Basic Trope: Drug dealers insist that people try their drugs, even if they're clearly not interested.
- Straight: .
- Dave threatens some teenagers in Suburbville at knifepoint to take his drugs.
- Dave straight up bribes the teenagers with money to take the drugs in front of him.
- Exaggerated:
- Dave, a criminal kingpin, arrives with fifty armed mooks and seizes control of Suburbville High, forcing everyone to try his drugs at gunpoint.
- Dave gives away millions of dollars worth of merchandise in hopes that teenagers will become addicted.
- Downplayed:
- Dave gets out a baseball bat and threatens Bob with it, saying he will hit him unless Bob takes a sip of some of the alcohol that he has. Bob, who's genuinely scared, takes the sip.
- While Dave does not make any overt threats to Bob, he does use subtle intimidation methods.
- Dave screams at people to try his stuff but otherwise doesn’t do anything dangerous.
- Justified:
- Dave is high on his own merch and desperately needs money for another fix.
- Dave sells a Fantastic Drug that actually will get people addicted on the first try, and he's the only one in town selling it.
- Dave is Ax-Crazy and brutal in anything he does, including selling drugs.
- Dave is rich and well-connected enough to afford to give drugs for free without reprecusions.
- It's an Urban Hellscape and if you're not aggressive, you're (often literally) dead.
- Supply and demand; Dave needs a steady supply of addicts who crave his product in order to profit, so he will do it by force.
- Inverted:
- Teenagers shake down small-time dealer Dave for some drugs, even though he's unwilling to sell to minors.
- Alternatively, Dave seeks out a dealer to buy drugs from, rather than the dealer seeking him out.
- Dave tries to sell his drugs to minors with cutesy, friendly marketing — "They'll make you see the world in a creative new way!"
- Dave operates his narcotics business in secret, making his clients seek him out.
- The drugs sell Dave in the preschool playground.
- Dave deals drugs to get rich and would never do something as stupid as giving away drugs for free - he's in it for the money.
- Dave is a meek drug dealer who's only being dragged along by the Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits because he can cook up some medicine for the gang and effectively acts as The Medic. He hates his job.
- Subverted:
- A kid tells Dave that he's not interested, and Dave shrugs and walks away.
- We hear that Dave is very aggressive, but this is towards rivals, he doesn't treat customers this way.
- Dave isn't really a drug-dealer but a kidnapper or organlegger. It doesn't matter what he sells it for since he'll just loot them after they pass out before doing worse to them.
- When kids approach Dave for drugs, he tells them he won't sell any to kids.
- Double Subverted:
- ...but returns later when it's dark and the kid doesn't have any friends nearby for support.
- ...unless said customers catch him on a very bad day. And then he will not only sell them stuff, he will order them to take it in front of him so he can "feel appreciated". With a shotgun.
- He still can get very pushy when his chosen victims are reluctant about the "ingesting drugs" part of the scheme.
- Unknown to Dave, his associate Jim does (behind Dave's back) and is beginning to believe that Dave is "weak" for not exploiting a potential source of revenue…
- Parodied:
- Dave follows the awkward, pudgy girl who's trying to lose weight around in his ice-cream truck, shoving cones at her until she gives in and eats one.
- Dave is a child.
- Dave doesn't actually sell anyone drugs, and insists that he violently give out free samples for an indefinite trial period. Customers who actually want Dave's drugs are taking advantage of him constantly, and he has no idea.
- Dave has everything that would be required for a "Played For Drama" example — the massive production facility, the armies of heavily-armed goons, the connections, etc, but he's in a kids' show and his organization can be demolished by a bunch of meddling pre-teens.
- Dave acts like a stereotypical member of a multi-level marketing company, giving out free samples of drugs and holding "product parties" at his house where he promotes different drugs to the guests.
- Zig-Zagged: Some drug dealers in the setting are aggressive, but some aren't, and Dave himself goes from aggressive to passive to merely 'active' on his own initiative.
- Averted:
- People who want drugs have to visit Dave at his house, and he refuses to sell to anyone unless a prior customer can vouch for them.
- Dave is actually pretty Affably Evil for a drug dealer and doesn't force anything down people's throats.
- Dave is a rational mobster who avoids that kind of behavior, since forcing drugs on kids will make the police and community hate him.
- Dave does not sell drugs.
- Enforced:
- Moral Guardians demand that all drug dealers be shown this way — God forbid that anyone might get the idea that people want drugs!
- It's a series that takes place in an Eighties-style Urban Hellscape. Making Dave a wanna-be Pablo Escobar-type dealer who answers to threats with wide-spread campaigns of terror is not only period-accurate, but it'll provide good enough reason for Jim's city-block-demolishing Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Lampshaded: "You're giving your drugs away for free? I'm no entrepreneur, but that doesn't make a whole lot of business sense to me."
- Invoked: Dave, regretting his occupation and convinced that he deserves to be caught and jailed, snaps and begins approaching strangers to shout about his drugs, hoping that someone will call the cops on him.
- Exploited: Bob really wants drugs, so he goes to a place known as a hangout for these types of dealers.
- Defied: Charlie, a drug wholesaler, tells his new employee Dave never to approach unfamiliar people.
- Discussed: "Dave was a drug dealer all along? But he never tried to force me to buy drugs from him like the PSAs showed! I'm so confused!"
- Conversed: "Dude, they have one of those dumb PSAs on TV again."
- Implied: A couple of junkies who are running out of drugs become incredibly skittish when they realize that it means they will need to meet Dave again.
- Deconstructed:
- Dave gets zero business due to Suburbville's teenagers being resolute in not getting hooked on drugs.
- Dave's aggressive habits bring heat on him in either one of two ways:
- His hostility eventually gets the cops after him, and he's soon arrested.
- He got nasty with the wrong teenagers or in rival territory, and instead of getting their business, the teenagers and/or rival dealers chased after him so he had to bail and lay low for a while.
- Dave is aggressive because he's actually not a very good drug dealer and puts people off from buying his product with his over-eagerness; the more this happens, the more aggressive and desperate for attention and customers he becomes, until he's reduced to pathetically wailing "Why doesn't anyone want to buy my drugs?".
- Reconstructed:
- Dave learns that Suburbville teenagers aren't the best potential customers, but more at-risk people are. He develops an eye for weakness and, once he's back on the streets, forces his product on the poor and vulnerable.
- After getting out of his situation, whether he was in prison or in hiding, Dave manages to hook up with Evulz the Greater-Scope Villain, who needs someone to lead his enforcers. Thus, with additional muscle and bigger guns, he's able to do his trade without being stopped by cops or rivals.
- Dave, who doesn't know how to sell drugs, kidnaps or hires someone that does, and actively sells his drugs through secret or public advertisements and endorsements, turning him into a businessman who turns his drug business into pharmaceuticals.
- Played for Laughs:
- Dave yells at some animals to try some of his drugs, completely unaware that they won't. Eventually, he just gives up.
- Dave, the group's Token Evil Teammate, keeps bringing up the fact that he has drugs and constantly suggests using them to solve every single problem.
- Played for Drama:
- People all over the town stay inside, scared that Dave might see them and kill them since they won't try his drugs. Eventually, they rally and drive out Dave.
- Dave is willing to use any method to get people to try his drugs. Even cold-blooded murder...
- Dave is the Villain Protagonist. He starts out as a successful dealer but starts to lose his success. He tries to push for more sales. But these tactics get him caught and jailed. When he gets out his employer pulls a You Have Failed Me on him.
- Played for Horror: Dave is the psychotic leader of a Satanic cult full of demented zealots, and if you don't take his drugs, you better believe he's gonna turn you into the next sacrifice.
You'd better go back to The Aggressive Drug Dealer. You wouldn't want to make me angry, wouldya?
