Imagine yourself in the following situation: You have just landed a job writing advertising copy for a resort hotel on a small island off the coast of the US. The hotel management has brought you to the island for a few days exploration, during which you have noted the following . . .
1.The hotel seems made of plastic. it features shiny new, bright, loud colors and wildly patterned linoleum and wallpaper.
2. The rooms are very small, the walls are thin, and the music from the hotel bar can be heard all night long.
3. Hot water for bathing is seldom available.
4. The hotel band, a group of local kids playing on garbage can lids and harmonies, seems to know only three songs.
5. The island is run by a dictator whose soldiers are everywhere. You saw three of them savagely beat a ragged child who tried to steal a loaf of bread.
6. The one town on the island is really a small village of battered shacks with outdoor plumbing facilities.
7. The beach consists of a small amount of imported white sand spread over the local mud.
8. A swimmer at the beach was recently attacked and badly wounded by a barracuda.
9. At two minutes after sunset, hordes of large, vicious mosquitoes come out.
10. It is blazing hot while the sun is out, but damp and cold at night.
11. The hotel owns one large motor boat. Every few days, when the boat is in good repair, it takes a crowded group of tourists to a small sand bar where they look for shells, but mostly find cans and bottles left by other tourists.
12. The food in the hotel, prepared by native cooks, is highly flavored with some mysterious local herb that lingers on your taste buds for days. The most frequently served dish is an island specialty: pigs feet.
All things considered, this is not the place you would choose for yourself or recommend to a friend. But the job is important to you and you have already run up a large bill getting there. Since you cannot be reimbursed for the trip until the ad agency accepts your copy, you will have to do the best job you can. You decide that you will not leave any of the material from the above list (to satisfy your conscience), but you will put everything in the most favorable light (to please your employer). You sit down in your room to write the most attractive advertisement you can. You can hear the band playing one of the three songs. You begin to write . . .
Before you begin, here is some technical advice. The first problem you must contend with is organizational. The 12 items you have to cover must be grouped in paragraphs according to some system. You should look for natural groupings and then organize your writing accordingly., with an appropriate introduction and conclusion. The word barracuda would be out of place, as the word alcoholism would be in a beer ad. Nonetheless, everything you write must be literally true: You cannot lie about conditions, but you can present them in the best possible light. Also, you must capture a certain tone in your advertisement. Remember, your job is to make people want to come to this island.
