I remember her to this day as possibly the saddest person I have ever met.
She broke down during the interview and then I kind of did too. It was on Zoom, so I went off camera to cry. She immediately asked, “Where did you go?”
The co-interviewer was crying too.
I’m starting this so heavy because somehow, it’s about to get funny. But as we turn the corner, I want you to keep in mind that this is about a real person living real life with unreal misfortune. We’re only finding humor in how horribly her story was botched by a simple but serious oversight.
“Housebound, Hungry, and Growing Hopeless, She Reached for the Last Food Left”
That was the title I gave the article, focusing on the moment of admission in the interview that made us all sob.
The last food left was cat food, okay? The woman ate cat food. But somewhere along the way, someone decided the right image to go with the title was a photo of the woman smiling, reaching back, as her cat looks on helplessly.
Run, Fluffy! Momma’s hungry, and you’re the last food left.
Context is everything.
The cat gaffe is bad enough. To make it worse, there’s a Venti Starbucks cup in the photo too. And then there’s a button that says, “Donate.” All this in prelude to telling a seriously heart-wrenching but ultimately uplifting story about how this woman reached her lowest of low points in life before receiving assistance from a charity.
The whole thing is taken out of context by one image—and once something is taken out of context, it loses credibility.
Where is the critical thinking?
In 2003, the Black Eyed Peas asked, “Where Is The Love?” in a hit song with heart. Beautiful song by the way.
In 2023, I often ask myself, “Where is the critical thinking?”—especially in marketing.
To cut whoever did this some slack, we’re all responsible for so many tasks each day that we’re just trying to check things off our list. I get it. And I know what probably happened. They asked the woman for photos to include with her story, saw that one, it looked happy—maybe they were rushing to get the article published by some manufactured but seemingly concrete deadline—and so they made it the featured image. I’m not sure they even read the story.
Marketers need to be critical thinkers, not just task completers. All it takes is one blip to make a fool of yourself or, worse, get your brand canceled. Gain some fun tips for critical thinking in a book I wrote with seasoned leaders Jeff Campbell and Jacques Spitzer, titled, “Think Better.”
There…she…goes…
When I say, “There she goes,” I’m not talking about the woman eating the cat, nor am I talking about the cat being eaten by the woman. I’m talking about my portfolio sample slipping out the door.
This story was one of my best, period. I would love to feature it here on my site, but I can’t because it’s ruined.
It’s not about me, so I won’t dwell on this aspect any further. I’ll just say that it sucks for everyone when a client ruins creative work. It sucks for the creative because their vision is voided, it sucks for the client because their image is undermined, and it sucks for the audience because they’re consuming crappy content.
Are you seeing what I’m saying?
Copy and design are often carried out separately, particularly in large organizations where the two are completely different departments. That’s fine, but copy and design eventually need to intertwine.
The wrong image and word pairing can get a poor cat killed.
