The Pratfall Effect

The Pratfall effect is (in my words) when someone makes a blunder or error, that ends up making them more relatable to their audience.

Seems people with a perfect image aren’t quite as adored as someone who flubbs things now and then.

When a person makes a mistake or acts in a clumsy way that might even make people laugh, they are found to be more likeable, including in comparison with people who are more intelligent and clever.

changingminds.org

Or put another way, “people considered ‘superior’ by others could become more endearing upon committing a small pratfall.”

It’s not an exact comparison… but it plays into the idea of being transparent, and even a little imperfect, in your climate communications, rather than implying declaring you’ve done everything perfectly.

This was sparked by an interesting reply to my email from the other day (Questioning suppliers). It’s raised a number of points that I’ll explore deeper, starting tomorrow.

Clue: The reply made a declaration of perfection.

Communicating your climate initiatives is a brilliant thing that I’d love to see more organisations doing, but it’s riddled with copywriting pitfalls – a typo here or misused word there could mean the difference between open, well-intentioned transparency… and greenwashing.

Diving in tomorrow 👍