This blog has been hijacked by copywriters recently. But, when you look at recent events, it’s easy to see why. It’s our job to paint the world in word pictures as Steve mentioned in his last post regarding the US national debt. But as copywriters, we also notice when people paint abstracts with their words. In the aftermath of the recent UK riots, these abstracts are being painted by the jargon of fear.
Why do we use jargon? Often, it’s to make something appear more palatable. More specifically, we use it to fit an agenda. It’s shared by those with a common interest or profession but can often alienate those outside it. When developing copy for promotional materials, we tell our clients that their customers are not interested in their corporate agenda. Their customers want truthful language that resonates with them.
When we talk about word pictures, the jargon of fear has altered our present canvas here in the UK. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen people lazily regurgitate the term “feral rats” to talk about looters. Prime Minister David Cameron is using military rhetoric since we’ve now started a “fight back”. Each and every one of these terms is dramatising the situation to make it more palatable to a specific agenda.
And I’m not giving one agenda greater credence than another. But the thing is, we’re not actually dealing with feral rats; these are boys and girls and men and women. And this is not a war-zone; a government like ours cannot go to war on its own people. And the photo that accompanies this blog depicting the Sony warehouse in Enfield burning is not just a warehouse on fire, it’s the altered landscape of Account Manager Helena’s route in to work.
Clearly, something has gone horribly wrong and just as it’s tempting to simplify it with language, I suspect the issue is more complex than the jargon of fear suggests. The aftermath of the riots has seen plenty of copycat activity, not least from the thousands of armchair commentators quoting the jargon of fear.
As a copywriter and honorary member of the jargon police, I’m saying let’s not let the left or the right limit our vocabulary. Paint your own colourful word picture to deliver a message that is truly yours. Debate is always useful and it’s rarely black and white.
Amy Willmer, Protean Marketing Copywriter amy@protean.co.uk, @proteanamy
Comments