In a recent discussion on LinkedIn, in the marketing communications group I think it was, several people were opining on the issue of an unsettling trend toward devaluing copywriting. Pretty much like for everything else one makes, compensation is being squeezed. Editorial and writing skills are often considered a commodity, and outsourced to other english-speaking countries, like India. Or, even worse, companies distribute writing tasks amongst their various managers, without training them in editorial/writing guidelines.
But what I think is fundamentally happening is that most people are not reading. And college-graduates, who may include the marketing and product managers that copywriters service, are becoming less proficient. And those who are proficient readers (and naturally writers), may have trouble comprehending this fact.
So when the account person at the ad agency says about your beautifully written copy, “dumb it down”, they do know what they’re talking about.
Here’s some interesting statistics about how much Americans read:
In 2004, a National Endowment for the Arts report titled “Reading at Risk” found only 57 percent of American adults had read a book in 2002. Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20381678/ns/us_news-life/t/poll-one-four-adults-read-no-books-last-year/
• 44 percent of American 4th grade students cannot read fluently, even when they read grade-level stories aloud under supportive testing conditions. (ref. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Pinnell et al., 1995)
• 50 percent of American adults are unable to read an eighth grade level book (ref. Illiterate America, Jonathan Kozol)
• According to the Journal of American Medical Association, 46% of American adults cannot understand the label on their prescription medicine.
Source: http://kristimaloney.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Get-Your-Elementary-School-Kids-Reading-Reading-Practice-Reading-Program-Beyond-Grade-Level
So, if you’ve understood this much…read on and hope you are in the minority of proficient readers. The situation is getting worse.
The National Center for Education Statstics tested 19000 adults to measurse how well they comprehend basic instructions and tasks through reading — such as computing costs per ounce of food items, comparing viewpoints on two editorials and reading prescription labels.
- Only 41 percent of graduate students tested in 2003 could be classified as “proficient” in prose — reading and understanding information in short texts — down 10 percentage points since 1992.
- Of college graduates, only 31 percent were classified as proficient — compared with 40 percent in 1992.
Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/24/AR2005122400701.html