Response to Humorous Ads
Introduction
Zhang and Zinkhan (2006) wrote an article about examining how the audience’s involvement matters in humorous ads. The article encompasses a close examination of the relationship between the audience and humorous ads where the response depends on how the humor was processed. The practice of employing humor in advertising was drawn from the belief that human can influence response among the audience, thus allowing a more favorable response towards the product being advertised (113). The discussion will focus examining what the article is about, its core goal, and its major contribution towards marketing and advertising practices.
The article centers on identifying the relationship between humorous advertisements and the audience’s response to humor. Zhang and Zinkhan (2006) examined the subject of humor because the function that humor plays in advertising is dependent of audience’s state of involvement. It is apparent that the article was written to provide understanding towards the effectiveness of humor in making a product argument. Humor is one of the fundamental emotional experiences that convey positive thoughts. When applied effectively in advertising, humor delivers its function by means of creating interest about the product or service. However, humor is a double-edged sword that when not used effectively will render failure in advertising rather than beneficial. It is the objective of the article to examine the functions of humor in order to avoid the misuse of the method. Therefore, examining the concept of humor in advertising is imperative to avoid pitfalls of making funny advertisements that creates nuance rather than influence.
The Goal of the Article
In order to identify the functions that humor plays in effective advertisement, the article sets its primary goal, which is to determine the relationship between audience involvements and how humor structure is being used in advertising. As mentioned earlier, the state of audience involvement determines how humor function was utilized in an advertisement. For instance, the new Hunt’s baked beans in case commercial features astronauts being attacked by a space alien, and because the other astronaut hiding behind the rock ate the product prior, he farted and the alien seemed stunned. The one-minute commercial is an example of an advertising packed with humor and a lot of sense, which catches the attention of any audience. The underlying principles in the TV commercial demonstrate the goal that the article intends to achieve.
Major Contribution and Achievement
The major contribution of the article towards the field of advertising is the results of identifying the relationship and level of involvement conditions of the audience. Examining audience involvement is expected to contribute largely into making wise media decisions. Despite the fact that involvement depends on personal motivation and the audience’s capacity to process information, advertising media would be able to be more careful in integrating humor in advertising. Although the article stipulates the difficulty for advertisers to gauge the level of involvement that the audience have in an ad campaign, optimum engagement can still be achieved by understanding the functions of humor (Zhang and Zinkhan 124). The major achievement of the article is the establishment of the important principles in creating an effective ad campaign using the humor method. There is so much potential for advertising humor in creating product/service awareness and carefully identifying audience engagement constitutes makes advertising worth its cost. Furthermore, audience involvement can be considered as a viable moderator that broadens the audience’s appreciation of the advertisement.
Works Cited
Zhang, Yong, and George Zinkhan. "Responses to Humorous ADS: Does Audience Involvement Matter?" Journal of Advertising 35.4 (2006): 113-127. Print.
