Sometimes looking at it from an negative angle is more effective. Most clients are "keep it positive" and I usually do. But there are a lot of millionaires who can thank insulting headlines for their success.
What is that quote- something like, "Well behaved women rarely make history"? Negative headlines are like that. Jarring, a break from the norm, daring and memorable.
I don't think there's anything wrong with a negative headline, or slightly insulting- as long as it's not degrading.
I don't think so. While it may grab someone's attention quickly, I think it shows a lack of creativity and leaves a bad taste in most people's mouths, even if they do show a little bit of interest at first. Most insulting headlines are based on the theory that the person reading them will have an emotional and reflexive reaction to the insult, and therefore be more likely to read further or click on a particular link...but if you can accomplish this through other means, I don't really see a need for insults.
I think they are worth it on occasion but not all of the time. The goal is to create just enough controversy to gain their interest and keep it there with not so insulting words. However, negativity and controversy all of the time can easily affect your brand name and traffic load. So I think it is important to have a balance with a mixture of everything to gain interest of the general population.
One of my favorite 'guru' copywriters was the late Gary Halbert. in one of his newsletters he spoke of a time he was so high on himself he wrote a sales piece and insulted people by shouting out, 'ATTENTION ALL FAT PEOPLE'. His newsletter thread about this is zskj_10_stupid_things.htm at the thegaryhalbertletter*com Anyhow, the newsletter starts out, "Once upon a time, there was a young, hot-shot advertising guy whose string of successes had made him a legend in his own mind. He had created several spectacular direct mail and space campaigns and, full of himself and his own self importance, he truly believed he could do no wrong. In fact..." Well he goes on to explain that after the expense he put into full page newspaper ads and recording radio spots, insulting people didn't work. Being negative, yes that works. Often starting off sales copy with the target market's bad situation, and using a negative headline and negative image header works. Pain sells. Provided you are and working towards its resolution. But just outright insulting people can backfire big time. I think Gary said in that newsletter posting, he got all of three orders. You'll need to test for yourself to see if it's worth the risk of doing things known to bomb. Andre PS: There was a time I was at 30% bodyfat so hopefully no one takes this posting to being insensitive. Just showing that being insulting for the sake of being insulting, can backfire big time.