Explaining Cross-Cultural Variations in the Use and Effects of Humor in Advertising
Final Report Abstract
Humor is one of the most effective advertising tools. However, consumers from different countries react differently to humor and different types of humor. An understanding of cultural variation in the use and effect of humor in advertising is important for both research and practice. Evidence uncovered in prior research in this field, however, is very limited and inconclusive, as neither humor nor advertising research offers a suitable theoretical framework to explain cultural variation. Furthermore, previous studies have failed to explain cross-cultural differences because they have compared only two or three countries, and they have failed to apply methodologies that address the cultural influence at both the individual and country level. In this project, we provide an answer to the question of how and why the use and effects of humor in advertising vary across cultures. We examine an approach rooted in evolutionary psychology that assumes that the variability of relationships (i.e., how frequently and easily romantic relationships are formed and broken down) leads to greater or lesser use of and different responses to humor. We use data at the individual level and country level. The empirical part covers (1) a content-analytic study that addresses differences in the use of humor in advertising across several countries, (2) a meta-analytic study that addresses the moderating influence of country differences on the effects of humor in advertising, and (3) experimental studies that corroborate the causal effects of humor and transfers the aggregate findings to the individual level. Addressing these issues provides knowledge that contributes to humor research (by explaining cross-cultural variations in humor), to advertising research (by explaining and predicting cross-cultural differences in the use and effects of humor), and to practice (by providing guidelines on how to use humor in advertising efficiently when it is applied in different cultural contexts).
Publications
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A Meta-Analysis of Humor in Advertising: Explaining Cross-Cultural Variations, Paper presented at the International Conference on Research in Advertising, Prague, Czech Republic.
Eisend, Martin, Malgorzata Karpinska-Krakowiak, Artur Modliński, Wojciech Trzebiński & Joseph Riley
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Sex, Humor and Rock’n’Roll: The Effects of Mating Orientation and Humor in Advertising on Persuasion, Paper presented at the Conference of the Association of Consumer Research, Paris, France.
Eisend, Martin; Karpinska-Krakowiak, Malgorzata; Riley, Joseph; Modlinski, Artur & Trzebiński, Wojciech
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The Effects of Mating Orientation and Humor in Advertising on Persuasion, Paper presented at the International Conference on Research in Advertising, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Eisend, Martin; Karpinska-Krakowiak, Malgorzata; Riley, Joseph; Modlinski, Artur & Trzebiński, Wojciech
