• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, March 19, 2015

I finally understand why the English of today is not the English of yesterday. Advertising people keep f*cking with it. OK, it's not just ad people but they play a hefty roll in reinventing words to describe things that already have perfectly good names.

72andSunny has former Surfrider Foundation CEO Jim Moriarty to head up the agency's new Brand Citizenship division. So what's Brand Citizenship? Well according to the press release, its goal is to “identify sustainable products and services for brands and build long-term programs to bring them to life.” 

So...product development and marketing. But, of course, that's not sexy enough for an ad agency. 72andSunny CEO John Boiler gushes, “People today want a different relationship with brands. They want to know that brands run deeper than the products they sell. Brand Citizenship can forge stronger connections to customers, and ultimately, real return on investment. We believe brands can make the world a better place, but they shouldn’t do it to pay some sort of guilt tax. If it’s true to the brand and is held to the same standards that any other marketing activity is, brand citizenship can drive business success.”

Wait, what? "Held to the standards that any other marketing activity is"? OK, that's kinda funny.