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Ask HN: OK to use the word "bullshit" in our company tagline?

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Re: Ask HN: OK to use the word "bullshit" in our company tagline?

#12
You could maybe have a lot of fun with this, without actually triggering fallout from the easily-offended crowd.

e.g., "No bulls hit!", with a drawing of a surprised or relieved bull. Or, "No bulls sit!", with a drawing of a crowd of standing bovine...

Re: Ask HN: OK to use the word "bullshit" in our company tagline?

#15
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better a two-sentence tag line than three-sentence.

I agree. I think "They Compete. You win." is a better tagline without the "No bullshit." not because I'm offended by your word choice, but because it's more succinct.

Confusingly similar to "When banks compete, you win"? (A live trademark of Lendingtree, Inc.)

Re: Ask HN: OK to use the word "bullshit" in our company tagline?

#17
When you resort to callous language you demonstrate a lack of creativity.

There's an energy drink company up here in Canada with some rather terrible ads but one thing I do like is their tagline: "No Caffeine. No Caffeine Crash. No Bull"

That works on two levels. 1) Obviously they're hitting on what you're hitting (No BS) and 2) A dig at the leading energy drink Red Bull.

I think a better idea for you would be to aim for a positive message (not a negative).

- They Compete. You Win. Right On! (cute) - Better. Cheaper. Win-Win! (more accurate) - They Compete. You Decide. (play on Fox News and puts power in consumer's hand which is what they want)

Or what if your third part of the tagline rotated so that each time the screen refreshed it changed to another awesome final point? That would grab attention.

Re: Ask HN: OK to use the word "bullshit" in our company tagline?

#18
post #4

Risky, but I think in the end it'd be a positive that'd attract me to your product if I ran a small business (which I do). But your tag of 'no bullshit' might not be feasible for an entirely other reason: Gandhi.net seems to have trademarked the phrase and uses it as part of their tagline as well: http://en.gandi.net/no-bullshit I can't find any outside references for the trademark registration however.

"Gandhi.net seems to have..."

It's http://gandi.net (without the H).

"I can't find any outside references for the trademark registration however."

Search for "no bullshit" here: http://www.tmview.europa.eu/tmview/welcome.html

Re: Ask HN: OK to use the word "bullshit" in our company tagline?

#19
post #18
post #4

Risky, but I think in the end it'd be a positive that'd attract me to your product if I ran a small business (which I do). But your tag of 'no bullshit' might not be feasible for an entirely other reason: Gandhi.net seems to have trademarked the phrase and uses it as part of their tagline as well: http://en.gandi.net/no-bullshit I can't find any outside references for the trademark registration however.

"Gandhi.net seems to have..." It's http://gandi.net (without the H). "I can't find any outside references for the trademark registration however." Search for "no bullshit" here: http://www.tmview.europa.eu/tmview/welcome.html

Ah, thank you. I was searching through US companies for some reason - silly considering Gandi is a French company...

It seems that they have trademarked the tag officially as well[1][2].

[1]:http://www.tmview.europa.eu/tmview/details.html?id=008458168...

[2]:http://www.tmview.europa.eu/tmview/details.html?id=3667252&#...

Re: Ask HN: OK to use the word "bullshit" in our company tagline?

#20

When you resort to callous language you demonstrate a lack of creativity. There's an energy drink company up here in Canada with some rather terrible ads but one thing I do like is their tagline: "No Caffeine. No Caffeine Crash. No Bull" That works on two levels. 1) Obviously they're hitting on what you're hitting (No BS) and 2) A dig at the leading energy drink Red Bull. I think a better idea for you would be to aim…

I chided the folks at Gandi for their "no bullshit" tagline, thinking it uncultured at best. They sent me a thoughtful response, saying that they'd weighed the possibility that it would be considered crude, but that it was a clear description of their corporate mission.
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