Plummeting writing standards in advertisements

[hbarcat]

I've noticed plummeting writing standards in advertisements of all kinds, particularly sales catalogs and brochures. You'd think that the company that wants to sell as many of its fine products as possible would want to spend the money to hire just one person who is capable of fluent writing to at least proofread their materials and make corrections before it goes to press.

One expects that the local mom and pop store advertising in the local weekly would make the occasional grammatical or spelling error in an advert but when major companies put out their periodical full color catalogs that look like were written by a 4th grade student then I have to shake my head. I see this all the time and it's becoming more widespread. I would even use the word "epidemic".

I won't name them, but the worst offender I can think of is an American company that makes amps, guitars and basses and other equipment for musicians. I like the company (they are pretty well respected and have a fairly good reputation for producing quality goods) and I have bought gear from them over the years so I naturally receive a catalog from them every month. There are obvious grammatical and spelling errors on almost every other page and I've had fellow musicians tell me that it makes them leery of buying from them because judging from their catalog they appear to be less than competent at quality control.

I see international companies with thousands of employees putting out adverts that look like they were made by the vice president giving his unemployed nephew a hundred bucks to throw something together.


Sorry for the rant. I'll turn off my grampa Simpson voice now.

Carry on.

[tplyons]

I walked past a sign the other day for a happy hour at a local bar.

They were serving pints of SAMUEL ADAMS BOSTON LARGER.

How much larger can a pint get?

Seriously though, I think people expect spell check to catch everything.

[FreaqyFrequency]

[hbarcat]

Originally Posted by FreaqyFrequency

No way!

[FreaqyFrequency]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-scho...,3132933.story

Yes way.

Personally, I can't wait to see how the correction is spelled.

[rcarraher]

Originally Posted by hbarcat

I've noticed plummeting writing standards in advertisements of all kinds, particularly sales catalogs and brochures. You'd think that the company that wants to sell as many of its fine products as possible would want to spend the money to hire just one person who is capable of fluent writing to at least proofread their materials and make corrections before it goes to press.

One expects that the local mom and pop store advertising in the local weekly would make the occasional grammatical or spelling error in an advert but when major companies put out their periodical full color catalogs that look like were written by a 4th grade student then I have to shake my head. I see this all the time and it's becoming more widespread. I would even use the word "epidemic".

I won't name them, but the worst offender I can think of is an American company that makes amps, guitars and basses and other equipment for musicians. I like the company (they are pretty well respected and have a fairly good reputation for producing quality goods) and I have bought gear from them over the years so I naturally receive a catalog from them every month. There are obvious grammatical and spelling errors on almost every other page and I've had fellow musicians tell me that it makes them leery of buying from them because judging from their catalog they appear to be less than competent at quality control.

I see international companies with thousands of employees putting out adverts that look like they were made by the vice president giving his unemployed nephew a hundred bucks to throw something together.


Sorry for the rant. I'll turn off my grampa Simpson voice now.

Carry on.

It goes way beyond advertising and their bad grammer. I am absolutely apalled by the terrible grammer in the news papers on a daily basis. Some sentences are not even decypherable, they are so poorly written. Things that wouldn't have gotten past my second grade teacher. Spelling, run on sentences, incomplete or badly fractured sentence. I often go back and read it slowly to see if I actually read what I thought I read, and sure enough...It stinks.

[warwick.hoy]

It's a little something we like to call newspeak.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

You mean like:

"Prices to low to print"

OR

"A USB Interface"

I might be wrong, but those sentences are incorrect grammatically.

Now where on earth I saw those ads... .

Regards
Sam

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by rcarraher

It goes way beyond advertising and their bad grammer. I am absolutely apalled by the terrible grammer in the news papers on a daily basis. Some sentences are not even decypherable, they are so poorly written. Things that wouldn't have gotten past my second grade teacher. Spelling, run on sentences, incomplete or badly fractured sentence. I often go back and read it slowly to see if I actually read what I thought I read, and sure enough...It stinks.

Um...sorry, but this is such a target I can't help it...

grammer = grammAr
apalled = apPalled
decypherable = decIpherable

"Things that wouldn't have gotten past my second grade teacher. Spelling, run on sentences, incomplete or badly fractured sentence."

You have two fractured sentences with a missing plural on "sentence" at the end of the second fractured sentence.

Otherwise, I totally agree with you...good gramer iz ded.

EDIT: I just noticed you used the word "fractured" when you meant "fragmented." Not a biggie...I got the meaning, but if we're calling out grammar problems, let's be complete

BTW, I am not a grammar nazi and I'm pretty forgiving of spelling and grammatical errors on forum posts. But I totally agree that professional writing should be held to a much higher standard.

[GregC]

Originally Posted by FreaqyFrequency

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-scho...,3132933.story

Yes way.

Personally, I can't wait to see how the correction is spelled.

Oy, that's my hometown alright.

[hbarcat]

The section for bass amps takes up 4 pages of the catalog I was griping about in the OP and I found these gems there.



Two switches sit next to the input jack: a conveniently located Mute switch, and an Active/Passive switch to tailor the input to basses with different pickup configurations.

A single knob controls the optical compressor with an auto limiter, and a red LED show you when the compressor is in operation.

Expect a deep resonate bass with these systems along with a tight, punchy, slap and pop high end.

Coupled with high current linear amps, you have the authority of pure bass being transmitted to the audience that can be felt.

Made in America at our [ ] factory every [ ] amp is personally tested. Rugged to the core with metal knobs and FR4 fiber glass cards with SMT technology to keep everything from shaking loose.

Neodymium magnets are so strong that each lightweight [ ] neo driver provides the same magnetic field as huge conventional ceramic magnet, so it's no wonder Neo's are the favorite among bass players.



I removed identifying references to the company because it's not my intention to single them out. But this is embarrassing.

Maybe I'm coming off as a grammar NAZI, but potential customers for high tech products make judgments about quality based on what's in a company's catalog. If their advertisements are saturated with obvious and easily avoidable grammar, punctuation and spelling errors, then that just tells a certain percentage of buyers to shop elsewhere.

[Spector_Ray]

Just read some of the writing posted on this forum!

[TheDarkReaver]

What I don't get is why people leave out the name of companies in these types of posts. If there's a problem going on with their publications then it's hardly unfair to name them.

[username n/a]

Is the aforementioned company Carvin?

[bmc]

The slogan for Tesco, the UK food chain, is "Every little helps".

Good English

[COOL AND DEADLY]

I notice these things too. What about Boost Mobile phone's ad campaign. "Where you at?" Even Duncan Donuts is spelled incorrectly. I've actually argued with people who swore up and down that "donuts" is the proper spelling.

[username n/a]

Originally Posted by COOL AND DEADLY

I notice these things too. What about Boost Mobile phone's ad campaign. "Where you at?" Even Duncan Donuts is spelled incorrectly. I've actually argued with people who swore up and down that "donuts" is the proper spelling.

Donuts is correct.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/donuts

[TheDarkReaver]

Originally Posted by bmc

The slogan for Tesco, the UK food chain, is "Every little helps".

Good English

It's a colloquial phrase.

[John Bigboote]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Um...sorry, but this is such a target I can't help it...

grammer = grammAr
apalled = apPalled
decypherable = decIpherable

You forgot "newspapers," "second-grade" and "run-on."

;-)

Everyone who owns a copy of Microsoft Word thinks he or she is a "writer," while very few people think they are "designers" or "art directors" just because they have a layout program. As a result, you *generally* see decent layout but lousy writing. This is part of a broader trend I've noticed over the last 10 years; freelance copywriters are having a harder time than ever, while competent designers/art directors still have little trouble finding work.

Everything is worse in enthusiast markets/publications than in general-interest markets/publications, because they're niche marketers with very limited budgets, and bass is no exception. Generally speaking, ads are poorly conceived, written and art-directed.

Still, there's no excuse for not running a freaking spell-check -- or having a native English speaker review an ad -- before sending it to the pub...

-jb

[rcarraher]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

Hi.

You mean like:

"Prices to low to print"

OR

"A USB Interface"

I might be wrong, but those sentences are incorrect grammatically.

Now where on earth I saw those ads... .

Regards
Sam

Those are some good, if small examples. It took me less than two minutes to find one on CNN from today, and this is relatively minor in comparison...

"The protesters in Iran using Twitter as com are unable to get online ...."

Do editors actualy edit any more?