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Good Morning, ‘Just do it. Because you’re worth it. A diamond is forever. It’s the real thing. It’s the economy stupid. We’re going to build a wall. Yes we can! For good or ill, a slogan or a catchphrase can make the difference between brand recognition or irrelevance; between electoral victory and failure. Slogans can shape our lives. This was brought home to me whilst watching Brexit: The Uncivil War, a television drama that showed how the Leave campaign won the referendum. In a key scene we see the eureka moment where the campaign director comes up with the slogan ‘Take back control’. At last they had a pithy phrase that captured the essence of their message. It’s hard to measure how much these three words swung the vote, but they made for a simple and effective slogan. Complex thinking is in some ways the enemy of the sloganeer. I learnt this as an advertising copywriter where we were usually looking for a line that captured the idea of something as a feeling rather than a rational thought. It was a bonus if it was funny but that didn’t necessarily make it better. As I discovered when my line for a famous brand of porridge – ‘you are what you oat’ - was rejected in favour of ‘buy one get one free.’ The word slogan comes from the Scottish Gaelic meaning ‘war cry.’ This feels apt at a time when the armies that shout loudest seem to be winning the war of words. For a slogan to work it doesn’t have to be positive. Indeed, we’re living at a time when negative messages seem more likely to succeed; it’s less ‘Yes we can’ more ‘No you won’t!’ Just say whatever you like, as often as you can, and people will believe it. President Trump’s Wall offers a curious metaphor for this; whether it happens or not, in some people’s minds it’s already been built. To quote a slogan from a real war ‘Careless words cost lives.’ The pen maybe mightier than the sword but it can be just as destructive if the words written incite fear, hate, prejudice and even war itself. Even a slogan savvy nation like ours has to be careful to look for the hand that holds the pen, the author behind the words. Your country needs you! Yes, but for what? And who is really asking? Jesus could play copywriter - ‘Do not worry; love your enemies; beware of false prophets - but for me these slogans only mean something because he is their author. Their authority comes from him. He is the embodiment of his words. He doesn’t just declaim them he lives and dies by them. The messenger is the message and the medium, the signpost and the slogan. And in these noisy, clanging times, we should be wary of believing in any message unless we can also believe its messenger.