Advertising for Dummies: Why Proofreading Is Essential for Business Success

www.inkthinkerblog.com — I posted this at my women’s business blog Biz Chicks Rule yesterday and thought you would enjoy it, too. (Of course you’re already a BCR reader, but this is for the OTHER folks who don’t religiously follow every word I publish online. You know the drill.)

I inserted a green arrow in the screenshot to show you where the problem lies. Here’s a closer look, highlighted by the yellow arrow:

Oy to the vey. Say it with me: SPELL CHECK. Do I even need to tell you how stupid these kinds of errors make you — and your business — look? I sincerely hope not!

Here are some of my favorite public oopses:

  • “the figthing Irish” in an MSN ticker notice about Notre Dame football
  • a recall of several thousand pounds of “tainted beef panties”
  • “the final decision will be made at the desecration of your supervisor” in an e-mail from a boss I had in college
  • “free unifrom with six-week class” in a flyer from a local karate school

Worst advertising typo you’ve ever seen (other than this one)? Leave a comment.

(screenshots from Biz Chicks Rule captured by yours truly)

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  • Cory May 29, 2008 Link

    And “this” should be capitalized. That one spellcheck won’t catch.

    I’m not complaining, though; companies like this one keep me busy with proofreading work!

  • Nancy Nally May 29, 2008 Link

    MSNBC.com drives me crazy with their lack of proofreading! There are errors in their copy that makes it look sometimes like a 5th grader wrote it. It makes it hard to trust the reporting in a story when it has dumb errors like words missing, etc.

    Nancy Nally’s last blog post..What Can Shutterfly Do For Scrapbookers?

  • Jennifer May 29, 2008 Link

    Shoot…does this mean my beef panties are tainted? Do I get a refund from Beeftoria’s Secret?

    Jennifer’s last blog post..Leslie Lomax of Zelda Antiques: Follow Up

  • ChinaMatt May 30, 2008 Link

    And for some reason there aren’t many proofreading openings around China–probably where most of the ads are designed now. I have a whole collection of poorly worded ads and such. Yesterday I saw the great advertising job on the Carrefour customer bus… “HARRY SHOPPING”

    ChinaMatt’s last blog post..On Tour with Buddha

  • Kristen King May 30, 2008 Link

    @Cory – I’ll let them have “this” as a freebie if it’s not an “essential” word, but I would argue that it is, since we’re differentiating between THIS business and OTHER businesses. :)

    @Nancy – I agree 100%.

    @Jennifer – LOL

    @Matt – Awesome!

  • Dave Simon Jun 3, 2008 Link

    Here is one for you. I was at a Radio Shack, and they had put a sign on a pair of speakers. It said “Great Base”. I tried to tell the clerk I spoke with that bass is not spelled base, but he looked at me like I was crazy.
    A week later I saw that the sign was still there!