Emotional Advertising: Humor Appeal

Let’s take our PEMCO advertisement for example. It appeals to the humor of insurance through user-generated content videos we licensed for the spot. These videos consisted of “whoops” moments such as throwing a water balloon at the window of the house and breaking it. It’s funny, it’s something that consumers can relate to, and it shows the importance of the product they’re trying to sell: homeowner’s insurance. Humor is a great way to evoke positive emotions from your audience all while conveying a message. We find that funny ads are more memorable for us but that’s us so don’t take our word for it. A study done by the Journal of Marketing discovered that “humor is more likely to enhance recall, evaluation, and purchase intention when the humorous message coincides with ad objectives, is well-integrated, and is viewed as appropriate for the product category.” Under these circumstances, it will:

1.     Grabs the viewer’s attention

2.     Be associated positive emotions with the brand

3.     Make a lasting impression

4.     Increase persuasiveness to purchase

There are different tactics for using humor in your ads, such as surprise, personification, puns, exaggeration, and comparisons. Surprise is just as it sounds and involves a BIG surprise element that shocks the audience. Personification involves giving inanimate objects, plants, or animals humanistic traits. We should all know what a pun is but just in case, a pun involves a play on words. For example, say you’re a cat food brand so you create an ad where something goes wrong and use the statement, “You’ve got to be kitten me right now.” I know that’s not the greatest example but it gets the point across. Exaggeration blows things way out of proportion as the name states. Lastly, the comparison uses a side-by-side comparison with the humor of a particular brand vs another but amplifies the negative aspects of the competitor. All of that said, there are several types of humor that a brand can use in their ads such as:

1.     Irreverent: this style is also called dark humor. Older populations won't respond as well to this style. It also appeals to those that are highly intelligent but isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

2.     Dead Pan: blunt and awkward. Dry and emotionless in style. Good for funnily giving information.

3.     Absurd: as it sounds it’s weird. It pushes boundaries and is typically very silly.

4.     Topical: this is all about trending events. DO NOT do something about tragedies or disasters. You will miss the mark there.

5.     Wordplay: pun intended. You can even play with visuals humor here as well.

6.     Blue: ah, this one is indecent. Usually about sex, it tends to be risqué. You have to be careful with this one though not to offend from being too explicit. You’ll lose business and have to deal with a PR nightmare.

7.     Observational: this turns everyday quirks into relatable scenarios. We can see ourselves doing the funny things that we’re seeing. Important to know your audience on this one.

Humor is a great way to spice up your advertising campaigns and humorous using user-generated content is even better! Get creative here but stay appropriate and make them LOL IRL. And of course, if you need help with finding that perfect funny piece of content, contact us anytime at info@locomotivecontent.co

Emotional Advertising: Fear Appeal

“This is your brain…. This is your brain on drugs,” says the actor as they drop an egg into a frying pan and begin to scramble it. These types of ads are often designed to create a reactionary response to motivate a particular behavior. In this case, it was to motivate behaviors for non-drug use. We’ve written on emotional advertising before but we wanted to do a deeper dive into each type of emotional advertising. This week we focus on fear appeal. A theory was developed by a woman named Kim Witte called Extended Parallel Process Model that explains why and when people follow health recommendations. Something called the danger control response is ideal for changing behavior and occurs when the threat is high and the individual’s sense of efficacy is greater than the threat. If the individual’s self-efficacy is lower than the perceived threat then the person will show a defensive response to the fear control ad. You saw examples of these types of ads during the pandemic with the “get vaccinated” campaigns. To sum it up, EPPM states that the perceived threat MUST be higher than the person’s self-efficacy to work. Also, the audience must be understood to create an effective fear appeal campaign. It needs to make people think, “Oh wow, that could be me.” Here are a few examples of the types of fear appeal ads that are possible.

1. Personal hygiene

2. Cancer risk

3. Therapy

4. Drunk driving

5. Drugs and tobacco

Since fear appeal can lead to negative feelings and anxiety, care should be used in an ethical manner that focuses on the betterment of people’s lives. Here are some guidelines to follow when creating a fear appeal advertisement.

1. Introduce the threat

   1. Demonstrate severity

   2. Describe with vivid pictures or words

   3. Use solid references

2. Show the risk to the viewer

   1. Focus on the audience here

   2. Point out similarities between viewers and those in the ad

   3. Personalize it to your audience

3. Show the effectiveness of the solution

4. Show viewers they can use solutions in their lives

A fear appeal can take the form of FOMO, fear of change, fear of death, fear of risks, and fear of failure. Now that you understand what makes a proper fear appeal ad you can use this to your advantage. Keep it personal and keep it ethical.