You know, if you are of a certain age (sorry gen Z), you will remember Arnold Schwarzenegger and the roles he played that made him become a star.

One of those roles is the lead character in True Lies.

In the movie, Arnold plays the role of Harry Tasker, who is a used car salesperson (as his cover), and a top super-secret spy for Omega Sector; an elite counterterrorism agency of the US government.

He has to figure out if his wife is cheating on him, save his marriage, and save the world.

I mean, that's the gist of the film.

In Nigeria, most of us are like Harry. It's just that we work in reverse.

Hear me out on this one.

We think we are the best thing since toasted bread.

Then we Lord it over others to know we have it and have made it.

Meanwhile, we have taken shortcuts to making it.

Yet, we shine, are loud about it, are arrogant.

Some even change their accents as proof!

Many examples explain this.

Hushpuppi, our politicians, Nollywood stars with "a big God" are just a few examples of our collective obsession with true lies.

It reminds me of a story I heard about a media professional who wanted a job and "became" a Muslim, was going to the Mosque, and never told anybody about his Christian background, all in the effort to get a job.

He was found out; he was still given the job but advised to keep to his religion.

That brings me to the crux of the matter.

I recently saw various ads by the supposed internet marketers about receiving dollars in Nigeria.

And they are charging what is in Nigerian Naira a hefty sum at the moment.

When in all reality, Stripe ALLOWS you to sign up without incorporating a company (as a Sole Proprietor), Kuda Bank allows you to receive funds in Naira (or you can sign up on Binance P2P marketplace and trade your USD for crypto and trade it for Naira again.

All you would need is your means of identification and an account statement to jump through the verification hoops (an international passport is usually preferred).

Then these guys charge people to do this when it is explicitly stated on Stripe's website?

In as much as I believe in marketing and making money, I also believe in having scruples and a code of ETHICS that should never be toyed with.

It is what separates us professionals from those who say they are "Copywriters".

Rules bind professionals to their craft.

Even the "copywriting community" these people say they are a part of is a subset of professional copywriting: Direct Response writing.

The problem is, these guys don't get it.

And like Harry Tasker, they are telling the truth, but in fact, they lie.

In reverse, of course.

It is also why they have no skin in the game and have to bring up concepts all the time to make money.


None of these copywriters have been able to sell a product for over six months successively.

And I base this on my observations of the industry in Nigeria,

And this is since 2003.

In those days (sorry again gen Z), email marketers used Free Autobot email responder, Get Response, and classified ads to make a killing in the name of marketing.

While they made the money, they had no innovation to boot.

As such, they have to reinvent the wheel of a profession that is easy to decipher once you get it.

Do you?

Honestly using words to convince people is very simple!

Talk about the benefits and call to action!

It is that simple!

Well, as far as I am concerned, there is no need for lies to become true if you have this ability to talk about products and services.

I mean, what is the point?

Enough said!

As usual, my name is Christopher Haruna Hamman CMP (UK)
I'm a trained copywriter and the Technology Editor at E-Crypto News.

You can check out our interviews with leading cryptocurrency and blockchain technology executives and more on our homepage: www.e-cryptonews.com.