In Orlando Wood's "Look Out" there’s a sobering chart that reveals search trends for anxiety versus humour over the last decade. Summary: anxiety is up, humour is down.
As a reflection of culture, we see a corresponding decline in humour in advertising. Yet, humour remains one of the most potent tools at advertisers' disposal for building brands and driving sales.
So, why are brands shying away from laughter, and should they reconsider?
One reason brands are afraid to bring the laughs (or at least a wry smile) is the rising tide of risk awareness. Brands fear backlash or misinterpretation, opting for safer, less humorous content to avoid potential controversies.
Crafting universally understood humour also poses another challenge, leading many brands to avoid it altogether to sidestep cultural missteps. (Relatedly, see the death of comedy as a movie genre.)
Additionally, the trend towards authenticity often sidelines humour, as brands embrace more earnest approaches to convey their values. Purpose-driven narratives, while noble, sometimes sacrifice the lightheartedness that humour brings.
My agency loves to pitch humorous ideas to clients. While we aren’t always successful, we have found a handful of reasons that may sway a CMO who is a bit uncomfortable with laughing.
- Connection cultivation: Humour fosters connections by creating shared moments of levity between brands and consumers, strengthening brand-consumer relationships. (As proof, pick nearly any meme successfully used by a brand.)
- Breaking through the clutter: Amidst the sea of advertising messages, humour captures attention and cuts through the noise, ensuring brand messages resonate with audiences. (Humour effect is a cognitive bias that causes you to remember funny information better.)
- Emotional resonance: Laughter, as a universal language, evokes positive emotions that enhance brand recall and affinity. (Neilsen found that 47% of global respondents agreed that humorous ads resonated most.)
- Personality showcase: Humour enables brands to showcase their personality, standing out in a crowded marketplace and making them more relatable to consumers. (Even LinkedIn’s AI-powered hive mind agrees.)
- Rediscovering joy: In our quest for effectiveness, let's not forget to bring joy into consumers' lives. Humour adds a touch of lightness and enjoyment to the brand experience, enriching the consumer journey. (“Brands play a role in happiness even when the world is in crisis” says Forbes.)
In conclusion, while there are valid reasons for humour's decline in advertising, as an industry we’re losing one of our core capabilities.
We go to our TVs to lean back and watch hours of content. We fire up social media to see funny videos and catch up with friends and family. The spaces our ads occupy are entertainment spaces. Why shouldn’t advertising be the same?
Humour is a great way to entertain and keep people engaged in the content. A joke told well will hook you in from the beginning … which is exactly what we should do in an effective ad.
It's time to reintroduce humour into effective advertising strategies and make ads funny again.
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