Blue Sky copywriting is lacking in imagination

I’m afraid that I, too, have to admit to being slightly bemused by the phrase ‘Is it chilli in hear’, in the Coley Porter Bell Blue Sky designs.

Was the idea just to use homophones in the text, wherever possible? If so, to what effect?

I can see that, maybe, the word ‘chilli’ would suggest heat, while the actual sound of the word obviously alludes to feeling cold – which is neat enough – but then, why ‘hear’?

Is it only meant to be seen in conjunction with the ‘Ice Scream’ design, and, if you have to go that far to decipher the design, it hasn’t really worked has it?

While I’m on the subject, am I the only person who is familiar with the phrase ‘I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream’? I would have thought that it’s not hugely imaginative copywriting, to make the leap from that to ‘Ice Scream’.

It would, perhaps, have been slightly cleverer to stick with ‘I scream’, as it would be more effective in the context of the other designs. When read aloud it also sounds exactly like ‘Ice cream’, whereas ‘Ice Scream’ suffers from sibilance (if you see what I mean).

I do really like the designs, but is the copywriting really that amazing or creative?

David Bishop, Frontmedia, Witham, Essex, CM8 1HH