This seems to be a growing trend among p.r. people — using all capitals to describe their client or show or company name. And I don’t get it.
For instance, Telus insists that its brand name be reproduced as TELUS. Which, frankly, is STUPID. Because TELUS, all in caps, implies it’s an acronym. (Perhaps it is: Telephone Expensive? Losers Use Silicon).
The worst offender, I hate to say, is the CBC. Here’s a recent media release from them. Er, us.
CBC TELEVISION’S CANADIAN ANTIQUES ROADSHOW
BEGINS ITS FOURTH SEASON, FRIDAY, OCT. 5 AT 7:30 P.M.Canada’s favourite antiques show, the CANADIAN ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, returns for its fourth exciting season on CBC Television, Friday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. Host Valerie Pringle and the Roadshow appraisers were delighted by the turnout at this year’s tapings and by the amazing trinkets and treasures-both large and small-that people brought to the venues.
The show visited six Canadian communities: Vernon, B.C.; Lethbridge, Alta.; Thunder Bay, Ont.; London, Ont.; Sherbrooke, Que.; and Charlottetown, P.E.I. Visiting Prince Edward Island marks the CANADIAN ANTIQUES ROADSHOW’s foray into every province, appraising antiques from Canadians across the country. The crowds during this year’s tapings surpassed the previous three tours, proving the show’s enduring appeal.
The CANADIAN ANTIQUES ROADSHOW continues to entertain viewers with interesting local stories, family histories and unusual finds. With an emphasis on Canadiana, the series offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of the people who settled this country and the stories that make it such a culturally rich place to live.
CANADIAN ANTIQUES ROADSHOW is directed by Michael Lewis, Denise Poirier and Christie McDonald. Executive producers are John Brazill and Mark Pederson. It is a production of Wallace Cove Productions in association with CBC Television.
Supporting photography available at www.cbc.ca/imagegallery
Leaving aside the fact that the writer of this released used hyphens instead of dashes in the first-paragraph parenthetical clause (god, I’m a geek), can someone explain why they need to write THE SHOW NAME out in every instance that THE SHOW NAME is mentioned?
No. Seriously.
P.R. people? Why do you do this?
Update: The CBC responded to me about the CAPS issue:
> As for putting the show titles in caps, it’s a way of eliminating any
> confusion. This is the show we’re promoting. Because inevitably, press
> releases will contain the names of other CBC shows, which are bolded and
> italicized, non-CBC shows, which are just italicized–and the show we’re
> actually promoting. We actually have an entire style guide devoted to our
> media releases.
Meh. This distinction is only relevant internally. Journalists don’t know or care that that’s the syntax you’re using.
Tod Maffin is a popular keynote speaker, national broadcaster, writer, influential blogger, and uber-nerd. [
7 Comments
I remember asking my marketing and advertising teacher about this when the Nintendo Gamecube came out and nintendo insisted that it be written in all caps as the NINTENDO GAMECUBE.
His explanation was that BIG letters were easier for your eyes to be drawn to and so if you were reading about it in the newspaper, or in a magazine article, your eyes would be drawn to those BIG letters on the page and the Gamecube brand would be thrown at you over and over again.
Personally, while my eyes do seem more drawn to those large letters, it makes it pretty hard to read the rest of the article. It’s harder, for example, to finish the second line of paragraph one here without being re-drawn to line 1 to read the the show name.
I suppose, but your instructor should have known that newspapers and magazines would never print it like that. He’s assuming that the text of the media release would be reproduced verbatim. Only the most desperate small-town newspapers do that.
Good question Tod. Here is the answer from an insider: me.
That stuff is graphic rules to ensure brand consistency wherever it’s applied. If the typography is IN CAPS in the logo, some Agencies produce graphic guidelines and recommend that the wording of that brand must be in caps wherever it’s applied.
In some cases it’s good. It makes the brand stand out in a text. But if you look at a Bell Canada ad, it’s very annoying to read because there are rules for every single product or service that they offer and It’s not always consistent ’cause some of their stuff must be in caps, other things in italic and so on.
People who decide this are sometimes far from being web people and maybe they should think of making exceptions for media releases and web applications. If it’s boring to read, I ensure you that it can be even more boring to have to deal with that kind of stuff on a daily basis.
I will remember this when sending out emails to my clients.
Thanks TOD MAFFIN ; )
Tod, amen.
I DON’T KNOW WHY PR PEOPLE SHOUT SO MUCH, BUT I THINK IT HAS A LOT TO DO WITH A COMMON BS PHILOSOPHY…If you don’t know what you’re talking about, shout it out and surround it with adjectives and buzz words.
I was a show host i would use this to satisfy my huge ego …
For example I would shorten the show name to someting rediculous like “Z” and use my name to dominate the show name … “Z WITH JIM THE ALL POWERFUL AND INCREDIBLY SEXY” …
This could be a great resume builder … and dammit who wouldn’t feel good with there name in caps … and eventually/obviously the show name of Z would become trully useless … then my name would be the brand …
Try it out “T WITH TODD MAFFIN” … all you need is a life size poster now for you studio room …
This is common in legal documents to indicate an important section that would in ideal circumstances be bolded. But because legal documents are frequently stripped of formatting in email and other forms of transfer, ALL CAPS is used as an alternative.
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