Copy, egos, and group think

My husband and I went to lunch at a place we've never been to. 

We sat down and started looking around and noticed this on a sign over one window:  "Interesting specials nightly."

That led my husband to recite some things he'd find "interesting"...a plate ful of spiders, for example.

"Interesting" is an interesting word choice.  When I'm trying to decide which restaurant to go to I don't say "Let's go to the one with the most interesting menu."  "Interesting" isn't exactly a differential attribute in the decision making process.

So how did that get on the sign?

I'll give you some ideas. 

The boss said that's what he (or she of course) wanted it to say.  Workers who value their jobs don't normally feel comfortable telling their boss that what he wants on the sign doesn't exactly sound too great.  And if someone worked up the courage to say that, the boss would say something like "What are you talking about?  That sounds great."

One employee suggested it to another.  People who have to work together are often very nervous about criticizing each others work or decisions.  So when someone says "What do you think" the answer is usually something like "Sounds good" or some other fairly innocent comment.

Someone has to be brave enough to speak the truth before the business winds up with something goofy on their sign.

It's also why copywriters will frequently ask you what may sound like stupid questions and they may ask you what you mean by words that you think they should KNOW what you mean. 

Now none of us is perfect and we've all written something that's ended up in print that we later wonder what we were thinking.  But if everyone agrees that something sounds good, maybe the best strategy is to let it sit for a couple of days before you send it to print or off to the sign painter.

Comments

[Guy]

Winnie,

This cracks me up. I can so put myself in your shoes. You hit the nail on the head.