I am hereby boycotting all companies who use “recession” as a buzzword in their mailing lists. OkCupid, eMusic, Wordtracker, PBwiki—you’re on my LIST! You have incited my wrath and must suffer the consequences. Beware the vengeance of my… huge… readership.

Well, quality is better than quantity. My readership IS huge. I love you guys.

I am sick and tired of seeing perfectly good companies use whiny buzzwords to (negatively) engage their customers. (It was a shock to my system to see Wordtracker talking up “negative” keywords on Google until I realized they only meant keywords not to list, instead of actual negative keywords. Whew.) I think it’s absurd to keep talking about a “recession” and “financial crisis” when we’re all just monkeys doing monkey things. When you engage your customers, discuss your merits and positive traits—don’t give them a reason to be afraid and then talk about how you can supposedly fix it. Especially if you sell set-fee monthly music subscriptions that don’t roll over, or social dating services. Give me a break!

Forgive me for the rant (or don’t), but it’s incredibly frustrating to watch companies using this kind of marketing. I bet in most cases they’re trying to appeal to people’s situations, maybe even to comfort them—but I just don’t think it works that way. Stop reminding people of how afraid they are (or should be). Times are NOT tough! Times are ALWAYS tough! You are the same amazing person you were before someone told you that you had something to be scared of.

Get over it and get back to work being brilliant! All of you!

(Okay, I’m not boycotting ALL the companies who did it. I’m not going to boycott Learning Strategies. I love Learning Strategies. But I’m disappointed! Super disappointed! Let’s get on the ball, here, people!)

[Edit: Seth made a great post that overlaps here and states the problem very succinctly!]

More “recession”-based email after this post was made:

• ...from Business District Magazine.
• Does it make me a pessimist if I don’t think this is over?