Humor in Different Media

Humor is often used in print and television media to sell products. How effective it is depends heavily on three different factors: who, where and what.

While it is used frequently, humor in advertising remains controversial: it has been credited with calling attention to an advertisement, increasing comprehension and contributing to the positive attitude towards it, still, the use of humor may not be suitable for certain products or services, as it may be offensive to some members of the audience or result in the so-called "vampire effect", a situation in which the humor sucks attention away from the advertised product or message. That is why, when deciding whether to use humor or not, the most important thing is to think about the audience (who), the medium (where), and last but not least, the type of humor (what).[1]

Various researches carried out during the past decades has revealed that humor is used more frequently in television commercials rather than print advertisements. However, these researches has unfairly lumped together all of "Humor" into one, indiscriminant category.

In 2001, Codruta Catanescu and Tom Gail, made a study in order to determine whether the type of humor used in advertising varies by medium. Catanescu & Tom used  Reick's practitioner-oriented classification system that defines five types of humor: exaggeration, pun, sarcasm, silliness and surprise. To provide a more complete and clearly delineated picture they added two more categories: comparison and personification.

Here's how they define each of these terms:

1. Comparison - Putting two or more elements together to produce a humorous situation. An example is a magazine advertisement for Hewlett Packard. On one page the ad features a happy family in a Christmas picture that is to be sent to the grandmother. Everything would be perfect if the son did not look like a punk in a leather jacket, chains and an outrageous hair-do. The second page of the ad presents the same picture, but this time with a very conservative son who is nicely dressed with clean, short hair. With the help of HP PhotoSmart System, which allows modification of pictures, the ad claims the "grandmother spared holiday shock, heirs breathe easy."

2. Personification - Attributes human characteristics to animals, plants and objects. The Benson & Hedges advertisement depicting cigarettes engaging in human-like activities is an example of personification.

3. Exaggeration - Overstating and magnifying something out of proportion. One of Wendy's commercials makes use of exaggeration as two young men order "4 Biggie Fries and 4 Biggie Drinks" at a drive-thru. As soon as they pick up the order, the car tilts on one side.

4. Pun - Using elements of language to create new meanings, which result in humor. The phrase "absolute masterpiece" takes on a new meaning when it is pictured with Absolut Vodka.

5. Sarcasm - According to Reick, sarcastic comments or situations are classified as silliness. In our study, however, sarcasm is a separate category including blatant ironic responses or situations. An advertisement for Lexmark features a sister and a brother in conflict. The brother, with his legs up on the desk, is thinking of printing "some sort of a real cool sign" for his room. The sister's sarcastic response is "How about 'For Rent'?"

6. Silliness - In this study, silliness ranges from making funny faces to ludicrous situations such as the one created in the commercials for "1800-Collect," when a couple of muscular men run around the beach on their toes to avoid the hot sand. Another example is the commercial for the Weather Channel in which two men paint their faces red and blue in an effort to predict the weather.

7. Surprise - Includes all advertisements where humor arises from unexpected situations. The advertisement for Primestar Satellite TV makes good use of the surprise element to arrive at a hilarious outcome. The ad starts with a man carefully washing his car. Just before he gives the car a kiss, he notices a giant pipe rolling down the street toward him. In a state of desperation, the man manages to quickly move his car. As he breathes a sigh of relief, the punch line hits the audience: The car is badly damaged as he saves the satellite dish, which he initially intended to protect by moving his car.[2]

 

These findings support the belief of advertising and creative executives that television is a more effective channel to use humor. Also, sarcasm seems to be the most popular form of humor used in magazines, while silliness predominates in television.

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[1] Fabris G., La Pubblicità: Teorie e Prassi, Franco Angeli, 1997

[2] Catanescu C., Tom G., “Types of humor in Television and Magazine Advertising”, Review of Business, 2001