Impact of humor in advertising on purchase decision

Abstract

As Seth Godin supposed, people don’t buy goods and services, they buy stories. While the product is still at the core of any marketing company, the communication of that product to the consumer is paramount. It is for this reason that advertising is one of the crucial parts of selling a brand. Advertising aids in making the audience aware of your brand, supports recall of the brand for better sale conversions and, most importantly, helps them relate to the brand on an emotional level. People may forget what was said but they will not forget how it was said, how it made them feel. Emotions, hence, are exceedingly important when we are communicating why consumers must choose our product over that of the competitors. Humor is one of the most impactful emotions that any communication can emanate. The moment you can make someone laugh, you automatically form a part of their ingroup. If we look at this from a marketing perspective, a brand can establish a basic level of trust once it is able to make its consumer laugh leading to favorable decision making. But as easy as it may seem on the surface, the science of laughter is much more complex and can more often than not backfire, especially when using it as a tool for marketing. It is for this reason that we have taken it up as the focus of our research to understand the impact of humor in advertising.