I'm stewing.
Every time I look at this ad for Skinny Cow, I get twitchy.
Listen, I understand that "woah" is a common misspelling for "whoa."
I understand that people make mistakes.
Sometimes books include errors. Specifically, my books. Yet these errors make me cringe as well, particularly knowing the extensive editing/copy-editing/editing/copy-editing cycle through which they're run.
But like I said, I'm stewing. I don't know why I'm obsessing over this silly ad for low-cal dessert bars, yet here we are.
The thing is, most of my books are about 90,000 words long. 90,000 words are considerably more difficult to monitor than, say, the ELEVEN words in this ad copy. And I can guarantee you that my work is not 10% misspelled. Can you imagine? My error rate is more like .01%. (Which still makes readers crazy, as well it should.)
At first I thought that Skinny Cow was doing some kind of LOLCAT/Chick-fil-A thing. But then the main portion of the ad on the other side of the page spells "whoa" correctly.
I realize I'm nit-picking, but stay with me.
Before this ad hit the pages of People, a series of art directors and copy editors at the ad agency had to work on this piece before their clients at Skinny Cow ever saw it to grant their final blessing. This ad likely passed through many hands. (Assuming that Mad Men is accurate in portraying the genesis of an advertisement, of course.)
So how was this egregious mistake missed?
My only guess is that the generation who grew up relying on Spell-check is starting to run the show.
And that makes me stew.
In this economy, when I personally know so many smart, seasoned, motivated, talented individuals who are un-or-under-employed, I'm angry when errors of this scale hit the mainstream.
Generation X would have never let this shit fly. I'm not saying that whichever member of Generation Y who worked on the Skinny Cow ad should be fired. (And perhaps I'm making a broad, incorrect assumption on advertising being a younger man's game.) However, I am saying that employers are getting what they pay for when they opt for cheaper labor.
I guess I'm stewing because when we as a society simply shrug our shoulders instead of calling out errors such as these, when we blithely forgive the absolutely avoidable and go about our business, we collectively lower the bar for everyone.
The bottom line is I like Skinny Cow products. But I don't want to buy deliciously indulgent, yet surprisingly low-calorie ice cream from any organization that can't be bothered to properly spell "woah" in a national advertising campaign.
Whoa, indeed.
