Morgan GillisFounder & Owner of Client Success Solutions LLC

Big fan of negative hooks/headlines for capturing attention.

9 Jun 2026 · 0 min

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0:29

In this brief YouTube excerpt, the speaker, a copywriter, explains his enthusiasm for using negative hooks and headlines to capture attention, such as "You're doing your core exercises wrong. Do this instead." He argues that while such hooks generate curiosity, they can also alienate readers by confronting them with criticism, causing them to disengage or feel their time is wasted. He suggests that creators should test alternative phrasings that retain the curiosity element without the negative framing, thereby balancing shock value with audience receptivity.

I really like the negative hooks and headlines. Here's something different you could test. You're doing your core exercises wrong. Do this instead. 'Cause when someone's reading that, who the fuck wants to be doing their core exercises wrong? They're like, man, I don't wanna do this shit anyways. Like, I don't wanna do these exercises. And they're like, now you gotta tell me I'm doing 'em wrong? God, let me just see why I'm wasting my time here. You know? Like, and they wouldn't probably click in. 'Cause this is like a curiosity hook, right? It's got the dot, dot, dot. But hey, it might be worth testing doing the exact same thing. Just put, framing it differently.