diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c0f678fd..8317c3d1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@ Protect specific branches from direct checkins.
     branches.
   - `-p` / `--pattern` can be used to protect branches that match a supplied regex
     (e.g. `--pattern, release/.*`). May be specified multiple times.
+  - `-m` / `--message` can be used to customize the error message in case of failure.
 
 Note that `no-commit-to-branch` is configured by default to [`always_run`](https://pre-commit.com/#config-always_run).
 As a result, it will ignore any setting of [`files`](https://pre-commit.com/#config-files),
diff --git a/pre_commit_hooks/no_commit_to_branch.py b/pre_commit_hooks/no_commit_to_branch.py
index b0b8b238..166b4803 100644
--- a/pre_commit_hooks/no_commit_to_branch.py
+++ b/pre_commit_hooks/no_commit_to_branch.py
@@ -37,11 +37,20 @@ def main(argv: Sequence[str] | None = None) -> int:
             'may be specified multiple times'
         ),
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        '-m', '--message', default='',
+        help=(
+            'What message to display if the the check fails'
+        ),
+    )
     args = parser.parse_args(argv)
 
     protected = frozenset(args.branch or ('master', 'main'))
     patterns = frozenset(args.pattern or ())
-    return int(is_on_branch(protected, patterns))
+    result = int(is_on_branch(protected, patterns))
+    if result:
+        print(args.message)
+    return result
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':