gimmickry

plural gimmickries

1. countableuncountableGimmicks collectively.

   Then, at least, we shall be able to program consciousness in such wise that it cannot be numbed nor distracted by the Narcissus illusions of the entertainment world that beset mankind when he encounters himself extended in his own gimmickry.

   1964, Marshall McLuhan, chapter 6, in Understanding Media, 2nd edition

2. countableuncountableThe use of gimmicks.

   With colossal chambers filled with elaborately macabre pseudo-scientific devices and ironic pageantry celebrating horror with forced glee, the director takes extravagance for substance and gimmickry for style; the results are show-offy, tasteless, and empty.

   2017 February 27, Richard Brody, “A Cure for Wellness”, in The New Yorker, page 15

   1 more example

   The fundamental reason educators have become involved in this gimmickry is that they do not seem to understand that unless there is a master plan to cover housing, jobs, and health, every plan for the schools will fall on its face. No piecemeal strategy can work.

   1967, Bayard Rustin, “The Mind of the Black Militant”, in Down the Line, published 1971, page 211