Hanneke Hendriks and Madelijn Strick from the University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University. September 2020.
This study focuses on the influence of humor in alcohol ads specifically on conversational occurrence, length, and valence about alcohol and alcohol ads.
Humor has been a debatable topic related to ads because of its strong effects and its pervasiveness. More importantly, it has been studied how humor influence involvement, that is, the motivation to process the message of the ad.
It can then be clear, the relevance of studying this aspect in relation to alcohol advertisements.
In line with the theory proposed, and more than a 100 respondents, results indicate humor in ads actually lead to more conversations about the ad itself and the specific alcohol brand, to longer conversations about alcohol and more positive conversations about the ad. This conclusion revolves around the fact that such positive conversations subsequently lead to stronger persuasion effect, and could potentially lead to more positive drinking attitudes, norms and intentions.
These findings offer a possible explanation for the effect of alcohol ads on alcohol consumption, and provide an important starting point for using humor as a potentially effective behavior change tool.
To read the full article click on the following link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10410236.2019.1663587