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.
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.
.
