bait and switch

noun

1

: a sales tactic in which a customer is attracted by the advertisement of a low-priced item but is then encouraged to buy a higher-priced one

2

: the ploy of offering a person something desirable to gain favor (such as political support) then thwarting expectations with something less desirable

Examples of bait and switch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The couture show involved a clever bait and switch: guests were funnelled through the back door of the Palais Garnier and, unbeknownst to them, onto the main opera-house stage. —Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2023

Learning about astrology can sometimes feel like a bait and switch. —Madison Feller, ELLE, 6 Sep. 2023

This bait and switch went so far that the late former Fiat Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne famously urged U.S. consumers not to buy his Fiat 500e. —Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 2 Aug. 2023

Many of these concerns are driven by a sense that the past decade was an elaborate bait and switch. —Josef Adalian, Vulture, 6 June 2023

But to assure the public that the new taxes weren’t some sort of a bait and switch, lawmakers made the new fund’s purpose clear. —Kyle Whitmire, al, 6 Apr. 2023

But the notion of a miserable midlife turns out to be another bait and switch. —Lydia Kiesling, New York Times, 1 Apr. 2023

Or a gag gift box that uses cursed artwork to conceal its actual contents with a bait and switch. —Kevin Cortez, Popular Mechanics, 12 Oct. 2022

No one likes a bait and switch. —J.d. Conway, Forbes, 28 Apr. 2021

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Word History

First Known Use

1962, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Legal Definition

bait and switch

noun

: a fraudulent or deceptive sales practice in which a purchaser is attracted by advertisement of a low-priced item but then is encouraged to purchase a higher-priced one

called also bait advertising