Avoid The Cliché

We at Big Red Moose define marketing as the dissemination of information in order to develop a favourable opinion. That being the case, then politicians, by definition, are marketers. However, they seem oblivious to the fact that a goodly proportion of the electorate may care what they may have to say, but as a result are frustrated as the political class seem reluctant to say it. Rather, they will hide behind a vast collection of pre-recorded and meaningless clichés, appearing to sound erudite, yet saying nothing. Useful in an awkward interview, eh?

If anyone out there could tell me what a nuanced approach is, I’d be grateful. The alliterative and deeply annoying mantra of strong and stable could damage a political campaign, couldn’t it? You’ve only to listen to politicians on the serious radio news programs in the morning being interviewed by seriously bright journalists to hear the full cliché repertoire. Yet we can all forgive them, because they are politicians, and that’s how politicians communicate. Or not.

So, if you are in the cold, cruel commercial world and are thinking about scattering a few clichés in your ad copy, hang on a moment. If you are going to use the word ‘solutions’ in your pitch, have a bit of a think first; a ‘solution’ implies there is a problem, and a lot of people don’t like to be told they have a problem. Avoid the cliché, then, otherwise you could end up turning off the very people you want to turn on to your product.