10 TV Posters You Won't Believe

Proof that there's no depth to which marketing won't stoop.

Smallville Clark Lex Lana
The CW

How any TV show is marketed is extremely important - to the network, anyway - arguably more so than the actual quality of the show itself.

Appearances are everything, and if an eye-catching poster can get butts in seats for even a little while, then it's done its job.

But sometimes networks can get a little over-zealous with their ideas - or rather, let their well-minted marketing teams run a little too wild - resulting in some marketing campaigns that get too daring for their own damn good.

These 10 TV shows all released posters that, if we're being kind, are completely ridiculous. Whether genuinely hilarious or just completely tone-deaf, they all got people talking and caused a decent amount of shock among unsuspecting viewers.

While in many cases they absolutely had the desired effect of going viral, in others they felt more like try-hard misfires and botched attempts to start a conversation.

Whether successful or not, they represent some of the most baffling and wildly over-the-top TV marketing you're ever likely to see. And if it isn't clear enough already, many of these posters confirm one thing - sex sells...

10. The Deep's Bulge - The Boys

Smallville Clark Lex Lana
Amazon

Near the start of the year, Amazon began rolling out their hype campaign for the second season of their hit superhero TV series The Boys, with a number of tongue-in-cheek posters featuring the central "heroes."

The most eye-grabbing poster was undeniably one starring The Deep (Chace Crawford) and centered around Dolphin Awareness Month, with many quickly noting the character's unmistakable groin bulge.

Unsurprisingly, Twitter quickly went into meltdown over the image, which if nothing else was certainly true to the series' tendency to provoke audiences while also poking fun at itself.

While it won't shock anyone to learn that the poster wasn't getting the marquee treatment in Times Square, it absolutely served its purpose in getting people talking about the show again - or at least, one of the actors in it and his presumably photoshopped package.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.