Unnecessary negatives were everywhere in 2020.
People telling us what they weren’t doing, would never do and wouldn’t say.
And these quotes became the headlines.
Unnecessary negatives are what we like to call pink elephants.
As in, don’t think of a pink elephant.
Do not think of a bright pink elephant.
What are you thinking about?
And that’s the problem.
Whatever follows the unnecessary negative is the image we are left with.
So without further ado, here are my top ten Pink Elephant quotes of 2020.
Image: Scotland Tonight, STV
In the heady days pre-Covid, the British Labour Party were seeking a new leader.
Jeremy Corbyn had announced at the end of 2019 that he’d be standing down.
Step forward Lisa Nandy.
Speaking to political programme Scotland Tonight, Lisa attempted to reassure viewers.
She was keen to demonstrate that her party were listening to electors north of the border.
But she phrased it like this:
“I certainly think we don’t tell the Scottish people that we know better than they do what they think about independence.”
And just like that, the notion of ‘we know better’ has been reinforced.
As with a Pink Elephant list last year, I’ve made a heavy metal inclusion in my 2020 top ten.
It’s my genre of choice.
It has been since I was 12.
And, up until recently, Of Mice & Men were one of my favourite bands.
Over the summer, serious allegations of sexual assault were raised against the band’s former frontman Austin Carlile.
But what threatened to engulf the original story was one outlet’s seeming refusal to cover it.
Alternative Press, one of the biggest media publications in the genre, was suddenly on the backfoot.
A statement was put out.
And the outlet’s founder Mike Shea inadvertently fanned the flames of controversy:
“The Austin Carlile story was never kept ‘under wraps’.”
Well, now it sure sounds like it was.
The outgoing US President Donald Trump is a pink elephant generating machine.
This entire list could’ve been dedicated to things he’s said – or denied – in 2020.
His press secretary Kayleigh McEnany set the bar earlier in the year.
Taking over in May as the administration’s fourth spokesperson, she opened with an often-heard pink elephant.
“I will never lie to you, you have my word on that.”
Hmmm.
An interesting turn of phrase, considering her boss’s penchant for untruths.
The British heir to the throne hit the headlines in April.
Prince Charles had fallen ill at the height of the pandemic and was tested for Covid-19.
But the furore unfolded after frontline health workers asked why they were yet to be given any tests.
Accusations of ‘royal treatment’ began circling.
The UK Government were forced into hastily-arranged interviews to defend the situation.
And it was Health Minister Edward Argar who told Sky News:
“The Prince of Wales didn’t jump the queue.”
That’s certainly one way to put it.
The airline Flybe was one of the first casualties of the pandemic.
Flights were being cancelled by the minute in early March.
The troubled firm posted a website update for its passengers.
Unfortunately, the lynchpin of the post was a glaring, caps-locked pink elephant:
“Please DO NOT TRAVEL TO THE AIRPORT unless you have arranged an alternative flight with another airline.”
We’ve got a solution for these types of unnecessary negatives.
Only travel to the airport if you have arranged an alternative flight.
See the difference?
The A83 Rest And Be Thankful is one of the most infamous roads in Scotland.
Here’s a BBC article explaining why.
Every year like clockwork, there are massive landslides that leave the road impassable for weeks.
One such landslip occurred in January.
1,000 tonnes of debris spilled down the mountainside and onto the carriageway.
The road itself is the responsibility of Argyll & Bute Council.
Their leader Aileen Morton was very unhappy about the Scottish Government’s perceived lack of action.
In a pink elephant-laden quote, she insisted:
“No more prevaricating and faffing about, no more talking about processes and procedures, no more delay.”
Mentions of prevaricating, faffing about, talking about processes and more delays.
All in one handy phrase.
I mentioned Lisa Nandy earlier in this piece.
She lost out in the leadership battle to eventual winner Sir Keir Starmer.
His slick style in the Commons won plaudits.
But an oft-repeated turn of phrase from November takes fourth spot in our list.
On the back of a critical report into anti-Semitism within his party, Sir Keir called a press conference.
He gave a short speech.
And towards the end, he finished with a trio of classic pink elephants:
“Never again will Labour let you down.
“Never again will we fail to tackle anti-Semitism.
“And never again will we lose your trust.”
Three things which we’re now talking about happening again.
There’s a much easier way to do this, Sir Keir.
Scotland’s First Minister has been praised in previous blogs for her clear communication.
Very infrequently though, we’d hear a barnstormer of a pink elephant from behind the podium.
This one in particular, from mid-October, was a highlight.
The first Rangers v Celtic football match of the season was on the horizon.
There was speculation that fans would flout Scottish restrictions and travel south to see the game on TV.
The First Minister addressed this.
And phrased it with this highly-visual image:
“Do not travel to Blackpool this weekend to watch the Old Firm match in a pub.”
A clear, vivid instruction.
Don’t do it though.
Moving from the Scottish leader to the British Prime Minister.
Boris Johnson has come out with several headline-grabbing pink elephants this year.
After he himself contracted Covid-19, there were even some unusual pink elephants said about him.
But his denial about the transfer of political power north of the border takes second place this year.
After a Zoom call in which he reportedly called Scottish devolution ‘a disaster’, the PM went on the defensive.
And as a result, came out with this beauty:
“Just because I criticised the performance of devolution doesn’t mean I want to oppose devolution as a concept.”
Now we’re talking about wanting to oppose devolution.
Oh, Boris.
2020 has been a rough year.
But glimmers of light began to emerge in mid-November with promising news of vaccines.
Pfizer and Moderna were up first, delivering between 90 and 95 percent efficiency.
Then came the headlines about the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which Bill analysed in an earlier blog.
Their vaccine, as the media reported it, only hit 70 percent efficacy.
The instant reaction was one of mild disappointment.
Why was this figure so much lower than the other two?
The vaccine producers had to take a stand.
But, as a result, came out with the baggage pink elephant we desperately wanted them to avoid.
Oxford professor Sir John Bell said:
“We weren’t cooking this up as we went along.”
How very reassuring.
It’s very simple.
Instead of telling people what hasn’t happened or what you weren’t doing, tell them what you have done.
What you are doing.
And what you will do.
Suddenly, we see the entire focus of these sentences change.
“Stay in your own homes to watch the Old Firm match.”
“I will always support Scottish devolution.”
“Every step we took and each test we ran was approved by the regulators.”
And the bad headlines are avoided as a result.
If you’d like to learn more about how the media works, we’ve got an entire e-learning course for you.
Or, if you’d rather we ran a training session with you or your team, send us an e-mail.
We’re excited to hear from you.
And we’ll help you avoid those headline-grabbing pink elephants.
Colin Stone is Senior Trainer and Communications Lead at Pink Elephant.
You can read his profile here.
Photos in Unnecessary negatives blog by Scotland Tonight / YODCOX! / CC BY-ND / Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA / CarlH / CC BY-ND / Riik@mctr / CC BY-SA / robdonnelly / CC BY-NC-ND / UK Parliament/ CC BY-NC on Foter.com.
Unnecessary negatives blog edited by Colin Stone.
23rd December 2020 Featured in: Blog, Commentary, Media training blogs By: Pink Elephant
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