I was a little shocked when my grandfather opened the door.
He was of mixed Croatian and Italian heritage, as white as they come, and at the time of this story, probably well into his 70s.
When going outside, he would usually wear a suit and a tie. But on this occasion, he opened the door wearing his home outfit — sweatpants and a t-shirt.
And not just any t-shirt.
It was FUBU — “For Us, By Us” — the Afrocentric brand that flourished in the U.S. thanks to being plugged by rappers such as LL Cool J.
This wasn’t the only case of senior clothing mismatch I’ve seen in Croatia.
A few weeks ago I saw an ancient woman, probably born in the Austro-Hungarian empire, wearing a t-shirt that read, “FETISH.”
And around the same time I saw a grey-haired, middle-aged man with a t-shirt that said, “Bitch better have my money.”
Now, I think these cases are all funny.
And I guess I am not the only one. Because juxtaposition — basically putting two things together — is an almost-mechanical way to create humor out of nothing. A shirt that says FETISH is at best trashy. An 80-year old woman wearing a shirt that says FETISH… well, that’s content.
Two points I wanna bring up:
Juxtaposition doesn’t always make for humor. But if you juxtapose things that are different enough, you’re at least going to get some shock or wonder (“The unique world of gay rodeo”).
Second: humor, curiosity, shock, wonder, and juxtaposition are all great things to include on occasion in your sales copy.
They will make people enjoy reading what you have to say, so your audience forms a stronger bond with you.
But they are not a crutch you should rely on endlessly.
And except in personality-based emails or blog posts (such as this one), they are still best paired with that most fundamental direct response driver — self-interest — in order to be effective.
And with that, let me juxtapose an important final point:
If you want to see some examples of serious sales copy that uses light juxtaposition in an effective and sales-producing way, you might like the following offer: