How many copywriters lose because of “smallness”?

A week ago on International Women's Day, major brands unveiled their holiday copywriting, some of which were well received by netizens, while others caused dissatisfaction among them. The author of this article analyzed the situation from the perspective of "pattern" and also made suggestions to copywriters. Let's take a look.

As the saying goes: A general on the road does not chase rabbits. To accomplish great things, one must have a broad vision, and the same applies to copywriting.

Some copywriters who like to play smart tricks will fail if they are not careful.

After all, you know copywriting. If it is well written, it may not be a big deal, but if it is badly written, it may cause trouble. You think it will make people's eyes light up, but it may make you feel dark.

For example, there were several recent failure cases on Women's Day, such as "38 shut up", "hard meat and little juice"... I didn't expect that with so many precedents and excellent cases today, there would be such catastrophic performances.

Between "heartfelt copywriting" and "heart-wrenching copywriting", it has taken the path of "disgusting copywriting" from which there is no return.

1. "This 38, shut up" - MAIA ACTIVE

This is the title of the official tweet from yoga brand MAIA ACTIVE on March 8.

To be honest, this sentence has a good rhythm, but it also really deserves a beating.

It can be understood as "let some people shut up on the 38th", but "38" can also be understood as some kind of indecent name.

I would like to ask you a question here : "Did you do this on purpose or by accident?"

Looking at the text part, the screenshot is as follows:

Excessive feminism, shut up!

Excessive feminism is not a good idea!

Sexists, shut up!

It's really undisciplined to create confrontation for no reason!

…

I originally thought that "Shut up about this 38" meant "Shut up about all the comments about women on this 38th section."

The unexpected result was to silence "excessive feminism", and the spearhead was actually directed at some women.

Even though we should not be overly feminist, it is obviously inappropriate to issue such discipline at this point in time.

The content quickly sparked controversy on social media platforms such as Weibo and Xiaohongshu, and many people posted screenshots of their order returns on the brand’s online store.

As the situation escalated, the brand deleted the tweet and issued an apology letter:

The gist of it is that my original intention was to have “less preaching to women and more space for women to express themselves freely”, but the way I said it was ill-considered.

Allow women to express themselves freely, but they are told to "shut up" and claim to "less preaching", but when they open their mouths they are accused of "no discipline"?

He clearly wanted to attract attention through extreme expressions, but unexpectedly he triggered a backlash in reality.

Overall -

【Open the pattern】

The true rejection of preaching and free expression should be like PROYA's "Awakening Lion Girl" who is not afraid of what others say:

We no longer have gender boundaries

Stop a person from being who they are.

You can be a lion

It can also be a rose

Gender is not the boundary, prejudice is

It can also be Sohu's persistence:

Girls' circle

A girl with a dreaming heart

I also have the ambition to pursue my dreams

Or maybe POPMART’s pursuit of freedom:

Be yourself

Go to your free world

There are thousands of ways to express the same topic, but you chose the most inappropriate one to attract attention, and ended up making a fool of yourself, right?

2. "Will you be the most beautiful woman in the world?" - Motor Canteen

If the “38” in MAIA ACTIVE might be an unintentional act, then the “三八” in Motor Canteen was intentional.

Will you be the most beautiful ___ in the world?

There were so many good words that could be used to write this, but he chose to write the most unpleasant word, "Sanba".

Some people say that "March 8th" is a neutral word, not to mention that it is a swear word in Cantonese and Taiwanese dialects. Would you call your family members like this?

The Motor Canteen has turned into a "canteen that deserves a beating". It's time to take it out and give it a good polish.

The article was published at 22:08 on the evening of March 6th, and was immediately screenshotted and posted on Weibo and Xiaohongshu, attracting a barrage of criticism.

Then, a surprising move occurred. Motor Canteen quickly deleted the article and re-launched it at 22:31.

The title was changed to: "Everyone is the most beautiful goddess in the world"

The subtitle below is: The old editor will be fried immediately.

One minute they disrespect women, and the next minute they challenge the Labor Law. This is lawlessness.

Click on the article and you will be prompted to leave a message to participate in the lucky draw. The winning messages basically say things like “March 8th is not a derogatory term”, “I prefer the previous title”, “The old editor doesn’t need to be promoted”. . . .

There were a total of 100 messages, 96 of which were from Guangdong, the base of Motor Canteen, and there was not a single negative comment.

Finally, in order to apologize to the friends who have been offended, I promise that there will be benefits given away in the next three tweets of the official account. Please continue to pay attention.

After it was released, it was deleted immediately after receiving a response, and then quickly revised and released. The clever "old editor immediately fired", 100 comments full of control, and subsequent benefits were launched in line with the trend...

Everything was completed within 30 minutes after 10 p.m. If it was an on-the-spot reaction, the efficiency would be simply insane.

After that, the incident continued to ferment and was widely circulated on Weibo, official accounts, and Xiaohongshu. Sohu and NetEase also followed up with reports, and it was said that it even became a hot topic (unverified).

This not-so-famous restaurant brand from Guangdong has become really popular. It is hard not to suspect that this was a planned move.

What was originally a good Women's Day welfare event turned into a "black-red marketing". The popularity was indeed boosted, but what about the favorability?

Overall -

【Open the pattern】

Corresponding to this is "WhatYouNeed", which also comes from Guangdong, and was also tweeted on the official account on the evening of March 6. It is also a Women's Day welfare event. How did WhatYouNeed do it?

We have teamed up with 46 coffee shops to provide free sanitary napkins to women and launched a series of outdoor campaigns in the hope that women’s needs can be brought to the fore and no longer be invisible.

The WhatYouNeed campaign not only received as much exposure as the previous one, but also received a lot of recognition and gratitude. Although both are marketing, the difference is not only in the level of creativity, but also in the heart of the company.

3. "What does a woman smell like?" - Hao Huan Luo

This is a tweet from the "Haohuanluo" public account on March 8. The Haohuanluo official Weibo also released similar content.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand that "Hao Huan Luo" is intended to be a pun.

What he wanted to express, "What do women smell like?", is to use the taste of Haohuanluo snail noodles as a starting point to explore the smell that women themselves emit - the smell of clean soap, the perfume on the wrists, the smell of oil smoke in the hair, the smell of sweat after exercise... and so on.

But what he wanted to attract people's attention was obviously another layer of double meaning with borderline attributes.

On Women's Day, this way of expression carries a sense of disrespect and gaze, which has aroused great disgust among people.

The brand quickly deleted the relevant content and republished it in the afternoon, with the title quietly changed to "Brave Women Refuse to Be Defined."

Another clever trick. It's already a well-known brand, so why bother with such clever tricks? It's not sophisticated at all.

Overall -

【Open the pattern】

For some puns on Women’s Day, check out HBstudio:

men left women right.

The first meaning is “men on the left and women on the right” (left: left, right: right), the second meaning is: men stay to the side, women stay right (left also means "leave", right means "correct").

On the International Women's Day, Chinese traditional customs and Western masculine demeanor are combined together.

Or look at McDonald's:

When viewed upright, it is a capital "W" standing for woman, and when viewed backwards, it is a capital "M" standing for McDonald's. The letter has a positive and negative meaning, and is a simple and direct tribute.

As for the expression "brave women refuse to be defined", with the same idea, how can we express it more brilliantly?

You can watch the 38-second short film "She is Different" from "National Geographic China":

The video is shot in a natural environment, using snow-capped mountains, rivers and waterfalls to depict her appearance. She can be gentle, decisive, elegant, and chic, with thousands of postures and styles. In short, she is undefined.

Or you can look at Xiaomi's:

Freeze your beauty, but don’t define it

4. Only young women have more flavor - Meat skewers

From Rouchuan Wang’s poster on March 8th.

Young mature women have more flavor

Well-done meat is tender and green, well-done meat is medium-rare and tastes good, and well-done meat is hard and less juicy

Combining his own meat skewers with women is also a pun on "taste". What's even worse is that there are also unpleasant descriptions such as "hard meat and little juice".

This time, WeChat deleted the post directly without waiting for Rouchuan Wang to delete it, with the reason being that it "violated social order and morality."

Then they sent an apology letter. Compared with the apology letter from MAIA ACTIVE mentioned above, the apology letter from Rouchuan Wang [Wang Chai] had neither a signature nor a stamp. Its sincerity was eaten up by [Wang Chai].

Overall -

【Open the pattern】

Isn’t it just about combining your own products with Women’s Day? Is it that difficult?

Look at the Nubia phone, which combines the full screen of the product with the beauty of women:

Your beauty is really comprehensive ——nubia

Take a look at ThinkPad, which combines the lightness and strength of the product with the self-reliance of women:

The lightest and strongest, with its own unique edge. —— ThinkPad X1 Nano accompanies you to travel light

Look at Sundaily Fresh Eggs, which combines products with the beauty and strength of women:

It is a bright flower,

It also has a sturdy shell.

If all else fails, you can try something like NetEase Cloud Music, which is simple and clean.

If you don't have a good attitude, you can choose not to express it. Don't go too far.

We advocate rejecting all clever tricks, not because they can easily fail. In fact, failure is not the most terrible thing.

The most terrifying thing is that once you satisfy these little clever ideas that come to your mind easily, it will be difficult for you to move to the next level. You will become self-satisfied, self-depreciating, and then become mediocre, and you will never be able to think of anything better.

Author: Kuang Shisan, WeChat public account: Free shipping