End of a Copywriting Era

First Amelia suggests that the era of the Great British Pun is over and then the Guardian argues that the age of ads with witty wordplay is over.

Amelia suggests that the art of the cleverly crafted tabloid newspaper headline will be lost as the likes of Google and RSS begin to deliver our news on a more regular basis. We’ll miss out on headlines like ‘The Queens Bum Year’ after her self proclaimed “annus horribilis” in 1992; in Response to North Korea’s nuclear test: “How do you solve a problem like Korea” and “Kim Wild”.

The Guardian argues that as brands have changed and become more service orientated the old fashioned model of a USP being rammed home time and time again has become redundant.

“Advertising as we’ve known it was created in America in the 1950s,” he explains. “You spent a lot of money on a memorable jingle or catchphrase that you repeated again and again. FMCG [fast moving consumer goods] companies like Procter & Gamble and Kellogg’s exported this around the world, and it became the model for all advertising. It was only edgy brands that dared to do anything significantly different. Now you’re seeing big, mainstream advertisers like Asda accepting ideas that in the 80s and 90s would be considered offbeat and wacky. If supermarkets have recognised the shift, everyone else will follow.”

The Guardian argues that the style of advertising is becoming more arthouse and less and less music hall. “Complex narratives and a filmic approach – ad techniques that were the preserve of fashion brands – have been inching on to the screen” and replacing the great art of a well put together line.

It sounds like it may be the end for the likes of these great slogans from UK advertising:

· Guinness is good for you

· Hello Tosh, gotta Toshiba

· Don’t just book it, Thomas Cook it

· Because you’re worth it

· Hello boys

· Snap, crackle, pop!

· Finger lickin’ good

· Go to work on an egg

· For mash get Smash

· Just do it