design ethics
Bait and switch
What is a bait and switch dark pattern?
Bait and switch is advertising one thing and delivering another - a button that promises a free download and hands you a sign-up wall instead. The bait gets the click; the switch is what actually happens.
Also known as: bait-and-switch, false promise
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The demo
A button promising a free download. Switch modes, then click it - and watch whether you get what the label said you would.
Promised: free download · Delivered: …
Click the button and compare what it promised with what you got.
What this demo shows (text version)
A prominent button labelled "Download free template". In bait-and-switch mode, clicking it does not download anything - instead it reveals a sign-up wall asking you to start a paid trial before you can get the file, which is not what the button promised.
In honest mode, the same button simply downloads the template, as labelled. A tally compares what was promised with what was delivered. The lesson is that a control must do what its label says: switching the outcome after the click trades a moment's extra clicks for the user's trust in every label afterwards.
Advertising one thing and delivering another - a "free download" that opens a sign-up wall - gets the click but spends the trust. Make the label and the outcome match every time; a click that gets what it expected is the whole basis of an honest, usable interface.
The button said "free download" and you believed it - then the click swapped the promise for a trial sign-up you never asked for. Switch to honest and the same button simply does what it says. That gap, between what was promised and what was delivered, is the whole con.
The damage is to trust, and it compounds. Get switched once and you stop believing the next label, so every button on the site now needs proving before anyone will risk a click. A short-term gain in clicks is paid for with a long-term tax on every interaction that follows.
My rule: a control must do what its label says, every time, with no surprise fork in the road. If reaching the free thing genuinely requires an account, say so on the button - "Sign up to download free" - before the click, not after. Honesty up front costs you a few clicks; the switch costs you the relationship.