Humour In Advertising Essay

740 Words3 Pages

Effective advertising seeks to attract, hold and focus one’s attention and there is no better way to do this than with the use of humour. Humour is often applied in advertising because it elicits feelings of warmth and happiness, emotions that endear people to products and services being advertised. Advertisers may understand the effects of humour on consumers, but the use of humour in advertising is complex and only successful when used the right way. As highlighted by Gulas and Weinberger (48), factors such as race, gender, age, culture and other target audience differences influence the effect of humour. More so, differences in consumer responses and perceptions of humour have been observed across cultures. While all cultures have a sense of humour, it is specific to each culture. Evidently, British and German cultures perceive humour differently and advertisers consider these preferences and adapt their advertisements to the target audience. This is a comparison of the use of humour in British and German TV ads.
Humour in German TV ads
Germany has been touted as the least funny country for many years, and there is a common view amongst the Brits that Germans have no sense of humour. While this may not be indiscriminately true, there is a clear difference in how German humour is applied in advertisement. …show more content…

British humour incorporates heavy elements of satire where they are known to make fun of famous individuals or trends, slapstick humour, cruelty, childish behaviors where people laugh at others’ misfortunes, and discriminatory jokes that focus on other nationalities and different classes. As such, British TV ads often reflect absurdities in everyday life using techniques, such as puns, ambiguity, and intellectual jokes. No subject is off-limits in humorous British ads and the lack of subtlety especially with sexual related topics isn’t frowned

Open Document