rhizoverbBeta
DictionarygimmickAttention-getting trick or feature
noun / verb

gimmick

GIM-ik/ˈɡɪmɪk/

A contrived trick or feature used to attract attention, or to add such a feature.

The inflatable tube figure serves as a gimmick to attract shoppers to the shoe display.

A wildly bending inflatable tube figure beside a modest shoe-sales display catches a passing shopper’s attention, making the attention-getting device—not the merchandise—the focus.
Etymology

The origin is uncertain: the word may be an alteration of gimcrack or an anagram of magic. Neither suggestion securely explains how it came to mean an attention-getting trick or device.

In context

US National Archives53:15
they brought tea bags to to the um to Washington and would give them out as kind of a gimmick uh when they were lobbying
Battling Bella: The Protest Politics of Bella Abzug*

More examples

  • Free shipping is a useful benefit, not just a gimmick.
  • Customers soon tire of sales gimmicks.
  • The designers gimmicked up the packaging with flashing lights.

Forms

gimmick · gimmicks · gimmicked · gimmicking

gimmicky adjective — Relying on contrived tricks to attract attention.

Similar words

ploy
A tactic for achieving a goal, not necessarily attracting attention.
stunt
An attention-getting act rather than a built-in feature.
hook
An appealing feature, without necessarily suggesting something contrived.