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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

I said, “Excuse me, when is this dog and pony show gonna get started?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 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

So … how will it be helpful for them to Zoom into class on days when I’m focused on the in-person students and not able to do my usual dog and pony show?

From Slate ● Jan. 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

This year, the dog-and-pony show that is the NFL’s schedule release involved a pig.

From Washington Times ● May 11, 2023

“I’m not going to do a dog-and-pony show and smile in people’s faces and be fake,” Owens said afterward.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 4, 2018

But this was the first time in which NBC’s presentation—a slightly poky dog-and-pony show at Radio City Music Hall on Monday—actually made it possible to believe its corporate-speak.

From Slate ● May 14, 2012

At BMW’s dog-and-pony show, Koons characterized his explosion of color — basically racing stripes on steroids — as a metaphor for the car’s “brutal energy.”

From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2010