Stupid Branding Watch: The Case of the Inappropriate Tagline
The most comical and inappropriate use of a tagline has to be Verizon Wireless’s “We never stop working for you” tag in its error message letting subscribers know their Internet access has been interrupted.
Seriously. I’m a subscriber. I’ve seen it. The top of the pop-up message says the subscriber’s broadband access has shut down. The bottom says: “We never stop working for you.”
Am I the only one who thinks an error message saying service has been interrupted is probably not the best place to be using a tagline touting reliability?
Certainly there are other taglines that would be more appropriate. Here are some possibilities:
“We never stop working for you, but we don’t always get a lot done.”
“We never stop working for you, but hey, it’s the Internet.”
“Ordinarily we’d never stop working for you, but sometimes we have to pee.”
“Did we say we never stop working? Oh, no. Thinking is what we meant to say. We never stop thinking of you.”
In any case, human eyes within Verizon must have seen that error message before it was delivered to customers. Think about it: Someone looked at a graphic design that said, “Your broadband connection has shut down” and “We never stop working for you” in a message informing customers that Verizon for the moment, had indeed, stopped working for them and gave it the OK.
Working for Verizon must be a mind numbingly bureaucratic experience.
