Art Director Disease

There is a terrible ailment afflicting the ad business. I call it art director disease. It is the inability to say something once.

Every presentation I attend seems to be a festival of repetition. Nobody seems satisfied to say something just one time and move on.

If we're lucky, the presenter will simply find a synonym for the key word in his/her sentence and repeat the sentence with the synonym replacing the key word.

If we're not lucky, the presenter will review the five points on his slide, and then find a new way to describe each point.

It is not just occurring at formal presentations. Many informal meetings and conversations take twice as long as they should because of the power of this disease.

There must be a certain type of insecurity that makes people feel that saying something once is not sufficient. Or that once-over doesn't demonstrate enough commitment to an idea. Or that by saying something twice they are being more articulate. Or maybe they just can't shut the f*ck up.

Whatever it is, it is growing and becoming more annoying all the time.

Why do I call it art director disease?

C'mon.