Charles S. Gulas

The Impact of Humor in Advertising: A Review

Abstract The use of humor has become common practice in advertising; yet our knowledge about its impact has not been updated since the last major review almost twenty years ago. In the interim, a great deal of humor research has been conducted. The outcome of this research only partially supports earlier conclusions and highlights the need to apply humor with care. Humor is by no means a guarantee of better ads, but its effect can be enhanced with careful consideration of the objectives one seeks to achieve as well as the audience, situation, and type of humor.

Shades of Green: A Multidimensional Analysis of Environmental Advertising

Abstract Environmental appeals are becoming increasingly common in advertising, but all green ads are not created equal. The authors report the results of a content analysis designed to uncover the underlying structure of green advertising. A convenience sample of 95 green TV ads and 173 green print ads were content-analyzed. Multidimensional analysis indicates that the structure of green advertising can be captured in three dimensions: sponsor type (for-profit or nonprofit), ad focus (whether the ad focuses on the advertiser or the consumer), and depth of ad (shallow, moderate, or deep depending on the extent of environmental information mentioned). A majority of advertisers in the sample attempted to project a green corporate image rather than focusing on the environmental benefits of their product or service.

Right under our noses: Ambient scent and consumer responses

Despite frequent mention, we know relatively little about the effect of ambient environmental factors on consumer behavior. This paper discusses one important aspect of the environment, ambient scent. Based on research from several disciplines, a model describing the effect of ambient scent on consumers is propossed. Ambient scent is portrayed as an environmental cue that is compared with scent preferences to influence affective responses and ultimately approach-avoidance reactions. Moderators of these presumed relationships are also described. Suggestions for empirical research are provided and implications for marketing management are presented.

Corporate Giving Behavior and Decision-Maker Social Consciousness

This paper investigates why some companies give to charity and others do not. The study uncovers a strong relationship between the personal attitudes of the charitable decision maker and the firms giving behavior. This relationship indicates that the human element of personal attitudes may interact and play a very important role in a firms decision to become involved with philanthropic activities. The study also shows that firms who have a history of giving to charity cite altruistic motives for their behavior. On the other hand, firms that do not give to charity tend to use business reasons to explain their non-involvement.

The Impact of Perceived Humor, Product Type, and Humor Style in Radio Advertising

Abstract This study extends the existing humor research by exploring the connection between perceived humorousness, humor style and product type on consumer perceptions of radio ads and brands advertised. Radio ads were tested using either incongruity or incongruity-resolution (humor type) with higher and lower risk products. The results show that incongruity-resolution was seen as humorous by significantly more respondents than incongruity. However, the perceived humorousness overwhelmed the type of humor tested and product risk for important dependent measures. To gain a positive impact on attitude toward the ad and brand; the ads must be perceived as humorous. Though this result seems obvious, there have been few studies that have explicitly tested its importance. In fact, the results suggest that humor findings previously attributed to product factors may be artifacts of perception of humor. Further audience response analysis provides insight to the advertising dimensions associated with perceived humor. The research reveals the risks associated with failed humor and the need to pretest and monitor humor perceptions among varied key audiences.

The Impact of Violent Humor on Advertising Success: A Gender Perspective

Recent academic research has focused on the use of novelty and shock in advertising executions. One manifestation of this approach in American television advertising is the use of aggressive humor; a dramatic change in the way humor has historically been employed. This investigation examines two studies of the responses of men and women to violence in humorous advertising. The results of both studies reveal differences in the responses of men and women suggesting there may be a risk in coupling humor with high physical violence in ads targeted toward female audiences. The second study examines in a path model the role of perceived violations of social norms and perceived humor on the attitudes of men and women toward the ad and the brand. The poor response of women to more violence with humor ads is closely related to their perceived violations of social norms; for men, their more positive response to such ads is related to their perception of humor in the ads with humor and stronger violence.

Looking in through outdoor: a socio-cultural and historical perspective on the evolution of advertising humour

This study examines the evolving acceptance and use of humour in advertising over the past century. Sociologists point to humour as an expression of the macro-societal mood. Consistent with this thesis, we analyse two data sets of outdoor advertisements that span over 100 years. We use a socio-cultural and historical perspective to understand the underlying drivers and changes in humour use at both the macro-cultural level and at the micro-industry level in the US. The results reveal the contextual interplay that led to changes in the acceptance of humorous advertisements as well as the evolution of humour styles and elements.

The Role of Culture in Advertising Humor

Consumer research incorporates perspectives from a spectrum of long-established sciences: psychology, economics and sociology. This Handbook strives to include this multitude of sources of thought, adding geography, neuroscience, ethics and behavioural ecology to this list. Encompassing scholars with a passion for researching consumers, this Handbook highlights important developments in consumer behaviour research, including consumer culture, impulsivity and compulsiveness, ethics and behavioural ecology. It examines evolutionary and neuroscience perspectives as well as consumer choice.

Silence is Not Golden: Firm Response and Nonresponse to Consumer Correspondence

When a consumer contacts a company, it provides the firm with an opportunity to begin a dialogue. If a problem occurred with a good or service, a customer complaint provides a company with the opportunity to correct the problem and perhaps retain a customer. A consumer compliment provides the opportunity to turn a satisfied consumer into a brand advocate. Yet surprisingly nearly 30% of the companies in this study allowed this vital opportunity to go to waste.

Understanding responses to comedic advertising aggression: the role of vividness and gender identity

As the use of comedic aggression in advertising has become more frequent, questions about the boundary conditions of its effectiveness become more important. Issues related to the vividness of the aggression, unique audience responses, and legitimacy of the aggression are examined here as potential influences on the impact of comedic advertising aggression. Two experiments are reported that explore how reactions to comedic advertising aggression are influenced by components of vividness (concreteness – aggressive intensity, emotional interest – psychological distance), the audiences gender identity, and whether the aggression was provoked and justified. Feminine identity individuals in close psychological situations react quite negatively to advertising using the highest level of comedic aggression while masculine identity individuals actually prefer the most vivid aggression in some conditions. The response patterns become different for feminine and masculine identity individuals when the aggression is unprovoked and therefore less justified. The results provide guidance about the limits of using comedic advertising aggression.