From: Paul Battley <pbattley@...>
Date: 2005-05-12T06:46:17+09:00
Subject: Re: Redesign 2005, Round Two

On 11/05/05, David A. Black <dblack@wobblini.net> wrote:
> It still doesn't strike me as confrontational or challenging in the
> same way.  I can't analyze exactly why, but I think it's partly
> because "best friend" is so clearly a metaphor, and fully affirmative,
> whereas "Make programming fun again" (or whatever) is concrete and
> actually says something negative about what the person has been doing.
> 
> Then again, for all I know people do react defensively to the "best
> friend" thing too.

It is difficult.  This, I think, is why marketing consultants are able
to earn a living.  :-)

In general, one tends not to see advertising attacking a product's
opponents.  I suspect this is because, by tainting one's competitors,
one casts the whole field in a poor light - and this includes the
product being promoted.

(Note, of course, that this doesn't seem to apply to politics, where
attacking the opponent is standard fare.  Then again, this might work
because the electorate chooses the "least worst" from a group none of
whom it likes...)

Personally, my feeling is that "best friend" is a positive expression
- amongst all my programming language friends, Ruby is the best -
whereas "rediscover the joy of programming" (for example) suggests
that Ruby is just a good apple in a rotten barrel.  The latter is
perhaps not the most flattering of implications.

Paul.