1

IMPACT OF HUMOR IN TELEVISION ADVERTISING ON BRAND POPULARITY

(Research Project)

Submitted by
MUHAMMAD ZEESHAN TALIB
2014-AG-4220
BBA (Marketing)
Submitted to
Mr. MUHAMMAD YOUSAF MALIK

INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE, FAISALABAD (PAKISTAN)
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Acknowledgement

All the praises are for the ALMIGHTY ALLAH, who bestow me with the ability and
potential to do this research project. Words are very few to express enormous humble
obligations to my affectionate parents for their prayers and strong determination to
enabling me to achieve this job. I would like to acknowledge Sr. MUHAMMAD YOUSAF
MALIK for giving me an opportunity to this research, providing me the requisite
information and knowledge and for polishing my research skills. My utmost regards go to
him for guiding me and bearing me throughout the semester.
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The controller of examination,

University of agriculture,
Faisalabad, Pakistan.
I certify that the contents and form of project submitted by MR. MUHAMMAD
ZEESHAN TALIB (Reg. 2014-AG-4220) have been found satisfactory and recommended
that it be processed for evaluation of the award of the degree.

Supervisor MUHAMMAD YOUSAF MALIK

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTERS TITLE
1 INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES
2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
3 ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
METHODOLOGY
ANALYSIS
CONCLUSION
4 REFERENCES
QUESTIONNAIRE
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Abstract

Humor in television advertising is the effective and convenient way to attract the any consumers
because they are emotional based content and makes the consumer to special for satisfaction.
Compared to all emotions humor advertising is a favorable emotion which plays an important role
for consumers to attain a great influence over brand attitude, brand consumption, brand recall and
purchasing decisions, increasing efficiency of advertisements.

The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of humorous advertisements on

consumer’s responses and how these advertisements can play a role in persuading people’s
purchase decision. Television is considered to be the most demanding medium for advertising at
present as well as in future to persuade people’s purchasing decisions.

Television advertising is a most common commercial activity used in advertising medium. Humor
in advertising contains an important aspect on changing attitude of the consumer, improves buying
behavior and creates new patterns for buying any goods and services
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Chapter 1

Introduction
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Advertising is one of the critical marketing variables which marketers use to differentiate product
in a cluttered marketplace. In order to increase the effectiveness of advertising for a product,
advertising messages should be unique and meaningful.

Television advertising is a most common commercial activity used in advertising medium. Humor
in advertising contains an important aspect on changing attitude of the consumer, improves buying
behavior and creates new patterns for buying any goods and services. Humor in television
advertising is the effective and convenient way to attract the any consumers because they are
emotional based content and makes the consumer to special for satisfaction. Compared to all
emotions humor advertising is a favorable emotion which plays an important role for consumers
to attain a great influence over brand attitude, brand consumption, brand recall and purchasing
decisions, increasing efficiency of advertisements. In this research, a review on the effects of
humor in television advertising on consumer’s attitude and preferences has been taken.

A humorous ad can be described shortly as a funny add. Humor has four items in general: Initiator,
the person who is attempting to create the humor; Receiver, the one targeted by the humor; Focus,
the thing or the one the humor is about; Publics, those who see or hear the humor.

Today, life is becoming more and busier and it became very difficult to generate someone’s interest
in advertisement. Amusement nowadays has become one of the most effective tool in
advertisement. Presenting every day’s antecedents in a humorous way attracts people’s attention
rapidly. Humor is different to different people. Humor is something that bring smile on someone’s
face or that can entertain them in a funny manner. Humorous advertisement is a technique that
most of the advertisers use in their marketing campaigns and advertisements to attract the
customers. A humorous ad tends to gain more attention of people rather than a serious or an
emotional appeal.

Humor has been used extensively in consumer product advertising on TV, radio, and in print
media. Estimates of its usage range from 15% to over 40% (Kelly and Solomon 1975; Markiewicz
1974). Implicit in such practice is the rooted belief that humor produces desirable effects in
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persuading consumers to adopt products. Understandably, a considerable amount of effort has been
spent on investigating the relationship between humor and a diverse array of response variables.

Among these variables are the humor perceived by the consumer when viewing or hearing the ads,
brand attitude, and ad recall. It has been proposed that the effect of humorous ads passes beyond
temporary amusement and influences message recall. Eventually, as a result of this process,
consumers in the target audience form positive brand attitudes toward the product. These
hypothesized humor effects may be mitigated by a variety of other factors such as the number of
exposures which the target audience experiences and the social context in which the humorous
message is viewed or heard. In this study, perceived humor, recall and brand attitude constitute the
three dependent variables of interest. These variables are expected to be related. The two key
independent variables are repetition and social setting. The major research question is: to what
extent do repetition and social setting influence perceived humor, memory, and attitude?

Advertisers use the humor in advertising to attract the customers to their product. Audiences like
to be entertained. People pay more attention to a humorous commercial than a factual or a serious
one.

Humor can enhance one’s favorable attitude towards an advertisement.

A variety of benefits have been suggested for humorous appeals including:

1) Humor attracts attention.

2) Humor can increase retention of the advertising message.
3) Credibility of the source can be enhanced with humor.
4) Attitude toward the ad can be enhanced with the use of humor.
5) Counter arguments may be minimized with the use of humor because it acts to distract the
audience from making cognitive responses.

Television advertising is a most common commercial activity used in advertising medium. Humor
in advertising contains an important aspect on changing attitude of the consumer, improves buying
behavior and creates new patterns for buying any goods and services. Humor in television
advertising is the effective and convenient way to attract the any consumers because they are
emotional based content and makes the consumer to special for satisfaction. Compared to all
emotions humor advertising is a favorable emotion which plays an important role for consumers
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to attain a great influence over brand attitude, brand consumption, brand recall and purchasing
decisions, increasing efficiency of advertisements.

Humor advertisement is often used in television, print and any media to attract consumers. Humor
advertising increase attention, attracting more people and makes advertisements more interest,
memorable on brand and also increase business advancement, position for brand, promote and
increase product sales. Research found the humor advertisements always improve the positive
signs of attitude towards brand and intention to purchase (Weinberger and Gulas 1992). Many
studies proved that humor having positive effects (e.g., Duncan and Nelson 1985). Humor is a
prevalent on emotional advertising it helps people to enjoy ads and easily communicate with more
socially (De Pelsmacker P. & Guens, M 1999). Advertisers usually make humor to attract the target
audiences. Humor advertising get impact on relevant humorous advertisements buying behavior
when humor more relevant to the event (Kelly, J.P. and Solomon, P.J. 1975). Humorous
advertising getting more response when individuals humor orientation are more. Advertising with
a high degree effects appreciation get more responsive (Fugate, Douglas L.1998). The brand
evaluation, source credibility is factor in humorous advertisements and effective it is toward
persuasion. Humor affects in impact on marketing communications, sentimental humor humor in
increasing trustworthiness. In television commercials contain several types of humor.

The pervasive use of humor in advertising has attracted increasing attention. The Advertising
practitioners believe that humor advertisements attract superior than non-humor in gaining
observer awareness. Humorous advertising is high at attention, shows a positive attitude toward
products and retaining the message. The humor may get more responses by making ads more
likeable. The humorous advertising has increase liking not only the ad, but also for the brand,
positively to advertising recall. People attract more on funny ad and transfer that positive feeling
to the product

Impact of Advertisement is to communicate the impart information & knowledge about the product
& services. It leads to the consumers get attention by arousing interest and acceptance of the
product. Humor is more effective in influencing audience attitudes toward both the ad and brand
when involvement is relatively low rather than high. The humorous ads are always produce better
results compared to non-humorous ads.

There are different types of humor advertising provided by Catanescu and Tom (2001)
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1. Comparison - Putting two or more elements together to produce a humorous situation. An

example is a magazine advertisement for Hewlett Packard. On one page the ad features a happy
family in a Christmas picture that is to be sent to the grandmother. Everything would be perfect if
the son did not look like a punk in a leather jacket, chains and an outrageous hair-do. The second
page of the ad presents the same picture, but this time with a very conservative son who is nicely
dressed with clean, short hair. With the help of HP PhotoSmart System, which allows modification
of pictures, the ad claims the "grandmother spared holiday shock, heirs breathe easy."

2. Personification - Attributes human characteristics to animals, plants and objects. The Benson &
Hedges advertisement depicting cigarettes engaging in human-like activities is an example of
personification.

3. Exaggeration - Overstating and magnifying something out of proportion. One of Wendy's

commercials makes use of exaggeration as two young men order "4 Biggie Fries and 4 Biggie
Drinks" at a drive thru. As soon as they pick up the order, the car tilts on one side.

4. Pun - Using elements of language to create new meanings, which result in humor. The phrase
"absolute masterpiece" takes on a new meaning when it is pictured with Absolut Vodka.

5. Sarcasm - According to Reick (1997), sarcastic comments or situations are classified as silliness.
In this study, however, sarcasm is a separate category including blatant ironic responses or
situations. An advertisement for Lexmark features a sister and a brother in conflict. The brother,
with his legs up on the desk, is thinking of printing "some sort of a real cool sign" for his room.
The sister's sarcastic response is "How about 'For Rent'?"

6. Silliness - In this study, silliness ranges from making funny faces to ludicrous situations such as
the one created in the commercials for "1800-Collect," when a couple of muscular men run around
the beach on their toes to avoid the hot sand. Another example is the commercial for the Weather
Channel in which two men paint their faces red and blue in an effort to predict the weather.

7. Surprise - Includes all advertisements where humor arises from unexpected situations. The
advertisement for Primestar Satellite TV makes good use of the surprise element to arrive at a
hilarious outcome. The ad starts with a man carefully washing his car. Just before he gives the car
a kiss, he notices a giant pipe rolling down the street toward him. In a state of desperation, the man
manages to quickly move his car. As he breathes a sigh of relief, the punch line hits the audience:
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The car is badly damaged as he saves the satellite dish, which he initially intended to protect by
moving his car.

Different research work of Catanescu and Tom’s (2001) tells us that humor advertising is more
popularly used in television rather than other mediums which gives hold to the theory of marketing
and advertising experts who belief that TV is more appropriate media of using humor advertising
effectively that other mediums.

With the advancement of technology, advertisers consider that advertising is the most direct
channel for enterprises to introduce their services or products to consumers. It is thus a powerful
mechanism for product promotion. The frequent use of humorous materials and appeals has
become the primary tendency in advertising. Humorous materials have been widely used in
advertisements and most enterprises believe that humor is effective in attracting consumers’
attention and influencing their preferences.

There are many benefits associated with using humor in advertising which are as follow:

1. Attention – The major advantage of using humor in advertising is that it grabs target audience’s
attention. Target audience pays more attention to the ads that are funny and entertaining than
factual and serious ones

2. Improve Brand Image – Another advantage of humorous ads is that it improves the brand’s
image. People tend to like that particular brand that uses humor in their ads.

3. Good Word Of Mouth – Humorous ads help to spread the good word of mouth about a particular
brand. Usually people talk about the ads which are funny and entertaining.

4. Increase Brand Awareness – The Basic objective of most of the ad campaign is to increase the
brand awareness among the target audience. For that purpose they have to ensure that maximum
number of people watch their ads. In short they have to break through the clutter. Humorous ads
help to achieve this objective of advertisers as most of the peoples are attracted to funny ads and
thus it increases the awareness of that particular brand.

5. High Recall – Humorous ads tend to have high recall among the target audience which finally
help to increase the market share of a brand.
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6. Humorous Ads Improve Mood Of Target Audience – Humorous ads tend to improve the mood
of target audience and made them to relax which improve the overall image of the brand and leads
to the purchase decision. Happy customers associate good mood with the advertiser’s product.

No doubt humor advertising has many benefits from consumers to marketers but every coin has
two sides. Beside all the pros that humorous advertising holds it can have negative impact if special
considerations are not taken. . Funny advertising if does not match with the product and customers
it can have a negative impact on the brand. Humor should be carefully use to entertain people and
should not be offensive to anyone. Advertisers should pay a careful attention while making any
advertisement funny. It should not give a fake message or tell a lie about a product. It should be
realistic in a sense that it does not take people in a fantasy or fictitious world. Humor if carelessly
used can have unanticipated effects on the brand and can convey a false message, building a wrong
brand image in the customer’s mind. Advertisements require significant amounts of money
spending for developing and broadcasting funny TV advertisements but at the end consumers may
find themselves asking: ¨Nice Ad, but what was the brand about? (Kuilenburg et al., 2011). The
possible gap of using humor in advertisement is that people may focus on humor or joke presented
in commercials so strongly that they would not go through the important information.

Humor can have an especially strong impact on advertising geared toward children. According to
the 2006 American Kids Study conducted by Media market Research Inc., humor is the most
appealing element for children ages 6 to 11 in magazine, Internet, radio and television advertising.
However, using the right type of humor is important. Nearly 75 percent of the respondents said
they found funny animals or characters appealing, while only 18.7 percent found the use of sarcasm
in advertising humorous.

Objectives
Advertising is of great importance in today’s world of competition, as it is ever present and one
cannot avoid it. Advertising techniques have become more sophisticated and is much appealing to
the people. The use of humor as a basis for advertising messages has emerged as a popular mean
of marketing communication over the years. Humor is one of the most useful elements to enhance
the effectiveness of the message conveyed through the advertisement by presenting some aspects
of the ads in out of due proportion creates a high sense of humor.
The current study tends to investigate
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 The impact of humor in television Advertisement in deciding consumer brand preferences.

 The effects of humorous advertisements on consumer’s responses and how these
advertisements can play a role in persuading people’s purchase decision.

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
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The role of advertisement changes unto what the organization wants them to do. An organization
use the advertising to help them survive from the impacts of economic trends. Still, the economists
views that the advertising plays a significant effect on the consumer behaviour and in a long
process, the advertising can lead the organization to competition. Based on the understanding
regarding the advertising, the approach rooted in the organization’s search for the right answer on
the effects of the competition. Consequently, the accepted basic role of the advertising is to provide
the consumers with the right amount of information regarding the product or services, which is
related to the objective of the competition and that is to deliver the consumer satisfaction. In this
view, the level of advertising affects the consumer who is the focus of the organization (Park,
1996).

According to Anand et al (2009) every advertisement strategy includes two main characteristics
which are targeting and information content of the advertisement. The information is presented to
the target audience through firm’s selected advertising medium. Furthermore Byzalov et al (2004)
revealed that consumer gets enough informed about product when he is more exposed to a
product’s advertisement and this results in lessening the risk involved with product and this factor
is called as advertising role of risk reduction. Moreover Hanif et al (2010) observed that the key
to customer satisfaction is when his needs and desires are fulfilled and proper services are
provided, moreover fair pricing also leaves impact on customer. According to Hamilton et al
(2009, August) when a firm participates in generic advertising programs, it has a significant impact
on firm’s market performance. According to Shachar, R., & Anand, B. N. (1998) too much
expenditures of TV networks on tune-in seem unnecessary but in actual these advertisements really
influence the decision of audience for what to watch. De Mooij, M. (2003) also elaborated that the
divergence in consumer behavior that leads to variation in consumer’s choices is majorly due to
cultural difference that usually results in different consumption pattern. Moreover Yang et al
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(2002) observed that the reliability, personalization, ease of use and access are the factors that are
considered by both internet purchasers and non-purchasers. So internet based companies must give
importance to Muhammad Ehsan Malik et al. 58 these services. Moreover credibility and
availability are also important factors to be considered. Ackerberg, D. A. (2001) also argued that
advertisement containing product information influences prospect’s opinion about product, while
advertisement with prestige or image effects influences both prospect’s and product users opinion
about product. According to Barroso, A. (2008) when the sale of any product increases, it is
because the consumer is aware about the product’s value and this point is achieved through
efficient advertisement about product. Furthermore, Kihlstrom et al (1984) argued that there are
cases when advertisements with no product information still reflect quality and this is when market
mechanisms create positive association between product quality and advertising expenditures.
According to Hoch et al (1986) advertisement plays a significant role in deciding product’s quality
when the physical evidence provided for the product is somewhat ambiguous. Tsang et al (2004)
also stated that mobile advertisement is not so affective medium to convey the message to
consumers unless consumer himself has subscribed to any kind of mobile advertisement service.
Moreover Weilbacher et al (2003) elaborated that the advertisement only adds value to what
customer has perceived and learned about the brand and the main advertisement task is to present
the whole advertisement idea in a way that product always stays fresh in mind of customers. Mohr
et al (2001) identified a different dimension in consumer perception that consumers prefer those
firms or organizations that are socially responsible and make charitable donations. The ethical
behavior of organizations increases the inclination of customers towards them. According to Kacen
et al (2002) emerging ecommerce has provided consumers so many impulsive purchasing
opportunities but some cultural aspects temperate the consumer’s impulsive purchasing attitude.
Moraga-González (2000) also explained that informative advertising is designed when consumers
are capable of evaluating quality of product, and they give consideration to quality of product and
cost of advertisement is high. Li et al (1999) analyzed that demographics, channel knowledge,
shopping orientations and perceived channel utilities are the important factors that must be taken
into account while analyzing consumer online buying behavior. Also the education, convenience
and experience are important to confer to while discussing online shopping attitude. According to
Elliott et al (1994) country of region is important predictor of product quality as imported product
is more preferred when local product is considered of low quality. But consumer pick local product
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when price, technical features, and brand name are invariant. Raj S. P. (1982) also examined that
consumer purchase for a product increases when advertisement for that product increases and this
increase is due to high loyalty. While increase in advertisement doesn’t affect low loyal customers
purchases so much. According to Wogalter et al (1991) product warnings and consumer’s
willingness to read those warnings is one of the important factors through which customers forms
hazard perception about product. Becker et al (1993) analyzed that the impact on customer utility,
the level of competition in the market for advertised goods and the induced variation in prices are
some deciding factors to judge whether huge or little advertisement is required. Holbrook et al
(1982) also discussed that in order to analyze consumer buying behavior more deeply, one must
go through the pattern of experiential aspects of consumer behavior such as fantasies, feeling and
fun associated with product because these leave a great impact on consumer buying behavior.
Deighton et al (1994) suggested that advertising might result in switching from one brand to
another brand but it does not influence purchase rate of consumers. Anderson (1973) suggested
that when product actual performance does not meet consumer’s high expectations, it generates
unfavorable and negative product image.

Advertisements tend to be highly informative & present the customer with a number of important
product attributes or features that will lead to favourable attitudes and can be used as the basis for
a rational brand preference. People get information from the advertisement through the
attractiveness it holds, the attention it creates and the awareness it gives. (Arens, 1996)

Advertising is also a type of communication. It is actually a very structured form of applied

communication, employing both verbal and non-verbal elements that are composed to fill specific
space and time determined by sponsor. Effective communication through advertisement leads the
consumers toward the purchasing of brand. (Belch & Belch, 1998)

One key concern for the advertiser is whether the advertisement or commercial conveys the
meaning intended. The receiver is viewed as very active, involved participant in the
communication process whose ability and motivation to attend, comprehend and evaluate
messages are high. If the consumer or the audience gets the message and understand it as the
advertiser has it in mind, it is a great success for the advertiser. That understanding leads the person
to prefer and purchase the brand.

(Clow & Back, 2002)

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Definitely, the marketing activity such as advertising affects both internal and external behavior
of the consumer. Most especially, the consumers’ perceptions are influence through the exposure
such as seeing an advertisement; attention which means that the consumer recognizes the
advertisement; awareness which is common if the advertisement involves some humor; and the
retention that keeps or stays in the mind of the consumer (Chen and Lee 2005). Advertisements
also affect the knowledge by giving information, attitude, personality, lifestyles of the consumers,
and the culture of the consumer. The concept of advertising makes it possible to involve the
consumers which greatly affect the buying decisions of the consumers (Tsai, Liang, and Liu,
2007). Based on the above literature background the following conceptual framework developed
for the research purpose.

The social aspect of humor appreciation deserves further investigation. Those conducting future
research may wish to focus on alternative social factors, beyond size of the audience. Despite the
fact that social effects have been widely studied concerning other aspects of buyer behavior (e.g.,
attitude formation), it is only rarely that we have considered laughter and humor to be inextricably
linked to patterns of social exchange. Without a social context, there is little grounds for judging
a potentially humorous message as funny or not.

A study was conducted in China to find out the impact of humor in television advertising. The
study resulted that humor increases ad information recall and positively affects brand attitude. This
process may be positively moderated by social setting. Due to its potential usefulness, humor and
its role in commercial advertising will continue to interest researchers (Yong Zhang & George M.
Zinkhan 1991)

Bartos suggested that attitude toward an ad was associated with the ad's effectiveness and that
humor was the key variable associated with "liking an ad" (Bartos, 1981).

Cadwell also assumed that perceived humor was what made advertising liked and said that if
people felt good about a commercial, they would transfer positive feeling to the product itself
(Cadwell, 1981)

Another research was conducted which shows the result that perceiving humor in an ad would be
positively associated with liking the ad. They conducted a mail survey and found a highly
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significant association between the categories of agreement that an ad contained humor and the
categories of liking/disliking the ad. The study confirms that perceived humor leads to liking,
which in turn affects credibility, sponsor image, persuasiveness, and stated purchase intention.
Thus, the association of humor with favorable attitude toward an ad provides one reason for using
humor in ads. (Galb and Pickett 1983)

A survey conducted by (Madden and Weinberger in 1984) revealed that ninety-four percent of
advertising practitioners in this survey considered humor as an effective way to gain attention.

Sternthal and Craig in 1973 listed advertising goals and the impact of humor on each of these
goals. Their conclusions were briefly showed as following:

1. Humor attracts attention.

2. Humor may harm comprehension.

3. Humor does not appear to offer an advantage over nonhumor at increasing persuasion.

4. Humor does not enhance source credibility.

5. Humor enhances liking

The humorous messages usually produce effects in advertising as the message delivers surprise
(Elpers et al., 2004). The humor advertisements need some meanings based on its expression styles
(Martin et al., 2003; Speck, 1991). In general humor styles contain different types like positive
types and negative types (Duncan et al., 1990). Different humor styles tend to use different theory,
which can be described on many concepts. The humor conveys people laugh when they feel
perceived humor clearly (Duncan et al., 1990). Humor styles can vary people to people Martin et
al. (2003)

A research was conducted in Pakistan. Findings reveal that advertisement has strong positive
impact on the brand popularity. From the results we can conclude that quality advertisement and
positive perception can really play a vital role in improving brand popularity.

Alden found that humorous appeals are the same in Germany, Thailand, South Korea & the United
States and that humor in advertisements is based on incongruity resolution. However, they claim
that international humorous advertisements differ in their content and the way information is
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presented. This implies that there is a universal cognitive structure underlying in the message, but
that the specific content differs within every country (Alden et al., 1993).

The study of Lee & Lim (2008) showed that it is possible to predict the humor effectiveness in a
television advertisement under various cultural orientations. Their study was based on two
Hofstede dimensions: individualism – collectivism (1) and uncertainty avoidance (2) and one of
their conclusions was that in collectivistic cultures, advertisements are liked well when the humor
devices are based on arousal safety. Another main finding in their research was that humor
advertising and culture are related with each other and that it should always be kept in mind that
the interpretation of humor advertisements always happens within a culturally constituted world.

Moreover, the advertisement with more interactive concept grabs more attention of the consumer.
Vakratsas et al (1999) also suggested that in order to know how an advertisement works; it should
be evaluated on the basis of three aspects. First of all, the behavioral dimension that includes
purchasing decision, brand choice and market share. Secondly the effect on the consumer behavior
values and believes. And third the most important cognitive dimension that includes product type,
the degree of competition in the market, the development stage of the product and the consideration
of the market that needs to be captured. According to Zhang et al (1996) the phenomenon of humor
in the advertisement significantly influences the individual’s response towards product. And this
phenomenon does not equally influence each individual. Presence of humor in advertisement
produces favorable results for a person possessing low need for cognition. According to Kotler &
Armstrong, (2008) Egyptians introduced advertising and they used Papyrus and wall posters for
sales messages. Sign Boards, Bill Boards and Outdoor advertising is the oldest form of promotion.
Wall chocking and wall painting history was originated in the former civilization of Greece and
Romans and as well as in United India. Sybil & Thelma, (2000) found that television advertising
is that type of advertising which combines sounds and colors to the members of the society through
which people are influenced to purchase the products. The process of demonstrating brands and
informing the target audiences about the product are designed to produce positive influences on
consumer purchase intention (Barbara, J. 1997).

A study based on a sampling of television advertisements from four countries Germany, Korea,
Thailand and United States explain that humorous advertisements involve the use of unsuitability
resolution (Shimp, 2010). There are many proofs which show that humorous appeals are more
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appealing than rational appeals (Shimp, 2010). According to Clow, (2007) and Weinberger &
Gullas (1992), humorous advertisings get concentration and attract audience concern by its
capability to extract by clutter. Numerous popular spokespersons sometime start their address with
a prank. Humor gives help in making a fine atmosphere to send message and persuade consumer.
Consequently, humor is utilized as a part of around 24% of prime time TV commercials and 35%
of radio advertisements. Catanescu and Tom, (2001), revealed in their research that the utilization
of humorous appeals is more on TV ads instead of print ads.
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Chapter 3

Analysis and Results

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Methodology
There are two major approaches to gathering information about a problem. Sometimes information
required is already available and need only be extracted. However, there are times when the
information must be collected. Data is categorized as primary and secondary data. Primary data is
collected for the first time and for a specific purpose. I use questionnaire as my primary data. I
distributed 40 copies of questionnaire to students of Faisalabad city to know about their respective
responses.

Secondary data consist of existing information collected by other researchers. I took secondary
data for this research from internet, articles and from the library of University Of Agriculture
Faisalabad. Mostly use Google search engine to search journals and articles related to my topic.

I have chosen students of Faisalabad from University Of Agriculture Faisalabad as respondents.

Students are widely used for various kinds of researches. . Random sampling technique was used
to select the respondents for questionnaire. Through questionnaire data can be collected in short
time and respondents can provide the data easily through this method.

A series of questions were asked from a large number of respondents comprising of youth.
Following is the analysis of the questions asked in the questionnaire and their respective answers
from the respondents.
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Frequency Percent
Male 24 60.0
Female 16 40.0
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: The Survey was conducted among 40 respondents to which 24 males and 16 females
were asked questions related to the topic.

Frequency Percent
Under 20 3 7.5
21-25 34 85.0
26-30 3 7.5
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: 85% of the respondents falls under the age 21-25.

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Frequency Percent
Intermediate 3 7.5
Undergraduate 36 90.0
Post Graduate 1 2.5
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: The bar chart depicts that a large portion of respondents appeared to be undergraduates
followed by intermediates comprising 7.5% percent of all the respondents. Approximately 2.5%
having post graduate degree responded to the questionnaire.
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Frequency Percent
Less Than 1 Hour 5 12.5
1-2 Hours 23 57.5
3-5 Hours 10 25.0
6-8 hours 2 5.0
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: As the chart demonstrates, almost 12% percent people said that they watch TV less
than 1 hour, 57% watch 1 to 2 hours a day, 25% watch 3 to 5 hours and only 2 respondent
responded to watch TV for 6 to 8 hours.
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Frequency Percent
Yes 39 97.5
No 1 2.5
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: 97.5% respondents answered that they do watch ads on TV while remaining said they
don’t watch ads on TV
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Frequency Percent
Yes 39 97.5
No 1 2.5
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: 97.5% people think advertisements important for a brand and 2.5%5 holds an opposite
view
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Frequency Percent
Yes 35 87.5
No 5 12.5
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: A large portion of respondents believe that ads on TV

can have the power to make a greater impact on a brand’s
popularity in comparison with other mediums

.
Frequenc
y Percent
Romantic 5 12.5
Emotional 6 15.0
Funny 24 60.0
Action 3 7.5
Musical 2 5.0
Total 40 100.0
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Analysis: Funny ads got the majority vote as the most watchable ads as compared to romantic,
emotional, action and musical ads with a percentage of 60%.

Frequency Percent
Yes 33 82.5
No 7 17.5
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: Approximately 82% people think that they understand the

product through humorous ads

.
 31

Frequency Percent
Yes 21 52.5
No 19 47.5
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: Almost 52% respondents found humorous ads informative as compared to remaining
47%.
 32

Frequency Percent
Yes 14 35.0
No 26 65.0
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: 65% of people think that humorous ads cannot misguide about the product while 26%
respondents thinks that they can misguide consumers about the product.

Frequency Percent
Yes 38 95.0
No 2 5.0
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: Approximately 95% respondents answered that funny ads on TV are entertaining and
5% were with the view that funny ads on TV are not entertaining.
 33

Frequency Percent
Yes 25 62.5
No 15 37.5
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: 62.5% people said that humorous ads can change a brand’s perception and 37.5%
responded negatively.
 34

Frequency Percent
Low 5 12.5
Moderate 26 65.0
Great Extent 9 22.5
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: The table shows that 12.5% people of the respondents have low influence of humorous
ads, 65%people have a moderate influence, 22.5% greatly influenced by humorous ads.
 35

Frequency Percent
Yes 29 72.5
No 11 27.5
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: 72.5% respondents supported that funny ads can convey a product properly as
compared to other 27.5% respondents.

Frequency Percent
Yes 30 75.0
No 10 25.0
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: Respondents were asked that whether humorous ads can be effective in building a
brand’s image or not. 75% said that humorous ads can be effective while 25% responded
negatively.
 36

Frequency Percent
Yes 16 40.0
No 2 5.0
Somehow 22 55.0
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: 55% holds the view that funny ads can have somehow a greater scope in future, 40%
said yes and 5% said responded with a no.
 37

Frequency Percent
Yes 26 65.0
No 14 35.0
Total 40 100.0
Analysis: 65% respondents answered that humorous ads have an effect on their purchase
decision while 35% responded oppositely.

Frequency Percent
Yes 33 82.5
No 7 17.5
Total 40 100.0
 38

Analysis: Almost 83% responses were in yes that a funny advertisements are popular for a brand
popularity as compared to remaining 17%.

Frequency Percent
Yes 27 67.5
No 13 32.5
Total 40 100.0

Analysis: Approximately 67.5% respondents responded in the favour of humorous ads making
them buy a product as compared to 32.5% respondents favoured against the statement.
 39

Conclusion
The study results demonstrated that the demand for humorous ads will tend to elevate in future.
Humorous ads on television tends be entertaining, informative and are an effective way of
attracting people’s attention. Humorous advertising on television can have the greatest impact on
consumers and tends to deliver the message in a more persuasive manner as compared to other
genre ads.
To conclude, Television is considered to be the most demanding medium for advertising at
present as well as in future to persuade people’s purchasing decisions. More thorough insights
can be drawn from in-depth interview by investing more resources such human resources and
facilities to support the interviews. Focus group and field study can give a better observation of
the respondents.
 40

CHAPTER 4

REFERENCES
 41

 http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/12/9205/pdf
 https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/67417/thesis_final%20version_Anh%20H
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Review of Business, Vol. 22 Issue 1/2.
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 https://prezi.com/tae1wn7t2wz9/influence-of-humor-advertising-on-consumer-brand-
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 42

 Motwani, D., & Agarwal, K. (2013, October). Impact of Humorous Advertisements on

Customers’ Behavior. International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and
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Twente.
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 43

QUESTIONNAIRE

I am a student of BBA and conducting a survey on Impact of Humor (Funny) In Television

advertising On Brand Popularity and requires your valuable response as part of my research
project.
1. What is your gender?
 Male
 Female
2. What is your age?
 Under 20
 21-25
 26-30
 Above 30
3. What is your education level?
 Intermediate
 Diploma
 Undergraduate
 Post graduate
4. How often do you watch TV in a day?
 Less than 1 hour
 1-2 hours
 3-5 hours
 6-8 hours
5. Do you watch Ads on TV?
 Yes
 No
6. Do you think advertisements are important for a brand?
 Yes
 44

 No
7. Do you think Ads on TV can have a greater impact on a brand’s popularity as compared
to other media?
 Yes
 No
8. Which type of Ads do you watch?
 Romantic
 Emotional
 Funny
 Action
 Musical

9. Does humorous Ads makes you understand the product?

 Yes
 No
10. Do you find humorous Ads informative?
 Yes
 No
11. Do you think humorous (funny) Adds can misguide about a brand?
 Yes
 No
12. Do you find funny ads on TV entertaining?
 Yes
 No
13. Does humorous Ad ever changed your perception about a brand?
 Yes
 No
14. To what extent, humorous Ads influence your brand perception/choice?
 Low
 Moderate
 45

 Great extent
 Zero influence
15. Do you think humorous Ads on TV can convey a product properly?
 Yes
 No
16. Do you think humorous Ads can be effective in building a brand’s image?
 Yes
 No
17. Do you think humor advertising can have a greater scope in future?
 Yes
 No
 Somehow
18. Does humorous advertising effects your purchase decision?
 Yes
 No
19. Do you think humor in advertising is important for a brand to be popular?
 Yes
 No
20. Have you ever bought any product after watching a funny Ad?
 Yes
 No

Thanks...
46