Humour in Advertising (Mind Your Language Please)

"Doing business without advertising is same as winking at a girl in the dark, you know what are you doing but no one sees". So “advertising is tool for effective means of giving information to prospective, target consumers or customers”. But we should be careful in using appropriate language otherwise instead of promoting products, it will lead to disaster.

Many of the most memorable ad campaigns tend to be funny. Advertisers use this strategy to attract customers to their products. Audiences like to be entertained, but not pitched. People will pay more attention to a humorous commercial than a factual or serious one, opening themselves up to be influenced. The key to funny advertising is assuring that the humour is appropriate to both product and customer. The balance between funny and obnoxious can often be delicate; and a marketer must be certain before an advertisement is introduced.

The best products to use humorous ads tend to be those for which consumers have to think the least about. Products that are relatively inexpensive, and often consumable, can be represented without providing a lot of facts, and that's where there's room for humor. Candy, food, beverage, tobacco and toys/entertainment related products have proven to benefit the most from humour in their campaigns. One of the most important things to keep in mind is relevance to the product. An example of an extremely successful humorous campaign now being shown in Indian Television is Dabur Hajmola featuring Amitabh Bachchan, a big icon of Indian cinema.

Another point to use humor in advertising is that different things are funny to different people. A commercial that may leave one person gripping their sides from laughter may leave a bad taste in another's mouth. The target market must always be considered. What's funny in a client presentation may not be funny in society. An example a language or a world that may be popular and funny in yound generation may be considered as foul or obscene in elder society. Definitely it will catch attention of viewers the language will be taken as obnoxious and totally unacceptable in a decent family circle. Its bad impact falls on the young minds of children who quick in imitating adults.

Humour in advertising tends to improve brand recognition, but does not improve product recall, message credibility, or buying intentions. In other words, consumers may be familiar with and have good feelings towards the product, but their purchasing decisions will probably not be affected. One of the major keys to a successful humorous campaign is variety. Once a commercial starts to wear out, there's no saving it without some variation on the concept. Humorous campaigns are often expensive because they have to be constantly changed. Advertisers must remember that while making the customers laugh, they have to keep things interesting, because old jokes die along with their products.