Words don’t have to be this blatantly offensive to cause offense. Watching what you say isn’t as easy — or even as all-fire important

By Scott Swedenburg

Recently, our creative team was developing a fundraising package for a children’s home. The story line in the letter was about a young girl who made the choice not to follow in her mother’s footsteps and use drugs. One of the members of our team suggested the envelope teaser have wording along the lines of “Tiffany had a choice.” We were beginning to develop that thought when someone asked if our readers would relate the word “choice” to abortion. Would a large percentage of the donors and prospects never open the envelope because of the word “choice”? We decided not to use the word and tested a different phrase.