Marketing weasel speak
by Volker Weber
Why is that so hard? Why can't a company bring itself to admit any fault, however minor, to say they feel badly about something? It's OK, really. Your customers will forgive you. What customers should not forgive is marketing speak. I don't cry over spilled milk. I cry over "The erstwhile contents of the glass have been redistributed in a more horizontal fashion. This was a business decision based on gravitational forces. Information on forthcoming moisture containment strategies and potential new sources of dairy products will be made available by mid-January 2008."
Comments
That's exactly what I've been wondering for some time now. Customers aren't always a mixture of stupid sheep and raging bulls that will swallow every crappy marketing speech and interpret admitted errors as red cloths that need to be attacked. For myself, it's the other way round: A company that stands by it's errors and decisions generates a more sympathetic and humane feeling, whereas some phony press statements makes me want to hit someone from the company with a shovel - and I'm a pacifist. :)
Of course it's also a cultural thing. In Japan for example making errors equals losing your face, this can mean losing customers forever...
Daniel Haferkorn, 2007-08-06
