Humour and marketing

Humour and marketing are closely connected, like a programmer with a computer or a hangover with a headache.

Humour drives marketing, helping to sell products and services. How does it work? Humour allows an advertisement/product/service to stand out from the clichéd, boring, and predictable ads. Furthermore, humour makes an advertisement more memorable, and when advertising our brand, we want people to remember us. What is more, humour helps associate a specific brand/product with positive feelings.

Humour is also a tool through which we showcase ourselves to customers as intelligent, creative, and original.

Of course, not all advertisements are funny, but sometimes just eliciting a smile is enough to capture a customer. An example is McDonald's ad with raised eyebrows—different people's eyebrows form the letter M like McDonald's, indicating a desire for a burger. This type of humour is safe and fairly universal, as it can be understood by people of different ages, nationalities, and educational backgrounds. It doesn't offend anyone and stays within tasteful boundaries.

Using vulgar/crude humour, such as sexual innuendos in advertisements with half-naked women, can discourage potential customers and/or mislead them.

Originality and humour in marketing extend beyond advertisements to include brand names, slogans, and communication styles with customers. For example, the brand name "Wine not?” for a wine store is brilliant in its simplicity. The play on words already encompasses the advertisement for the products sold in that store. The company Old Spice represents the perfect balance between the lightness and seriousness of the business. On one hand, they consistently use absurd humour in their commercials with a comedian Terry Crews and on the other hand they send a clear message about what they want to sell.

Humour, if overused or improperly chosen for the target audience, can ridicule rather than promote a brand. Imagine a funeral home advertising its services with humour—it could be met with criticism and seen as an extreme lack of empathy towards customers. The Orbit advertisement is a masterpiece because it uses humour that is neither too childish nor too complicated. This is important because adults need to feel satisfaction when getting the joke. “Don’t let lunch meet the breakfast” provides an original perspective in the chewing gum advert. The slogan combined with a portrait of a terrified hen brings the freshness and Orbit is all about freshness.

Humour is used not only in commercial advertisements but also in social campaigns.

Humour can emphasise various social actions, grab the audience's attention, and help spread awareness about health or social issues. The poster for the whooping cough awareness campaign in Australia is a vivid example. The literal slogan: “Whooping cough can blow you out of action” is combined with an exaggerated drawing where people are actually blown and lying on the floor.