As we all try to survive the largest pandemic any of us have ever known, we all have a responsibility to have a working understanding of the situation and disease. For communications professionals like myself, using correct and accurate language can improve this understanding. Inaccurate communication can spread misinformation and misunderstanding. As such, here are some terms and explanations to use so your messaging is correct.
The Disease: COVID-19
COVID-19 is a truncated form of Coronavirus disease 2019. It should be written using capital letters and with a hyphen between COVID and 19. …
On Thursday evening, I came across a tweet from a tech publication in my timeline. The headline was that recently fired Google engineer James Damore claimed that being conservative at Google was comparable to “being gay in the 50s”. This immediately brought to mind Alan Turing, one of history’s most well-known contributors to the world of computing, who was chemically castrated by the British government in the 50s (when given the choice between that and a prison sentence). I was disappointed but not surprised that Damore would make this comment, but given that he considers women biologically inferior for working…
This has not been a good week for marketers. Don’t get me wrong: I never expect to wake up and read a news piece about how wonderful marketers are and how they’re making the world a better place. But some weeks are worse than others, and this is one of them.
Between Pepsi, Nivea, Sony, and others producing absolutely tone-deaf and poorly thought-out campaigns, this is not a time where I expect my profession to be highly regarded. …
Alex Hosselet
Alex is a digital marketer, community volunteer, and cat enthusiast living in Ottawa, Canada.
