History Main / UnfortunateItemSwap

* [[PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo Two meals or drinks]] –- one of which has been [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink poisoned or tampered with]]

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-523 SCP-523]], "The Most Unhelpful Object on Earth", is a mysterious artifact that disguises itself as a random object, only to turn into something dangerous when anyone tries to use it. For example, it once disguised itself as a pitcher of water, only to turn into a pitcher of ''gasoline'' when someone tried to douse a fire with it.

* In one old ''WesternAnimation/MagillaGorilla'' cartoon, there was a BlackHumor joke where Mr. Peebles was so depress, he tried to kill himself with his revolver. (Seriously!) Fortunately for him, it had somehow been switched with Magilla's water pistol, and squirting himself in the face made him come to his senses. ''Unfortunately'', he wondered why that happened, and when Magilla looked in his toy chest, he found that he had the real gun. (Which naturally went off; he missed, but ''really'' made Peebles mad.)

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Robin gets Lily a vibrator for her wedding shower before seeing that the attendees are Lily's immediate family, mostly elderly women. Naturally, there's another gift with identical wrapping, leading viewers to expect an accidental switcheroo, but in fact Robin ''deliberately'' swaps the tags, then confesses afterward.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': ComicBook/BettyRoss got a haircut and dye job from Rick Jones' girlfriend Marlo once, but they were both drunk at the time, so Marlo inadvertently used Janitor-in-a-drum on Betty's hair, causing Betty's hair to turn green. When Betty sobered up, she panicked, because she thought it was a sign she was mutating into [[SuperpoweredEvilSide the Harpy]] again, before Marlo realized her mistake, and fixed it to make Betty a blonde.

* ''Film/{{Frantic}}''. While on a trip to Paris, Creator/HarrisonFord's character picks up the wrong suitcase at the airport and are mistaken for the next link in a smuggling ring.

* This happened in the BackStory of ''The Big Kill'' by Creator/MickeySpillane. A mob boss gathered blackmail information against his [[TheStarscream ambitious underlings]] that would be mailed to the police if anything happened to him. They kill him anyway because they have a DirtyCop ready to intercept the letter, but the envelope just held a fan letter to a WhiteDwarfStarlett, who received the blackmail information instead and demanded to be paid off in return for her silence.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Lodger", the Doctor, in a hurry, accidentally grabs an electric toothbrush instead of his sonic screwdriver.

* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': ComicBook/BettyRoss got a haircut and dye job from Rick Jones' girlfriend Marlo once, but they were both drunk at the time, so Marlo inadvertently used Janitor-in-a-drum on Betty's hair, causing Betty's hair to [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair turn green]]. When Betty sobered up, she panicked, because she thought it was a sign she was mutating into [[SuperpoweredEvilSide the Harpy]] again, before Marlo realized her mistake, and fixed it to make Betty a blonde.

* The origin of Bouncing Boy from the ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' - he mistook a bottle of experimental SuperSerum (which he was supposed to be delivering when he got distracted) for the bottle of soda pop he'd just bought.

* Happens frequently in ''DonaldDuck'' [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse stories]]; usually involves a gift meant for Daisy.

* In the ''DonaldDuck'' cartoon "Chef Donald", Don accidentally puts rubber cement in a waffle mix instead of baking powder. The resulting mixture is too rubbery to stir, no matter how much Donald tries.

Thanks to the LawOfConservationOfDetail, this trope is often set up so obviously that GenreSavvy viewers [[TropeTelegraphing can see it coming from miles away]]. In many works, the mere existence of two objects which can be easily confused is a [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Gun]] with the safety off.

Bob has two (rarely more) different items, which look similar on the outside; however, in reality they are vastly different, and meant for different people and/or situations. Of course, RuleOfFunny – or in rare examples, RuleOfDrama – dictates that he ''must'' get them mixed up, with disastrous results.

* Two meals or drinks –- one of which has been [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink poisoned or tampered with]]

A common gag is for Bob to realise that the item he is holding, which he believed to be Item X, is actually Item Y: [[OhCrap 'Oh no! Then the thing I sent to Alice was...']] Cut to Alice receiving Item X and being surprised or angry.

Thanks to the LawOfConservationOfDetail, this trope is often set up so obviously that GenreSavvy viewers [[TropeTelegraphing can see it coming from miles away]]; in many works, the mere existence of two objects which can be easily confused is a [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Gun]] with the safety off.

Note that in order to fit this trope, the mix-up has to be ''accidental'' – if it happens because of misdirection (another character intentionally tricks Bob into this) or ignorance (Bob genuinely isn't aware of the difference between the two items), it's not this trope.

Overlaps with ScriptSwap and BlindMistake. OhWaitThisIsMyGroceryList is a subtrope. Compare SatchelSwitcheroo, which is about two or more characters accidentally and unknowingly exchanging items. Also see PoisonedChaliceSwitcheroo. For intentional swaps, see ReplacedWithReplica.

* In a 1997 ''Garfield'' comic, Jon wonders why Garfield is trying to change the channel with a candy bar. Garfield immediately burps, realizing that he just ate the TV remote.

* An ''Franchise/ArchieComics'' has Archie, jealous of a man who impressed Veronica with photos of himself abroad, fake a bunch of pictures hoping to impress Veronia. Having used only part of the roll of film on "serious" fake pictures, he accidentally sends Veronica an envelope of "goofy" pictures he made for fun. Veronica however, having recently discovered the man faked his pictures, loves the goofy photos and appreciates that she can trust Archie to only use the art of photo manipulation to make her smile rather than to deceive her.

'''Yzma''': This isn't poison! This is extract of...LLAMA!
-->'''Kronk:''' You know, in my defense, your poisons all look alike. You might want to think about relabeling some of them.

* In the french movie ''Film/{{Subway}}'', the two halves of the plot are each kickstarted when two identical recordings - a bootleg opera performance, and two criminals' confession - are mixed up.

* A biology professor announces a pop quiz: students will be forced to identify species of birds from their droppings. "Our first specimen—" He reaches into a brown paper bag and pulls out a ham sandwich. He frowns and dumps out the bag, revealing an apple and bag of chips. "My word," he blurts out, "What did I eat for lunch?"

* After Robbie breaks a vase in ''Literature/{{Atonement}}'', he writes a apology letter to his friend Cecila (whose family owns the vase), but accedentally fills it with a declaration of love and [[CountryMatters some things he shouldn't have.]] He writes a replacement letter, and gives it to Cecila's sister Briony to give to his love However, he gives her the wrong one by mistake, and [[spoiler: Briony reads it, thinking that he wants to assault Cecila. This leads to things going wrong. [[FalseRapeAccusation Very]], ''[[MiscarriageOfJustice very]]'' [[TearJerker wrong.]]]]

* In ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', Kronk mistakes the bottle of extract of llama for the bottle of poison due to faulty labeling.

* In ''{{Discworld/Snuff}}'', this is lampshaded without being used. Sam Vimes has two similar boxes -- one snuffbox and one container of goblin snot. He muses on the possibility of mixing them up, but it doesn't happen.

* Audio or video recording media.
* Letters in closed envelopes.
* Two meals or drinks – one [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink poisoned or otherwise tampered with]], the other perfectly normal.
* A real weapon and a fake one.

* On ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', a pornographic video gets switched with a ''Film/LordOfTheRings'' tape. When Butters accidentally watches the porn video, his confusion translates into acting like Gollum. When Token Black watches it, he is weirded out and decides ScrewThisImOutOfHere.

-->'''Kronk:''' ''(To Yzma)'' You know, in my defense, your poisons all look alike. You might want to think about relabeling some of them.