I was listening to the radio a few days ago when the head of a UK advertising watchdog was being interviewed, and the gist of the part I heard was to the effect that some advertisements, in the UK certainly, use language that is essentially meaningless in the context in which it is used. Furthermore, she said that often when her organisation has called up the advertising agency and asked what particular words mean, no one had a clue. And they're not always made-up words... one was 'quantum' - and no one who was involved with the advertisement in question had even a clue as to what it means... but it looked good, so they used it. Bottom line... it pays off to check the meaning of words before you use them. Let's face it, advertising is a bit of a minefield at the best of times... like the time SARS super-pneumonia was sweeping Hong Kong, but the local tourist board had spent a lot of time and effort into coming up with the slogan "Hong Kong will take your breath away". Correct words this time, but perhaps not the best.


Rod Baker, Content Manager