On Copywriters
Rediff has a very useful article for all of us, which is titled 'What are all those copywriters doing?' Don't snort now, please. I am guessing that the next in the series would be 'What are all those Shiamak's dancers doing?' Or 'What are all those Feng-Shui guys doing?' I don't know why Rediff feels the need to educate us about such life-saving professions. I mean, hey, they let this guy, probably suffering from a serious case of Gastritis, rave and rant about -hold your breath- Copywriters!
Lindsay Pereira's piece in Rediff slams the Copywriters of our advertising industry for producing dull, drab, and uninspiring ads. Pereira, however, makes it look like ALL copywriters are dumb and all the work that they produce is trash. Pereira also gets very personal with about 97% of the Copywriters:
Okay, screw all of that, you think writers on Rediff know their English? Please read this. Let us not get high and mighty. By saying that most Copywriters are dumb, you (I mean Rediff hee hee) are antagonizing every ad agency that has some integrity and self-respect. I am amazed that Rediff actually published your piece!
Finally, Copywriters�good ones that is�do not sit around in their faded jeans to come up with ideas. You have no idea how much of research goes behind product positioning and the campaigns. Remember the DairyMilk campaign? It created a new market for god�s sake. It is unfair to say that all copywriters are lazy clowns who smoke up and wait for ideas to emerge from the smoke-induced high. Let's flip it around. Why did you write this piece? How useful it is going to be for the Rediff reader (that does not give a f*** about what a Copywriter is)? Who was your target audience Pereira? What was the purpose of this piece? Will you take your writing seriously and try to make a difference? See? Didn't they tell you that small detail about living in glass houses?
And oh, boy, can I go on and on about you (Rediff that is, stop twitching) and your love affair with Bollywood? The minute I bring in the word 'Bollywood' the words 'stupid' 'inane' 'banal, etc. become redundant. One word says it all. And you guys, paint that sh*t all over your site. Why? It is okay for a commercial to be inane simply because I know it is a commercial. An online news portal? You guys are journalists and you can't afford to serve up stupidity, right? What do you do? Those of your ilk? Hm. Think about it cowboy. And hey, stop smoking that sh*t, I mean seriously. Curd is good for acidity, did I tell you?
Note to readers: Coming soon! "The B-school Blogger" Feel free to share your thoughts with me on this forthcoming piece. Add to:del.icio.us| Digg| Reddit| StumbleUpon| Technorati
Lindsay Pereira's piece in Rediff slams the Copywriters of our advertising industry for producing dull, drab, and uninspiring ads. Pereira, however, makes it look like ALL copywriters are dumb and all the work that they produce is trash. Pereira also gets very personal with about 97% of the Copywriters:
I don't get it. Honestly. I understand most copywriters aren't very bright, considering they spend years trying to hawk everything under the sun. I know they aren't as familiar with the English language as they'd like to think they are.
I can picture the copywriters now, sitting in their faded jeans and unwashed shirts, smoking cigarettes in foggy rooms, thinking hard about the next burst of creativity to come their way by accident.Pereira, it seems you know very little about selling. And I am sure your idea of writing a campaign is at an alarming tangent to reality. Dude, stop smoking that sh*t okay? I agree that most of the ads that are hurled at us are inane, but it is a sin if we don't recognise the ones that are brilliant. For example, the SBI Insurance ad that features only old people. Old people, sir, and not 17 year old young ladies weighing only 55 Kg with no blemishes or wrinkles. And of course, there is that Surf Excel commercial that features two young kids: a boy and his sister. Again no 17 year old bombshell. Let me come back to the campaigns of SBI products. I would have never known that SBI being a nationalised bank could be so professional. Now I know. Thanks to those campaigns. We can debate on the quality of some of the ads but over all, I think SBI has made crucial in-roads into the minds of the MNC-employed, high-income youth in our cities.
Okay, screw all of that, you think writers on Rediff know their English? Please read this. Let us not get high and mighty. By saying that most Copywriters are dumb, you (I mean Rediff hee hee) are antagonizing every ad agency that has some integrity and self-respect. I am amazed that Rediff actually published your piece!
Finally, Copywriters�good ones that is�do not sit around in their faded jeans to come up with ideas. You have no idea how much of research goes behind product positioning and the campaigns. Remember the DairyMilk campaign? It created a new market for god�s sake. It is unfair to say that all copywriters are lazy clowns who smoke up and wait for ideas to emerge from the smoke-induced high. Let's flip it around. Why did you write this piece? How useful it is going to be for the Rediff reader (that does not give a f*** about what a Copywriter is)? Who was your target audience Pereira? What was the purpose of this piece? Will you take your writing seriously and try to make a difference? See? Didn't they tell you that small detail about living in glass houses?
And oh, boy, can I go on and on about you (Rediff that is, stop twitching) and your love affair with Bollywood? The minute I bring in the word 'Bollywood' the words 'stupid' 'inane' 'banal, etc. become redundant. One word says it all. And you guys, paint that sh*t all over your site. Why? It is okay for a commercial to be inane simply because I know it is a commercial. An online news portal? You guys are journalists and you can't afford to serve up stupidity, right? What do you do? Those of your ilk? Hm. Think about it cowboy. And hey, stop smoking that sh*t, I mean seriously. Curd is good for acidity, did I tell you?
Note to readers: Coming soon! "The B-school Blogger" Feel free to share your thoughts with me on this forthcoming piece. Add to:del.icio.us| Digg| Reddit| StumbleUpon| Technorati
8 Comments:
hey,
how come no one ever comments on your blog? are you a copywriter? also, your command over the language is poor. please start a tamil or telugu blog or something. thank you.
:-D ha ha thanks Stuti
hi suman,
found your post while surfing for, interestingly, blogs focussing on the tsunami.
i understand that the piece i did for rediff does make a few sweeping statements about copywriters. what i wanted to do, however, was point to the fact that a large chunk of advertisements continue to do what they can just as easily avoid.
yes, clients are to blame. yes, there are some ads that do change things drastically. all i was trying to advocate was a little more sensitivity.
considering the tremendous impact commercials have on the indian masses, it pains me to think of all that power, and the potential to change therein, simply thrown away because copywriters couldn't convince clients of a more sensitive approach to selling detergent.
if they can do an SBI sensibly, they can do household utilities just as well, without having to resort to stereotype to get their point across.
that's all i'm saying. many thanks for your valid comments though. and that reference to the SBI ad. i remember liking it too :)
regards,
lindsay pereira
Hi Lindsay, my only gripe was that you made some sweeping generalisations that's all. That comment on copywriters and their language prowess was a bit too harsh. I am glad you took my sarcasm sportingly.
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suman, lindsay,
i would just like to add to the comments here. i think the abrasive tone of lindsay's article leads one to miss a crucial point s/he makes. advertisements today propagate extremely negative gender stereotyping. the "mummy ka magic" image of an evidently educated woman who is perfectly happy cooking meals and providing instant ice to a cheerful, loving family. what is this?! and this is one of the better ads in that category. also, women lindsy mentions - happily scrubbing away at clothes, so their husbands can wear bright white shirts to office. what is that about?! perhaps s/he gets a little carried away with the language - and suman's criticism there is fine - but the point lindsay makes is totally valid.
hahahahha who did lindsay pay to write that last comment...loser drunk asshole
not a bad piece this, and at least it wasn't written by some delhi guy pretending to know a lot (fyi guys with names like kuldeep or something along those lines arent likely to know a lot about the language (or any language really) good try, ignore the delhi guys who think they're white and keep writing no matter what :)
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