Promoting Something You Don't Believe In: The Copywriter's Conundrum

I found this post over at Bob Bly's blog about what to do when you don't think the product you're writing copy for will sell. A lot of writers simply said they'd let the client know about their reservations but give it a try anyway. I have two things to say about this: a). I personally wouldn't want to work on a project I wasn't passionate about, but we can't be that lucky all the time; and b). people buy bottled water. If you spin it right, it's possible people will buy anything.

My work tends more towards educational web content than sales copy. However, educational content can also be promotional, in a more subtle way, and I'm under no illusions about the fact that my copy sells just like a sales letter does--sometimes better, according to my clients. Sure, I'd like to think of myself as an "educator" first and foremost. But if there weren't money to be made from my writing, I wouldn't be getting paid.

In some ways, it's worse when you run into a problem like the one Bob outlined and you're writing educational copy. With a sales letter, your job is to find the product's selling points. With educational copy, your job is to provide information the consumer needs, in the hope that he will come to trust and respect your company enough to buy from you. You can't just put the right spin on--you have to be honest, or you'll undermine your efforts the minute your customers decide to do a little more research. For educational writers, it's not about whether the product will sell--but whether the product works the way the client wants you to say it does.

Once I was hired to write content for a website promoting a weight loss supplement. It sounded fine when I started, but in the course of my research I found that all the scientific studies on this particular supplement showed it didn't work. My job was to write educational content on how the supplement works and how to use it effectively--but the problem was that it didn't work at all.

I felt stuck. I'd already accepted a deposit and signed an agreement. And yet I didn't feel comfortable writing lies. I brought my concerns up to the client--I didn't know what else to do. Eventually the client decided I wasn't the right writer for the project. I've thought about the situation a lot since; I thought maybe I could have handled it better, but I really couldn't bring myself to write educational copy that wasn't actually educational. It's tough to guard against these things, as sometimes you don't know enough about the topic until you've gotten hired and done the research.

So today's post isn't a how-to; it's more of a what-would-you-do. What would you do in this situation? Have you ever been faced with something like this? What are your thoughts?