Every social media professional recommends that content writing services produce interesting content that is relevant to your topics. In countries like the UK especially, a good way to gain interest is to produce funny content; however a social media expert would never normally recommend this due to the potential minefield it creates.
Controversy
For many, there is little difference between fame and infamy. Some would be happy to become notorious for their actions as much as they would be happy to become respected, and in most cases, it is easier to become famous for the wrong actions than it is the right actions.
Comedy is a difficult practice. Even the best in the businesses often cross the line with regularity. A joke, in order to be funny to many, has to have something or someone that acts as the ‘butt’ of the joke. What the object of the joke is differs in acceptability to many people.
Air Hostess
The social media account of the Evansville Airport recently made a comedy blunder, making a ‘joke’ that poked fun at female drivers upon the news that a budget airline in India had decided to only employ female staff to save on weight upon the aircraft.
While this is normally a good route to go down, poking fun at someone else’s sexist policy, the Evansville account attracted controversy as the joke instead changed the topic to female drivers, which is irrelevant to the Indian Airline’s policy as it is only cabin staff that will be all female from now on, not the pilots.
Taboo Subjects
If you are working in content writing services for a comedian, television show or other form of media that appeals to its fanbase by pushing the boundaries in comedy, a common comedy style in the UK, jokes about gender are normally fairly tame. However, if you are writing for a brand that is not about comedy, then gentle safe comedy should be the recommended form of catching people’s attention.
What is taboo?
Taboo subjects are the ones that people most commonly take offence at; anything to do with race, religion, disability or gender are no go areas unless your company is based on tackling these taboos. However it stretches further than these taboos. Could someone possibly take offence at what you are saying? If it is reasonable to assume they could, then don’t publish it.
Even if your joke has a taboo element to it, but mocks something other than the taboo, it is still unwise to use it. People will seek to take offence at things. Many will not understand the joke, and simply be unable to disassociate the taboo subject from the mechanism of the joke. To give you an example of such a joke would be unwise as despite this article obviously being about what not to say, people could still interpret it as offensive.
Targeted Audiences
Social Media does give content writing services more of a license to use edgier humour in certain instances though when compared with traditional marketing mediums. The ability to target audiences through social media actually makes them a safer medium than simply putting advertisements in front of the whole of the UK through TV or print adverts, however using the social media account of an airport is never a good place to use gender based jokes.