AP: After several years of public deliberation and in-fighting, the World Marketing Council has finally approved a new policy whereby the use of certain words, mostly the kind found in product marketing and literature, will fall under the regulatory control of the WMC. In the future, organizations wishing to use words listed in the WMC Register of Regulated Adjectives, must first seek approval from WMC officials.

The controversial WMC move is designed restrain a recent increase in the incidence of copywriting abuses where blatantly inappropriate words have been used to overstate the abilities and characteristics of products that do not accurately match their bold descriptions. Commonly over-used words which will find their way onto the first draft of the WMC's new Register of Regulated Adjectives include notoriously subjective and difficult to pin-down adjectives like; "great", "ground-breaking", "innovative", "user-friendly", "revolutionary" and "pioneering".

Gary Turner, a UK based software executive, welcomed the move "The WMC must do something to stamp out this annoying and immoral practice. It's a real pain when you genuinely come up with a dynamic new product that's innovative, ground-breaking or revolutionary only to discover that using these words in product literature is the kiss of death...customers just switch off instantly because of the saturation and over-use of these words to describe even the most dullest of products. It's not fair."

The WMC is forming a research committee that will determine the appropriateness of extreme or subjective adjectives such as "dynamic" and will either grant or refuse licenses for their use in product literature.

An industry figure who wished to remain anonymous spoke out against the WMC move and branded it "Sensational and amazing", commenting on the likely delays that many marketers would face applying for licenses and then, if refused, having to re-word their literature with more accurate text; "It's phenomenally stupid. This dynamic move is destined to forever transform our businesses beyond compare, for centuries to come will the mission-critical job of writing copy ever be the same; this truly is a sensationally dark day for business."

Consumer groups are expected to welcome the move.