When Bad Puns Kill Good People

publication date: Jan 16, 2007
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Hello
 
This is a sad story . . . but just shows how desperate people can be to have the latest gadget. It also proves how stupid pushing a pun (double meaning) too far can get you.
 
Let me set the scene . . .
 
The latest must have game console is something called the Wii (pronounced wee) from Nintendo.
Don't ask me why it is called that, but supposedly it was a universal name that implies connectivity (or some such techno babble).
 
Anyway, back to the sad story, some bright spark in a Californian radio station came up with the brilliant campaign called . . wait for it . . .
 
'Hold your wee for a Wii'.
 
Contestants were given bottles of water to drink every fifteen minutes. Contestant that went to bathroom were disqualified.
 
Alas a contestant from Sacremento, California, pushed herself too far and died of water intoxication.
 
Apart from being a completely idiotic competition to enter, the blame must lie squarely on the radio station. I bet there were plenty of high fives and back slapping for the bright spark who came up with the devilishly clever pun. But I wonder how he/she feels now?
 
But seriously, puns don't work on any level. Yes, they show how clever you are with words, but forget about using puns in any business or marketing message.
 
First off, you audience may not be as smart as you and will simply misunderstand what you are trying to say.
 
Puns can come across as childish, lazy or just downright unintelligible.
 
What's more puns are void of meaning and undermine the impact of your marketing. Puns hollow out your true message and dilute the power of simple words that should be carrying a direct and simple message.
 
When I was training editors and copywriters, my one bugbear was the use of puns. I would get my red pen out and cross out any puns in headlines or subheads.
 
In fact I used to get quite militant about them - I could forgive a poorly conceived headline or lead, but show me a pun-laden headline from a good writer and I would publicly humiliate them for their indulgence!
 
Ok, 1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . . . calm . . . calm
 
 If you are writing a promotion, or article, or hiring someone else to do it, PLEASE don't accept any form of pun.
 
You never know what might happen!
 
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Me, a 30-minute publisher?
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Emily - our eBusiness Manager - is getting very excited. Poor thing, we work her into the ground, but this morning she seems to be actually enjoying herself!
 
You see, I have asked her to go out and find my favourite classic personal development books in the public domain and repackage them. They are all going onto the new WRMM website. Initially these classic tomes will be available only to Lifetime subscribers.
 
If you have yet to discover the amazing deal I have put together for Lifetime Members, then you can go check it out here.
 
 
In a nutshell, Lifetimers get unlimited subscription, free access to the website, free live seminars with yours truly, my Batphone link and a generally more personalised service.
 
Back to Emily. In the space of one morning she has found, repackaged, edited, designed the covers and uploaded a half dozen books onto the website. Just imagine trying to do that even 10 years ago and it would take you days just to download the texts, let alone publish them!
 
And these are just 6 books out of literally millions of other books you could download right now and do with what you want - share with others or use as a name generator on your website or blog.
 
If you'd like more details on exploiting the wonderful world of the public domain, check out Avril Harper's excellent package here:
 
 
 
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The Overture Problem Solved
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If you're looking for a niche to dominate, then your first port of call should be Overture.com's keyword selector tool. But for some reason there have been problems with some people visiting the site who encounter problems with access to the tool.
 
Well, one WRMM reader has found a solution. Go to this address:
 
 
Then click on the Keyword Assistant link. This will open a new window. Type your keyword in the box and wait up to 30 seconds for a response.
 
Better still, Jonathan Street - resident online expert - has come up with a more permanent solution. Here's what he suggests:
 
'Overture can be a pain in the backside and doesn't work all the time. However if you go to http://www.goodkeywords.com/ you can download the free software tool there and it provides the exact same results as overture but always works!
 
 
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SPECIAL BLUEPRINT UPDATE
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If you can write a simple email like this twice a week, then I'll show you how to make £1,000 - £3,000 or more per month!
 
With my full blessing, my good friend Charlie Wright has put together a brilliant step-by-step programme that incorporates EVERYTHING I have learned over the past 7 years in the e-letter business.
The blueprint is by far the best step-by-step guide I know of that lifts the lid on e-letter publishing.
 
All the secrets revealed here:
 
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How to Avoid Phishing Scams
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Ok, so you're web-savvy and would never get caught by one of those bank detail scams. But think yourself lucky - last year UK residents were scammed out of £21.7 million pounds through these.
 
Like the infamous Nigerian scam, there are a lot of people who are sucked into these schemes who are too embarrassed to admit it.
 
My advice? NEVER reply to an unsolicited email - no matter who it seems to come from. Your bank or any other legitimate business would never ask you to divulge personal details online. 
 
WRMM Lifetime Subscriber Tony Sutherland was kind enough to put together an article that once and for all explains how to avoid phishing scams. Take it away Tony:
 
Don't fall victim to the latest flood of e-mail scams
 
Phishing: An attempt to obtain confidential information such as account details, access codes, and passwords by deception, usually involving bogus or fraudulent e-mails.
 
This online scam or fraud is usually perpetrated via bogus e-mails purporting to be from your bank, credit card company, or other financial institution such as PayPal or ebay.
 
They urge you to update your account information or password by claiming that someone has tried to log on to your account bogusly or tried to use it fraudulently. They usually give a severe warning that your money is in serious peril if you don't act immediately.
 
BE WARNED. Delete all such e-mails immediately and never click on any of the links or disclose any of your account details. If you do click on any of the links you will be taken to a bogus web site set up to obtain your bank details and access codes/passwords. 
 
If you do give out any details or try to change your access code or password they will be gathered by the fraudsters who will then take money from your account or use the details to order goods in your name.
 
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF.
 
1. Never open these e-mails. Delete them immediately!
 
2. Your bank will never send such e-mails or ever request your details. Never disclose them to anybody.
 
3. Check the 'TO' details in the e-mail. If it's your name displayed here or there are any other names at all in this box then the e-mail is bogus. The banks will only ever contact any customer individually and they will never disclose the e-mail address of any other clients.
 
4. Check the 'FROM' details. 'Double click' on the sender's name to reveal where the e-mail actually came from. This can be forged but often you will see that it did not come from a genuine account at your bank.
 
5. The greeting in the body of the e-mail should address you personally. Why would your bank use a generic greeting such as 'dear customer'
when they have your details and the technology to personalise every communication?
 
6. Hovering your cursor over the link in the e-mail will reveal the true destination URL in the left of your status bar. Usually this is a series of numbers followed by the name of your bank, or a nonsense name. even if it looks genuine the use of a foreign country ID such as '.ru' or '.za' here is a dead give away.
 
7. NOT recommended but if you do visit the site as requested the address bar in your browser will reveal the true URL you are visiting. Also the padlock to the bottom right of your browser will be none existent or broken.
 
A short report including screen shots showing you the specific details to look for in a phishing e-mail is available free of charge from:
 
And finally I'll end on a rant . . .
 
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FACT: AOL are rubbish!
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I'm getting sick of the mega-IP company AOL. 
Why, because I'm tired of getting phone calls and letters from people complaining that I don't answer my emails. I pride myself on at least attempting to answer every piece of correspondence personally.
 
Inevitably it turns out that they have an AOL address.
 
Now those over-zealous people at AOL have got so righteous and over-protective of their customers that their email filters block even the most legitimate email correspondence.
 
And this isn't some phase they are going through.
This problem has dogged AOL of years. In my old company they had to hire someone who's sole job was to hassle AOL and other IP companies who were blocking legitimate emails and persuade them to allow legitimate emails through.
 
Of course, as AOL is an internet company, they make it virtually impossible to talk to a human being
 
So my advice? Dump your AOL address now! OK, the clever dicks amongst you will note that if my emails don't get through to AOL users, then everything I've said is not going to find the people its supposed to. But if by some miracle, this email does get through to you and you have an AOL account, my recommendation is to get a new address.
 
At least that way if you ask me a question, my answer will get through!
 
Best regards until later this week . . . when I'll tell you all about my first Life Coaching Session!
 
Nick
 
PS: If you have yet to experience the giddy money- making wonders of WRMM, then why not take a look at my special 12 month risk free trial subscription here:
 
 
 
 
 
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