Video Cases

This case and its discussion questions are based on a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation video that accompanies the textbook. In addition to whatever in-class use your instructor may have given the video, it's available on this website for online viewing. If directed to do so by your instructor, you can also answer the discussion questions online and email the results.
     These videos are intended only for students using the 1st Canadian Edition of Business Communications. To view the video, you'll require a password. Refer to page 541 in your textbook and use the first word appearing in the main text column as both 'username' and 'password.' Use of the word is case-sensitive.
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Science Lesson: Finding the Right Words
Is plain language for everyone? Not quite. Advertisers of cleaning products seem to think plain language isn't for them. Anyone buying the most recent line-up of car waxes, toilet bowl cleaners, clothes detergents or shampoos will meet a dizzying list of adjectives and nouns that sound like they are straight out of a science text. Why are advertisers doing this?
     Although most of us are not science whizzes, we live in an age of technology. Perhaps advertisers think some technical jargon will make these basic products sound more sophisticated, more complex, and even more desirable. The result, however, may be that the obscure words confuse more people than they impress. When we buy laundry soap such as Sunlight, we'd like to know what an "active oxygen formula" is. What does it do that matters? Cheer has "liquifiber." What's that, we ask? Shampoo may have "elastesse." Can we assume that that is something new? Does that make it better? And what if we buy shampoo without elastesse?
     Maybe Lysol's "continuous action toilet bowl cleaner" sounds more powerful because it kills germs like enterococcus. The word may be in our dictionaries but we don't have them with us when we shop. GT88 makes a car polish that contains silicon, polymers, and carnuba, but all many of us need to know is that it protects up to three years. One advertiser of these products says the intent is not to bedazzle us or confuse us, but rather to simplify what could be even more complex scientific explanations. Is soap simply soap, or do we need to know the differences between soaps? Most would agree that we need to understand what these differences are or the words are meaningless.
     Do you have allergies? No doubt hypo-allergenic products have made their way into your medicine cabinet or make-up bag. The term hypo-allergenic has been around for about 25 years, and has been used in relation to dogs, mattresses, make-up, and tapes. Yet, no standardized tests exist to determine when this term can be used. Are advertisers trying to mislead consumers? A director of the Canadian Cosmetics Toiletries and Fragrance Association (CCTFA) says they are not.
     Let's get rid of the jargon and teach the advertisers what we know about plain language. And let's call soap soap!

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View Science Lesson: Finding the Right Words

1		Why do you think advertisers are using so much technical jargon?
2		What are the effects of the scientific jargon in advertising?
3		Take a product you use – shampoo, soap, or car wax. In groups of three or four, brainstorm and find words to describe each of the products in plain English. Smell and touch the product. Talk about what it really does. Does it have any guarantees? What are its benefits for the user? Now, write your own ad.
4		For fun, take a simple object you use in your work or school environment. Describe it in technical jargon. Refer to its use and characteristics. See if your colleagues can guess what it is from your description.