Jump To:

• 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.

---

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]

---

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

Either way, it's not like there's a Coggins test to get into this dog and pony show.

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2023

“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

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

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

From Washington Times ● May 11, 2023

Did you make it to the eighth episode of “The Young Pope,” the one which sees our saintly Jude Law bring his pontifical dog-and-pony show to a country called Africa?

From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2017

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

From Washington Post ● Jan. 28, 2016

"We're hopeful this hearing won't be a dog-and-pony show by the bank followed by a rubber-stamp approval of the merger," said opponent Kevin Stein, associate director of the California Reinvestment Coalition.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2015

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