PRs have moaned about overused and useless words in press releases for years. You know, the ones that clients all-too-often insist on having in the press release, even though journalists’ eyes glaze over when they read them.
Now though, after years of sarcasm from the media and a fatalistic attitude from PR agencies, this scourge may have met its match – after a blog by The Economist’s writers published a list of scientifically-examined words that will, in all likelihood, cause it to blacklist a press release. Well, not so much blacklist it as refrain from writing editorial about its contents. Which is the important thing really.
The most overused ‘trying way too hard’ word was, of course, ‘leader’. A leader are you? Not the leader then? Just a leader? As in ‘a loser’? Harsh, but this is how journalists will often react. Particularly when they are utterly sick of such prose.
Should other journalists come out and decry the words that are a big editorial turn-off for them? Let’s hope so. Should PR agencies be braver and counsel clients that these types of blatantly attention-grabbing words can actually be counterproductive? Yes. Should agency PRs who insist on slotting such words into their press releases be re-educated? You know the answer.
Words matter. Let’s not litter our best-effort prospective editorial content with crap ones.
