shock value
Disturbing impact factor
Shock value is the power of something to provoke a strong reaction through its disturbing, offensive, or unexpected content.
Artists, advertisers, and provocateurs seek shock value to grab attention or make a statement: The film relies on shock value rather than substance.
Something done for shock value prioritizes reaction over meaning.
- clickbaitSensationalized content for traffic
- sensationalismOverhyped news coverage
- cheap thrillsEasy, shallow entertainment
- taboo-breakingViolating sacred prohibitions
- hyperboleRhetorical extreme exaggeration
exaggeration · transgression · gimmickry · yellow journalism · splatter · gore · taboo · edgelord · grotesque · pearl-clutching · grindhouse · exploitation film · provocative · pushing buttons · iconoclasm · boundary-pushing · crossed the line · body horror
- clickbaitclickbait, curiosity gap, listicle, listicles, sensationalism
- emotional rhetoricpathos, emotional appeal, appeals to emotion, loaded language, loaded words
- pulp fictionpulp, pulp fiction, pulp magazines, pulp novels, dime novels
- theatricstheatrics, dramatics, melodrama, histrionics, theatricality
- humorjoke, jokes, joking, comedy, comic
- audacityboldness, brazenness, audacity, chutzpah, gall
shock valuesubtlety
Fine distinction, easily missed
understatement · restraint · gentleness · mildness · soft touch
shock valueconventionality
Adherence to accepted customs
conformity · tastefulness · propriety · decorum · good taste
shock, value, shocking, shocked, shocks, shocker, shockingly, aftershock, unshocked