Blame It On… the Printer? the Advertising Department? the Client?

Just whose mistake was that stray apostrophe anyway? I wondered, reading a very clever print ad for a local logistics company in a business publication a couple of weeks ago. Just who should shoulder the blame for writing that its client provide’s quality ingredients?

Great ad, by the way, showing a truck making its way up the layers of a tiered, iced cake. The concept – when the baking ingredient manufacturer was looking for an innovative and trusted logistics partner, they didn’t settle for half-baked solutions. After all, the logistics company claims that “we can ship better.”  But – somebody didn’t punctuate better, that’s for sure!

Aw, who’s gonna notice? Well, I did, for one. Typos can have a devastating financial impact on the publishers, companies, and people who make them, explains Zack Crockett in the grammarly blog.  Yes, but who should eat the crow/ foot the bill?

“We have a clause in our agreements that states it is the responsibility of the client to check spelling,” says David Scott of Cosmic Graphic Design & Advertising. (Well, that’s certainly one approach…)

Bloggers who commit punctuation and grammar sins don’t have clauses like that – there’s nobody to pass the buck to (“to whom” would be better, but, hey, the blog writing style is conversational, no?)  But, let’s draw the line in the sand. As Melissa Culbertson says so aptly in her blog, “Bad grammar and spelling is WAY different than using conversation style or slang.”  Proper grammar and spelling matter, even in the blogging world, she points out. Treat your blog like your resume, she advises. In fact, she adds, it IS your resume.

I agree, but, just in case, it will be my printer’s fault…