Humor Appeals Research Articles

Coping with Crises: A Study of Humor Appeal in Moroccan Advertising during the COVID-19

Coping with Crises: A Study of Humor Appeal in Moroccan Advertising during the COVID-19

Censorship: A Reaction to Disinformation on the World Wide Web

The Internet and the popularization of smartphones in the 21st century have given instantaneity to information. By these same digital means –imbued with the power to influence politics, the market, culture, and health– disinformation blossoms. Censorship, understood as the suppression of content and/or suspension of users on social media, has been used as one way to combat disinformation on the Web. This drive to sanitize digital networks carries inherent risks. In the context of ‘Infodemics,’ investment in user’s media education should be encouraged. As methodology, the phenomenon of disinformation on the Web and the efforts to curb it were researched in both scientific literature and in Brazilian legislation. To combat disinformation, the users’ education (in a sense of enabling them to filter, understand, and interpret the information that they gather) should be the main goal, as entrusting this task to third parties could bring undesirable side effects. Meanwhile, platforms, traditional media, and governments pose as ‘Guardians of the Truth.’ The social impacts of disinformation and of the efforts to suppress false content on the Web are discoursed in this paper through usage of MapReduce Text Mining. The paper concludes that disinformation takes on many connotations –from humorous appeal to manipulation–. As long as the users’ informational competence has not been developed, both the platforms as well as governments must act to minimize the undesirable effects of this phenomenon.

Effectiveness of using humor appeal in health promotion materials: evidence from an experimental study in Japan

BackgroundPublic health professionals have prepared and distributed many messages and materials to convince the public to adopt healthy behaviors or reduce risky behaviors. However, health promotion materials do not always have the desired effect due to a lack of ability to engage target audience. This study examined the effectiveness of humor appeal (i.e. using humor as an advertising technique to attract attention and increase acceptance of the message) in health promotion materials and how to use it effectively.MethodsTotal 17 printable posters with different frames (loss- vs. gain-framed) × tones (humorous vs. non-humorous) × topics (advance care planning, cancer screening, donor registry, smoking cessation, and physical activity) were created and evaluated for comprehensibility, persuasiveness, and resistance through two web-based surveys. Participants who were Japanese adults aged 25–64 years were randomly assigned one of the posters (200 people each) and asked to rate it. The overall score was calculated as the persuasiveness score (EHPM 2017;22:69) minus the resistance score (EHPM 2022;27:20).ResultsIn the advance care planning case, the highest overall score was found in the gain-framed humorous poster, followed by the loss-framed humorous poster, and the non-humorous poster (p = 0.007). In the other 4 cases, the posters using humorous illustrations received a significantly lower scores than the non-humorous poster(s).ConclusionThe use of humor appeal can help improve the acceptability and persuasiveness of the message when dealing with a little-known resistance-prone health topic. Humor appeal will provide an effective hook to direct public attention to what they do not know or care about in public health communication.

Effectiveness of social video platforms in promoting smoking cessation among youth: A content-specific analysis of smoking cessation topic videos on the social platform Bilibili.

Smoking cessation is a significant public health issue for young people. Social media provide the public with health knowledge through various types of videos. Bilibili is a trendy social video platform among the young population in China, and the number of smoking cessation videos on this platform is continuously increasing. Different content creators advocating smoking cessation through videos may influence young people's attitudes and behaviors towards tobacco and smoking. This study aims to measure the message sensation value (MSV) and the information appeals in smoking cessation videos on Bilibili, examining their impact on communication effectiveness. This study collected 337 videos from Bilibili and conducted a content analysis regarding the content creator's information, video presentation, MSV, and message appeals. The communication effectiveness of the videos was defined as a dependent variable and was divided into three dimensions: communication breadth, recognition, and participation. The average MSV (rated on a scale of 0 to 11) for smoking cessation-themed videos was 4.49 (SD=2.23). Chi-squared analysis revealed significant differences among different types of videos in the use of threat appeal (p<0.001), humor appeal (p<0.001), and psychological benefit (p<0.05). Additionally, different types of creators showed differences in the use of threat appeal (p<0.05), humor appeal (p<0.001), and psychological benefit (p<0.05). ANOVA results indicated significant differences in the level of MSV among different smoking cessation videos (F=39.775, p<0.001). Linear regression analysis showed that MSV, threat appeal, humor appeal, and economic benefit positively impacted dissemination effects (p<0.001). The results indicate that young people are likelier to watch smoking cessation videos with higher MSV and information appeal. These elements can enhance persuasion and the effectiveness of communication. Therefore, when video creators aim to promote smoking cessation among young people, they can consider factors such as MSV, threat appeal, humor appeal, and economic benefit to enhance communication effects.

Using different advertising humor appeals to generate firm-level warmth and competence impressions

An online experiment and a large-scale correlational study show that the effects of a humor appeal in product advertising go beyond consumers’ general attitudes toward the ad and the advertised product. A humor appeal influences consumers’ perceptions of the advertised firms’ competence and warmth. Importantly, the competence and warmth signaling values of humor in advertising vary with the nature of the humor appeal. We specifically find that an incongruity resolution humor appeal enhances consumers’ impressions of the firms’ competence but only when consumers can resolve the incongruity. A tension relief humor appeal enhances consumers’ impressions of the firms’ warmth. Humorous self-disparagement reduces impressions of the firms’ competence, while other-disparagement reduces both warmth and competence firm impressions. We discuss how firms can use humor appeals in their marketing communication to signal their different qualities.

Effects of Fear and Humor Appeals in Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on Intentions to Purchase Medications via Social Media.

The increasing prevalence of online purchase of medications, specifically via social media platforms, poses significant health risks due to high chances of such medications being substandard and falsified (SF). The current study uses a 2 (persuasive appeal: fear vs. humor) x 3 (message repetition) mixed factorial experiment to investigate the effectiveness of persuasive appeals (on intentions to purchase medications online via social media referrals, mediated by psychological reactance (threat to freedom and anger), attitudes toward the public service announcements (PSAs), and viral behavioral intentions. ANOVA results showed the superiority of humor appeals compared to fear appeals in (1) reducing psychological reactance, (2) igniting favorable responses to the PSA, and (3) marginally reducing the intentions to purchase medications vial social media despite lower online engagement intentions (viral behavioral intentions). Pre-existing risk perceptions moderated these differences. A moderated serial mediation model, conducted using PROCESS models, was examined to assess the mechanism by which persuasive appeals and risk perceptions interact in influencing purchase intentions. Findings are discussed theoretically in regard to extending the psychological reactance model within the digital environment and practically in terms of public health, brand protection, and law enforcement recommendations.

A Study on Advertising Media and Advertising Appeals adopted for Energy Drink Products by Selected Companies operating in India

The main objective of writing this research paper is to identify advertising strategies adopted by energy drinks. Data presented on the tactics used by manufacturers of energy drinks. Advertising is essential for the company to survive in the market. Modern technology allows companies to create more effective and impressive advertisements for television, and print. This helps to create awareness about the product and helps to increase sales of the product. All the companies use rational appeal, adventure appeal, and humor appeal in their advertisements to attract adults and to give information about the energy drinks which will give benefit them. Influencers enhance information on energy drinks, which helps the company, establish a positive reputation in the marketplace and build a strong brand. As it is well known, energy drinks' high caffeine content has the desired effects of enhancing memory, boosting alertness, and elevating mood. In this research paper, we have shown the advertising strategy used by five energy drinks companies.

The impact of advertising appeals on impulse buying

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the varying impact of advertising appeals on customers’ impulse buying (IB) for vice and virtue products.Design/methodology/approachThis research used two experiments varying humor/scarcity (high/low) and product category (vice versus virtue).FindingsHumor (scarcity) enhances IB of vice (virtue) products through anticipation of enjoyment (perception of uniqueness).Research limitations/implicationsThis research identifies a new antecedent of IB, advertising and additionally, a new moderator, product type (vice/virtue) in the ad appeal–IB relationship.Practical implicationsPractitioners managing vice (virtue) brands may use humor (scarcity) appeals to promote impulse buying.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates that humor (scarcity) appeals enhance impulse buying of vice (virtue) products and shows the underlying mechanisms behind these effects.

Fear vs humor appeals: a comparative study of children's responses to anti-smoking advertisements

PurposeThis study aims to examine the different effects that the fear and humor appeals in anti-smoking advertisements for children have on their affective reactions to the advertisements, on their beliefs about smoking and on their behavioral intentions to smoke.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents the findings of a qualitative research study conducted in Italy with children aged from 8 to 11 years.FindingsThe results indicated that the humor appeal is a useful method for conveying a social theme in a pleasant way and creating a likable character that becomes an example for children to imitate; however, it is necessary to employ the fear appeal to make children reflect carefully about the negative consequences of smoking.Research limitations/implicationsThis study examined only children's behavioral intentions derived from anti-smoking advertisements, but future research should also examine their real behaviors after a period following repeated viewing of public service announcements about smoking prevention or other social issues.Practical implicationsUnderstanding how different types of appeals can influence children represents an important result for the prevention of youth smoking and the promotion of healthy lifestyle habits during childhood.Social implicationsUnderstanding how different types of appeals can influence children represents an important result for the prevention of youth smoking and the promotion of healthy lifestyle habits during childhood.Originality/valueFew studies have examined the impact of social advertisements on children, and particularly little is known about the effectiveness of fear appeals on this group.

Emotional Appeals, Climate Change, and Young Adults: A Direct Replication of Skurka et al. (2018)

AbstractThere is much need to verify the robustness of published findings in the field of communication—particularly regarding the effects of persuasive emotional appeals about social issues. To this end, we present the results from a preregistered, direct replication of C. Skurka, J. Niederdeppe, R. Romero-Canyas, and D. Acup (2018). The original study found that a threat appeal about climate change can increase risk perception and activism intentions and that a humor appeal can also increase activism intentions with a large sample of young adults. Using the same stimuli, measures, and experimental design with a similar sample, we fail to replicate these main effects. We do, however, replicate age as a moderator of humor’s effect on perceived risk, such that the humor appeal only persuaded emerging adults (ages 18–21.9). We consider several explanations for our discrepant findings, including the challenges (and opportunities) that persuasion researchers must navigate when communicating about rapidly evolving social issues.

The Role of Need for Cognition in Predicting the Attitudes of Indonesian Millennials Toward Printed Advertising and Purchase Intentions

This article presents findings from research investigating the effectiveness of humor appeals (humor relatedness and humor mechanisms) to Indonesian millennials for predicting their attitudes toward printed ads and their purchase intentions. In total, 543 Indonesian millennials participated in three experimental studies to test the relationship between humor appeals and the need for cognition to predict their attitudes and intentions. It was found that humor appeals were effective in predicting millennials’ attitudes toward printed ads and their purchase intentions. However, the need for cognition did not significantly influence the relationship. Indonesian millennials were more likely to not engage in thinking processes when evaluating humorous ads, which may be influenced by their characteristics and cultural backgrounds.

Humor and Fear-Two Sides of the Same Coin?: Experimental Evidence on Humor Appeals in Health Communication Related to Childhood Vaccination.

Until now, health communication has largely failed to debunk fears and caveats related to vaccination. This study aims to investigate the effects of different text types used in health communication in an experimental study design. A neutrally formulated text was compared to a humorous text using the formula of a fairytale. Overall, the study indicates no additional value in using the humorous format as an innovative and target-group-oriented approach to inform readers about scientific evidence related to vaccination. Although the effects of the two text types do not differ, the credibility of the neutrally formulated text was much more likely to be judged as high. This indicates that the perception of credibility is not the only criterion in health communication leading to knowledge gains and changes in health-related attitudes and behaviors.

The Impact of Advertising Appeals on Purchase Intention for Women’s Fashion Products in Malaysia

This paper is mainly focused on analyzing the impact of four advertising appeals, namely love appeal, humor appeal, happiness appeal and excitement appeal on purchase intention for women fashion products in Malaysia. Primary data were collected from 303 respondents using selfadministered online questionnaire that was distributed among social media users in Malaysia. The collected data went through an extensive process of screening and sorting to prepare for the analyses. Several important tests were conducted using analytical tools, namely IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and its added module, AMOS to reach the fi ndings. Among them are a descriptive analysis, reliability tests, an exploratory and confi rmatory factor analysis, and hypothesis testing. In addition, two-stage structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test for the fi tness of the proposed model. The fi ndings from the study revealed that two out of four advertising appeals, namely excitement appeal and love appeal, had signifi cant positive impacts on consumers’ purchase intention. Meanwhile, humor appeal and happiness appeal were found to have insignifi cant impacts. This research provides invaluable insights for marketers, especially those in women’s fashion industry in Malaysia, in creating eff ective advertising campaign to promote their fashion products to consumers in Malaysia. A unique attempt to investigate the individual impact of love appeal, humor appeal, happiness appeal, and excitement appeal on purchase intention is the strength of this research. Further, this study is also invaluable because of its main consideration, which was women’s fashion products.

FCB Grid 모델에 따른 모바일 배너광고의 유머소구 효과 연구

2019년 모바일 광고시장은 전년에 비해 17.2%의 성장률을 기록하며 사상 처음으로 5조 원을 돌파했다. 광고주들은 앞으로도 모바일 광고가 시장의 핵심적인 역할을 담당할 것이라는 전망을 내놓고 있지만 국내의 학문적 접근은 아직도 미흡한 상황이다. 본 연구의 목적은 유머소구를 통해 4가지 제품유형과 표현유형(비주얼, 카피), 그리고 소비자태도(광고태도, 클릭의도, 브랜드이미지)를 포괄적으로 검증하는 것이다. 연구방법으로 매체는 네이버 모바일 메인화면의 모바일 스페셜DA를 활용하였으며, 피험자들의 혼동효과(Confusing Effects)를 고려하여 가상의 브랜드명 ‘신비론(고관여-이성제품, 카메라), 미인도(고관여-감성제품, 고급 화장품), 세프랩(저관여-이성제품, 주방용 랩), 슬림쿨(저관여-감성제품, 다이어트 음료)’을 사용했다. 연구결과, 제품유형과 표현유형에 따른 소비자태도에서 고관여-이성제품(카메라)의 광고태도를 살펴보면, 비주얼중심 광고보다 카피중심 광고에 노출된 집단이 광고태도가 더욱 높은 것으로 나타났다. 고관여-감성제품(고급화장품)의 클릭의도 역시 비주얼중심 광고보다 카피중심 광고에 노출된 집단의 클릭의도가 더욱 높은 것으로 나타났다. 하지만 저관여-이성제품(주방용 랩)과 저관여-감성제품(다이어트 음료)의 경우 광고태도와 클릭의도, 브랜드이미지를 살펴보면 비주얼중심 광고와 카피중심 광고는 통계적으로 유의한 차이를 보이지 않았다. 전체적으로 브랜드이미지는 제품유형에 따른 표현유형의 차이가 뚜렷하게 나타나지 않았다. 본 연구결과는 모바일 배너광고를 통한 커뮤니케이션 이론의 외연 확장과 모바일광고 실무에 차별적 전략을 제시할 것으로 기대한다.

Looking backwards to move forwards: assessing the informativeness of mobile shoppable video

ABSTRACT For both marketing professionals and researchers, what is shiny and new continues to captivate. The latest ‘it’ thing that marketers are gravitating towards is shoppable video where brands and retailers emphasize, entertain and engage consumers with mobile content that is directly ‘shoppable.’ In this new temporal and spatial interactive context, this study dissects the informative content of shoppable videos to develop an initial and comprehensive understanding of mobile shoppable videos. A content analysis of 200 shoppable videos utilizing emotional soft-sell type appeals, utilitarian hard-sell type appeals and humor appeals indicates that utilitarian-focused hard-sell shoppable videos dominate this new landscape thus creating a mobile shopping experience that relies on a hard-sell approach. Under an evolutionary perspective, the content of mobile shoppable videos or ‘digital direct-response ads’ was then compared to the content of direct-response infomercials to account for the modernization bias of digital marketing and explore how the informativeness of shoppable videos evolves and adapts over time. Findings suggest that mobile-designed creative executions adapt the hard-sell standard and feature significantly fewer mentions of price, special offers and guarantees, new ideas, and company research as they contextually adapt. It shows in the future-obsessed digital arena, old and dreary formats can conceptually and practically inform ‘next generation’ ‘revolutionary’ formats, which provides a foundation for future research into mobile shoppable video and updates marketing best practices.

THE INFLUENCE OF HUMOR APPEAL IN LUXURY ADVERTISING

The humor appeal is extensively used in advertising, but its impact is not clearly understood in the context of luxury brand advertising. This research therefore examines the role humor appeal in luxury advertising plays in customers’ evaluation of the brand, advertisement, and purchase behaviors toward the firm. Specifically, this study proposes that the use of a humor appeal in luxury advertising has a favorable influence on perceived luxuriousness of the brand, attitude toward the advertisement, and purchase intention through coolness perception of the luxury brand. Furthermore, this study explores the moderating roles of brand positioning appeal (top-dog vs. underdog) and desire for distinction. This study is one of the few to examine the influence of humor appeal in luxury brand advertising, providing evidence for the applicability of humor appeal in luxury advertising. The study findings will help luxury brand managers make informed decisions about when and how to use humor in advertising to achieve desirable advertising outcomes.

Impact of humorous advertising on purchase decision: In context of Pakistan’s telecom industry

The purpose was to study the impact of humorous advertisement on purchase decision, and in order to reach this objective, Uf one ads were analysed and compared to other mobile network ads which are being aired, especially in Pakistan’s telecom industry. Mobile users of Pakistan filled the questionnaires which were administered via distributing hard copies and online through Google Forms, from January 2017 to January 2018. Secondary data were collected using different research journals, which included JSTOR, Science Direct and Google Scholar. The planned sample size was 127 respondents. The results showed that humorous advertisement is one of the appeals which breaks the clutter.90% of the respondents said that humorous advertisements greatly affect the purchase decision. Hence, Ufone’s ads are effective. Recommendation for future research would be to study humour in detail, that is, by dividing the humorous appeal in categories like dark humour, slice of life humour and studying their respective impact on customer’s purchase decision. Keywords: Humorous advertisement, advertisement effectiveness, purchase decision, telecom companies

Major Factors Influencing Watching Game Streaming in Thailand: A Case Study of Multiplayers Online Battle Arena (MOBA) Game and What Motivates People Spectating Their Play

This study aims to identify major factors influencing people watching game streaming in Thailand: a case study of Multiplayers Online Battle Arena (MOBA) Game and What Motivates People Spectating Their Play. The study is conducted as a quantitative research using Cronbach’s Alpha, Descriptive and Inferential Statistics to analyze the reliability of the survey questionnaire undertaken during the research period, demographic information, and hypotheses testing respectively. The survey was conducted to 400 Thai’s game streaming viewers who have previously watched MOBA game streaming. The research study uses non-probability sampling techniques consisted of Convenience Sampling (Using Google Form) and Snowball Sampling for collecting data. The finding of the study show that there are four variables that significantly influenced on watching intention. These variables are sex appeal, humor appeal, interactivity, and the skills of the players.

HEALTH COMMUNICATION MESSAGE PLANNING IN INSTAGRAM

Health communication is interpersonal communication focused on how an individual faces health-related issues and seeks to maintain his health. The lack of awareness and public knowledge about oral health is why many clinics and illegal noneducated dental practicians in Indonesia nowadays. The emergence of an Instagram account @korbantukanggigi is one way to make the public aware and educate the public about the dangers and consequences of illegal noneducated dental practician. This research aims to determine the process of message planning on the @korbantukanggigi Instagram account about unlawful noneducated dental practicians' education. This research using the Planning Theory by Charles Berger and New Media Theory. The method used is descriptive qualitative research, collecting data through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. The research results in planning messages there were five stages: the report stage, discussion stage, the drafting of the statement, goals, and the success of delivering the message. In implementing the message production technique, the researchers found that the @korbantukanggigi account used the humorous appeal technique and the one-side issue in providing education. Korbantukanggigi has created opportunities for new knowledge about a dentist's world, a place to share the viewpoint of the illegal noneducated dental practician and education related to dental and oral health, which the public largely ignored.

When is it OK to Joke? Adding humor to fear-based colonoscopy screening messages may increase compliance

AbstractLarge scale campaigns frequently use humor to increase compliance with colonoscopy screening recommendations. Problematically, we know little about how humor functions to influence screening. This study seeks to understand whether and how messages framed using humor appeals function differently from those using fear appeals to increase colonoscopy intentions. An online experiment (N = 186) was conducted comparing colonoscopy screening messages framed with a fear appeal and mixed humor/fear appeal. The addition of humor was more effective among those with high frequency of cancer worry, whereas the fear appeal resulted in significantly higher response efficacy, which was in turn associated with increased colonoscopy intentions. These results begin to describe situations in which intervention messages framed with a mixed humor/fear appeal may be more or less effective than interventions framed with fear appeals alone. Practical and theoretical implications for persuasive message design are discussed.