28 May Copywriters like playing with words

I get annoyed far too easily these days and when some fool (or simply someone who hasn’t given the subject enough careful thought) starts telling me that puns and other wordplays are inappropriate for effective advertising. I can’t help myself.

I get angry in what I hope is a professional way and say “Tell that to the humourist who came up with ‘Compare the Meerkat’ as a playful alternative name for the online insurance comparison site, ‘Compare the Market’, as obviously that idea fell flat on its arse and never made it off the drawing board”.

It just goes to show that puns can be fun and wordplays can be incredibly memorable so don’t go and throw away some of your most important writing tools. You never know but you might just come up with an award-winning, long-running, sales-busting ad campaign that launches its very own line of cuddly toys.

I’ll be returning to this thought in later blog posts as the whole notion of playing with words is a subject close to my heart and my head.

I’m also amazed at how many well-respected copywriters who really should know better take a thoughtless swipe at puns and other such wordplays and then go on to use them in their own work.