Everything now is called luxury and VIP, according to Tim Philips, even if it is not. Check out this graph showing press releases mentioning “VIP” over the past decade.
Another common misuse is the word ‘exclusive’. If you’re reading this in an advert, it’s not exclusive by definition.
Necker Island isn’t exclusive. It’s just expensive. The island next door that you’ve never heard of is exclusive.
I get very frustrated when companies add unnecessary words. Urgent priorities are just priorities. At this point in time is just now. Holistic end to end solutions are just products or services.
There’s good evidence that hype actually undermines credibility in marketing copy. Objective copy is more persuasive. But most marketing people want to tell you how you should feel about something before they tell you what it is.
All this hype and over-inflation reminded me of Victor Borge’s wonderful skit ‘Inflationary language.’ It’s twoderful. And this video has the huge bonus of Dutch subtitles – perfect for students of the language like me.
Can you suggest some more examples of inflationary language?
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I’m often baffled by all the “Executive (Luxury) Coaches” you can see on the roads. Do senior managers (=executives) really travel by coach these days?
That’s so true. I don’t see a lot of CEOs in coaches (although a few London bosses have private taxis as limos).
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