Just below the window of the back door of a car. About an inch across, blue, with little silver legs to cling to the target, a blinking red light, and at least one was left in an incredibly obvious place. The ones used in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.Once pointed out, one was clearly visible even at a distance and also made a beeping sound.

Gero in Dragon Ball used Literal Surveillance Bugs to monitor several character for years without being detected. Of course, if they threw away the tracker, the Buff Clan would probably never find them after a few DS Drives, and the series would end early. Especially considering that one of the members of the Solo Ship crew (Karala) is a former Buff Clan soldier, and up until halfway into the series (when prototypes fresh off the drawing board were launched at the Solo Ship), knew every piece of Buff Clan military technology down to the last detail. but you would think someone would eventually catch on. Justified by the space ship being lost technology and the crew not knowing what belongs and what doesn't. Said bug later gets picked up by the crew, inspected, tossed around, and ran over by the Ideon itself, and still continues working.

In Space Runaway Ideon, the Buff Clan plant a tracker on the escaping Solo space ship.

This powerful, hypercompetent woman never notices.

In Variable Geo, a listening device the size of a yoyo with a huge green light on it is affixed to the seat of the woman in charge of the corporation behind the tournament that is the center of the series.

See Also: Finding the Bug, Incredibly Obvious Bomb, Incredibly Obvious Tail, Insecurity Camera. Not to be confused with the things you find in Obvious Betas. Bugs in television are big and obvious so the director can point the camera at the bug to tell the audience that a bug has been planted on that person without wasting dialog telling the audience. The reason this trope is used is for the audience's benefit. Sometimes the bug itself isn't obvious, but is discovered because it allows two-way communication for some reason. If someone points it out, they're dismissed as being paranoid. (e.g., one the size of a bowling ball stuck to the back of someone's head, beeping with the volume of a truck horn). The bug is so absurdly large or obvious that it should be utterly impossible to miss, yet no one notices.

It's intended to be found to unnerve/annoy an already suspicious or paranoid person.

An Incredibly Obvious Bug being used to distract attention from another far less obtrusive bug.

The target actually finding the bug, then either destroying it or using it to mislead the person listening in.

Still played straight on occasion, just as often it's subverted or parodied. One would think that Batman of all people would realize that perhaps it's not a good idea to stick a beeping, light-equipped device onto somebody's car and expect them not to notice. Tracking devices are even worse for this, not only having a red light, but beeping audibly, which is several kinds of stupid. And sometimes they're right out in the open, apparently unnoticed by people who really ought to know better. Sometimes they get hidden in ventilation grates in such a way that the light they emit can be seen by anyone walking by. Listening devices and 'hidden' cameras that are large and obvious, often with a big red or green light on them, that go unnoticed.

Hidden listening device in tv