In the most recent instance, our agency made a creative for our client Advanced Homeopathy Clinic which had the word ‘homeopathy’ misspelt.

Yes, I was shown the creative for final approval.

I feel obligated to state that I saw the creative several times before final approval. Nonetheless, the most important element of the creativity was tainted.

I’m not going to use the word ‘blunder,’ choosing instead to use the word ‘mistake.’

Furthermore, many of us, including me, liked the creative when it was posted on behalf of the client on different social media accounts.

Fortunately, our boss Geetanjali Kaul noticed (read discovered) the mistake.

Moving quickly, she got the creative modified by a team member who subsequently released the updated version.

The objective of sharing this incident is to encourage you to remain watchful at all times, especially if we are to rise above.

When you see something that concerns you, your family, friends or a client (as in this case), please take a close look at it and do your best if you spot anything that needs to be brought to attention.

We all make mistakes. The one described above wasn’t the first, and it might not be the last.

However, we must exercise caution. I repeat, we must exercise caution.

I’d like to point out that no one makes a ‘mistake’ on purpose. However, a mistake should not be repeated. 

I will conclude with a quote –

“All of us make mistakes. The key is to acknowledge them, learn, and move on. The real sin is ignoring mistakes, or worse, seeking to hide them.” –  Robert Zoellick

And yes, the ‘mistake’ as referred to was perhaps a result of oversight, and to be more precise I should say – Our brain reads words as units, and not by individual letters. That’s why we can spell a word incorrectly and still usually figure out what the word was!

Having said this, I’m tempted to add the following before signing off.

Question: Why do we misread words when reading?

Answer: Mistakes are a natural part of reading. We misread because we’re rushed, tired, distracted, bored, pressured, or because we believe before we start that we know what the text will say.

Thank you for your time.