Sure, we’ve read the articles, but emotionally our reaction is how can “global warming” be bad? The word “global” is certainly innocent enough and “warming” is typically a good thing (hot chocolate, cookies, home fires burning). Seth Godin lays it all out for us in The problem with “global warming.” He’s talking about it from a marketing viewpoint. If we called it, for example, “Impending doom” – we’d probably get a lot more people excited. As it is, evangelicals have teamed with environmentalists – something I never thought I’d see.
So, next time you’re writing something, keep in mind the power of (the right) words. Think about it, would you order something called a toothfish? Well, the poor thing was renamed “Chilean Sea Bass” and is now overfished to the point of near-extinction.
Tag: marketing
