OK, here’s the “potentially offensive” headline I referred to in earlier posts. I came across it last weekend while at Pete Godfrey’s copywriting “Master Class 2.0” in Brisbane.
The headline reads…
“No Thumbs. No Bums. Just A Little Prick.”
Certainly got my attention! So what’s the advertisement about? To give a small clue the ad was placed in the men’s restroom. The body copy starts off with…
“The prostate test involves just a little prick. It’s a just a blood test. But it could save your life.”
So, it’s a “public health” ad looking to promote awareness of prostate cancer and encouraging men to take a screening test.
Some points about the headline. Firstly, it certainly got my attention! It’s a little quirky and funny and I needed to read on to find out what this was all about. Now, normally I’m not in favour of “cute” headlines. The copywriter might think it’s terribly witty and clever but most of the time they miss the mark with the audience. In this case it seems to work.
As well, the ad is clearly going to reach the target audience, given where it’s displayed! And, of course, the audience is likely to have their awareness at least somewhat focussed on the anatomical areas mentioned in the ad! So, to some extent we have the ad “Entering the conversation already going on”.
Moving on, what the headline does as well is address the big “objection” that most men are likely to have when considering whether or not to have a screening test for prostate problems. Mention prostate screening and most guys are likely to have a picture of a doctor wearing rubber gloves and about to probe places that we’d rather not have probed! A simple blood test, on the other hand, is not such a big deal.
In general, I’m not a big fan of government advertising. Most of it sucks, in my opinion and in a coming post I’ll share some examples to support my opinion. This ad is an exception and thinking about it, the best government ad campaigns seem to be ones that focus on raising awareness of health issues. Think about the anti-smoking campaigns, for example (although the anti-drug campaigns don’t seem to have been too effective, as a counter example).
Anyway, good job by the writer in this case. Prostate cancer is something of a hidden killer but awareness seems to be increasing (I was going to say “on the rise” but let’s not go there!). On a personal note, my sister-in-law’s father died a couple of weeks back from prostate cancer. He was only in his late fifties.
Be interesting to see how effective this campaign is. On the ad there was no direct call to action but presumably the authorities hope that by raising awareness and disarming the most common objection, there will be an increase in men taking the screening test. Guess I should go and have one myself!
[…] Maximum Results Copywriting wrote an interesting post today on Warning! This Headline May Offend Sensitive Readers!Here’s a quick excerpt Think about the anti-smoking campaigns, for example (although the anti-drug campaigns don’t… […]