The potential for using humor in global advertising

Abstract

International marketing firms offen strive to standardize their advertising campaigns in the countries where they operate. Because ofits universality, its popularity and its persuasive effect, humor may well be an advertising element which can be transferred from culture to culture. Both cognitive and affective models have been used to explain humor's role in persuasion. However, the problems associated with using humor, particularly across cultures, threaten its potential. Humor in persuasion has been criticized because it detractsfrom message comprehension and because diverse tastes in humor threaten Information processing.

Arousing the receiver's involvement by flouting the communicative principles

“…When this is attained, the addressee feels pleased with himself at the same time that experiments positive affiliation towards the ad, and eventually toward the advertised brand. This is why empathy, warmth (understood as a positive emotion involving psychological arousal) and humour can be related (see Unger (1996) for this connection).…”

Humorous advertising that travels: A review and call for research

“…Affective responses to advertising include moods or feelings evoked by an ad (Batra & Ray, 1986;Pieters & de Klerk-Warmerdam, 1996), which can change during exposures (Baumgartner, Sujan, & Padgett, 1997) and contribute to A ad and A b (Unger, 1996). This affective model asserts that liking the ad mediates brand attitudes, purchase intentions, and choice behavior.…”

“…Unger's (1996) review of international advertising published prior to 1992 led to a call for research into the nature of humor, typologies that extend across cultural borders, and measures of responses to humor. Furthermore, audience responses to humor depend on an array of factors, including demographics, psychographics, culture, and behavioral variables (e.g., brand familiarity).…”

Differenzierung oder Standardisierung humorvoller Werbung?

“…B. Biswas et al 1992;Weinberger und Spotts 1989;Toncar 2001). Unger (1996) Freud (1905) betrachtet Humor vordergründig aus Sicht der Arousal-Theorie, wonach der Antrieb eines individuums, ein optimales erregungslevel zu erlangen, die treibende Kraft für die Entstehung von Humor ist. Er unterscheidet zwischen tendenziösem Humor (= aggressiver Humor, sexueller Humor) und nicht-tendenziösen Humor (= Nonsense).…”

“…Insbesondere das Attitude toward the Ad (Aad)-Modell der Humorwirkung wird häufig herangezogen, um die Wirksamkeit humorvoller Werbung zu erklären (vgl. Gelb und Pickett 1983;unger 1996). Demnach sind humorvolle Werbebotschaften geeignet, beim Rezipienten positive Emotionen auszulösen, welche wiederum die Einstellung zur Werbung positiv beeinflussen (vgl.…”