Copywriting Ethics: Would You Take This Job?

Copywriters, here’s a question for you: Suppose a product owner came up to you and asked you to write sales copy for a product you personally would not use because you thought it did more harm than good. And let’s take it a step further: Suppose they wanted you to write that copy so that mothers and fathers would give that product to their babies?

Let’s drill down a bit further and get a bit more specific, shall we?

Suppose a soft drink consortium asked you to write ad copy that would encourage parents to purchase soda / cola / pop for their babies and give it to them while they are still infants? Would you take the job?

Well, guess what? Somebody did — a long time ago! Check out their finished product here (hosted on NaturalNews.com).

I’m guessing that this ad was created and published back in the 1950s. And while I’d like to think that something like this wouldn’t be created today, there are plenty of ads, sales letters, and other promotional pieces being created for products just as dangerous by copywriters whose only concern is the check they’ll receive once the copy is done.

Suppose YOU had created this ad. How would you feel nowadays about it? Would you be able to call over your grandchildren and proudly show them your work? I’m guessing that you probably wouldn’t be too terribly proud of promoting cola for babies — and if that’s the case, then why are you creating sales copy for products you’d never personally use — and in some cases may actually oppose?

Please, copywriters: Use your common sense and say “no” to jobs that go against your personal beliefs and ethics. We copywriters hold the power to push a lot of bad products out of the marketplace if we simply say “no” to junk that doesn’t work, harms consumers, or is so overpriced that most consumers can’t afford it, even if our persuasive copy is capable of pulling the money out of their wallet.

We copywriters possess tremendous powers. We can persuade with our words and get people to buy stuff that they’d never think about buying otherwise. That’s not always bad because the products we promote can enhance life, eliminate (or at least alleviate) problems, and make people more profitable (or at least keep some of their money in their bank account). But please: Use those powers wisely. Say “no” to jobs that promote harmful items or stuff that’s way overpriced. There is plenty of legitimate work out there; let’s do our bit to push garbage out of the marketplace by simply not accepting jobs for those products.

I sincerely hope that you choose to become one of those copywriters that never sells cola to babies.

NOTE: NaturalNews.com is a pretty good site for alternative news, especially for news on health-related issues. I read stuff on the site regularly, I don’t always agree with Mike Adams (the owner of the site) — but do respect his opinions (at least he thinks… ), and while I linked to the ad on that site, please don’t misconstrue this to be a 100% blanket endorsement of that site. And thanks, Mike, for posting the ad; it gave me the idea for this blog post. Wouldn’t it be great if copywriters actually stopped writing ad copy for garbage products?