More from the Corporate Belch Department (or not)

Gobbledegook or strategy?

If anyone knows how to craft direct response copy, the friendly people at Hammacher Schlemmer do. So it’s a curious thing when they spew indecipherable copy, as they did on the web page pictured at right. To wit:

... the pod’s ellipsoid exterior blocks 90% of outside noise while its interior foci ameliorate ...

Yours for just $30,000

Now, given that the friendly people at Hammacher Schlemmer know their stuff, a small part of me wonders if they are testing to see if sciencey-sounding nonsense works. But the rest of me has another suspicion. At $30,000 per, it’s doubtful that Hammacher Schlemmer anticipates selling vast quantities of Tranquility Pods. Thus I cannot help wondering if the product is in the catalog only as an anchor. As in, to make their other overpriced stuff look affordable. If that’s the case, the copy would matter little, and the gobbledegook may actually be nothing more than a copywriter winking at us.

Thanks to Tom Flynn for suggesting this post