Should brands ban words?

Moist, encrusted, rimming, crevice, stuffed, floppy, smeared. No, we’re not following Hemingway’s classic advice to write drunk (and edit sober). This is a list of banned words from chef Jamie Oliver. He’s said he won’t use any of them in his recipes. It could just be a publicity stunt – in which case, well done clever PR people! But it got us thinking, should brands ban words?.

Brand more than banned

We spend our working lives developing brand personalities. Verbal branding means finding a tone of voice that ensures a brand speaks in a consistent and distinctive way. Just as a memorable brand uses the same logo, colours, typography, etc. 

Part of what we do is to decide which words a brand would use and which it would avoid, like we do for clients such as Suntory.

A friendly, down-to-earth brand might say ‘hi’. While a more fancy-pants one might say ‘Allow us to introduce ourselves…’ A more youthful, informal brand might prefer contractions like ‘you’ll’, ‘we’re’, and ‘don’t’, over ‘you will’, ‘we are’ and ‘do not’. 

What you don’t say as much as what you do

What Jamie Oliver is trying to avoid, is sounding like every other chef. He might be having a bit of cheeky fun with double entendres, but the point he’s making is serious. Steering clear of overused cliches and the jargon of the sector is something we feel very strongly about too. After all, a brand tone of voice is as much about the words you don’t use as those you do. So while banning words might seem a little over-the-top, we produce guidelines for brands that point them towards a set of words that help them develop their own distinct personality, instead of blending invisibly into their competitive set. But we never quite take things as far as Lake Superior State does every new year.

Clichés are as common as muck

Each January, Lake Superior State University in Michigan releases its list of ‘banished’ words (although we’d argue some are actually phrases). 

Their top ten for 2024 reads:

1. Hack 
2. Impact 
3. At the end of the day 
4. Rizz 
5. Slay 
6. Iconic 
7. Cringe worthy
8. Obsessed 
9. Side hustle 
10. Wait for it

It’s hard to disagree with their choices. For example ‘rizz’ (short for charisma) is one of those ‘up like a rocket, down like a stick’ phrases. As soon as everyone knows about it, they don’t really want to hear it again. And only the terminally naff persist with it.

The challenge for a brand is to step away from the clichés of their category. How many of your competitors offer ‘360˚’, or ‘end-to-end solutions’. Take a ‘proactive’ approach. Are ‘friendly yet professional’. None of these are bad qualities but the words you use to describe them are the building blocks of a distinctive brand personality.

The right choices

At Craft Words our responsibility is to try and ensure brands use words wisely and profitably. The right choices can make a huge difference. The wrong ones can consign your brand to invisibility or irrelevance.

We try to use words that are moist with possibility, encrusted with memorability, and stuffed full of personality. And if Jamie doesn’t like them, well, we can’t please everyone all the time.

To find out what Craft can do for you,  get in touch. 

©Image property of BBC/So Television