The use of humor has become common practice in advertising; yet our knowledge about its impact has not been updated since the last major review almost twenty years ago. In the interim, a great deal of humor research has been conducted. The outcome of this research only partially supports earlier conclusions and highlights the need to apply humor with care. Humor is by no means a guarantee of better ads, but its effect can be enhanced with careful consideration of the objectives one seeks to achieve as well as the audience, situation, and type of humor.

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The Impact of Humor in Advertising: A Review

This meta-analysis combines 369 correlations on the effects of humor in advertising and thus quantifies, updates, and expands previous literature reviews on the effects of humor in advertising. In line with previous reviews, the meta-analytic correlations demonstrate that humor in advertising significantly enhances AAD, attention, and positive affect. Contrary to the assumptions of previous reviews, there is no evidence that humor impacts positive or negative cognitions, and liking of the advertiser. The meta-analytic findings clarify some ambiguous prior conclusions: humor significantly reduces source credibility, enhances positive affect, ABR and purchase intention. The decline from lower order to higher order communication effects is particularly strong, with the effect size of the impact of humor on AAD being twice as large as the effect size for ABR. This impact of humor in advertising has been rather stable over the past decades. A moderator analysis reveals, however, that the findings of academic humor research are somewhat biased. As for the underlying theory, the positive and linear relationship between the funniness of the ad and brand attitudes supports an affective mechanism underlying the impact of humor in advertising.

A meta-analysis of humor in advertising

The Role of Affect in Marketing

The research and development project selection decision is concerned with the allocation of resources to a set of proposals for scientific and engineering activities. The project selection and resource allocation process can be viewed as a multiple-criteria decision-making problem, within the context of the long-range and strategic planning process of the firm. The purpose of this paper is explore the applicability of an extension of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for priority setting and resource allocation in the industrial R&D environment. In this paper, an AHP modeling framework for the R&D project selection decision is developed, and is linked to a spreadsheet model to assist in the ranking of a large number of project alternatives. Next, cost-benefit analysis and integer programming are used to assist in the resource allocation decision. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the suitability of this approach as an expert support system, and directions for future research and testing.

An extension of the analytic hierarchy process for industrial R&D project selection and resource allocation

This article suggests a new framework for the analysis of humor's communication effects, a model that accounts for differences in humor type, message type, and humor-message interaction. Specifically, it describes three humor processes and the five humor types that result from combining them. Next, by crossing humor types and message types, it develops a taxonomy of humorous message forms. This Humorous Message Taxonomy provides a conceptual, experimental, and managerial framework for analyzing humor's communication effects. The Humorous Message Taxonomy is used to compare a sample of humorous television commercials to those message types used in prior humor appeals research. Apparently the humorous message types that have been most frequently researched differ considerably from those that are normally aired on television. The two final sections recommend a program for the study of humor effects and offer guidelines for operationalizing and manipulating humor in subsequent research.

The Humorous Message Taxonomy: A Framework for the Study of Humorous Ads

Humorous appeals are used extensively in television, radio, and print advertising. This article examines the effectiveness of humor in accomplishing specific communications and sales objectives. A brief review of the literature on humorous advertising research is presented. The author argues that previous unsuccessful applications of light-hearted messages are attributable, in part, to our incomplete knowledge of how consumers process humorously conveyed information. The discussion focuses on the importance of recognizing and managing variables which mediate the impact of humor on audience response and on the need for further development and testing of behavioral theory as keys to the effective utilization of humor in advertising.

Humor in advertising: A behavioral perspective

This paper reviews existing and accepted theories of retail institution growth and develop ment, and incorporates them into the construction of an improved conceptual framework that adequately expl...

The Transformation of Retailing Institutions: Beyond the Wheel of Retailing and Life Cycle Theories

The research and development project selection process is one of the most difficult and important problems faced by management. It is typically complicated by indivisibility of projects and multiple and conflicting objectives, in addition to limitations on funding, facilities, and qualified researchers. In this paper a case example involving a high technology electrical equipment manufacturer is developed to illustrate this problem using zero—one goal programming to accommodate indivisibility of projects in addition to multiple and conflicting goals. The model presented is an attempt to provide managers with a robust tool for allocating scarce resources among research and development projects.

Allocation of research and development funds: A zero-one goal programming approach

The media selection decision allocates advertising dollars among competing media so as to optimize promotional and corporate objectives. Linear programming attempts to model this process have been complicated by multiple and often conflicting management goals, the need for integer solutions, and nonlinearities. This study offers a technique that is sufficiently robust to simultaneously handle these problems. An alternative media selection framework is presented and the results of an illustrative application of integer goal programming are discussed. The proposed model improves on linear programming by success fully providing for optimal, integer solutions in settings that more realistically reflect the complexity of the media decision environment.

Calvin P. Duncan

Papers

Humor in advertising: A behavioral perspective

The Transformation of Retailing Institutions: Beyond the Wheel of Retailing and Life Cycle Theories

Allocation of research and development funds: A zero-one goal programming approach

Integer goal programming in advertising media selection