Identifying Global and Culture-Specific Dimensions of Humor in

Advertising: A MultinationalAnalysis

Dana L Alden, Wayne D. Hoyer, & Choi Lee

語言與文化 碩專二甲林盈慧 (NA1C0007)

IntroductionHUMOR• widely employed message techniques in modem

American advertising.

U.S. marketers • know little about its use and effectiveness in foreign

markets.

Examine the content of humorous television advertising from four national cultures: Korea, Germany, Thailand, and the United States.

Purpose

• To examine the nature and content of humorous appeals across national cultures.

The Advertising Research Streamon Humor

• Domestic Research • (Madden and Weinberger 1984) a.) Humor effects on recall, evaluation, and purchase intention.

b.) Mediating factors → (1) repetition of the ad (2) social setting (3) prior attitude toward the brand

The Advertising Research Streamon Humor

• Domestic Research • (Scott, Klein, and Bryant 1990, p. 498; see also Krishnan and

Chakravarti 1990)• Humorous advertising :

a.) secure audience attention

b.) increase memorability

c.) overcome sales resistance

d.) enhance message persuasiveness

The Advertising Research Streamon Humor

• Cross-National Research (1) levels and types of information (Dowling 1980; Hong, Muderrisoglu, and Zinkhan 1987; Madden, Caballero, and Matsukubo 1986)

(2) reflection of cultural attitudes toward consumption (Mueller 1987; Tse, Belk, and Zhou 1989)

(3) portrayal of sex roles (Gilly 1988)

Psychological and Linguistic Perspectives on Humor

• Nerhardt (1970) :the unexpected deviation

the humor response

• Incongruity alone is not always sufficient to produce a humor response. (Suls 1983, p. 42)

Raskin's theory (1985)• Specific types of contrasts: 1. actual/nonactual 2. expected/unexpected 3. possible/ impossible

(identifiable in television advertising for humor)

Psychological and Linguistic Perspectives on Humor

• (Raskin 1985, p. 106) • An English bishop received the following

note from the vicar of a village in his diocese:

"My lord, I regret to inform you of my wife's death. Can you possibly send me a substitute for the weekend?"

Hypotheses 1 and 2: Global Principles

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

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

Hypotheses 3 and 4: Culture-Specific Differences

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

• 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.

Method

The second set: Korea vs. Thailand

three days from three stations with days randomly selected

The first set: United States vs.

Germany

Sampling National Cultures

Indicate (yes/no) specific contrasts in the ad

determine which contrast was most emphasized

how many people or characters were featured in the ad

whether the people or characters featured in the ad

whether the people or characters featured in the ad were portrayed as having generally equal or unequal status

Measures

Results

distributions in the U.S., Thai, and Korean ads do not vary significantly (p > .96).

no significant difference between the proportion of ads (Korea and Thailand, p > .17; Germany and the U.S., p > .82)）

no significant difference (p > .68)

significant , p < .003

ResultThe content differences found may be due in part to differences in products advertised.

(1)avoidance nondurable (ex: aspirin)(2) high, medium, or low involvement(3) pleasure-oriented, function oriented, or both.

Discussion

First goal

• identify an underlying

global principle

Second goal

• national cultures

difference →television advertising

content.

• In all four cultures, a majority of the ads were classified as containing incongruent cognitive structures.

• Humor globally exhibits incongruity to advertising. (ex: Thailand and Germany)

Discussion

• theoretical perspective a cognitive structure approach → provide a more basic understanding of how humorous appeals operate across different cultures.• global strategy perspective →generate humor in diverse national cultures with the incongruity and/or incongruity- resolution principles.

Discussion

• Cultures on power distance(the status relationships between the characters in the ad ):

1. High→ be hierarchic (Thailand and Korea) 2. Low → be more egalitarian (Germany and the U.S.)

emphasis on equality U.S. and Germany > Asian cultures

Discussion

• Standardized advertising strategies for the U.S. market ≠ use abroad without modification.

(1) failure to gain attention if the message is irrelevant(2) failure to be understood

(3) failure to motivate action

Discussion

• Geocentric" strategy (Onkvisit and Shaw1987, p. 54)

the advertisement designed for the worldwide audience

a shared intercountry denominator

a modification to suit each market

Discussion

Limitation• The study did not address the issue of the

effectiveness of the ads in generating a humorous response.

• Data collection is valid only to the extent that the researchers can demonstrate that the constructs and measures

• Cultural biases may influenced the results

Suggestion1. managers →group countries strategically under the national culture dimensions.

2. assist development of standardized humorous appeals

3. examine humorous ads appeals in the various media (ex: Germany→ print advertising in particular magazines, newspapers, and billboards.)

4. the search for global and culture-specific principles in international marketing communications

Thanks for your listening

(Thailand) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CINppDAYCFM