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A character dangles some kind of treat on a stick in front of an animal, or even another character, in order to make it run, usually to make it win a race, get the character where they want to go, or run on a treadmill to power something.
Related to [[Food
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== Anime & Manga ==▼
* In ''[[Sasami Magical Girls Club (Anime)|Sasami Magical Girls Club]]'', while riding on a cart pulled by an ox-like creature, Anri complains about how slow it is, so Washu pulls out an "Acceleration Device" that turns out to be a bundle of hay hanging from a stick. The ox takes off like a rocket and catches the hay once they reach their destination, with the quick stop flinging everyone out of the cart.▼
* The ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime episode "Pokemon Food Fight": Ash and his friends plan to lure a sleepy Snorlax into moving up and over a mountain by luring it with an apple attached to the end of a pole with a string. [[Subverted Trope|It wakes up just enough to eat the apple, then goes back to sleep before they could get it to move.]]▼
▲* In ''[[Sasami
▲* The ''[[Pokémon (
== Comic Books ==
* How the [[Flying Dutchman]] is moved in ''[[De Cape
* Jughead Jones of ''[[Archie Comics]]'' was convinced to ride a stationary bike (using a bag of potato chips) this way in one story.
** In another story, a variant is used to motivate to run faster for the track team. Jughead is outfitted with a special harness with a mirror in front that's positioned to let him see the photo mounted in back, so it looks like his [[Abhorrent Admirer]] is always right behind him.
== Film ==
* In ''[[
* A very common [[Political Cartoon]] metaphor, for whatever the artist wants to lampoon.▼
▲* In ''[[Mulan (Disney)|Mulan]]'', the title character uses a dog and bone to feed the chickens. The bone-on-a-stick is tied to the dog's back so the bone is always in front of the dog, and the dog runs around with a feedbag leaking grain behind him.
* One of the ''[[Mad Max]]'' films used this with the hero being sent into exile on a donkey with a small jar of water hanging in front of its head.
* ''[[Honey
* In ''[[The Boondock Saints]]'', Detective Greenley humorously suggests that the only way they're going to catch the MacManus brothers is by "...dangling a potato on a string"
== Literature ==
* In [[
* ''[[
== Live-Action TV ==
* In one short in ''[[The Little Rascals]]'' series, the boys had a "taxi" that was powered by a mule/donkey pushing from the back and a carrot on a stick in front of it was used to make it push.
* ''[[The Benny Hill Show]]'': In a sketch, Benny is at a weight-loss camp and is jogging. Three girls show up in front of him and flash their breasts at him, so he speed up. He gets tired and slows down; they flash him again and he speed up again, etc.
== Newspaper Comics ==
▲* A very common [[Political Cartoon]] metaphor, for whatever the artist wants to lampoon.
== Video Games ==
* The "Chow-Man Motor" in ''The Incredible Toon Machine''. Drop some food, usually an egg, in front of him, and he'll start walking on his treadmill.
* This appears as a trinket in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. It increases mount speed by 3%. ''[[Awkward Zombie]]'' even points out some [[Fridge Logic]] with [http://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic1-092407.php that particular item].
* ''[[
* In ''[[
== Web Comics ==
* In one strip of ''[[
* A variation with a treadmill and a sign which read "plot" was used to keep Karn occupied in one strip of ''[[Adventurers
* The Devil does this to several characters at once in ''[[Sinfest]]'', tempting each of them with their most precious vice.
* Sam, the [[Cthulhumanoid]] protagonist of ''[[
* Used in [http://equestria.fadri.org/017-screw-aerodynamics this] strip of ''And That's How Equestria Was Made!!''
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' has [https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=35#2003-07-18 beer can on kayak's bow] variation in flashback.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Disney Fairies|TinkerBell and the Lost Treasure]]'': Used in the dust mill to make a millipede run on a wheel to help with the dust sifting process.
* ''Yogi's Gang'' and ''Yogi's Ark Lark'': The Ark was powered by [[Magilla Gorilla]] pursuing a banana while running on a treadmill, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S4f03j-VQg as seen here at 2:25]. Note that he occasionally ate the banana.
* In the ''[[
** In "Road to the North Pole", Brian and Stewie use a mutant elf's arm to make the mutant reindeer fly pulling Santa's sleigh.
* ''[[
* In ''[[Kick Buttowski]]'', Garth's backside is used as the carrot on the stick to get the crazy little dog to chase him and thereby pull the sled to rescue the schoolbus full of kids from a snow-filled gully.
* In Hanna-Barbera's version of ''The Little Rascals'', the Rascals have a wooden vehicle which Pete pulls while pursuing a bone.
* ''[[
** ''The Beast With a Billion Backs'' opens with a pastiche of 30's cartoons, and has Zoidberg powering the Planet Express ship by chasing a fish on a stick.
** At the end of ''Bender's Game'', {{spoiler|with dark matter rendered useless as a fuel}}, Professor Farnsworth proposes an alternative fuel: Nibbler power! Which turns out to be a fair number of Nibblonians motivated to pull a ship by a single chicken hanging from a stick.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Index On a Stick]]
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Political Cartoons]]
[[Category:Food Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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