The ultimate clickbait headline!
The ultimate clickbait headline has probably yet to be written, but might combine references to Elvis, cryptocurrency, Jeffrey Epstein, the Queen, the British weather, Princess Diana, Gamestop, Prince Andrew, and Elon Musk. Good luck with that one.
We have all fallen for them, headlines which promise so much, draw us in, but often disappoint. For example, the legendary headline “Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster” from “The Sun”. So outrageous, but also ridiculous, you wonder if the story could be true.
Others may be memorable, but in equally poor taste such as The Sun’s “Gotcha!” at the sinking of the battleship “The General Belgrano” during The Falklands War.
Some headlines clearly haven’t been thought through, such as the ones: “Statistics Show That Teenage Pregnancy Drops Off Rapidly After 25”, or “Bugs Flying Round With Wings are Flying Bugs” and “Planes Forced to Land at Airports”. All genuine.
Making the reader laugh is often a good tactic, and the following may amuse you -
“Elvis Presley’s Teeth Visit Malvern”
“Yellow Object Spotted in Sky”
“My Dead Nan Appeared on a Naan”
“Man’s 174 mph Sneeze Blows His Wife’s Hair Off”
“Parrots Separated After Encouraging Each Other to Swear”
“Man Fined for Pretending to be Ghost in Portsmouth Cemetery”
There are some headlines which are a clever play on words, such as:
“Hot Dog Vendor Relishes his Job”
“Sleepy Driver Crashes into Dallas Mattress Store”
“Otter Devastation” (otter raided garden pond)
Then there are headlines which are amusing, but sad or terrible at the same time, such as:
“Opera Singer Can’t Stop Farting After Surgery, Loses Job”
“Boy 10 Steals Car and Drives 68 Miles to Visit Grandparents……Tells Police he is a Dwarf Who Has Forgotten Licence”
Some are so outlandish it is obvious the reporters are just having a laugh, such as:
“Alien Bible Found — They Worship Oprah”
“Abraham Lincoln Was a Woman”
“Dick Cheney Is a Robot”
“Titanic Survivors Found on Board”,
“Reporter Eaten Alive by 80ft Dinosaur”
Then there are headlines that reveal much about a nation’s character such as:
“Brit’s Holiday to Spain Ruined by Too Many Spanish in Hotel”,
and there are the headlines that state the obvious, such as “British Public Wrong About Nearly Everything, Survey Shows”.
While there is nothing intrinsically wrong with trying to draw the reader into a story, the headline should not deliberately deceive, and grab attention for other reasons, thereby wasting one’s time.
So any story should have a punchy headline, appropriate humour can be good, and while there are some great ones already out there, the ultimate clickbait headline has probably still to be written!
