Lean Blog Audio — Examples of Corporate Speak Masking Reality

http://www.leanblog.org/audio165

I get annoyed by corporate euphemisms, such as referring to people as “resources,” the term “right-sizing” for layoffs, and the type of jargon and babble parodied in the Weird Al song “Mission Statement.”Using unclear language can intentionally mask and hide reality, or sometimes it’s just another form of incompetence.

You might know about the recent Wells Fargo scandal (as I blogged about here).

The bank is trying to make amends for customers being harmed by unnecessary fees and the hit to their credit score that resulted from accounts being opened in their name without authorization (because employees were under pressure to hit unrealistic goals).

I can’t find the commercial online, but Wells Fargo has been running ads that sort of apologize and promise to make things right (better latethan never).

The ad says something like:

“… customers who were impacted…”

They don’t say WHAT the customers were impacted by. They make it sound like a tornado or some other natural disaster impacted those customers.

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