Now, I am not claiming that I don’t use profanities. I do, probably too much, in private conversations or when I am in the car behind some incompetent driver. However, I never use profanity in a public forum such as Twitter or Facebook.
Profanities can get you in trouble. People have varying degrees of comfort toward the use of profanities. The point is you have to watch out for what you put out there. People will judge you. And some people get in trouble. A state senator in California was forced to resign because of some salacious comments he made, which were recorded and replayed. A few weeks ago, a local religious-sponsored organization here in DC used unnecessary expletives in its Twitter stream. I cringed when I read that. It is public, and it’s on the record.
There is a self-important blog expert here in DC who has an Internet radio show. I tuned in only to hear him use an expletive every other word, apparently because he could. It made him sound dumb, and my respect for him is now non-existent.
In general, marketing communications should never contain profanities. Unless you are communicating with a target audience that enjoys using expletives every other word, you will offend someone, somewhere. Not to mention that using expletives can make you seem rude and coarse. In an age where manners are dwindling, it is important to be mindful of our PUBLIC language, especially language that may be etched in cyberspace, just waiting for someone to find it.
About Deborah Brody
Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.
