Leading performance poet Luke Wright has sounded a sceptical note about poetry on TV adverts such as the recent Nationwide building society campaign, saying it is “depressing” to see it being used in such a way. In his blog he says: “There is a current trend in advertising to use ‘spoken word’. I fell in love with live poetry because it was subversive and anti-establishment. It’s so depressing seeing that on adverts now.

“I’m not blaming these young poets – there’s loads of people I know and like who have done adverts. I know the money is hugely tempting, but I think they should think long and hard about and doing it. The things I am most embarrassed by in my career are commissions I wrote about things I didn’t really care about, and now they’re out there on the internet for ever. If I could go back I wouldn’t have accepted those jobs.”

In his poem, ‘Renegade Poets (in Adverts)’, which begins by referring to the advert for the Jeep Renegade made by George the Poet in 2015, he says:

 

     Because I remember ’98 – an arts centre in Essex

     the first time I saw verse spat out with love and snarl and menace

     and everything about that gig said: we will not submit

     that art is not a compromise, and if it is, it’s shit.

 

     And that’s what poetry should do, not sell us mortgages.

    Don’t be another corporate tool – say something to the kids.

 

The poem also mentions Roger McGough's voice-overs for Waitrose, and John Cooper Clarke's ads for McCain chips. Wright goes on to say in his blog: “There doesn’t seem to be much of a discussion around this on the live poetry scene, so I thought I’d try and spark a debate. And yes, I’m aware it’s a more nuanced thing that the poem suggests. Yes, there are shades of grey, but I wanted to write a good old-fashioned rant … I’ve not seen anyone take this stance on it, so I will.”

Fellow poet Clare Pollard has defended his "brave" approach, saying: "He makes a living as a poet and has the profile to get approached for these things, so he is burning a few bridges here, drawing a line. However, most people I saw online seemed to be annoyed with him. Like he touched some kind of nerve. Apparently adverts are good profile for poetry. And naturally poets need the money. Apparently, no one has a right to criticise."

She went on to say: "The Nationwide ads are strung together from soft-focus cliches (churning stomaches and melting hearts, knees-up and cuppas, dad dancing and hero’s welcomes) and reinforce, in the juxtaposition of poem and product, certain messages: that a building society lending money is doing you a ‘kindness’, or that house ownership is a necessary part of creating a family home.

"So I don’t see these adverts and think ‘well at least they used real poets’. I don’t see anything better in them than any other jingle. And I think we’re allowed to question whether presenting these words to people as poetry actually does poetry any good." You can read her full blog here 

 

Background: Jo Bell goes Nationwide 

Background: 'It's a marriage of my words and their message' - Matt Abbott