To make people get used to and accept the bad by showing them the worse

I am searching for an idiomatic expression for making people accept and get used to what they normally wouldn't by showing or making them experience a worse one.

Edit; when authority wants to increase a price of a 100x to be 150x but doesn't want to face trouble with people, they first make it 200x and after bad reactions it reduces the price to be 150x and make people happy with it.

This is often done by making a comparison.

You think that's bad? It's not as bad as X.

At least it's not X.

Where "X" is replaced with the worse situation.