If you haven’t heard about the Topshop “Shakespere” blunder by now, you nearly missed a valuable lesson on the importance of spelling and grammar.
“Shakespere” or “Shakespeare”? Topshop gets it horribly wrong…
Here’s what happened: Topshop, the clothing giant, commissioned a design company to produce a William Shakespeare-inspired women’s t-shirt. After what we can only imagine was a lengthy creative process, they came up with the ingenious idea of recreating the famous lines, “Romeo Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” on a t-shirt in fancy calligraphy. So far so good…
The famous quote was signed by “Shakespere”, not “Shakespeare” and the £20 t-shirts proceeded to go on sale online and across UK stores bearing the grave misspelling – cue lots of online mockery from shoppers, a swift recalling of t-shirts and plenty of red faces at Topshop HQ.
Topshop’s failure to proofread cost them time, probably millions in reprint and lost revenue, and resulted in a very public brand humiliation.
Spelling and grammar mistakes are generally not a good look for anyone but for jobseekers, committing these blunders on your CV, cover letter or job application form could be the very thing that costs you the interview – approximately 4 out of 10 job applications are rejected due to bad spelling and grammar.
It’s very important that you proofread your application thoroughly before hitting that send button – if in doubt, get a friend (with proven grammar skills) to look over it, or better still, hire a professional to put together your CV, cover letter or application form for you.
In the meantime, here’s a great infographic on 15 common grammar mistakes you want to avoid at all costs – whether in your job application or elsewhere:
