Tag lines—pithy phrases that distills an organization’s mission down to a few words—are much beloved by the nonprofit marketing consultant Nancy Schwartz, who recently held a contest for charity tag lines on her Getting Attention blog.

Taking a contrarian view of tags is Jeff Brooks, creative director at the Merkle marketing firm, who calls them “catchy little phrases that no mentally healthy human would use in conversation” on his Donor Power Blog.

Tag lines, Mr. Brooks writes, are too often just another form of sloganeering. He links to an article in Fast Company magazine offering “the anti-slogan argument”. The magazine says: “People don’t speak slogan-language today unless they’re trying to put one over on you. So when you hear one, you immediately become cynical.”

“The solution: Just start telling stories,” Mr. Brooks writes. “The way you do with your friends. Slogans, tag lines, advertising, brand guidelines—that stuff is over. If you want to motivate people, act like a person.”

What do you think? Are tag lines a quick and clever way to get your charity’s mission across, or just artificial slogans that often say little amid a sea of advertising jingles and catch phrases?