It’s been a funny week this week for no other reason than I think people have forgotten how to communicate. I don’t mean that we are all walking around in silence or that our computers have been unplugged and our phones void of network coverage, I mean the basic principles of communication.
Let me start from the beginning. Earlier this week there was a piece in one of the marketing industry trade publications (which will remain nameless) requesting creative ideas from agencies. This is nothing new or unusual. The idea was that agencies would submit their thoughts based on a given and simple brief – that being ‘Britain is s*it’.
I wasn’t remotely impressed by this and felt not only that it was a terribly negative ‘campaign’ but also that it was unnecessary – is this really the best that the UK creative industry has to offer?
On to the second example, where I was reading a blog yesterday afternoon which was littered – and I mean littered – with profanities and vulgar language. Again, this piece appeared on an agency website, which professes to manage the reputations of companies through effectively communicating with their stakeholders – erm? I won’t be knocking on their door any time soon and I’m sure a few others will feel the same.
Final example, I received an email yesterday evening which focused on ‘icon training’. The email was well written and I thought really interesting. The content was engaging and I found myself reading on rather than deleting it until I came face-to-face with the heading ‘take risks and don’t give a f*ck’.
Well, that was that. I deleted the email and all of the interesting facts about it – plus the inevitable sales pitch – were lost. The fact that the person sending it had chosen to dilute the message as a result of including such horrific language made me wonder what they were thinking and why they bothered in the first place.
Now here’s my point. I don’t consider myself prudish and during the course of every day I hold my hands up and admit that I do my fair share of swearing – even banding around words that would make my mother’s eyes water (sorry Mum, I know I’m grounded for the rest of my life!) but these examples are ignorant on a totally different scale.
They are ignorant to the intellect of those receiving these communications. As all of these examples came from businesses who work in an industry which requires you to tailor each and every piece of literature to an audience I’m disgusted. Quite honestly, if this is the best that these people have to offer, I’m concerned for the future of our industry.
I’m all for a laugh but fail to see the funny side of sending what can only be described as offensive messages, which presumably are meant to be ‘down with the kids’. In any other instance they would be directed straight to a spam filter, where they belong.
Has it really got to the point where in order to attract attention we need to revert to speaking as if we were 13 or down the pub on a Friday night after having one too many? Come on people! There is absolutely no need to use bad language in marketing materials and quite honestly I’m sure I’m not the only person who finds it offensive.
If I have learnt one thing over the last week, it is that at the very heart of everything that we do at Open Communications we remember the need to consider how each action will reflect and impact on our clients. Thankfully using bad language in marketing literature and embarrassing them isn’t something we have to worry about.