History Main / PublicityStuntRelationship

* ''Series/Girls5eva'': Girl group member Summer was initially set up with boy band member Kev by their respective teams to advertise Noxzema. They ended up with a long-running but mutually unhappy marriage.

* ''Literature/IronWidow'': Zetian and Li Shimin know that their status as [[TradingBarsForStripes press-ganged]] mecha pilots is precarious, so to make themselves too famous to dispose of, they sign a media contract that promotes them as a BattleCouple of [[EvilIsSexy darkly alluring anti-heroes]][[invoked]]. They do end up in a real relationship, but keep that part private.

* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': "[[Recap/CastleS5E14RealityStarStruck Reality Star Struck]]" revolves around a murder on a ''[[Series/TheRealHousewives Real Housewives]]''-[[FictionalCounterpart inspired]] RealityShow that initially seems to have been fueled by an extramarital affair between two of the cast members. Castle and Beckett later catch the supposedly estranged spouses, Bob and Hannah, ''in flagrante delicto'', and learn that the affair wasn't real: they made the story up to get the spotlight back when another storyline drew the cameras away from them.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'': In "[[ElectionDayEpisode All the Duke's Men]]", Duke Phillips announces in a press conference his marriage to [[Creator/JuneLockhart June]] [[Series/LostInSpace Lockhart]][[note]]Everybody's favorite TV mom[[/note]] in order to sway the female vote, as his adviser said they do not consider him a family man. This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by a reporter at the conference.

--> '''Duke:''' I say "''gaze into the hypnotic power of my [[HypnoticEyes Evil Eye]]!''"

A specific type of FakeRelationship that satirizes show business settings involving actors, singers, athletes, and other types of celebrities. When their publicist decides that their client's career is acceptably on the rise, the next move will always be to set them up with another celebrity on equal or greater levels of fame. Cue the {{paparazzi}} and MediaScrum -- the two "lovebirds" are now to be photographed together on the street. They'll also attend events together, tell journalists and hosts how happy they are together, and post sickeningly sweet things on social media. This new relationship will get the tabloids, and consequently their respective fandoms, buzzing with gossip that helps keep both parties in the media conversation...at least until they break up a month later.

** In ''[[VisualNovel/ForeignAffairsPixelberry Foreign Affairs]]'', Kennedy is suggested to do a publicity stunt with Alexei or Evelyn (depending on player choice) to try to clean up his/here name after he was exposed along with his love interest on the cover of Voyeur magazine.

A specific type of FakeRelationship that satirizes show business settings involving actors, singers, athletes, and other types of celebrities. When their publicist decides that their client's career is acceptably on the rise, the next move will always be to set them up with another celebrity on equal or greater levels of fame. Or alternatively, the celebrities might decide to take things in Cue the {{paparazzi}} and MediaScrum -- the two "lovebirds" are now to be photographed together on the street. They'll also attend events together, tell journalists and hosts how happy they are together, and post sickeningly sweet things on social media. This new relationship will get the tabloids, and consequently their respective fandoms, buzzing with gossip that helps keep both parties in the media conversation...at least until they break up a month later.

See also PublicityStunt, and SellingTheShow. If the supposed couple is surprising on paper and that helps bring buzz, there's overlap with ShockValueRelationship. Compare RomanceOnTheSet, for when colleagues on a project get together. It may be invoked in tandem with this trope to drum up publicity if the parties are costars due to ActorShipping. It might also overlap with other types of FakeRelationship -- for example, studios during the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood were rumored to arrange lavender marriages with [[TheBeard the dual benefits of publicity and hiding a star's sexuality]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' episode "Hero Time," Ben briefly enters a fake relationship with celebrity Jennifer Nocturne to boost both of their careers after he saves her from a (staged) hostage situation, despite Ben already having a girlfriend. Said girlfriend Julie is annoyed but not jealous because she knows Ben's not interested in Jennifer and has a bigger "crush" on his childhood hero[[OldSuperhero Captain Nemesis]]. Ben even uses the "cross-pollination" phrasing when describing it to his friends as he was coached by Jennifer's agent on how this sort of thing works.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'': In "[[ElectionDayEpisode All the Duke's Men]]", Duke Philips announces in a press conference his marriage to Creator/JuneLockhart [[note]]Everybody's favorite TV mom[[/note]], in order to sway the female vote as his adviser said they do not consider him a family man. This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by a reporter at his press conference.
--> '''Reporter:''' Mr. Phillips, what do you say to those who claim this marriage is just an ''outrageous'' publicity stunt.
--> '''Duke:''' I say "gaze into the hypnotic power of my [[HypnoticEyes Evil Eye]]!"

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Platinum}}'', publicist Fiona orchestrates a stunt relationship between [[PlayerCharacter Cadence]] and singer Raleigh Carrera to keep Cadence in the spotlight while she works on her first album. However, the two had already met before that point and Raleigh is one of the novel's {{Love Interest}}s, so depending on the player's actions, a RomanticFakeRealTurn can happen later in the story.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' epsiode "Hero Time," Ben briefly enters a fake relationship with celebrity Jennifer Nocturne to boost both of their careers after he saves her from a (staged) hostage situation, despite Ben already having a girlfriend. Said girlfriend Julie is annoyed but not jealous because she knows Ben's not interested in Jennifer and has a bigger "crush" on his childhood hero[[OldSuperhero Captain Nemesis]]. Ben even uses the "cross-pollination" phrasing when describing it to his friends as he was coached by Jennifer's agent on how this sort of thing works.

->''"Here's the general idea, Jenna. You and I pretend that we met while filming a movie called 'Space Attack'. [...] But out of this experience we found each other, etcetera etcetera. Five dates a week, one fight a month. And because of a product placement deal with Jamba Juice, the fight will be in a Jamba Juice."''

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' epsiode "Hero Time," Ben briefly enters a fake relationship with celebrity Jennifer Nocturne to boost both of their careers after he saves her from a (staged) hostage situation, despite Ben already having a girlfriend. Said girlfriend Julie is annoyed but not jealous because she knows Ben's not interested in Jennifer and has a bigger "crush" on his childhood hero[[OldSuperhero Captain Nemesis]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' epsiode "Hero Time," Ben briefly enters a fake relationship with celebrity Jennifer Nocturne to boost both of their careers after he saves her from a (staged) hostage situation, despite Ben already having a girlfriend. Said girlfriend Julie is annoyed but not jealous because she knows Ben's not interested in Jennifer and has a bigger "crush" on [[OldSuperhero Captain Nemesis]].

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Platinum}}'', [[PlayerCharacter Cadence]] has publicist Fiona orchestrate a stunt relationship between her and singer Raleigh Carrera to keep Cadence in the spotlight while she works on her first album. However, the two had already met before that point and Raleigh is one of the novel's {{Love Interest}}s, so depending on the player's actions, there can be a RomanticFakeRealTurn later in the story.

--> '''Duke:''' I say "gaze into the hypnotic power of my [[HypnoticEyes Evil Eye]]".

Behind the scenes, it's often an excuse to get a CelebrityCameo / AsHimself in the work.

* In the RealityTV-esque ''ComicBook/XForceMilliganAndAllred'': Vivisector and Phat decide to pretend to be in a gay relationship because of fears that they're less popular than the other team members. After some mutual confusion, they eventually decide that they both genuinely are gay, but they aren't each others' type.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': The glamour-obsessed Capitol treats the contestants of the titular [[DeadlyGame battle royale]] as celebrities, giving them a full media blitz before they all brutally kill each other. The two contestants of District 12, Katniss and Peeta, are encouraged by their handler Haymitch to play up a romance between them, as it will draw viewers and sponsor gifts that will give them greater chances at surviving the Game. Katniss is reluctant to do so, but reneges when more displays of affection give them better gifts and even a rare rules change to allow surviving co-champions. [[spoiler:The "co-champions" offer to turns out to be a lie, but Peeta and Katniss force the Game's hand by attempting to commit suicide together. Afterward they realize their act of defiance made them a target of the government, so they have to keep up the act of a couple after the Game in an attempt to seem like they were just lovestruck teenagers too emotional to want to live without each other.]]

* ''[[Series/{{SWAT|2017}} S.W.A.T.]]'': In "The Tiffany Experience", the titular [[BadInfluencer Tiffany]] is officially happily dating a fellow online celebrity Tristan who makes elaborate prank stunts. However, as Jessica Cortez discovers whilst guarding her from a [[StalkerWithACrush crazed stalker]] the two aren't actually together and are simply "cross pollinating" each others feeds, further empathising how shallow and fake Tiffany's supposedly caring brand really is. It ends up going horribly wrong as said crazed stalker ends up seeing Tristan as a obstacle to him being with Tiffany and murders him, ignoring his pleas that they're not really dating as further a sign of him not being worthy of her.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E19AFishCalledSelma A Fish Called Selma]]", Marge's sister Selma gets married to Troy [=McClure=], mostly for Troy to boost his career on his agent's advice. However, she draws the line at adopting children: a loveless marriage is one thing, but to bring up a child in a loveless marriage is too far.
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->''"Here's the general idea, Jenna. You and I pretend that we met while filming a movie called 'Space Attack'. [...] But out of this experience we found each other, etcetera etcetera. Five dates a week, one fight a month. And because of a ProductPlacement deal with Jamba Juice, the fight will be in a Jamba Juice."''