History Main / SignsOfDisrepair

That flashes... Ea[[gray:t]] a[[gray:t]] [[gray:J]]oe's''

* ''Film/MaxPayne'' has the building ''Raglan And Brock'' with half the letters on its sign unlit, leading to the name "[[Myth/NorseMythology Rag** n a** * rock]]".

* In ''[[Series/FamilyMatters Urkel]] Saves Santa: The Movie'', Steve Urkel puts up a string of Christmas lights on his house that say "FELIZ NAVIDAD MERRY CHRISTMAS". Most of the lights short out, resulting in the remaining ones saying "FARTS".

** In the season six episode "Bart's Comet", the "Only Bridge Out of Town" is blown up, leaving the sign reading "BRIDGE OUT".

* The title of Lanford Wilson's play ''The Hot L Baltimore''.

Often used to create or highlight an unintended innuendo, such as "Public Library" becoming "Pubic Library". Also used in many AfterTheEnd and FutureImperfect scenarios. The seedier kinds of NeonCity will be full of this sort of thing. Compare the comedic version CensoredForComedy and PartiallyConcealedLabelGag.

* The short-lived sitcom version of ''Series/HotLBaltimore''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'' episode "The Grand Gesture", one of Molly's plan to confess her feelings to her LoveInterest Ollie Chen is blow up a series of balloons to form the message "OLLIE WILL YOU BE MY BOYFRIEND". However, Scratch ends up getting in a fight with a woodpecker that leads to some of the balloons being popped, and it ends up instead reading "OLLIE YOU FIEND".

* In one of the [[Franchise/SpiderMan Sinister Six]] novels, Spider-Man notes that one of his recent battles has defaced the Daily Bugle sign, with the last two letters missing, so that it now reads DAILY BUG. Spidey can't ''wait'' to see JJJ's reaction...

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''L

* The ''WesternAnimation/BettyBoop'' cartoon ''WesternAnimation/MinnieTheMoocher'' has Betty [[TheRunaway run away from home,]] leaving a note for her parents that reads, "Dear Ma & Pa, I'm leaving Home because you're not so Sweet to me. I won't ever be Home again. -Betty." After an incident in a cave involving a ghost walrus, Betty runs back home and hides under her bed covers; her note (which remains unread) rips around the top, bottom and sides, so it now vertically reads, "Home Sweet Home".

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8M8xqlZNa8 a commercial]] for [=GREENIES=] dog treats, a marooned man and his dog are on the beach of a deserted island where the man has used tree branches to spell out a rescue message "Help". Unfortunately, just when a plane is flying overhead, the dog runs off with the branch from the bottom of the "P", so the pilots of the plane think it says "Hello." They wave "hello" back and fly off.

* Done deliberately by the protagonist and antagonist in ''Film/ShootEmUp''. During a rooftop gunfight, Smith shoots out a neon "Faulk Truck & Tool" sign to read, "FUK U," while saying, "Fuck you, you [[ClusterFBomb fucking]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment fuckers]]!" The camera pans to show the word "TOOL" next to it, whereupon Hertz shoots out the L to have it read, "FUK U TOO".
** This gag repeats itself later on during the infiltration in Hammerson's arms factory. There's a sign saying "1026 Days since last accident", until Smith goes in, guns-ablazing, kills a whole bunch of mooks and briefly shoots the sign with a machine-gun, removing 1,2 and 6 from the sign.

* In ''Film/CaptainMarvel'', the reason Carol thinks her name is Vers (pronounced "veers") is because her name tag, which initially read "Carol Dan'''vers'''", broke.

* In the ''Literature/JamesBond'' novel ''Literature/{{Moonraker}}'', Bond sees a neon sign from a viewpoint that partially obscures it: SUMMER S''HELL IS HERE''.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'", a CutawayGag features Peter writing a letter to Creator/{{ABC}} to bring ''Series/{{Coach}}'' back on the air, but thanks to accidentally tipping over a white-out bottle, it reads "If you don't put ''Coach'' back on the air, I'll [[spoiler:be really upset. The s]]kill[[spoiler:ful acting of]] Creator/CraigTNelson [[spoiler:will be missed a lot]].", which Peter ends up sending without realizing anything. Some time later, Craig T. Nelson appears at Peter's door [[BlackComedy with a gun and a request to "Make it quick."]]

That flashes... Ea[[spoiler:t]] a[[spoiler:t]] [[spoiler:J]]oe's''

* A variation occurs in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': The Joker adds an S in front of "[[PutTheLaughterInSlaughter Laughter]] is the Best Medicine" on his trailer.

* The LogoJoke for some Creator/IlluminationEntertainment movies has the Minions from ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'' play with the letters in the logo (a giant lit-up "ILLUMINATION" sign) to read "MIN ION" or otherwise draw attention to those letters. For example, in ''WesternAnimation/{{Sing}}'', a Minion's off-key singing is so bad that it blacks out the "MIN" and "ION" in the logo, and in ''WesternAnimation/MinionsTheRiseOfGru'', a Minion on a disco ball knocks out some of the letters leaving [[spoiler:ILLU]]MIN[[spoiler:AT]]ION. When he gets back up he sees what happned, and attempts to acknowledge it to the audience, only for the disco ball to swing back in at crush him between them, creating "MINION"

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'', Alex makes a giant HELP to alert ships, but the top of the P collapses, turning it into an L.

* In ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots2011'', there's a bar called the Glitter Box, only [[ToiletHumour the G in the neon sign isn't working]].

* During concerts promoting the album ''Brave Enough'', Music/LindseyStirling would show a pre-recorded skit about the many things that can go wrong before a live performance, such as malfunctioning lighted signs. Her band declares "[[spoiler: B]]RAVE ENOUGH" to be an improvement over the original title.

** In "The Cartridge Family", Homer purchases a handgun to protect his family. Marge, however, fears for her safety and the safety of her children from a trigger-happy husband. She takes herself and the kids to the "Sleep Eazy Motel" complete with neon sign. The moment Marge arrives, part of the neon fails, leaving "Sle azy Motel" as the surviving moniker.

* This trope is the reason why the Hooded One was seeking Phoney in ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}''; Earlier, it was mentioned that Phoney had a giant balloon version of himself made for his campaign for mayor of Boneville, but it went out of control. It turns out that it had floated across the desert into the Valley, and a banner attached that the used to read "PHONECIBLE P. BONE WILL GET YOUR VOTE" was missing the last part, now saying, "PHONECIBLE P. BONE WILL GET YOU"

* In ''Hoops And Yoyo's Haunted Halloween'', Hoops, Yoyo, and Piddles are all trapped in North Escapades Mall after it closes for the night. Lightning strikes a sign displaying the mall's name, leaving enough letters lit up to spell "No Escape".