Best and worst slogans

 

5 good ones and LOTS of bad ones

A GROUP OF marketing gurus last week voted for the best five US presidential slogans ever. The results were, in order,

1) "A New Deal for the American People" (Roosevelt, 1932);

2) "It's Morning Again in America" (Reagan, 1980);

3) "I Like Ike" (Eisenhower, 1952);

4) "It's the Economy, Stupid" (Clinton, 1992); and

5) "Yes, We Can!" (Obama, 2008).

Short, sweet and memorable.

But they made me depressed!  It reminded me just how different Asia is when it comes to witty leaders.

In China, the most famous presidential slogan is: “The three represents.”

Huh? The three represents what? Something’s clearly missing—I suspect it’s the speechwriter’s brain.
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South Asian political slogans also lack pizzazz.

In India, we had: “Congress is with the common man.”

In Sri Lanka, a cliché: “A brighter future”.

In Bangladesh, we had “Wake up Bangladesh”— rather insulting. So they reckon all their people are snoring?

In Indonesia, the president’s reelection slogan was “Continue!” which sounds like a school master announcing that the maths lesson is going to be a double-period. Groan.

The most famous political slogan in Malaysia’s history is: “Malaysian Malaysia.”  Ouch.
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Mind you, America may have cooler political slogans than Asia, but that doesn’t make their leaders better wordsmiths.

Take former US Vice President Dan Quayle for example.

“The holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history,” he told a baffled audience. “No, not our nation's, but in World War II. I mean, we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century, but in this century's history."

When someone pointed out that he was talking complete rubbish, he argued that he sometimes got things right. “I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.”

Okay. Right.
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In historical terms, Quayle paved the way for the coming of George W Bush, who set new standards in talking nonsense: “Families is where our nation finds hope, where our wings take dream,” Bush told amazed listeners.

And just in case his stance wasn’t clear, he went into detail on his key policy agenda: “I know that the human being and the fish can co-exist.”

Huh?
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When the world’s biggest nations and most powerful individuals can’t handle words, one may be tempted to despair.

But fear not!

Salvation comes from the activists of the world, who regularly show genuine sharp wit. The Anarchists’ slogan was: “Bigger cages! Longer chains!” (In case Mr Bush is reading this, this is called irony.)
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But I’d give the top prize to the protestors against the World Trade Organization.

Realizing that demonstrators tend to shout three-word phrases such as “Save the whale” or “[Name] get out”, this group marched through Seattle in 1999 shouting: “Three word chant. Three word chant.”
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Your humble narrator once met a guy designing “Vote for me” posters for his college election. Everyone thought he was a really boring guy, and expected him to lose.

I redesigned his poster to be a tad ironic. The revised version said: “Vote for the other guy. (Only joking!!!)”

The new poster changed his image and he made loads of new friends (two).

He still lost the election, which kind of spoils my anecdote, but, hey, life ain’t easy. What can you do? Wake up. Let your wings take dream. Continue!
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RELATED POST:

The unprintable column: Truthful slogans for the nations
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UNRELATED ISSUE:
Folks who are in Hong Kong, we have a plan to meet at Starbucks on the Peak at 4 pm tomorrow (Saturday, May 1). Be there!

Comments

[Jason]

My favourite George Bushism was "fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, um, er, ah...can't get fooled again.

This is absolutely hilarious...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgq7LAyIl3U

[Angela]

My fave is from Ronald Reagan:

If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

[tamanna]

just woke up..wake up bangladesh surely works!!
in the last election the current government's slogan was "digital bangladesh"..people had no idea what it meant(people still dont actually)..when DST started for the first( and last) time everyone called it digital time..

[Dancer]

I like this one:

I'm not being rude.
You're just insignificant.

[Christy]

Obama's Yes We Can inspired the yes-we Can Opener...

I love China's bland slogans. "Achieve the Four Modernisations!"

Mao: "The more you study, the more stupid you become!" "Be a red seed!" "Feed pigs with grass!"

[TS]

Had Obama lived some time in Singapore, his slogan would just have been "Can".

[Dancer]

Sooooo sorry. Does anyone know of an easy way to post pictures again?

[Angela]

TS, "Caaan" lah!

[Angela]

Dancer, go to www.tinypic.com

[Lia]

"Continue!" LOL

I'm Indonesian so I know exactly what is that. But, honestly, I never thought about it that way before.

TS and Angela, I'm trying to imagine Obama deliver a speech in Singlish...

[Ram]

Indian National Congress (INC) used the very famous word "Jai Ho" from the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" in the 2009 elections... The slogan was "Jai Ho Aam Admi" meaning "Be victorious common man"...

I don't know whether the common man in India is victorious but INC is for the second time consecutively...

[Dancer]

Thanks Angela, but it said my IP address cannot use this service. Any other suggestions?

[So Obviously Me!]

@ Dancer
"I'm not being rude.
You're just insignificant."
LOL!!! by the way, who said this?

[Mahjuja]

Mr. Jam you know the Wake up Bangladesh slogan seems hacked from this Tetley Tea Ad in India which was Jago India, Jago which translates Wake up India, wake up.

[Ram]

The one I like is "Even the word IMPOSSIBLE says I'M POSSIBLE".

Well, the picture on top from Nury reminds me of some funny T-shirt slogans...Most of you might have come across it or seen some pics... like a girl with big boobs wearing a T-shirt which says "I wish these were brains" or the words "USED" on the butt...

Many people think that physicists are very boring people... Reading these slogans reminds me some funny quotes from physicists...
1. "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. Thats relativity".This was from the very famous Albert Einstein when explaining his theory of relativity.

2. "Physicists define stress as force per unit area. The rest of humanity defines stress as physics"

3. "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits". Again from Albert Einstein.

4. "All pretty women are already married and all interesting things are already discovered".

[Chamin]

Obama's Singlish speech might include "Cannot oso(also) can!" :o)

[Francine Gomez]

LOL..and this post just made my day...haha.and my favorite is "welcome to america. now speak english"

[fardel]

One of our president ( I think) made this memorable speech;
"Before I was elected we were at the edge of a cliff.
We have moved a big step forward."

[fardel]

seen on a poster in a famous country

Join the army
discover beautiful countries
make friend with interesting people
and ...kill them

[farah]

No Job
No Money
No Girl
No Problem

hottest t-shirt emblems trend right now!

available in all sizes and differnt colors.

WARNING: wear tackiness at your own risk!

[Angela]

The mean truck driver is back on home turf and found out the hard way that it is possible for a sunburn to be sunburned again.
Why is it that when you travel you pack what you cant use (laptop) and forget to pack what you really could use (sun block cream and aloevera gel)

Well, off I go to find someone who will develop my photos.

[Dancer]

Seen on T-shirts:

'Change you can believe' for Obama supporters.

and 'Change you can't believe' for McCain supporters.

[Lift Lurker]

Slogans are catchy but too short to have substance ("Yes we can...what?", "I like Ike...why?").

Speeches have substance but make us catch sleep.

Best option is the elevator pitch of course.

Everything must be rewritten to fit our short timespan.

U.S. Constitution must be in elevator pitch format. Every law and judgment must be in elevator pitch format. Every scientific journal, every user manual, every newspaper column (except Mr Jam).

Even flight attendant safety instruction must be in elevator pitch format.

Everything must be as easy to use as lift. As Einstein (inferior scientist to Otis) failed to say: Everything should be made simpler than possible"