Thursday 3 January 2008
More or less?
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Martin writes,
Martin has been in touch by email to submit this wonderful example of a shop getting it completely wrong.
Martin writes,
Even a major national chain can get it wrong, the attached is in the window of the local W. H. Smith store.My maths isn't great but I know that buying something at more than half price isn't necessarily a good deal.
Labels: marketing copy, signage, wrong word
posted by Gez at 7:32 pm
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2 Comments:
I notice football's Alan Hansen's shameful advertising campaign for Morrisons has thrown up something of a smiliar theme, in that they're offering some goods, such as Findus Lasagnes, at "better than half price".
We all know what they're getting at but it's still wrong, given that one definition of better in the Oxford dictionary is 'to a greater degree; more'. Thus they're saying it's more than half price, just like that there USB drive.
It may be more sinister than a simple mistake. Maybe some marketer (formally known as a marketeer) has decided that "less" is too negative a word for a promotion. "More than 50% off" requires a bit of maths (no good is you are chasing the thicko pound). "More than half price" delivers the message at the intended level. Correct English just doesn't cut it when delivering a "message".
I hate marketers.
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