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The words/idioms/expression I am looking for is to describe the suddenness of the information presented in either visual or audio context that does not fit into the general theme.

Exaggerated example

You are tasked to write an article about the latest solar eclipse, your boss wants you to insert a piece of information about insurance and insist you link the two matters together in the same article.

Other than asking your boss Are you alright?, is there an expression/word/idioms to tell your boss it is not a good idea to forcefully insert a different subject matter, it will be too abrupt for the readers, and explain/describe the mismatch of subjects?

Other than simply stating they don't match, is there a more eloquent, professional and diplomatic way to express it in regular idioms/expressions/words?

Or in the shoes of the readers, the phrase/expression/idioms you would use to describe shoved in your face kind of selling or a sudden switch of subject matters in reading materials?

Thank you

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    Does non-sequitur fit the bill? vocabulary.com/dictionary/non%20sequitur – Kate Bunting Jan 1 '20 at 10:24
  • @KateBunting I like this word. Haven't heard of it till now. It SOUNDS elegant. To use it in a sentence, do I simply say this section/idea/concept is a non sequitur? – Jalene Jan 2 '20 at 0:00
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    It's usually something a person says that is described as a non sequitur. – Kate Bunting Jan 2 '20 at 8:51
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"Discordant" is a term I might use:

not matching other things and therefore strange or unpleasant

Macmillan

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  • Thanks! This fit too! And it feels assertive. – Jalene Jan 3 '20 at 5:13
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You can say that this ( idea/concept) is like a ' Square peg in round hole'

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  • This expression usually refers to a person in an unsuitable job. – Kate Bunting Jan 1 '20 at 10:22
  • @KateBuntington, usually usually means not to the exclusion of everything else. – vectory Jan 2 '20 at 2:17
  • Thanks @Ninad This convey the meaning of mismatch directly but I am looking for a more subtle way of saying it. Well... you know.. to a boss. – Jalene Jan 3 '20 at 6:28
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Obtrusive

1a: forward in manner or conduct
//obtrusive behavior
//The waiter was attentive without being obtrusive.
1b: undesirably prominent
//obtrusive TV commercials

“obtrusive,” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obtrusive. Accessed 1/1/2020.

Crass fits, but is pejorative and I wouldn't use the word in earshot of the boss.

2: guided by or indicative of base or materialistic values
//crass commercialism
//crass measures of success

The strings obtrusive product placement and crass product placement are both idiomatic.

Say this for I, Robot: it doesn't push the future in your face. Set in Chicago in 2035, the movie has a sensible, couple-of-years-hence look. Americans of the next '30s, the movie tells us, will still wear vintage sneakers (Converse 2004), drink Ovaltine and get home deliveries from FedEx. (We know this thanks to some of the most obtrusive product placement since Cast Away.) And morose gumshoes will obsessively patrol the streets for sophisticated robots that have an itch to be human. Yes, readers of future past, I, Robot--"suggested by" Isaac Asimov's pioneer collection of short stories published in 1950--is another gloss on Blade Runner.

Time Magazine, The Future Is Getting Old By Richard Corliss Sunday, July 18, 2004

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To this end, I propose a new certificate. Let's call it GU-35. "GU" stands for grown-up, while that 35 designation means people of that age or over may wander into such films confident that they will not feel excluded. GU-35 movies would not feature repetitive special effects, explosions, meaningless car chases or obtrusive product placement. Scripts would be literate, logical and intelligent. Characters would be believable and would not announce their emotions verbally, but might do so subtly with a look or gesture. And who knows, GU-35 films might not defy their own narrative logic and strain for forced happy endings.

The Telegraph, First person singular: thinking movies—Let's have a new film certificate: 'GU', for grown-up, writes David Gritten, Thursday, 02 January 2020

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Strike up the brand

Are you sick of film-making being corrupted by crass product placement? Give the commercials a break, argues Kevin Maher

This is the article title and subhead from The Times, Aug 4 2005.

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  • Obtrusive sounds perfect to describe the shoved-in-your-face kind of behaviour. Thanks! – Jalene Jan 3 '20 at 5:20

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