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No Thanks To You - More Copywriting & Advertising Screw-Ups
When is a thank you not a thank you? When it’s a self-serving boast in disguise. 
You’ve seen them, ads online and off that proclaim “Thank you for letting us celebrate our 3,000th year in business!”
These chest-beating boasts have nothing to do with the people they’re (ostensibly) thanking — they’re about the advertiser, not the customer. The advertisers are actually congratulating themselves while disguising it (badly) as a thank you.
In fact, it’s negatively self serving. The following advertisement proves my case:
Headline: “Thanks for helping us save minds, save lives.”
Visual: list of sponsors in small print (ostensibly to show you there are many).
Subheading: “And by thanking you all on one page, we also saved some trees.” (Wow . . . a two-fer, they’re considerate and ‘green’)
Body copy: “The Ad Council would like to publicly thank our sponsors who have enabled our public service campaigns to have a positive effect on the lives of millions of Americans. “
Geez Louise . . . that line was just pure copy vomit. Obviously the copywriter who wrote that (and the editor who let it pass) never read it out-loud because it is almost undecipherable when you do so.
And since nearly everyone who reads does so by sub-vocalizing (i.e., they mentally “say” the words to themselves), then it comes across as tossed word salad. Sure it covers all the points, just as throwing every vegetable in the garden could still be technically called a salad.
But while you can call it whatever you want, that doesn’t make it more palatable.
This immodest ad was a just chest-thumping boast, not a thank you. Now, imagine the same ad with a different intent — that this company was actually intending to thank their supporters.
And it can be done with a simple headline “Thank you ad council sponsors, for saving minds and lives.”
Give credit. Don’t take credit when you say “Thank you.”
By Walter |
Topics: Client Top Secret, Marketing Mishaps, Pro Analysis |