Preview the following text about a person’s ad requesting help to rewrite an ad to find her pet a new home. What tone would you use to read this out loud. What do you like or dislike about this text and tone? Here's the problem. Look at this blurb and tell me five bad things about Bailey. That's easy, right? Her bad qualities are everywhere. "Violent", "Growling", "hissing", swatting", "needs LOTS of patience". I could probably keep going!
Now tell me five of the nicest things about Bailey. Whew! Not so easy. I really have to search. If I keep reading I get to "close loving relations with her foster mothers" ...that sounds good, but then it's qualified with "after several months". So if I keep looking for good qualities, wade past "no children", "needs time and space", "invest several months", I eventually get down to "Once you reach that point, Bailey is a true love." Hmmm. So why do we have all the bad stuff at the top, emphasized with capital letters, while all the good stuff is hard to find and at the bottom? Shouldn't we go the other way around?