What is the meaning of the phrase “shameless plug”?

A “shameless plug” is a term often used on the Internet to refer to a time when someone tries to include (or “plug”) some information that helps advance their own selfish interests. And that information is usually a little bit off-topic. But, that person will acknowledge that it is selfish – which is why it is called “shameless”.

One example of a shameless plug could be on a community driven site like Reddit, where members often post interesting articles and pictures from around the internet, and the community then comments on those things. Suppose member A puts up a cute picture of his dog. Then, member B could post a message like this in response: “Cute dog! Shameless plug: here’s a link to my dog grooming business website.” So, member B is basically saying here is a link to a website that will help me advance my own selfish interests, and it is somewhat related to the current topic.

Shameless plug synonyms

It’s hard to come up with synonyms for “shameless plug” that are short and sweet, but you can use something like
“on a somewhat related note, a personal project of mine is here:…”, or “cheeky self promotion”, or even “brazen self promotion”. How you decide to say it really depends on the context of the conversation.

Example of shameless plug in a sentence

Here’s an example of the term shameless plug being used in an imaginary thread on the Internet:

Joe: Here's a picture of my cute dog.
Jack: Nice dog!  Shameless plug: here's a link to my dog grooming services website...


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