200 Words A Day archive for 2 full years. 731 days of unbroken consecutive days of writing. 7 Dec 2018 - 8 Dec 2020. I now write daily on https://golifelog.com

Will I get sued if I 'disparage' a larger competitor?

What’s the possible (legal) consequences if I openly ‘disparage’ about a larger, incumbent competitor in my marketing?

Some context: I run a JAMstack web design service called Sweet Jam Sites, and recently I’m trying to target frustrated Wordpress users who are ready to make the switch out of Wordpress. On Twitter, the hastag #fuckwordpress is a very real thing, and everyday so many Wordpress users complain and rage about it. It so perfectly encapsulates the feeling behind the selling point I’m trying to convey with Sweet Jam, because I can relate to it too (being a recovering Wordpress user). That hashtag is exactly the thing you curse when your Wordpress site gets hacked for the umpteenth time, or the website breaks from some required update from Wordpress HQ, from a third party plugin or your hosting provider. #Fuckwordpress is just so on point and catchy to not use for marketing!

So what if I used “F**k Wordpress” as some sort of a marketing tagline, or as the main title header on my website?

What might be possible consequences of that? Will I get sued? As a solo indie agency there’s no way I can manage any litigation from a large, well-resourced tech company, so am concerned about that…

SEO-wise, will Google down-rank it? Heard that curse words will affected your site’s page rank…

Curious to hear any thoughts and personal past experiences from indie makers here!