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• dog and pony show
  dog and pony show

  noun

  an elaborate sales, advertising, or publicity presentation or campaign.
• dog-and-pony show
  dog-and-pony show

  An elaborate presentation to gain approval for a product or policy. For example, The administration loved putting on a dog-and-pony show for every minor change of policy. This term alludes to a traveling variety show. [1950s]

dog and pony show

American  

noun

Informal.

1. an elaborate sales, advertising, or publicity presentation or campaign.

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dog-and-pony show Idioms  

1. An elaborate presentation to gain approval for a product or policy. For example, The administration loved putting on a dog-and-pony show for every minor change of policy. This term alludes to a traveling variety show. [1950s]

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Etymology

Origin of dog and pony show

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dog and pony show dog-and-pony show

“One of the hardest things was to say to the mine, ‘Hey, your dog and pony show isn’t lining up with what we’re seeing,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2023

“That first dog and pony show my company put on? I was down front.”

From Slate ● Nov. 26, 2022

That means there’s plenty of appetite for a show like “Mister Miss America” — and that it has a lot more to measure up to than a backwater dog and pony show.

From New York Times ● Jul. 12, 2022

Smollett told Fox News that he is innocent while entering the court, referring to the proceedings he was about to participate in as a "dog and pony show."

From Fox News ● Jul. 14, 2021

This was one dog and pony show I did not need to witness, no matter how good the seats.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

I didn’t go shopping anywhere else, which was fantastic because I hate a dog-and-pony show.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026

“It’s all part of a dog-and-pony show, isn’t it?” she said.

From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2019

With so little at stake, the Colts could turn this into a dog-and-pony show by force-feeding the ball to Gore and Hilton to pad their stats.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 28, 2016

You can’t just let management come in and do their dog-and-pony show without challenging them.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 28, 2016

“This is night and day from what we had before, which was a dog-and-pony show where the Legislature pretended to have negotiations,” Ms. Feng said.

From New York Times ● Oct. 22, 2011