3 examples where people pick words to change their story. Not reality.
Each word is a story, here's where others have picked different words to tell you a different story about the same thing.
It’s no secret that my favourite copywriters are white men. Maybe because the WoC copywriters don’t promote themselves, maybe because they don’t exist. I’m not sure. But anyways. One of these white men- Joseph Sugarman (RIP) once said, each word is a mini-story.
And it’s because words aren’t just stand alone words. They have feelings, associations, memories attached to them. And those who study your emotions know that. So they choose words carefully and so I’m here to tell you to do the same. And give you some examples of where it’s been done to you.
Here are three examples to explain to you exactly what I mean.
Humanitarian work: The Red Cross vs. The Red Crescent.
So that the help is received differently, the humanitarian organisation that owns both of these will hand the person doing the humanitarian work a different vest.
The symbolism and words of each trigger each person so differently that even in a crisis, there needs to be a change to reduce the friction of those recieving help, and increase the likelihood of donations for those who will see the images in post.
What’s important here is that the Humanitarian aid is exactly the same, regardless of the vest. The aid workers are trained in exactly the same way.
And that’s all because of the way we’ll feel and therefore respond when faced with either of these two words and symbols.
Lesson - pick your words incredibly carefully. Even not “picking” a side, is having a side.
Skin lightening: Fair and Lovely vs. Glow and Lovely.
To accommodate the sensibilities of the changing culture, Unilever changed the name of their product.
The original Fair + Lovely product is a skin lightening cream aimed at women in the South Asian sub-continent. After social backlash at the name that lasted years, the name was changed.
It’s important to note that the product still does exactly the same thing. It still changes the colour of skin over time. But the name is different. The audible backlash has since then reduced.
I’ll leave the double entendres wordplay for skin tone and racist undertones to your imagination. But needless to say that the clientele are using if for the same thing, with a muted shocked chorus.
Politics: Estate tax vs. Death Tax.
For about 100 years, the names that taxes take has been toyed with to suit a particular agenda. In this instance, the taxing of a person’s wealth and giving a certain amount to the state either an “Estate Tax” or a “Death Tax”.
Depending on which side of “Tax the rich” you’re on, choose your own label.
And incase you’ve ever thought that media literacy is a recent 2020+ must-have, here’s a snippet explaining the intentions of the Death Tax from the Washington Post in 1906.
A nice use of “speech marks” there to make the reader internally read the “Death tax” in a way that questions its very premise.
FYI - that trick is still used today by journalists when they quote “experts”… See what I did there? You can watch this 👇 video explaining it here.
All this to say.
There are books upon books on how the words we pick could explain exactly the same product in a completely different way that triggers different parts of our brain to do different things and perceive reality in a completely different way. (here’s 👇 my favourite book that does this FYI)
The summary of this book is: Words are the fastest way to polish a turd. And if you have a product, service, EVEN YOU- your CV… words are the fastest way to position yourself so you’re living rent free in the minds of the audience EXACTLY where you want to be.
Whether you want people to perceive you as a doer of good, an impartial agent, or just someone who sells chicken. The words you choose will always tell us a story. And if you harness this skill properly, it’s the very subtle difference between historical sticking power vs. a fart in the wind.
Whether you’re writing your affirmations, or creating marketing content. Researching words will lead you to the same conclusion choosing words is choosing a story.
Get your story straight, then tell it to me simply.