Technique: Use paradox to capitalize on surprising unspoken truths about your target audience.
Effective creative work is always a paradox.
It must be a lil bit self-contradictory to stoke more power and make real impact.
In 2022 The Taoyuan Veterans Home, a nursing home for retired army officers in Tawain got into trouble.
The reason?
They hired a stripper to entertain their residents and to celebrate Harvest Festival. But then a video showing a stripper giving a naughty lap dance to seniors surfaced online.
Suddenly the video went viral.
And then The Taoyuan Veterans Home was hit with backlash.
Which was why they ended issuing a public apology saying they "deeply regret" the decision.
But then everybody started talking about it.
Good example from Range Rover in the 1980'S
Even international news outlets like The Daily Mail, The New York Post or The Toronto Sun picked up the story.
The funny thing is the nursing home residents looked quite happy with this activity.
So it wouldn't be surprising if many of Taiwan's retired army officers started begging their families to send them to this nursing home.
You see, the word “paradox” comes from the Greek word “paradoxons”. Para stands for "contrary to" and doxa "stands for "popular belief".
The power of paradox comes from the curious fact that a situation that looks absurd or contradictory quite often reveals a real human unspoken truth.
The nursing home stripper scandal in Taiwan is the perfect example.
Because most people might think, "Wait, this is absurd! Nursing homes would never hire strippers to entertain their residents..." before realizing seconds later that maybe nursing home residents should get a vote on lap dances being an option rather than bingo.
In copywriting, a paradox is a powerful technique used to catch the reader off-guard and begging to read more.
Your headline must be a lil bit self-contradictory to stoke more power and make real impact.
Before
2. Paradox forces the reader to consider a BIG IDEA more profoundly than if you just state a bunch of dull product facts.
For example, the insurance industry is incredibly boring and everyone sounds the same.
But DeadHappy became the UK's fastest-growing life insurance provider (with triple digit growth rates in 2021) because of its laid-back, witty, subversive copy that always stays true to their no-nonsense brand personality.
And they use paradox brilliantly to make a very believable point:
We're all going to die one day anyway so why not plan your death by funding and creating your own deathwishes?
⇝ “Make a Deathwish. It’s your insurance (and your death!).”
⇝ “Please die responsibly.”
⇝ “Life insurance (the bet you don't want to win).”
3. Paradox lets you capitalize on surprising (and often hilarious) unspoken truths about your target audience.
One of my all-time favorite examples is this Horst Salons 1992 Print ad campaign created by Fallon McElligott.
