Chatty Copy
I’m going to make your day a smidgen worse.
This is nothing new, but something I hadn’t noticed. Allow me to introduce it to you … Imagine a sign above a water fountain at a gym. These days, that sign might read something like:
“Hey buddy! Thirsty, huh? Drink up – it’s important to hydrate! But remember, this is a public water fountain, please don’t make a mess and move out of line as soon as you finish!”
A less chatty version of this same message?
“Respect other water fountain users.”
Or, if you want to spell it out more.
“Respect others – don’t leave a mess, and move along quickly.”
Now that I’ve been introduced to chatty copy I can’t notice how it seems to be EVERYWHERE.
Think to yourself, is this telling me about a product or some information? Is it also trying to be weirdly chummy while doing so? Hey hey, you’ve just run into some chatty copy! Why say with 10 words what you can say in 100 words with an emoji to boot?
I think it is on the decline or way out at this point, but what an interesting trend that seemed to have swept so many different companies and notices/warnings all over. This makes me want to pay more deliberate attention to advertising in all its various forms, instead of letting it be the background noise that sticks in my head. I feel like paying attention to ads and dissecting them takes a bit of the crafty subtle manipulative powers away from them. But then again, they are so abundant you can’t help but want to tune them out. At this point I’m just rambling. (This is not a form of advertising as far as I know.)
Let’s hope Charmin never embraces chatty copy.
It’s like a fruit porcupine! Everything about it is saying, ‘no no, not me, my outsides are painful friend, try a banana for God’s sake, it’s got that handy little carrying case so you can eat it even if your hands are dirty.’
DumbFunnery 