According to a study conducted by the Global Information Center, the average American in 2008 consumed an average 12 hours per day, or more than 100,000 words, of information. Not surprisingly, about 60 percent of that information was consumed through radio and television. And the hours of information consumed grew at a rate of 2.6 percent per year from 1980 until 2008.

Suffice to say, we are bombarded with information. And the problem is growing exponentially. No wonder we sell so much pain reliever in this country! And no wonder it is becoming increasingly difficult to “get through” to our target markets. They are tuning us out and turning us off. And with good reason!

One year ago, the branding firm Siegel+Gale released the results of a survey that reported 84 percent of Americans said they would be more likely to trust a company that uses jargon-free, plain English in their communications. And 79 percent said they thought it was very important that President Obama “mandate that clarity, transparency, and plain English be a requirement of every new law, regulation, and policy.”

So what’s happened during the past year? Wall Street has justified itself huge bonuses in the midst of our economic collapse, and justified their actions in language that doesn’t make sense. And there has been so much spinning around the health care debate, most of us stopped listening to that conversation months ago.

“Transparency and authenticity are the new marketing imperatives,” Lee Rafkin, Siegel+Gale’s global director of simplification, said in a release distributed last year. “People are fed up and desperate for institutions and brands that offer simple and honest communications they can understand.”

Like you, I read press releases and marketing materials every day that I don’t understand. We’re burying each other in jargon and drowning in hyperbole. And we wonder why the words we write don’t have more of an impact.

Don’t know about you, but I’m going to make a real effort this year to write in a more direct and simple style. Granted, I may be a voice in the wilderness, but hopefully, you’ll be able to understand me (-;

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