TERMIUM Plus®

From: Translation Bureau

On social media

Consult the Government of Canada’s terminology data bank.

BAIT SWITCH [6 records]

Record 1 2021-02-12

English

Subject field(s)
  • Advertising Techniques
CONT

Examples of Bait & Switch Advertising. How many times have you seen an ad for an item that has a price so low you can barely believe it? And then, when you rush to the store, a store clerk tells you that they just sold the last one. Or, that you don’t qualify for the rate listed in the ad? Or, maybe you’ve seen a competitor's low pricing advertised again and again so that you finally realize that those amazing deals never existed in the first place? They’re called bait-and-switch ads, and unethical businesses use them to lure customers away from your business.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Techniques publicitaires
CONT

[...] publicité d'appât (p. ex. annoncer à prix d'aubaine des produits qui ne sont pas offerts en quantités raisonnables) [...]

OBS

Pratique publicitaire.

Spanish

Save record 1

Record 2 2021-02-12

English

Subject field(s)
  • Sales (Marketing)
  • Pricing Theory
  • Market Prices
CONT

A store attracts customers by an advertisement for a bargain‑priced product. Once inside, the customer discovers that the product that was advertised, the "bait, "is sold out or otherwise unavailable. The "switch" occurs when a salesperson pressures the customer into purchasing a higher‑priced product as a replacement, or if customers find themselves induced to make other purchases while inside the store. Bait and switch selling affects you as a consumer.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Vente
  • Théorie des prix
  • Prix (Commercialisation)
CONT

Un magasin attire des clients en annonçant un produit à prix d'aubaine [...] Une fois dans le magasin, les clients apprennent que le produit annoncé est soit écoulé ou non disponible. Un vendeur fait pression sur les clients pour qu'ils achètent un article de remplacement plus cher [...] ou alors les clients se sentent incités à faire d'autres achats. La vente à prix d'appel vous touche comme consommateur.

OBS

vente à prix d'appel : terme tiré du mini-lexique «Protection du consommateur» et reproduit avec l'autorisation du Centre de ressources en français juridique de l'Université de Saint-Boniface.

Spanish

Save record 2

Record 3 2013-03-20

English

Subject field(s)
  • Internet and Telematics
DEF

Text-only versions of web pages used in an effort to secure high search engine rankings.

OBS

bait and switch web page; code swapping web page : The Translation Bureau recommends in its revised 2013 Linguistic Recommendation that “web” not be capitalized when it is part of a compound, whether the compound is written as two words or one, with or without a hyphen.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Internet et télématique

Spanish

Save record 3

Record 4 2010-12-21

English

Subject field(s)
  • Titles of Documents and Works
  • Merchandising Techniques
OBS

Published by the Competition Bureau Canada. Bait and switch selling is anti-competitive. By advertising products at bargain prices that are not available in reasonable quantities, retailers can unfairly lure consumers into their stores, thereby taking business away from honest retailers.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Titres de documents et d'œuvres
  • Techniques marchandes
OBS

Publié par le Bureau de la concurrence Canada. La vente à prix d'appel est une pratique anticoncurrentielle. En annonçant à prix d'occasion des produits qui ne sont pas offerts en quantités raisonnables, des détaillants réussissent à attirer par un moyen déloyal des consommateurs dans leur magasin, et à vous ravir ainsi votre clientèle.

Spanish

Save record 4

Record 5 2003-09-17

English

Subject field(s)
  • Internet and Telematics
  • Merchandising Techniques
DEF

A marketing ploy that involves placing frequently used keywords, such as "free," "money," or "sex," on a Web site.

OBS

The intent is to trick a search engine into listing the site whenever those keywords are typed in by a user, even though those words have nothing to do with the site’s actual content.

Key term(s)
  • bait and switch

French

Domaine(s)
  • Internet et télématique
  • Techniques marchandes
Key term(s)
  • leurrage par mot-clé

Spanish

Save record 5

Record 6 1984-06-01

English

Subject field(s)
  • Advertising Techniques

French

Domaine(s)
  • Techniques publicitaires

Spanish

Save record 6

Copyright notice for the TERMIUM Plus® data bank

© Public Services and Procurement Canada, 2026
TERMIUM Plus®, the Government of Canada's terminology and linguistic data bank
A product of the Translation Bureau

Features

GCtranslate (available on the Government of Canada network only)

Use this artificial intelligence prototype to translate Government of Canada content up to and including Protected B. Available to employees of selected departments and agencies only.

Writing tools

The Language Portal’s writing tools have a new look! Easy to consult, they give you access to a wealth of information that will help you write better in English and French.

Glossaries and vocabularies

Access Translation Bureau glossaries and vocabularies.

Date Modified: