Bob Bly recently released a new version of Claude Hopkin’s classic “Tested Advertising”. In it, he includes the Lord & Thomas creed. Creed #38 is on “Skeptics.” The first line reads..
“We are dealing with a world of skeptics.”
My first thought was, “Wow. If they thought people were skeptical in the late 1920′s, you would have to multiply that skepticism by a power of 10 today.”
And that brings me back to my consistent battle against bombast and adjectives.
I think the two first questions you have to ask of your copy are:
“Will they care?”
“Will they believe it?”
