February 23rd, 2010
ne of the character traits I find least attractive is status anxiety. It not only reveals an ugly side to otherwise pleasant people, but I also can’t understand why people are willing to lie, cheat and steal – simply to crawl a delusional extra millimetre up some social pyramid.
Besides, in my line of work, social insecurity would be commercially suicidal – I’m supposed to be helping people use words. Fat lot of good I’d be at it if I spent my life worrying that some clients weren’t worthy of my services, or feeling uncomfortable about the ones whose social position I coveted.
We’re in the same boat
Even more to the point, I’ve got fairly simple tastes (though I do appreciate quality), and I have an aversion to wealth for wealth’s sake. Naked celebrity leaves me cold (though I admire character and talent). For what it’s worth, my attitude could best be summed up by Jerome K. Jerome in Three Men on a Boat:
Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need – a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.
I’d probably not opt for the dog, and it’s been a while since I gave up smoking; so I’d swap those items for music and films. But the gist is about right.
But do copywriters have status?
It’s a reflection of how little I care about the question, but today was the first time I asked myself whether copywriters actually had any social status.
I thought about it for a bit, and then concluded that the answer was ‘yes, no, and so what?’.
Copywriting is a broad church. Effective marketing copywriters can haul in millions and live a playboy lifestyle. Enthusiastic online copywriters like me can earn more than enough for the homely home and simple pleasures, and stick what’s left under the mattress. Sadly, some copywriters scrabble for work and settle for tuppence per word from some copywriting mill.
Copywriting to organised crime
And that led me to conclude that copywriting as a livelihood doesn’t have a social standing in the same way as, say, medicine, the law or organised crime. Depending on what we copywriters can do, what we can earn from it, and what talents we bring to the job, we can fit chameleon-like anywhere into the social structure.
Personally, I’m happy where I am – wherever that may be. I work hard, try hard and – on occasion – think hard. And I’ve built up a loyal crowd of clients who judge me on the basis of the work I do, rather than by my job title. And they like it and come back for more.
Which, I think, is the reason I’m very happy in what I do.
What about you?
3:22 pm. Filed under: Blog, copywriting.
Author: Ben Locker.
« Copify: unprepared to sell cheap copy | Is ‘copywriter’ the best way to describe a livelihood? »
Tags: copywriting, social status, status anxiety
12 Responses to “Do copywriters have status?”
No, I don’t feel I have any status based on my career. 85% of the people I meet have no idea what copywriting is (usually mistaking it for something to do with copyright, I’m sure we’ve all had that!) and the majority of clients are mystified or begrudging and so far above me in the food chain that I’m small fry, no matter what I do.
Can you tell I’m not having such a good day?
I tend to find that many people I meet at social occasions don’t even know what a copywriter is, and often confuse the profession with legal copyrights. In these situations, moving from a lawyer’s pedestal to that of a lowly writer for money seems to do little for my street cred.
The other problem is that everyone can write. In some form or another, folk can put pen to paper or chubby digits to keyboard and bang out words. This is not true of medicine or law or joinery or stunt driving. Status is therefore perhaps not as forthcoming to copywriters as to other professions.
Not that I care. As long as I have enough work to live without worry, then status is about as relevant to me as a jock strap.
Claire’s right. More people ask me what a copywriter even is. And when you then say, ‘No, I’m a writer’, it goes on to sound even worse.
A copper asked my profession quite recently. I said, I’m a copywriter.
He looked gormless about that. He said, What’s that?
I said, It’s a kind of writer.
Then he looked me up and down and sniggered down the phone to his pal.
I also spend a fair bit of time explaining what I do and the fact it’s not for a law firm; non-writers in my company think they can tell me how to write and often tell me what to write (oh, the things I ignore on a daily basis!). Writing’s so easy, everyone can do it, right?
Same also goes for suppliers who write their own copy, but don’t realise that their tone of voice is different to ours. I love what I do, but I’m underappreciated and expected just to roll over and do as told. However, I fight for every word and the results – and the feedback – speak for themselves. It helps to work for a recognisable name brand; I can explain what I do and bask in the glow of recognition and public love
I think the answer you arrived at in the blog is perfect: “yes, no, and so what?” Some people I meet (mostly in marketing/advertising) seem almost in awe when they hear I’m a copywriter. Of course, I let that go straight to my head until I turn around and see 2p per word.
Sometimes, when I need a shot of occupational status, I cheat a bit… “…oh, me? I’m just a writer.”
The “so what” bit resonates with me. I don’t do what I do because people think it’s great. I do it because I enjoy it, and it keeps body and soul together.
Some of the comments are right though. We do tend to be underappreciated.
Have to agree with the current consensus. In my small circle of life, not many new acquaintances even know what a copywriter is. Hell, I didn’t even know what one was until I was two years into a graphic design degree (naivety on my part, ignorance on the university’s part).
Nowadays, I just tell people I create ads and write content for sites, brochures and campaigns. Ironically, nowhere near articulate enough I’m afraid.
In terms of status, I’m with Claire. I don’t give a monkey’s. The commercial, capitalist world we inhabit, and I, somewhat hypocritically earn my crust from, is far too caught up in shallow store by celebrity and schlock status with not enough recognition for the real cogs of society such as doctors, nurses, police, teachers and scientists for me to give a second thought to or even try to muscle in and claim status.
In fact, the more I think about it, the more ugly the word ‘status’ becomes for me.
I got so mightily sick of the, ‘Oh, so you put that little c into the circle, then?’ question that now my answer is standard: ‘I’m a writer.’ And as ‘What do you write?’ is usually the follow-up, I say ‘Ads and marketing stuff’ and they say, ‘Oh, cooool.’ Suckers
Yep, same, I say I’m a writer. At that point people either think I’m really cooool, and saying I write brochures and websites makes them think I’m even cooler, or they think I’m one of those weirdo arty types and start looking over my shoulder for someone else to talk to, which is a relief for us both.
Don’t you think, as people who are supposed to be ‘good with words’, that we really should be able to come up with a job title that actually conveys to people what we do??
Wordmongers? BusinessDickens? Tea-Guzzling Keyboard Thumpers? I’m all for the rebrand.
I usually tell people that I work in marketing, or say I’m a writer. This either leads to a succession of further questions or kills the conversation stone dead. It doesn’t help that the company I work for sponsors a large music centre that’s better known than the company it’s named after. Mostly people think I’m a proof reader/grammar nazi. I never had this problem when I was a journalist.