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{{trope}}
[[File:
Sometimes, especially when writing a story or a script about a highly unusual situation, you find that you've just loaded up your protagonist or some other fairly important character with lots of potentially [[Unfortunate Implications]]. Alas, trying to have your character [[I Can Explain|explain to everybody]] why this is [[Not What It Looks Like]] is likely to be a real show-stopper, and mostly just makes your readers/viewers even more suspicious. What can you do?
Fortunately, there's an
There are lots of variants. For example, rather than the protagonist, the Deliberately Bad Example may be serving as the backdrop to an important secondary character. Pointing out the differences or similarities between the behavior of the two characters may also serve to raise suspicions rather than allay them. (If the [[Jerkass]] doesn't behave like the [[Complete Monster]], how do we know he isn't really a [[Jerk
Deliberately Bad Examples do of course tend to be rather one-dimensional in their usual roles as the [[Butt Monkey]] or [[Complete Monster]], but need not always be so. Quite often, if a story lasts long enough and they get enough face time, they may go on to develop personalities of their own and maybe even become a [[Draco in Leather Pants]] or an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]].
This a sub-trope of the [[Foil]]. Compare the more [[Public Service Announcement|PSA]]-oriented version of this character-as-a-device, the [[Anti Role Model]], where the character's purpose is to be an example of what the people in the ''audience'' aren't supposed to do.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Mori Kouji and Toufukuji from ''[[I My Me! Strawberry Eggs]]'', of course. See how these guys behave? Amawa Hibiki is nothing like them!
* ''[[Love Hina]]''{{'}}s Shirai and Haitani are definitely this to Keitaro, though all the girls in the dormitory fail to see the difference.
* Odagiri from ''[[Koi Kaze]]'': he's the raving pervert with a fetish for high school girls who's pining away for a younger sister, not Koshiro.
* Parodied and [[Lampshaded]] with the character Matagu from ''[[Please Teacher
* ''[[
* From the [[Tournament Arc]] in ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', Sabertooth seems to be one of the bad guys... until you see [[Evil Counterpart|Raven Tail]]. Then you realize that Sabertooth is just a case of [[Good Is Not Nice]].
** Subverted, {{spoiler|forcing a member to strip before kicking them out for losing a fight can hardly be considered good.}}
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== [[Film]] ==
* In ''[[Assassins (
* ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235189/ Wild Target]'' follows ''Assassins''' lead, making the vicious hitman Dixon a Deliberately Bad Example in order to make his colleague Victor Maynard more sympathetic.
* While ''[[
== [[Literature]] ==
* Dolores Umbridge from the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' novels. If Severus Snape really were a [[Complete Monster]], this is who he'd be.
* In Sabatini's novel about the pirate Peter Blood, Isterling and l'Evaser are both portrayed as [[Complete Monster
* In [[
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* Goofus, of the "Goofus & Gallant" cartoons so emblematic of the magazine they appeared in, ''[[Highlights for Children]]''. To be fair his actions are often fairly inoffensive and only marginally objectionable, and are presented solely to make Gallant's more prissy behavior seem that much more commendable by contrast. (Unlike, say, the parody in the page image.)
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Wait Till Your Father Gets Home]]'' has Ralph playing this as a neighbor to Harry Boyle; Ralph is a paranoid far-right militia type the level-headed conservative Harry is the first to call a nutcase.
* ''[[Recess]]'' has Principal Prickly and Dr. Phillium Benedict. While Principal Prickly may seem like he rules the school with an iron fist, deep down he actually does care for the children at his school. The reason he became principal was because he tried to stop Benedict from abolishing Recess. Benedict is only concerned with increasing test scores, and eventually decided that he was going to destroy summer vacation, because summer vacation is essentially the biggest recess of them all.
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