Category Archives: humor and advertising

Humor in Advertising | Article Library | The Marketing Resource Center

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Humor in advertising by Mark Levit Many of the most memorable ad campaigns around tend to be funny. Advertisers use this strategy to attract customers to their product. Audiences like to be entertained, but not pitched. People will pay more attention to a humorous commercial than a factual or serious one, opening themselves up to be influenced. The key to funny advertising is assuring the humor is appropriate to both product and customer. The balance between funny and obnoxious can often be delicate; and a marketer must be certain the positive effects outweigh the negative before an advertisement can be introduced.

The best products to sell using humor tend to be those that consumers have to think the least about. Products that are relatively inexpensive, and often consumable, can be represented without providing a lot of facts, and that’s where there’s room for humor. Candy, food, alcohol, tobacco and toys/entertainment related products have proven to benefit the most from humor in their campaigns. One of the most important things to keep in mind is relevance to the product. An example of an extremely successful humorous campaign is the series of “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” commercials. The star, a tiny talking Chihuahua who is passionate about his Taco Bell got people repeating the company’s name across the country. The repetition of the company name and the actual content of the commercial reinforce the message in a relevant manner. Taco Bell saw a substantial rise in sales and their own mascot became a pop icon.

Another point to consider when using humor in advertising is that different things are funny to different people. A commercial that may leave one person gripping their sides from laughter may leave a bad taste in another’s mouth. The target market must always be considered. What’s funny in a client presentation may not be funny on an airplane, at a country club or in a hospital. An example of a recent humorous product introduction is Mike’s Hard Lemonade. These commercials feature over exaggerated and comical violence with the underlining message that no one’s day is hard enough to pass up a Mike’s. It failed, ranking as one of the year’s most hated campaigns by both men and woman according to 2002’s Ad Track, a consumer survey. The series of commercials are aimed at 21-29 year old males and the repetition of comical violence (such as a construction worker being impaled on the job and a lumberjack cutting off his own foot) gets less and less funny every time it’s viewed. Eventually the joke just wore out and the commercial became annoying and offensive.

Humor in advertising tends to improve brand recognition, but does not improve product recall, message credibility, or buying intentions. In other words, consumers may be familiar with and have

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Using Humor in Advertising

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Charlie Chaplin The Tramp debuted in 1914 -- p...
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Advertising Is Not A Funny Business First, a warning. Professional Advertising does not recommend that you use humor in your advertising. A lot of people simply dont have a sense of humor. You lose them immediately, and the potential size of your market shrinks. And humor is in the eye of the beholder. It is commonly misinterpreted. Many people will not get the joke. Your market size just shrunk again. And humor often insults someone. They may simply get angry because they dont get the joke. This is fire we are playing with. Your market just shrunk again.

Is it worth the risk? Laugh Out Loud – Advertising Humor Yes, humor in advertising is risky. It can also be devastatingly effective. When done right, humor works – really, really well. Advertising is about getting attention. The best ways to get attention with advertising are with strong visuals, sex, powerful headlines, and humor. Lets look at how to use [or not use] humor in advertising. Advertising humor is wonderful for getting attention. As you look at some of our sample ads, we hope you get a good idea of what we mean. Advertising humor can be extraordinarily effective when it is used correctly. People will actually look for your ads, and talk about them if they are good. But there are rules about using humor in advertising to represent your company, and following them is probably a good idea.

First, people like funny things. They relax and pay attention when they know you have a sense of humor. It puts them in a good mood, and it creates a more comfortable atmosphere and a more positive image for your company. It makes you easy to approach, and easy to remember. Advertising humor works best with established and commonly purchased products. Humor in advertising works for business services, familiar items, and products we all know. But corporate image and industrial advertising are serious business. Unknown, risky, expensive, or sensitive products are not normally suited to the lighter touch of advertising humor. Advertising humor also needs to be well suited to its audience. If your customers don’t get the joke, then the joke will be on you. A sophisticated audience will understand your irony, satire, and puns, but a young audience may only understand slapstick comedy or a silly cartoon caricature. Inside jokes can be effective if the recipient understands that it was done for them, but nobody else will get it. And advertising humor can backfire. If you make a joke at the expense of any one group, you will surely alienate them. Everyone loved the “Where’s the Beef” commercials done by Wendy’s – everyone, that is, except the senior citizens who did not like being portrayed as grumpy old people. Advert

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The Art of Humor in Advertising

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Editor’s note:

Humor in advertising is a delicate method of attracting a viewer’s/listener’s attention to the client’s product. Done right, it achieves success. Doing it right means not only engaging the prospect but getting them to remember the product. On a national level who can forget the Budweiser Frogs and Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef” on television. The VW Bug intro campaign was a great one in print.

Advertising & Marketing Review decided to explore the art of humor in advertising with some locally successful people. We invited Tom Evans, Creative Director at Morey-Evans to talk about humor on radio. The agency is responsible for the Good Times Burger spots. Don Stroh has been successfully creating direct marketing cartoon humor and addresses that issue. David Emrich of Post Modern, approaches the subject from the production standpoint. Enjoy their comments and learn more on the art of humor in advertising.

What is funny in radio is a question that should be preceded, as when evaluating any creative medium, with another question.

Why be funny in radio?

By Tom Evans, Morey-Evans Advertising

One very good reason is that two other common approaches, direct information (announcers) and musical entertainment (jingles and the like#, are both so inherently a part of the existing programming of radio that commercials utilizing those tactics often disappear into the sea of clutter fomented by the medium itself.

What real chance does a rock-n-roll beer commercial have to stand out between a gazillion-selling cut from The Rolling Stones and a gazillion-selling cut from Big Head Todd?

Humor, on the other hand, is rare. So rare, it stands out. It engages completely. And, #pay attention because this is really important) as long as the laughter it generates is relevant to your intended audience and messaging strategy, humor has undeniable power in the radio medium.

While true humor is rare, attempts at being funny, unfortunately, are not. It’s kind of like trying to jump over the net after a tennis match. If you make it, you’re golden. If you don’t, you’re gonna catch a foot and flip on your head and look like an idiot (funny as that may be#.

In other words, as much as funny radio is effective and appreciated by listeners, unfunny radio that’s trying to be funny is, well, annoying as hell.

An undeniable tenet of broadcast writing was shared with me once by a tipsy creative director during a three-martini lunch #this wasn’t recently). “A funny script is an accomplishment, but a funny commercial is a miracle.”

I’ll give you an example. I remember a spot a few years ago written by John Rabuse, a freelance radio writer in Minneapolis. It featured a guy talking on the phone to a nurse at an urgent care facility.%2

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