Note 4 Identifying Global and Culture-Specific Dimensions of Humor in Advertising: A Multinational Analysis

. Which aspects of humorous comm are likely to be amenable to global standardization and which should be adpated to local exepectations?

The Advertising Research Stream of Humor

Domestic Research

. Humor is more likely to enhance recall, evalutaion and purchase intention when the humourous msg coincides with ad objectives, is well-integrated with those objectives, and is viewed as appropriate for the product category.

. Under such circumstances, HA is more likely to 'secure audience attention, increase memorability, overcome sales resistance, enhance msg persuasiveness'.

Cross-National Research

. differences on key variables ---> levesl and types of infor/ reflection of cultural attitudes toward consumption/ portrayal of sex roles

. use of 'prototype' standardisation ( same ad with only translation and necessary idiomatic changes)/ 'pattern' standardisation ( the overall campaign is designed for application in several national markets with some adaptation of content and execution)

. Killough (1978), 'buying proposals' (basic offer) ---> can be used across culture without modicication more often than CP vs. 'creative presentations' (package the buying proposal) ---> tend to interact with local cultural factors

. Both UK and US, humor employed most often with ' low involvement/feeling products' vs. least often with 'high...'

. cognitive structure: moderate incongruity from expectations produced more favorable evaluations of new product info than did congruity or extreme incongruity

Psychological and Linguistic Perspectives on Humor

. incongruity is a necessary and sufficient condition to produce humor

vs. incongruity alone is not always sufficient to produce a humor response ---> humor reulsts when incongruity is resolved ===> Key tenet: humor is a form of problem solving/ resolution of incongruity make audience 'get the joke' (incongruity-resolution theory)

. not all problem solving is humorous---> humourous response depends on:
1. rapid resolution of incongruity
2. a 'playful' context, cues that info is not taken seriously
3. an appropriate mood of listeners (Suls, 1983)

. Linguistic perspective: Script-based semantic theory : two distinct scripts --- two scripts are opposite in certain definite ways such as good-bad, sex-no sex, real-unreal --- the punchline (Raskin,1985)

. contrasts: 1. actual/existing vs. nonactual/nonexisting 2. normal/expected vs. abnormal/ unexpected 3. possible/plausible vs. fully/partially impossible or much less plausible

Application of Humor Theory in a Cross-national Context
. some: humor is indeed universal and that in-congruity is one of its central cognitive-structural principles
. Joking relationships (joking, teasing, banter, ridicule, insult, horseplay...) are pervasive
. incongruent, outrageous or deviant manifestations of personalities, behavior and so forth, are also important in such joking activities.

Hypotheses 1 and 2: Global Principles
. humor is universal/ incongruity is widely presented ===> incongruity may be a major global component of humorous advertising

. H1: Most TV advertising from diverse national markets in which humor is intended exhibits incongruent contrasts.

. H2: Across diverse national markets, 3 specific types of contrasts (actual/not actual, expected/ unexpected, and possbile/ impossible) are identifiable in TV advertising that is intended to be humorous.

Hypotheses 3 and 4: Culture-Specific Differences

. An important goal of advertising: bring the cultural world and the good together in a 'special harmony' that enables the viewer to see 'this similarity and effect the transfer of meaningful properties' (McCracken,1986)

. content of ads mirrors a society ---> differences reflect major national culture distinctions

. Hofstede (1983): dimensions differentiated of national cultures:

1. individualism-collectivism:

. Collectivist culture: subordination of individual goals to the goals of a few large in-groups

. Individualist culture: be characterized by multiple in-groups that are smaller and less demanding of their members

. H3: The number of individuals or characters playing major roles in ads which humor is intended is greater in high collectivism (low individualism) cultures than in low collectivism (high individualism) cultures.

2. power distance:

. the extent to which power within a national culture is unequally distributed

. H4: Relationships between central characters in ads in which humor is intended are more often unequal in high power distance cultures than in low power distance cultures, in which these relationships are more often equal.