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The World's Best, Biggest, Greatest
We have a running game with our out-of-state friends; we stop at every Mexican place that says, “The world’s {insert adjective} margaritas!” In Chicago, that’s quite a game as you only have to get in a cab and drive up and down Lincoln before you’ve had a few too many.
My good friend Martin Waxman last week blogged about this very topic, but in terms of sweepstakes. You know that letter you receive that says, “The fact that you are now in possession of enclosed documents that are proof of your chance of becoming a prize winner is all but confirmed.”
There are many instances of this in our lives and some advertisers have been sued over extraneous words that can’t be proven (most know my favorite is “The Funnest iPod Ever”, mostly because “funnest” isn’t a word). But this is spin in it’s finest flair.
Martin is right; the excellent PR professionals will stop this practice through social media and honest and transparent communication and it will eventually trickle to the rest of our lives. Well, one can hope!
Gini makes a great point here, but I think there's more to it. From a Mexican restaurant to a billion dollar company, advertisements use these "catchy" words to attract the attention of customers, much like some news outlets engage in sensationalism to sell magazines or attract viewers. What happened to good ole fashioned word-of-mouth? In essence, thatu00e2u0080u0099s what we do in PR. We create a buzz; we establish a brand and then attract attention for it.
It used to be that simply the quality of a product or the service of an establishment could speak for itself. Itu00e2u0080u0099s a bit more complex than that these days, but the concept remains. Chances are if you slap a u00e2u0080u009cworldu00e2u0080u0099s bestu00e2u0080u009d before your coffee, burrito, or toy, itu00e2u0080u0099s everything but that. In the age of everything coming at consumers lightening fast, the power of your neighbor telling you about the great new restaurant down the street still means more.
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