# What is the official nomenclature for this type of promo?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-official-nomenclature-for-this-type-of-promo/983701
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 7, 2023, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-official-nomenclature-for-this-type-of-promo/983701 "2023-05-07T15:38:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2023, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-official-nomenclature-for-this-type-of-promo/983701/1 "2023-05-07T15:38:23Z")
So you’re watching a sitcom or something on TV, and suddenly the station decides you need to be reminded that a different show will be coming on later. So they run a little silent commercial at the bottom of the screen, with the name of the show and a couple of cast members smiling and sometimes waving at you.
Is there an official name for that sort of thing?
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2023, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-official-nomenclature-for-this-type-of-promo/983701/2 "2023-05-07T15:40:30Z")
A “pop-up” ad, or a “snipe.”
> **[Commercial Pop-Up - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CommercialPopUp)**
>
> A trend of a commercial blurb in the form of a "pop-up" style graphic (audio optional) during a show. Commonly called "snipes" by broadcasters, these ads are typically not for products, but for the network's programming. They are not to be …
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2023, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-official-nomenclature-for-this-type-of-promo/983701/3 "2023-05-07T15:49:13Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> Is there an official name for that sort of thing?
**Makes Me Want To Destroy My TV Screen**?
I’m up to #11!
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### Author:  [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-official-nomenclature-for-this-type-of-promo/983701/4 "2023-05-07T20:10:35Z")
I seem to remember when they started putting a small logo for the broadcasting station in the lower right corner of the screen that they were officially known as “bugs”. A friend used to complain about them as an unwarranted intrusion on his viewing. I’m afraid to think about what he would say about the current pop-ups which take up so much of the bottom of the screen. There have been times when they’ve actually covered up things relevant to the plot of the show.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2023, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-official-nomenclature-for-this-type-of-promo/983701/5 "2023-05-07T20:31:19Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#):
>
> I seem to remember when they started putting a small logo for the broadcasting station in the lower right corner of the screen that they were officially known as “bugs”.
Yup; the little network logo in the corner of the screen is known, in the industry, as a “bug.”
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2023, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-official-nomenclature-for-this-type-of-promo/983701/6 "2023-05-07T22:49:25Z")
A union print shop will include the logo of the printer’s union somewhere on all their work. That’s the “union bug”. I don’t know whether that’s the origin of the term “bug” as applied to vid, but it’s been around since the heyday of the union movement after WW-I.
> **[Union label](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_label)**
>
> A union label (sometimes called a union bug) is a label, mark or emblem which advertises that the employees who make a product or provide a service are represented by the labor union or group of unions whose label appears, in order to attract customers who prefer to buy union-made products. The term "union bug" is frequently used to describe a minuscule union label appearing on printed materials, which supposedly resembles a small insect.
> The invention of the union label concept is attributed to...
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-official-nomenclature-for-this-type-of-promo/983701/7 "2023-05-08T15:30:17Z")
“Bugs” are the network logos in the bottom corner. What the OP is asking about is called a “lower third.”
And yes, they often collide with and obscure something you actually wanted to see.