But have you gone mad?
How can I highlight a negative aspect of my product?
Everyone out there is trying to prove their products are the best of the best!
Yes, but you wouldn’t be the first nor the last to use a negative aspect of your offering to set yourself apart.
It’s a technique that savvy copywriters throughout history have used in their campaigns at one time or another, and it proved to be the missing piece for those brands that were struggling to finally take off.
If you think about it, the idea is not that far-fetched.
By embracing a not-so-positive aspect of your product, you demonstrate that:
- You are an honest brand
- You are so confident in your ability to deliver what you promise that you aren’t scared to expose everything, both the good and the bad.
- You know how to turn something negative into something positive.
Furthermore, you not only accept what you lack or what is not so perfect, but you expose it for all to see.
Because in the end great advertising is- as the copywriter Andy McLeod rightly says –
“Expressing a truth about a product in an arresting way.”
This advanced copywriting technique is called “reverse psychology“
Do you want to learn how to use it?
Stay with me for this copywriting class in which we’ll look at several ways to exploit a disadvantage of your product.

1. Admit that you are not the best in the market
Admitting that you are not number one in your niche can work in your favour.
Let’s see this with a great example.
The rental car company Avis was going through a hard time.
Hertz, the competitor, was gaining market share by leaps and bounds, so much so that Avis was losing literally millions of dollars.
They understood that they needed a powerful campaign to turn the situation around and hired the agency Doyle Dane Bernbach.
The agency then decided to turn the tables and make the most of the fact that Avis was number two in the market.

This truth was the perfect argument to convince their audience that with Avis, their experience would be smooth sailing.
These ads have made history because they helped Avis recover from its financial slump.
Doyle Dane Bernbach’s advertisers were able to use this disadvantage to convince audiences that they would get better service and a smoother experience with Avis, which is ultimately what everyone wants when they rent a car.
Think about how you could apply this advanced copywriting technique to your business.
Not being a big, well-known brand may mean that you offer a more personalised service, that you are cheaper, or that the buying process is easier.
Let’s now look at another way to use a disadvantage to your advantage.
2. You are not the first choice your customer had in mind.
You may be the alternative they haven’t considered, and you may turn out to be even better.
I know this is a bit complicated to grasp, so let’s look at an example to help you understand.
Vespa, the Italian motorcycle brand, wanted to penetrate the U.S. market.
They were not fools.
They knew very well that it was not going to be easy to convince a country where every member of the family has their own car from the age of 18 to get on a small and fragile-looking motorcycle.
(Picture a Vespa next to one of those huge pickups that abound in the USA).
Vespa then hired the advertising agency Carl Ally and it was copywriter Ed McCabe who came up with this extraordinary campaign.

Pay attention to the header
“Maybe your second car shouldn’t be a car.”
It’s masterful because you’re already planting doubt in your ideal customer’s mind.
But the lead is even better:
“Don’t laugh. It makes a lot more sense to hop on a Vespa than it does to climb into a 4000 lb automobile to go half a mile for a 4-oz pack of cigarettes.”
Notice how it already plays on the fact that the average American has never considered a scooter, and therefore goes right into making the most robust argument for owning a motorcycle, but preceded by a “don’t laugh”.
McCabe goes on to strengthen that argument by outlining all the advantages of a scooter, for parking, for getting around traffic, and, course, there is also the economic issue, “you can buy one of them with the money you’d spend to insurance and fuel the average second car for a year”.
Think about how you could apply this advanced copywriting technique to your business.
Are you a cheaper but equally (or more) advantageous alternative to a more obvious choice?
So make the most of it and make sure you create headlines that already sow doubt in your audience’s mind.
Do they really need that more expensive option, or can they get a similar result with yours plus other advantages they hadn’t considered?
Let’s take a look at another very clear way to use reverse psychology.
3. Ask your audience not to buy your products
Sounds pretty idiotic, doesn’t it?
If you want to sell more, how can you ask your prospects not to buy?
And yet that is what Patagonia did
You will know Patagonia for its clothing made with quality materials for hiking in the mountains or just walking around the neighbourhood.
In 2011 they ran the following ad in the New York Times for Black Friday:

Of course it was a campaign that attracted a lot of attention.
Patagonia is known for its environmental advocacy and campaigns to protect the planet.
That’s why on Black Friday they wanted to launch a message against the fanatical consumerism typical of these dates.
They even have a page on their website explaining why they decided to run this ad.
I copy here the most relevant messages:
…to lighten our environmental footprint, everyone needs to consume less. Businesses need to make fewer things but of higher quality. Customers need to think twice before they buy.
Why? Everything we make takes something from the planet we can’t give back. Each piece of Patagonia clothing, whether or not it’s organic or uses recycled materials, emits several times its weight in greenhouse gases, generates at least another half garment’s worth of scrap, and draws down copious amounts of freshwater now growing scarce everywhere on the planet.”
Of course, many branded them as hypocrites, because they knew that with this ad they were actually giving more publicity to their products.
They had foreseen that this would happen, so on their website they also face this truth without any hints:
“But we’re in business to make and sell products. Everyone’s paycheck relies on that. Moreover, we are a growing business, opening new stores and mailing more catalogs. What do we tell customers who accuse us of hypocrisy?
It would be hypocritical for us to work for environmental change without encouraging customers to think before they buy. To reduce environmental damage, we all have to reduce consumption as well as make products in more environmentally sensitive, less harmful ways. It’s not hypocrisy for us to address the need to reduce consumption. On the other hand, it’s folly to assume that a healthy economy can be based on buying and selling more and more things people don’t need—and it’s time for people who believe that’s folly to say so.”
Patagonia is actually doing here what it always does – selling a concept rather than a garment itself.
Patagonia not only sells quality clothing but above all presents itself as that brand with scruples that really cares about the planet.
People who buy Patagonia garments do so not only for the quality of its products but also to be seen as a person who loves nature and wants to help protect it.
That’s why this ad makes so much sense, it’s the pure essence of their “buy less but buy quality” marketing strategy.
In other words, don’t buy from Decathlon and buy from us.
Think about how you could use this technique in your marketing strategy.
If your brand is also environmentally conscious, invite your audience to buy only if necessary.
Encourage them to repair, reuse and resell when possible.
Your entire marketing strategy has to take the environmental factor into account if that is how you have decided to differentiate yourself from other brands.
And above all, be consistent with what you preach.
Let’s take a look at one last example of the marketing technique of making a negative thing positive.
4. Your brand doesn’t do everything
Specializing can be a double-edged sword.
When you only do one thing, people may decide to go for another brand or service that offers them more possibilities.
But specializing in something can also be positive because it differentiates you from other businesses and gives you that expert aura.
In the 2000s, the Umbro brand was dedicated to apparel and footwear for one sport: football.
It now also makes rugby and training apparel, but its biggest market is still football.
And it is this speciality that this campaign highlighted:

Copywriter Andy McLeod exploited the fact that all the other brands were making everything, from skateboards to yoga mats, to emphasize that Umbro only made football apparel and nothing else.
This campaign focuses on making their ideal customer – people who play football – feel proud to wear a brand that differentiates them from the rest of the crowd.
Wearing Umbro they say to the world “I play football”.
This kind of emotion is often used in advertising – the feeling of belonging to a group and being perceived as a member of it.
Because it works.
Besides, a brand that specializes in only one thing has to be better, right? This was the other message they wanted to convey.
Think about how you can use this type of message in your marketing campaigns.
Are you specialised in only one thing and that’s why you do it better than the competition?
What is the emotion you want your audience to feel?
Pride in belonging to a group?
Remember, one of the most important goals of your copy is to create an emotion that makes your audience want to get your product.
Summarizing
That not-so-positive aspect of your offer can become very effective in differentiating your brand.
Don’t be afraid to discover that disadvantage that can make you shine brighter than you thought.
Perfection is boring and too flat.
The flaws in business – as in people – are what make us memorable.
I invite you to discover them and share them out there.
See you soon!

0 Comments