Careful with those captions

We were recently copywriting an article for Save the Children that covered training children in schools in Nicaragua so they knew what to do in the event of a landslide. The caption read: ‘Children carry out a drill’, and showed this picture.

Luckily the designer’s hearty guffaws caught it before we uploaded for worldwide feedback.

It reminded me of the article we wrote about breeding goats in Ethiopia, designed to give vulnerable families more resources to cope with drought. One memorable sentence read: ‘As soon as the family has successfully bred the goats, they sell the kids.’ Technically correct, but not diplomatically sensitive in a Save the Children publication.

Here are a few genuine headlines from newspapers for your delectation:

JUVENILE COURT TO TRY SHOOTING DEFENDANT

KIDS MAKE NUTRITIOUS SNACKS

STOLEN PAINTING FOUND BY TREE

LUNG CANCER IN WOMEN MUSHROOMS

SQUAD HELPS DOG BITE VICTIM

DEFENDANT’S SPEECH ENDS IN LONG SENTENCE

Category: Brochures, Newsletters, General ruminations