An ad in ‘The Young Ladies’ Journal’ of 1877 for Righton’s Dress Fabrics reads:
‘Ladies are respectfully invited to write at once for patterns of these beautiful and fashionable materials for Summer wear. The newest and most varied stock in the Kingdom to select from.’
The ad goes on to list ‘… Suitings, Tennis and Seaside Materials, Canvas Cloths, Zephyrs, Cashmerettes, Cambrics, Lawns, Satteens… and many other Novelties, all of which are unequalled in every respect.’
It would be safe to say that this was written before the golden age of advertising, however, 132 years ago, this was probably perfectly acceptable and possibly even quite compelling.
By the 1940s, the language was no less whimsical. Under the headline ‘Like Paris in the Spring’, this Coty press ad tells us:
‘Coty brings you the heart-stirring warmth of its fragrant air, the vibrant charm of its bright-hued flowers… in a series of lovely make-up aids, color-related in Springtime shades and fragranced with Coty perfumes.’
By the 60’s and 70’s, the copywriter had blossomed into a true commercial wordsmith (Fay Weldon, Len Deighton and Salman Rushdie all came out of advertising agencies). Great copywriters like Bill Bernbach, David Ogilvy, Tony Brignull and David Abbott lovingly crafted their copy, to not only sell, sell, sell, but to instill belief and trust in a brand. They helped convey a product’s intelligence as well as its points of difference.
David Abbott famously wrote a beautiful press ad for Chivas Regal with 265 words across 50 perfect paragraphs. His award winning ad for the RSPCA ‘When the Government killed the dog licence they left us to kill the dogs’, had 460 painstakingly honed words in the body copy. Not that Abbott was a slave to long copy – he once said “Think visually … sometimes the best copy is no copy”.
I couldn’t agree more, but us modern-day hacks may have taken this a little too literally. Have a look in the colour supplements, how many decent ads have more than a couple of words squeezed in under the picture?
Has the craft of copywriting had its day? We are all constantly bombarded by SMS messages, programme sponsorships, HTML emails, viral movies… Maybe no one really has the time or patience for long copy any more. However, I think the issue is not how many or how few the words, but whether they are the right words.
Driving along recently, a poster caught my eye (for all the wrong reasons). The headline was ‘OMG’ – my immediate reaction was “UGH”. This sorry blight on the landscape then went on to inform me that ‘My chunky just got funky’. What are they talking about? Funky? Are they serious?
Is it rubbish (OMG, I think so), is it lazy (Like, duh!) or is it a brand that knows its audience? – presumably 14 year-olds who learned to spell on a Sony Ericsson C905. Argh, I’m starting to sound like my Grandad, but this ad made my blood boil! After seeing it, I needed a break, but the last thing I needed was a Kit Kat – Thank Crunchie it was a Friday!
Would this offering from Kit Kat make the great writers of yore turn in their graves, or would they sagely say that it is an ad of its time that the ‘YOT will <3′?
If you managed to get beyond the first sentence, I’d love to know what you think (but I guarantee if you write ‘LOL’ without even a modicum of irony, the blog police will show no mercy).
