Preview

Humour Advertising

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3509 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Humour Advertising
Impact of humour in ads
Humour can be defined as the capability to be laughing at things, the way in which everybody sees that some things are entertaining, or the value of being funny. Funniness is generally used within publicity nowadays whether this is on radio, in newspapers, or on TV as part of daily advertising communications campaigns. TV marketing tells most of its stories in thirty second periods.
With such short time frame to communicate a message across, advertisers have used humour as a way of breaking through the noise and clutter in an attempt to grab the attention of the viewer. Feelings evoked through the use of humour can also lead brand positive associations, as well as increasing the comprehension levels of the viewer.
Although humour is commonly used in advertising campaigns today and due to the complexities involved in its measurement, the actual effectiveness of humour as communications tool is still a subject of much debate. On one hand, humour can enhance positive attitudes towards the product being promoted. On the other hand, the use of humour may be regarded as unsuitable for the product that is being promoted. If humour draws attention away from the product or message that the advertiser is trying to communicate, what is the real effectiveness of it as a tool of communication and why do advertisers still use it?
A number of studies have been conducted regarding the use of humour in advertising. Although humour has been used in advertising for many years, due to its complexity in nature, only a few have been able to understand its actual impact and effectiveness.
Despite humour being an effective mechanism for drawing attention, it is crucial for advertisers to find the appropriate type of humour for the appropriate product in order to ensure success. Attention is enhanced if the type of humour used is directly related to the product that is being promoted, therefore increasing advertising effectiveness.
Advantages and drawbacks of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Often varying in message and purpose, commercials and advertisements have proven to be successful forms and methods of mass communication. The goals of advertisements is to appeal to their target audience in an effort to encourage or persuade that demographic to purchase their products and become their customer. Some companies may even have more than one commercial in an effort to reach and persuade those that are outside of their usual demographic to begin purchasing their products. Not only taking into account the obvious message, it is important to also analyze and look into the subcomponents, such as imagery and dialogue, that makes conveying their message successful.…

    • 1419 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Taking into account that the primary, or intended, audience of the text is university students, and that this work is meant to provide beneficial information and knowledge about a specific aspect of writing, the author manipulates the tone in such a way that it satisfies the requirements of the rhetorical situation. Moreover, he crafts the tone with impressive skill in order to attract the readers’ attention and grip their interests so that they can better grasp the subject matter being examined. The tone, which expresses the author’s attitude towards the topic at hand, switches back and forth between being humorous and informative. At certain times, it is comic and light-hearted, which helps to create an entertaining and lively atmosphere. This, in turn, causes the readers to become engrossed in the material they are reading since the tone induces an enjoyable mood. Once the author manages to lure them in, he shifts to a more serious, informative tone. This type of instructive tone is better suited for educational purposes and allows the readers to learn and gain knowledge. Consequently, the fusion of the two tones proves to be an effective combination since the author not only manages to entertain his readers, but at the same time, also ensures that they learn something from his work. In “Children as Consumers: Advertising and Marketing,” Sandra L. Calvert, a professor of psychology at Georgetown University, talks about the different ways in which businesses and companies use advertising and marketing strategies to persuade children into becoming consumers of their goods. She also explains that the reason many corporations practise this approach is because, since they are immature and naïve, children are easily influenced. Unlike Stedman’s work, Calvert’s article has a solemn tone which triggers a serious atmosphere. Since the article is found in a scholarly…

    • 1368 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With an increase in consumer culture and a minimal amount of common sense, the onion uses a satirical tone to draw attention to the consumer’s gullibility and the power of the advertising industry.…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Within this report, an advertisement for Lucky Strike cigarettes has been used in order to break down the rhetorical analysis of the ad itself. This essay explains the pathetic, ethical, and logical appeals in which have been used in order to attract consumers. This break down will explain how such a simple advertisement; can attract a variety of consumers in order to buy their product. There are three main appeals in which the rhetorical analysis is composed of, in order to produce and ad, which will actually attract people.…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The vast majority of television advertisements today consist of brief advertising spots, ranging in length from a few seconds to several minutes Advertisements of this sort have been used to promote a wide variety of goods, services and ideas since the dawn of television. Advertisements can be bland and boring, or they can be humorous. Humorous advertising can engage the audience, build a name for the product, and encourage audience members to spread the word virally.…

    • 719 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For example Monica takes questions from the audience and a younger man stands up and asks if she can clean his balls, and throws a set of tennis balls to her. She replies by saying “yes I can, watch, cleans right through the prickly surface”. Axe uses this type of humor to gain the attention of the younger to middle-aged audience. Their expectation is that when the viewer sees this ad they will do two things. First they will tell all of their friends about the ad and how funny it is, therefore advertising for Axe by word of mouth. The second expectation is that when the viewer goes to the store and walks past the Axe products they will recognize the product from the advertisement and purchase their…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Get Geico Get Happy

    • 1534 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Geico is a car insurance company which has used several advertising techniques that address many of the fifteen basic appeals, described by Jib Fowles, to gain potential customers (Fowles 1). For instance, the need for affiliation has been catered to through advertising depicting Geico as the best there is. People tend to affiliate themselves with top companies. Emotional appeal is catered to primarily; the premise being to invoke the idea that getting Geico insurance will make you happy. A series of “Happier Than” television advertisements were aired (Geico). Each episode portrays a random scenario, followed by two Bluegrass pickers named Ronny and Jimmy, performing a slapstick routine on a small stage. Each event leads to one picker asking a question along the line of, “How happy are people when they switch to Geico?” at which point the second picker delivers a punch line related to the content of the commercial (Geico). This method utilizes two distinct styles: humor and celebrity (Fowles 11). The approach relies heavily on implying that using Geico can make you as happy as someone else.…

    • 1534 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    McDonald’s uses the persuasion technique of pathos in its ad. Using a family and a starry night, the ad conveys a feeling of comfort and happiness with the viewer. In addition, the uses of the exclamation point and happiness of the facial expression of the people there also create an aura of excitement. All in all, the entire ad is bright, which makes an atmosphere of overall happiness. McDonald’s uses these many techniques to not only attract American families, but also the majority of middle-class Americans who can afford to eat at…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Advertising” by Britannica shows how vital advertising can be to a company’s survival and how detrimental if there’s a lack thereof. Prosperous companies use advertising to the best of their advantage, as they can afford it unlike miniscule companies. Some miniscule companies stand no chance if they can’t get their name out there, because people will not buy their offered product or service, hence driving down their sales. An intricate strategy entailed of thorough research on markets and consumers is implemented when it comes to advertising, as companies want their product to stand out and not be neglected. A company makes sure, it utilizes a plethora of rhetoric skills based on the savviness of the crowd. For example, in Entertainment Weekly…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A successful advertising message transcends the audience’s perceptions of needs and wants. It creates an emotional appeal that subtly convinces the audience that the item being promoted will make a difference in their lives by either making them happy, giving them status, satisfying a desire or providing security. There is no doubt…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    2.08 Creating a Body

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In my personal opinion I think that funny advertisements are much more effective than ads that aren’t. The reason for this is I have seen all kinds of ads and I think that the ones that can be funny have more potential than any other kinds of ads. So these are all my own opinions and you can have yours but I think that the funny ads are the most effective.…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The effects of advertising on our minds have left a scar on the name of advertisement. The criticism has piled up and is now a name that advertisers must live with. They will constantly be reminded that too much advertisement, while good for the company, is not good for society. There are many ways of advertisement and there will surely be new ideas in the upcoming years, but scrutiny will always play a big role in…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    All commercials have their target audience who they have specifically designed the ad for. And of course they are selling their product. This is a multibillion dollar industry and the advertiser’s study all the ways that they can attract the person’s attention. One way that is used the most is the use of humor and sex to sell products. For me to analyze this advertisement I used the rhetorical triangle, as well as ethos, pathos, and logos.…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Technology is growing more and more everyday. The biggest thing is with advertisements that are expanding and could be found almost everywhere. Many advertisements that are made use humor to grab viewers attention so that it appeals to certain viewers. Well made advertisements will make them memorable with humor or emotion, the one that is used the most is humor. Humor also have negative aspects that viewers can take from watching it. Some people may say that humor advertisements are inappropriate in the way that the products shown are shown in a negative. Humorous advertisements can have negative effects with the violence that could be shown, the stereotypes that are in most advertisements and with sexual content that is shown now a days.…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Humor American Culture

    • 1435 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Another thing to consider is that humor is the way humor is perceived by the consumer watching the advertisement. Humor is all around us as part of our lives. Advertisers compete on a daily basis to find ways how to make their audience remember how much their advertisement have made them laugh and feel good. The advertisements use humor as a form of story-telling, as well as surprise and incongruity humor techniques as a way to appeal to the emotions of consumers and sell their products in a more effective manner. Through the use of these various techniques: surprise, incongruity, and story-telling, companies can enforce a positive reaction of humor in advertisements while a negative reaction from the viewers can turn out into a banned…

    • 1435 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays