Clever Copy Can Cause Confusion

A good piece of copywriting tells you what you need to know straight away. Often this is the main feature and benefit of a product or service. However, really clever copywriting is thought provoking – it makes you think not just of the obvious, but also an underlying message. A double entendre in effect.

Recently I have seen two examples of triple entendres – copy that says three things in a few words. Now that really is clever.

The first was for Ben Elton’s new book The First Casualty. It was on a poster at Manchester Piccadilly train station and had an image which was obviously the First World War with the words “Read Between the Lines.” Think about it for a second and see if you can work out the three meanings…

• Read between the lines – the art of getting more than the words themselves say from a story.

• Read between the lines – a reference to no-man’s land between the lines of trenches in the First World War.

• Read between the lines – the poster was at a train station…railway lines?

It worked for me and I remembered it. I remembered the caption, that it was about the First World War and that it was written by Ben Elton. Sadly I forgot the title, so I had to look it up on Amazon. Was therefore, the copy too clever – why could I not remember a simple title of just three words?

And before you ask, no I didn’t buy it because the reviews were rubbish!

The second piece of triple entendre was for what I assumed to be a road safety campaign. It simply said “Cut Flowers.” Again, try to think of the meanings...

• A reference to cut flowers left at the site of fatal accidents.

• A reference to the lives that have been cut short – the victims were in effect “cut flowers.”

• An order to cut the amount of flowers left at the roadside by (I thought at first) driving more safely.

In actual fact the campaign has been around for some time and was launched by the British Red Cross. The idea was to get people to learn basic first aid skills so that they can save lives if they are at the site of an accident. Check out their website at http://www.redcross.org.uk/news.asp?id=49172

That bit totally passed me by – I saw the caption, thought how clever it was and just assumed that it was someone trying to stop me from speeding.

So is clever copy such a good idea? Are we so distracted by how good the advert is that we forget to register what or whom it is for? Is it another sad case of style over substance?

I think that it probably is. We should always try to convey the features and benefits of what we are selling, but not confuse customers by being too clever.

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