctorow, provides an example of this; the Xnet was used to set up an event based on a vampire LARP [[spoiler:in order to provide cover for Marcus and Ange to meet up with a DHS mole]].

* TimBurton's ''{{Film/Batman}''}: Joker appears among some mimes in order to perform a murder with a deadly quill pen, and he arranges a parade with balloons full of poisonous Smilex gas.

* TimBurton's {{Film/Batman}}: Joker appears among some mimes in order to perform a murder with a deadly quill pen, and he arranges a parade with balloons full of poisonous Smilex gas.
* Subverted in Film/QuickChange. A man dressed as a clown robs a bank and takes hostages. The police chief thinks the man will dress some of the hostages as clowns and then try to escape in the middle of them, making it impossible for the police to tell which one is him. Instead he changes into civilian clothes and escapes by pretending to be one of the hostages.
* The remake of TheThomasCrownAffair with PierceBrosnan has Thomas Crown, inspired by the painting The Son of Man, dressed in suit and Bowler hat escaping by arranging several other men in the same outfit appearing.

* In one episode of {{Castle}}, a kidnapper requires a ransom payment in a specific make of backpack. When the drop is made, the cops take down a man with that style of backpack, only to find that this trope was in effect.
* Subverted in an episode of CSIMiami. It appears a Flash Mob was used as a cover for a murder (or to dump the body), however it turns out someone who didn't want to report the body (because they didn't want to implicate a friend) but didn't want to just leave it there arranged the flash mob so someone would find it.
* An episode of CSINewYork, however, played it straight: in ''"To What End?",'' a killer who commits a murder while dressed as a clown covers his escape by placing an ad on the internet calling for people to show up on a particular street at a particular time.
* One of the creatures in {{Grimm}} formed flash mobs via text and Twitter to cover up a series of murders committed via bee-sting overdose.
* The season one finale of {{Leverage}} has the team handing out copies of the "little naked dude" statues they're [[spoiler:allegedly]] trying to steal in order to throw off Sterling and his men.

* Episode "18-5-4" of TheMentalist possesses a similar plot: the killer places an audition notice for clowns who must arrive in full costume, then commits the murder while dressed as a clown. Bonus Points: the victim had a fear of clowns.
* In the NUMB3RS episode Animal Rites, the villain organized a flashmob ahead of time to distract the authorities at a key moment.

* Subverted in Film/QuickChange. A man dressed as a clown robs a bank and takes hostages. The police chief thinks the man will dress some of the hostages as clowns and then try to escape in the middle of them, making it impossible for the police to tell which one is him. Instead he changes into civilian clothes and escapes by pretending to be one of the hostages.

* In the NUMB3RS episode Animal Rites, the villain organized a flashmob ahead of time to distract the authorities at a key moment.