Today, there is no need to speculate on the importance of advertising in business. Everyone knows that to become popular you need to advertise. In fact, we do it ourselves every day, advising a new restaurant to friends, complimenting an interesting book or a movie, speaking about our own virtues and talents at a job interview.
We do our best for the people to believe us and respond to our call for action, whatever it might be. But what happens if they actually follow your advice and then are extremely dissatisfied with the outcome? Do you answer for the results? Should you account for your promises? Or is it really a problem at all?
These questions get a special meaning with regard to the profession of a copywriter. As while you are unlikely to persuade your buddy to buy crap, if it is your job to compel, you sometimes need to compromise with your conscience. Even knowing that magic weight-loss pills are not that magic if not to say worse, you receive money for saying they are good, so what’s the difference? However, many copywriters refuse to perform the like assignments as they feel responsible for their words.
Let us take another simple example, namely, e-books. Hundreds and thousands are sold on the Internet covering every imaginable topic, and only a tiny proportion of them is really worth spending time and money on. But still it is the copywriter’s job to assure the target audience of product quality. If people are told “black is white” a lot of times in a row they soon start believing it. Amazingly, statistics shows that even if there is a return option, few take advantage of it, so bad stuff does sell when it has nice wrapping.
Look at the fast food stores: most of them provide products of medium to law quality, and every person can make sandwiches better than they make at MacDonald’s, still the business is extremely successful thanks to the highly professional and well-elaborated advertising campaigns. At the same time even products of exceptional quality can be getting dusty on store shelves without proper presentation.
So the answer to my initial question, whether cool copy can sell crappy stuff, is a definite “yes”. Thus, do not economize on copywriting services, this sort of investment can be repaid a hundredfold.
You ask an Interesting question but did not answer it. Are we responsible for the things we recommend?
I believe that if we don’t take responsibility for our recommendations then the value of them decreases and the more times we recommend badly the lower our reputation will fall. In fact with each bad recommendation I believe your reputation falls expontially i.e. it drops like a stone.
However the copywriter is the agent of the client and it is the client making the false claims not the copywriter per se. But I make one caveat, if the copywriter believes the client is doing something that will harm people including ripping them off financially or that the product is immoral then they also have a moral responsibility for lending their skills to help a “bad” client further their immoral pursuits. At some time we all have to accept responsibility for our contribution and refuse to hide behind excuses such as I am only doing my job.
I am certainly not pointing the finger at you with this comment, only adding my point of view to your interesting moral dilemma and does it apply to copywriting and by extension to the copywriter?
Ric Vatner
July 12th, 2007
Thanks for your comment Ric,
I understand your point and agree with it.
However, it only calls to further discussion and hardly answers the question I haven’t managed to find a certain answer to myself.
What I mean is, so many factors are involved here, that it impossible to come to a clear yes or a definite no.
Furthermore, we should assess every special situation separately taking into account such aspects as the product/service to be advertised, general brand credibility, your own subjective opinion on the above, etc.
One can’t draw parallels between diet pills, escort services, poison and bazookas. And again, the world has more colors than just black and white. It is possible that what seems crap to you will be a panacea to your neighbor. What is more, one can’t be responsible for the people around.
So, I believe, a copywriter should take a practical rather than philosophical approach to the jobs she’s taking and always compare presumed benefits with the potential harm, sticking to fundamental moral rules.
Tanya
July 13th, 2007