IKEA needs help |  Not for capuchins, either. |
| Writer: I’ve got it! Let’s say we design for people. Creative director: Sounds incomplete unless you say what we don’t design for. Writer: How about capuchin monkeys? Creative director: Can’t say that. You’ve seen our board of directors. Writer: I’ve got it! People-not-consumers! Because, you know, companies that call consumers ‘consumers’ instead of ‘people’ must be, like, like evil and all. Creative director: Everyone will totally get that. Put it on the cover. |
At least they managed to work in “people,” which has never been done before unless you count slogans like People helping people, Powered by people, It’s our people, Our people make the difference, People are our business, and myriad other people-y slogans.
I am not the first to ridicule people slogans. Way back in 1985, I clipped a delightful Advertising Age editorial by Luke L. Sullivan, at the time a copywriter for the Martin Agency, entitled “Tag lines and whole lot more.” Now and then I dig it out for a good re-read and a good re-laugh. After skewering sundry awful slogans, Sullivan suggests people-y slogans of his own. For the police, he suggests: People protecting people from people. For undertakers, he suggests: Living people helping dead people. And for lawyers, he offers: People trying to be people trying people.
I recommend Sullivan’s editorial.* It's The editorial about slogans to read when you need to read an editorial about slogans.
*I doubt it’s online (I searched to no avail) and I dare not post a copy of my clipping without permission.
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