bait and switch

1. An unscrupulous and sometimes illegal sales technique, in which an inexpensive product is advertised to attract prospective customers who are then told by sales personnel that the inexpensive product is unavailable or of poor quality and are instead urged to buy a more expensive product.

   A teasing bait and switch, whereby creators promise more explicit content than they deliver, is a well-known feature of the industry.

   2026 May 28, Amelia Gentleman, “The strange surveilled life of Piper Rockelle: why did a former child influencer decide to go on OnlyFans?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   1 more example

   Seereeram and other critics say it was a sort of bait and switch. Citibank met with Trintomar three times in the spring of 1992 to pitch its original $66 million refinancing proposal, and in a letter dated Sept. 9, Trintomar asked for a formal proposal. The next day, Citibank sent a letter outlining the extra $96.5 million loan in several pages of eye-glazing detail.

   2002 October 7, Jyoti Thottam, “Predators in Paradise?”, in Time

   Synonyms: bait advertising, switch selling

2. broadlyAny similar deceptive behavior, especially in politics and romantic relationships.

   Jon: Hey, Garfield, let's get a pizza! […] Jon:On the way we'll stop at the vet. Garfield: It's the old bait and switch!

   1986 February 4, Jim Davis, Garfield

present singular third person baits and switches · participle present baiting and switching · participle past baited and switched · past baited and switched

1. To lure someone with an offer of some kind, but substitute something of greater advantage to the offerer.

   ... she baits and switches then baits again.

   2011, Tim Palmer, Brutal Intimacy: Analyzing Contemporary French Cinema, page 178

   2 more examples

   Not when you are baiting and switching down from a stately antebellum manse to a tenement crack house.

   2008, Sarah Bird, How Perfect is That, page 242

   they often baited and switched: promised top people but sent the third string.

   2015, Stephen B. Peterson, Public Finance and Economic Growth in Developing Countries