Dead cat strategy

The dead cat strategy, or deadcatting, is the introduction of a dramatic, shocking, or sensationalist topic to divert discourse away from a more damaging topic. The strategy, or at least the "dead cat" metaphor to describe it, is particularly associated with Australian political strategist Lynton Crosby.
Boris Johnson employed Crosby as his campaign manager during the 2008 and 2012 London mayoral elections, and wrote of his advice that "There is one thing that is absolutely certain about throwing a dead cat on the dining room table – and I don’t mean that people will be outraged, alarmed, disgusted. That is true, but irrelevant. The key point, says my Australian friend, is that everyone will shout, ‘Jeez, mate, there’s a dead cat on the table!’ In other words, they will be talking about the dead cat – the thing you want them to talk about – and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief."
Examples.
A 2013 EU proposal to cap bankers' bonuses was compared to a dead cat by Boris Johnson, who quoted Crosby's story and described the move as "a convenient distraction" from Spanish unemployment figures.
In 2016, Donald Trump was accused of criticizing the cast of "Hamilton" in order to distract from a legal settlement, with CNN calling this "a particularly malodorous dead cat". In 2017, his actions during the Trump Tower wiretapping allegations were also compared to Crosby's dead cat strategy.