Humor in advertising is a familiar landscape. We’ve seen it all: commercials with clever animals, radio spots featuring quirky scenarios, and print ads using celebrity endorsements in playful ways. Some ads employ subtle wit, others embrace outright silliness, and occasionally, some miss the mark entirely.
Humor’s Role in Advertising
Does humor truly work in advertising? Is it acceptable to inject laughter when promoting your product or service? The answer isn’t straightforward. Humor, like in everyday life, has its place. In advertising, that place must be carefully considered. Indiscriminate use of humor can be detrimental to your brand, image, and sales.
Breaking Through the Noise
The purpose of humor is to connect with the audience and overcome the pervasive ‘boredom barrier.’ This barrier arises from the constant exposure to countless ads. To cope, the brain instinctively filters out advertising. Humor can penetrate this barrier. When used effectively, it establishes a shared understanding, creating a sense of camaraderie. Similar to a speaker using a joke to lighten the mood, incorporating humor can make your audience more receptive to your sales message.
Proceed with Caution
However, an inappropriate joke or offensive remark can instantly alienate your audience, reinforcing that barrier. Similarly, humor that reflects negatively on your product or service is counterproductive. Remember the ad for a burial service with the tagline: ‘We’re the last ones to let you down’? It didn’t resonate well. The most effective humor is broad and relatable, reflecting universal truths or shared experiences. It creates characters we can identify with and places them in relatable situations. As one comedian put it, ‘A person slipping on a banana peel isn’t funny, but a person trying to avoid slipping on a banana peel – now that’s funny.’
The Challenges of Print Advertising
While humor can be challenging in TV or radio, it’s even more difficult in print. Print lacks motion, special effects, and character antics, relying solely on a static visual and headline. Creative writers must work diligently to achieve humor that sells. In a single snapshot, they must establish the character, create the situation, and deliver the punchline. It’s like a comic strip condensed into one frame. Possible, but not easy.
Selling the Product After the Laughs
Many advertisers forget that the ultimate goal of any ad, regardless of its humor, is to encourage product trial. It’s acceptable for viewers to think, ‘That’s a funny ad,’ as long as they also conclude, ‘That’s a great product!’ Humor should complement your product’s identity and key features, not overshadow them. Some humorous ads suffer from ‘generic identity,’ where the audience enjoys the ad but confuses the product with a competitor’s.
Humor is a Profession
Finally, remember that humor is not for amateurs. As professional comedians will confirm, being funny is a serious business. Even if you consider yourself a natural comedian, leave the creation of humorous ads to the experts.