How morality judgments influence humor perceptions of prankvertising

Abstract

Prankvertising, an innovative form of branded entertainment, has not attracted much research attention yet. This article proposes a morality-centered theoretical framework to explain how and when prankvertising triggers humor and evokes positive brand attitudes. By integrating benign violation theory and morality literature, this study presents a mediated moderation model to explain humor perceptions of prankvertising. A defining aspect of prankvertising—shocking unsuspecting people—represents a transgression of social norms that can activate viewers’ moral censoring. The proposed model builds on the proposition that victims’ expressions of surprise indicate the degree of this transgression, which can induce humor perceptions and result in positive brand attitude changes among viewers if it is morally justified. In the proposed model, the mediating effect of victims’ surprise on brand attitudes, through morality judgments and humor perceptions, varies with two main cues: victims’ expressions of fear and the meaningfulness of the pranks. Four studies test and confirm the proposed mediated moderation model.