Using Humor In Advertising

Throughout history humor has been an effective way for advertisers to catch the attention of consumers. Advertising is not only about attracting consumers, but also holding their attention, which is why humor is such a powerful tool used to help advertisers. In the article “5 Guidelines for Using Humor in advertising”, Todd Trautz states “when humor is used correctly, consumers will actually look for and talk about your ads.” For this reason, advertisers use humor in many different types of advertisements in order to gain attention and sell their product.

Irony is one way advertisers use humor to gain consumers and sell more of their product. For example Lay’s potato chips has a commercial where Mr. Potato Head comes in the door after his day at work, and calls for Mrs. Potato Head. He receives no response but hears a loud crunching sound, so he starts searching the house for his wife. He

opens the kitchen pantry to find Mrs. Potato Head enjoying a bag of Lay’s potato chips, and he reacts by saying “but honey, we are potatoes!”. The camera then switches to a picture of Lay’s chips bag, and a voice over says a bit about the brand. The camera then pans back to Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head who are both sitting in the pantry eating the chips; and the scene ends with Mr. Potato Head saying “it’s out little secret”. The commercial is ironic because the advertisers are alluding that Lay’s potato chips are so good that even potatoes eat them. Also Mr. Potato head having a job and a house is so impractical that it is humorous. This commercial also works because it uses a well known kid’s toy/character and mixes it with adult life in order to appeal to all different ages.
Although Wal-Mart is a popular store the commercials tend to be more monotonous, resulting in them not being very memorable. In this Wal-Mart commercial a father is putting on clown makeup and a clown costume for his daughter’s birthday party, during which he explains how he is “ready to make some laughs”. The commercial then switches to the mother in the living room who is explaining to another mother at the party how she got all the party supplies at Wal-Mart for a low price, even a clown costume. The father then comes out in the clown costume trying to act silly, but ends up stepping on a toy unicorn’s horn; this causes him to start screaming and scares the children making them run away. The commercial is funny because the children are afraid of the clown even though he is supposed to be happy and fun. Also people tend to find humor in others getting slightly hurt, so when the big clown shoes step on a little unicorn horn it is amusing.
Advertisers also use humor by making ads so unrealistic that they are entertaining.

For example Doritos has a commercial that starts off with a man holding a bag of the chips, while calling his pug in the house from the back yard. He then closes the sliding glass door and says to his girlfriend, “Babe watch this”. He proceeds by pulling out a Dorito and waving it around in front of the glass door, causing the pug to start running towards it; assuming that the dog will end up smacking into the door because it wants the chip. In a twist of events the dog wants the chip so bad that when he hits the door he knocks the whole thing down, smashing the man underneath it. The commercial then ends with the dog eating the bag of chips and the man stuck under the door incoherently saying, “Those are my Doritos”. This commercial is funny because we all know there is no way a tiny pug could take down a door, even if it does want a chip that bad. Also consumers find the commercial funny because the man who was teasing the dog ends up getting knocked down and get his Doritos taken

away.
Using humor in advertising is an efficient and clever way to make consumers excited about a product, and more likely to want to buy it. Although advertisers have to take a lot of time coming up with the ad to make sure it is suitable for all audiences, it usually ends up working in their favor. Funny advertisements tend to be light hearted which most consumers can relate to; allowing them to feel more relaxed when watching it. Whether or not you think the dancing pig or the talking gecko commercial is amusing, it doesn’t look like advertisers are planning to stop using humor anytime soon, so expect to see them for many years coming.