The big blog

“No one reads the copy.” This particular running gag has been heard at least a few billion times by every copywriter who has ever toiled in our image-centric industry (which goes a long way, I suppose, toward explaining our hardened, jaded hearts). You’re especially likely to hear it at the end of an hours-long struggle to find just le bon mot for some obscure product benefit or to coin a fresh turn of phrase that will indelibly imprint the brand upon the reader’s imagination. Glassy-eyed but glowing in triumph, you announce your hard-won success to your art director partner, only to be reminded, “no one reads the copy.”

The remark was funnier, I think, in the days when people still read things other than advertising copy. But now, when you hear report after report of declining literacy, when you’re told that in any given year most Americans don’t buy a single book—not even a cookbook—overlooked and forgotten advertising copy is a foregone conclusion, part of a much larger and sadder tale.

But wait—perhaps we needn’t be so gloomy. Perhaps we’ve overestimated the importance of books and reading in the first place. Because just a few days ago, one of our most eloquent and insightful cultural commentators took a bold new position on this topic. Kanye West, tell us again what you told that reporter.

“Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy and so self-absorbed. I am not a fan of books. I would never want a book’s autograph…I am a proud non-reader of books.”

Clearly, my priorities have been wack. Just as an earlier generation had to learn to stop worrying and love the bomb, our generation has to stop worrying about words and books and whether or not anyone is reading them. I mean, they just be so wordy.

What’s that? You don’t believe that Mr. West should have the final say on the matter? You question his authority? Need I remind you, Mr. West is the voice of our generation. You didn’t know that? Because he said so himself, late last year. “I will go down as the voice of this generation of this decade.”

So. I don’t know about you, but I feel liberated. I am no longer going to worry how my copy sounds. Because not only does no one read my copy, not only does no one read books anymore, no one should be reading books. Kanye said so. Of course, Kanye said so in the course of promoting a new book that he himself has just written, but my liberation also entails no longer being troubled by irony. Besides, it’s not like Kanye wrote a real book. It’s only 52 pages long, some of which are blank, and others with only a few words. So I’m sure it’s okay to want this book’s autograph. (Photograph licensed by David Shankbone under Creative Commons.)