What getting your ‘5-a-day’ has to do with better writing
I bet you already know you should eat 5 portions of fruit or veg every day.
But hang on a minute, who said you should?
Well actually WHO said you should. That’s WHO, the World Health Organisation. And what medical evidence did they have to support their “5-a-day” message when they came up with the idea in 1991? Not much really. Certainly nothing to support having exactly 5 portions every day.
Of course there is medical evidence to support eating more fruit and vegetables to stay healthy. But how much more? How often? Who knows really?
But hold on. What’s this got to do with writing?
Simple!
No, that’s it. It’s “simple”.
The reason the 5-a-day message is so well known and has been so effective is because it’s a simple message.
If the WHO had said: “We think everyone should eat more fruit and vegetables than they do now. Not necessarily every day, but you know, each week, or maybe each month, a bit more, because it’ll mean you’ve got a slightly lower chance of getting cancer and other nasty stuff…”
Well it wouldn’t have caught on would it.
But “5-a-day” – that’s simple isn’t it. Short and sweet and easy to remember.
So whenever you’re trying to get a message across in writing, remember to keep it simple. Because simple works.
