Kidding Around: Using Humour in Advertising
Sometimes, the simplest advertisements end up the most attractive, especially when they make use of humour. Humour brings a touch of joy to our everyday lives and lingers in our minds. According to Kantar’s AdReaction study, humour was found to be the most powerful creative enhancer of receptivity. Therefore, utilising humour in advertising or social media collaterals may stand a good chance of paying off. Let’s explore the role of humour in advertising and some of its uses.
There are various types of humour - think puns, slapstick, humour that touches on trending topics, and even dark humour. The type of humour that appeals to each person differs and advertisers looking to use humour effectively have to understand what type of humour they should leverage upon for maximum effectiveness. Utilising humour on certain social media platforms may require a better understanding of trends and memes as well. Humour can be a double-edged sword so sensitivity is required, especially with dark humour.
Let’s take a look at some examples of humour used in advertising.
Medicube
Medicube is a Korean skincare brand which has established a Tiktok following with their humorous videos centred around typical Kdrama tropes. As a Korean brand, they have found their niche in the Kdramas popular internationally to attract international consumers to their brand. Leveraging upon popular hilarious trends or parodying popular and quintessential Kdrama scenes have allowed them to find success online with an attractive humour appeal.
DeadHappy
This life insurance company uses puns and dark humour to make the relatively taboo topic of life insurance and death more approachable. For example, they have a series on Instagram titled “deadly serious questions” and post users’ “deathwishes”, what they wish to have fulfilled after they pass, quite regularly. While many have been able to appreciate their sense of dark humour, there has been backlash against using humour to talk about death. Nevertheless, these are issues that they too have addressed online and have made efforts to clarify their stance on death and life insurance.
Humour can be tricky at times, so brands embarking on an advertising strategy using humour will have to be careful and sensitive with the topics they choose to joke about and be prepared to clarify their stance should they come under fire.
Hinokiri
Hinokiri is a brand which carries scent diffusers. Recently, they posted a Tiktok video of a job posting for a graphic designer. The advertisement, done in an amateurish fashion with presentation slide transitions and humorous photos, was said to be created by an intern without design experience in the caption. The video attracted public attention, with many enjoying the element of humour in the advertisement which accurately illustrated the company’s lack of graphic design staff.
Earlier in 2018, a graphic design job advertisement in Los Angeles attracted similar attention with its hilarious use of Microsoft Paint.
Microsoft Paint and Powerpoint are relatively universal software which many people use and can therefore recognise easily, making the humour in these strategies effective due to the relatability of the content.
Humour gives us all a touch of joy in our day-to-day lives and introducing it as an element in your branded content is an option worth considering. Humour can keep advertisements in our mind and can generate organic growth through word-of-mouth sharing of humorous content among friends and family. At BCD, we’re always on the lookout for ways in which to more effectively engage our audiences and to leave a lasting impression. If you’re looking to grow with a team that’s always open to thinking out of the box, feel free to contact us. Here, our focus is YOU.
