Humour in

Advertising

Jorge Oliveira

21205909

Bucks New University 2012

MA Advertising

VMC Thesis

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Contents

Introduction 3

Chapter I – Once upon a time 4

Dangers 8

White or wrong 10

Chapter II – Defining Success 13

New rules 15

Case study: Cinzano 16

Follow the money 18

Chapter III – Stand-up Advertising 20

Types of humour 20

Touch points 25

People vs. Brands 26

Funny or funny? 27

Is there a perfect spot for humour? 27

Conclusion 30

References 31

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Introduction

Advertising has evolved a little bit since (some say) 4000 B.C. when Egyptians started painting papyrus to post in local markets to help sell their products.

Today, as thousands of deafening different brand messages clutter all media channels, humour is one of advertising agencies’ favourite styles to entertain the audience while trying to sell not only products or services, but lifestyles, possibilities, dreams.

What motivated me to pursue this subject was my own judgement that the standard of humour in advertising is too low. The feeling that “I could do better than that”, every day in front of the television or every time I look at adverts in magazines or billboards. But this ‘feeling’ also comes with a lot of questions, all of them could be summarized as “HOW?”.

Understanding what makes humour and what makes it work are the core objectives of this work.

My main research question is “How effective can humour be in advertising?” because more important than knowing whether something it is funny or not, is to understand if ‘funny’ works.

This led me to my subsidiary questions:

How can you measure its effectiveness? – Basically, when we ask if it works, we need to define ‘work’ properly.

What type of product/target audience/media is humour best used for? – To understand if there is there are perfect or impossible associations with humour. Could comedians be the ultimate copywriters? – If comedians are ‘professionally funny’ and advertising is desperately trying to be funny, could this be a successful marriage? Throughout three chapters, I will try to answer these questions following a structure of comprehension and analysis starting by the history and main examples that defined this subject in early ages, followed by a more analytical perspective of humour and its effectiveness. To conclude, we will study the hypothesis of a closer future between the worlds of comedy and advertising. Hopefully, this study will help to a further understanding of this subjective fascinating discipline and provide a deeper perception of how we can raise the standard of humorous advertising.

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Chapter One

Once upon a time

In this first chapter, we will look into the timeline of advertising, more specifically the introduction of humour and its influence in the traditional process. This will help to understand the shift in history and introduce an overall contextual understanding, vital for the comprehension and answering the research question “How effective can humour be in advertising?”.

Once upon a time...

The use of humour in Advertising became popular only in the early 1950s as a new persuasion tool. Before that, advertising worldwide was purely informative. Ads often featured product demonstration or a huge list of attributes, advantages and benefits, as well as all the rational reasons why the audience should – or should I say Must – buy a certain product.

Fig.1 Winton Motor Carriage Co. 1898, USA

Analysing the example in Fig.1, we can see the appeal purely rational, the listing of reasons why the reader should love the new product:

It dispenses with a horse, it is cheaper, has no agent fees, it is reliable, the best of its kind, it is handsome, strong, light, elegant finished, easily managed, fast, powerful, odourless, does not vibrate thanks to the suspension, tires and bearings.

An endless number of attributes meant endless advantages. In many ads like this one during the first half of the XX century, the common belief was: the more rational the arguments, the better the brand would appear, and thus more sales could be expected. In other words, the thinking was rational, logical, almost mathematical.

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The U.S. agencies were pioneers in refreshing the merely informative tone of advertising by introducing an emotional tone to campaigns. They soon understood that humour engaged the audience more successfully than merely making use of the rational appeal and that it had a huge impact upon their remembering of the ad. Since then, emotions have overcome facts, statistics and reason as the most used tool in brands communication.

The landmark example was the campaign created by Bill Bernbach for the launch of VW Beetle ‘Think Small’ (fig.2). For this launch, American society and the car industry had been accustomed to large cars such as Cadillacs or Fords. In contrast to this norm, Bernbach took one of the supposedly weaker features of the German-made VW Beetle, i.e. its small size, and turned it into its biggest strength by using a very intelligent, almost provocative humour.

Fig.2 Think Small by DDB NY 1959

The piece presented in Fig.2, printed in an A4 page of different American magazines, broke a lot of traditional “rules” of its time. Instead of using the full length and height of the page to make the visualization of the product easier, it intentionally presents the car in a smaller scale to dramatize the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) – the single thing to communicate.

Even the position on the car in the vast blank area of the ad was not random. Psychologists hired by DDB earlier that decade found out that the average human brain “reads” images, even in milliseconds, in a “Z” shape.

If we divide the ad in four, starting in the top left corner, the viewer sees the car, much smaller than normal in an ad, this creates curiosity. The car headlights are pointing to the right, pointing the direction of our sight to the top right corner, where there is nothing surrounding the car, which increases the curiosity. Looking for understanding, our eyes are led to bottom section, where the “answer” is found. 1

Even now, this is one of the most studied advertising campaigns worldwide; a great idea, based on a groundbreaking yet simple strategy.

1 Dominik Imsenk, Think Small, the story of the world greatest ad, Full Stop Press, New York, 2011, pp.

87, 89

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Bill Bernbach said:

‘The truth isn’t the truth until people believe you, and they can’t believe you if they don’t know what you’re saying, and they can’t know what you’re saying if they don’t listen to you, and they won’t listen to you if you’re not interesting, and you won’t be interesting unless you say things imaginatively, originally, freshly’2

The news spread fast and soon agencies all around the U.S. and Europe (UK, firstly) started to try new methods incorporating the surprising, the entertaining and the humorous.

Even so, David Ogilvy, one of the most respected advertisers in the history of the industry and founder of Ogilvy&Mather, was completely against the use of humour in advertising campaigns, in fact he wrote ‘I do not regard advertising as a as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it creative. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product’.3

He often quoted Claude C. Hopkins claiming that ‘People don’t buy from clowns’. This philosophy strongly prevailed until Ogilvy´s agency ordered a study that revealed that campaigns with humorous content were memorable for a longer period of time and led to higher purchase intent levels. The study prompted Ogilvy to rethink his perspective and led him to use humorous content, creating some very successful campaigns throughout his career, which subsequently inspired younger generations of creative advertisers. About this he wrote:

‘Conventional wisdom has always held that people buy products because they believe them to be nutritious, or labor-saving, or good value for money--not because the manufacturer tells jokes on television.... I think this was true in Hopkins's day, and I have reason to believe that it remained true until recently, but the latest wave of factor-analysis reveals that humor can now sell.... But I must warn you that very, very few writers can write funny commercials which are funny. Unless you are one of the few, don't try.’4

A good example is the television ad for Schweppes (1965), where the actor William Franklin tells the audience about the secret of the tonic water, without losing his calm while the house he is in is being demolished by a wrecking ball and using ‘Schh’ with different meanings: The first letters of the of the brand name, the secret and the characteristic sound (described as ‘Schweppervescence’) when one serves tonic water in a glass.

2 Bill Bernbach, Bill Bernbach Said…, DDB Needham, New York, 1995, pp.151, 156

3 David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man, Southbank Publishing, London, 2004

4 David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man, Southbank Publishing, London, 2004

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Fig.3 ‘Schh’ TV ad by Ogilvy 1965 5

The early results of this new tool encouraged more and more agencies, strategists and creatives to include humour in their pieces. “We have to make something funny!” was the motto in most of the briefings written by the clients to their brands’ communication in the 60s and 70s. However, what was once new, fresh and entertaining eventually began to sound like a cheap low-standard stand up comedy club, featuring obvious puns, bad jokes and advertising cacophony, here are some examples:

Fig.4 – Sabrina ‘Projectors’ (1962) Fig. 5 – Gal or Pal? Prophylaxis (1968)

5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7-bE-fvixg

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These kind of examples led to an environment where the biggest dangers of using humour in advertising were only just being discovered.

Supposedly, the best way to learn is by making mistakes. Below are listed a selection of such dangers areas found through personal analysis.

1. Being inadequate - There has been extensive discussion6 regarding a foolproof process of creating humour. However humour is subjective and therefore it is not possible to come up with such a formula. Even a good joke must be told with the right words, simple things as making sure one does not repeat himself, making sure one does not repeat himself, or choosing the right timing is vital to the success of a joke. When someone tries to be funny without a purpose or a strategy, it normally does not feel right. It is like having an elderly grandmother telling dirty jokes.

2. Words can offend - There are jokes about blonde women, jokes about ethnic minorities, jokes about the Jewish etc. Society is full of stereotypes which often work as a common language throughout western countries. Whether you find them funny or not, they will probably offend someone and nowadays, a Tweet or Facebook post is enough to start a virtual riot against a brand.7

3. Being “too” funny – If someone was asked about the funniest joke that they had ever heard or the funniest Ad that they had ever seen, would they remember who had told them that joke? Or which brand that the ad was for? Often when an ad is “too” funny, a person will laugh, share it, maybe even tell a friend or two about it. After a week’s time, they might still remember the plot or the punch line but it is harder to remember who told them the joke or the brand that the ad was for, as the brain will label it as secondary information.

4. Not being taken seriously - There is a thin line between a funny person and a clown. Brands must recognise when to be serious. When the consumer has to choose between two brands, he is entrusting his money to one of them. He has to know that he is being taken seriously and his money is being spent wisely.

5. Brand personality vs. Brand sales - Humour is useful to build or reinforce a brand’s personality, yet when the objective of the campaign is to increase sales or gain market share, humour may lack what is called “call to action”. When Ogilvy quoted ‘People don’t buy from

6 The 2010 book Inside Jokes by MIT’s researchers Hurley, Dennett, and Adams put the finishing touches

on their evolutionary and neurocomputational model of humor and wondered if, just possibly, they had

cracked the mystery that had baffled intrepid analysts and researchers for several millennia. Not only

does the theory in this book not uncover such a recipe, it shows why it is extremely unlikely that

anybody— or any bank of computers — will ever find one.

7 In 2006, Sony developed a fake brand lover to act as an ambassador, who was easily busted by fans

and denunciated in social media platforms. Sony tried to cover the case but ended up admitting on their website “Busted. Nailed. Snagged. As many of you have figured out Peter isn’t a real hip-hop maven and this site was actually developed by Sony. Guess we were trying to be just a little too clever. From this point forward, we will just stick to making cool products, and use this site to give you nothing but the facts on the PSP. Sony Computer Entertainment America.”

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clowns’, he meant when we want to convince consumers to take a decision based only on reason (e.g. price), humour will not help, in fact, it will probably hinder the brand´s intentions.

Now, with hundreds of books published on this matter, we can look back, analyse and evaluate the evolution of different communication tones used by brands throughout time, I highlight Humor in Advertising, by D. Herold, McGraw-Hill Inc., Los Angeles, 1963 and Hey Wipple, Squeeze This! – The Classical Guide to Creating Great Ads by Luke Sullivan, John Wiley &Sons, Inc, New Jersey, 2012

The fact is, in the past, it made sense to use a more informative tone in an environment where the number of brands per category was much lower than nowadays. When people had to choose between toilet paper Brand A and toilet paper Brand B, knowing that A is double ply, extra soft and super absorbent, it is obvious that such information would have made a huge difference on their choice.

Today, we can find much more variety, a huge number of brands competing in the same category and even if they are different, they all look the same and they all “sound” the same. That is why ad agencies look for metaphors and iconic symbols like adorable babies and cute puppies (like the examples in Figs. 6 and 7) to explain why you should choose Brand A instead of Brand B, C, D, E or F etc.

Fig.6 Andrex puppy Fig. 7 Michelin

Kringelbach, a senior researcher in the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry found that all face images caused brain activity, but adult images lit up the back of the brain while pictures with puppies or babies lit up an area in the front of the brain associated with emotions.

This is a prime example of how neuromarketing research (although these researchers weren’t focused on marketing) will often serve to confirm what marketers have known either intuitively or through traditional research techniques.8

In this new era of huge variety and constant fighting for differentiation between brands, there is an overload of information and brand cacophony. In the 21st century, with the launching of platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, going viral is today’s Holy Grail quest in the marketing communication industry. Creating content interesting enough to conquer “views”, “likes”, “fans”, “followers”, “retweets” is a minimum requirement in every client´s briefing.

8 Roger Dooley, Baby pictures really do grab our attention – www.neurosciencemarketing.com

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White or Wrong

Race and gender issues in Advertising throughout history

As stated above, humour is often inspired by stereotypes and if we think about why they work and why they do not become outdated, it is because they focus on one particular feature of one specific group, of a determined type, race, gender, or religion of people and exaggerate that feature, just like a caricature.

Stereotypes always inspired comedians and artists and then the advertising industry followed. If the stereotype is funny, why not include it? Although they are offensive, they can also be amusing.

On reflection, I believe it was heavily used in advertising based on the simple concept of communication segmentation, the principle by which a brand does not have to please every single person and so it perfectly acceptable to choose a particular segment to target.

Where does one draw the line? Was the line always in the same place? If we search on YouTube or Google Images for vintage ads from anytime before the mid 1970s, we can find some shocking results of advertising campaigns that, with or without a humorous tone, put women, black people, Asians and others in servant or diminishing roles or situations.

Fig. 8 Kenwood, 1960s

As we can see, it was considered normal to associate women with nothing but household tasks as the percentage of women working outside the house was substantially smaller than nowadays. By that reason, it was acceptable to almost compare the value of a wife and a electronic appliance.

Fig.9 Rough on Rats, 1970s

The racial discrimination was also common as there were no regulations that protected the social minorities in western countries. In this ad, we can see the association of the Asian man under the stereotype that people with his origins eat everything, including rats and bugs.

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Fig. 10 H.K. Fairbank, 1940s

By the lack of regulation mentioned in the previous example, this example by the famous brand Fairy, is also disturbing.

In the right-hand side, the impeccably clean and dressed Caucasian child asks the dirty barefooted black child “Why doesn’t your mamma wash you with Fairy soap?”, somehow implying that black people are naturally poorer, dirtier and that the fact that they have darker skin colour could be “solved” by better hygiene habits.

It is not hard to understand times have changed. What was considered socially acceptable fifty years ago would now result in legal action, millions of pounds in discriminatory compensation and Public Relations crisis management speeches.

Nowadays it is hard to understand how people accepted brands diminishing women, black people, overweight people, etc. on a national scale. The reason is that, socially and culturally, the concept of consumerism did not exist. ‘Consumerism’ is defined by the Oxford Dictionaries as the “protection and promotion of the interests of consumers”, but basically, what is new is the general feeling and acceptance by consumers of their responsibilities, their rights and mostly, their importance to brands.

Although today there are rules that protect every member of society against social discrimination or offenses through advertising (e.g. the Sex Discrimination Act, 1975), nowadays are still possible to observe tendencies of inequality by which brands communicate with their audiences that are shaping modern western societies.

Fig. 11 Samsung, Mothers Fig. 12 Dolce & Gabbana

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As we can see on Fig.11, women are still clearly associated with household tasks as cleaning or vacuuming and also the diminishing scenario (Fig.12) presented by the famous brand Dolce&Gabbana that puts men in position of dominance over women.

In conclusion, the stereotypes may have changed and the communication may have became much more subtle but it is still rather easy to identify what brands are “teaching” societies that “real men” are physically active and employed in productive and important careers, while the modern women’s role is to look seductive and be prettier than all the others.

In this chapter, we analysed the origins of humour in advertising as well as some social issues that time and practice taught professionals to overcome. Now, it is easier to make a modern analysis of the structure and theoretical principles behind the use of humour in advertising.

Through various examples, it has been illustrated the primal humorous elements that history taught modern industry practitioners. Now, legislation protects people from offensive advertising but there are still some subtle signs that remind older days.

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Chapter 2

Defining “Success”

In this chapter we will analyse what makes one ad successful and how advertising practitioners can adapt their strategies and objectives to the demands of the modern industry. On this new environment deeply affected by the crisis, clients focus mostly on results and the new word of order is effectiveness.

We will analyse one case of success that used humour to create solid brand personalities and solve business problems and dissect different campaigns to understand if humour is really what makes an ad work or if there are other factors that influence the success or failure of advertising campaigns.

Finally, we will ‘follow the money’ and ask the client his opinion about humour, its effectiveness and how open brands are to “advertainment” (advertising and entertainment).

The objective is to answer the research question “How can effectiveness be measured?”

Every year billions of pounds are spent on advertising campaigns worldwide, a rising percentage of which uses humour to sell products, services and causes. Although some advertising practitioners tend to consider their job almost as an art form, the truth is that it is a business; it is about numbers, results, deadlines, budgets, shareholders and sales.

As John Ward of England’s B&B Dorland noted, “Advertising is a craft executed by people who aspire to be artists, but is assessed by those who aspire to be scientists. I cannot imagine any human relationship more perfectly designed to produce total mayhem”9

What yet remains unclear is how the spending decisions are made. Despite much research examining humour’s results in advertising and all the pressure to present objective financial results, many creative directors make those decisions based on their intuition.

So, how can we evaluate an advertisement or campaign? From my point of view and understanding, the answer depends on who you ask.

The Audience looks for amusement, humour, entertaining content or anything that justifies the fact that that particular advert is interrupting their favourite show or football match. So, basically, a good ad is an ad that is not boring.

The client looks for meeting their business objectives. They want people to watch their ads, like their brands and buy their products. For them, a good ad is and ad that sells.

The agency looks forward to create something incredible, beautiful, memorable and award-winning. Not forgetting the client, who pays the bills but keeping in mind the agency’s reputation and portfolio. In this case, a good ad is an award-winning ad.

9 John Ward, Four Facets of Advertising Performance Measurement, The Longer and Broader Effects of

Advertising, ed. Chris Baker, IPA London, 1990, p.68

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So, we have three different legitimate evaluations, three different objectives that a perfect campaign should meet. Which one is more important? The truth is, the three elements (Audience, Client and Agency) are symbiotic and the industry would fall apart without the trio.

Some modern advertising agencies prefer to make the equation limpid and ignore advertising awards. Karmarama, a London-based agency is a good example: As Dave Buonaguidi, chief creative director and founder of the agency, explains10, the main principle is, as their name says, “karma”. If they do good things for their clients, good things will happen to them. The agency does not enter award shows as they set objective is not to collect shinny awards in the building lobby but to create the best possible solution to their clients.

To conclude the awards discussion, there seems to be an exception that Karmarama and other agencies with the same philosophy follow. They are called IPA Effectiveness Awards11 and instead of judging subjective disciplines as ‘design’, ‘beauty’ or even ‘amusement’, are based only on objective measurable results as sales, penetration rate, share of market, awareness percentage variation, etc. What makes these awards so coveted is that, nowadays, effectiveness and success on low budget are exactly what clients are looking for.

Although this may appear irrelevant to the study of humour in advertising, as ‘humour’ is undeniably subjective and immeasurable, the new challenge is to understand and learn how advertisers can use humour in order to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns.

In other words, how can something so subjective like humour affect something as objective as sales? In order to answer that question, we have to start thinking ‘outside of the box’ and enlarge the traditional meaning of the word “Humour”.

According to the Oxford Dictionary12, ‘Humour is the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech’. But what it also tells us is that humour can be “a mood or a state of mind”, and these two meanings combined provide a more complex broader definition, more adequate to the pursuit of this study.

Suddenly, answering the question stated above becomes a little easier. If humour is generally the expression of an amusing state of mind, can this “humour” sell things?

Claude Hopkins, the grandfather of modern advertising, wrote:

‘Don't treat your subject lightly. Don't lessen respect for yourself or your article by any attempt at frivolity. People do not patronize a clown. There are two things about which men should not joke. One is business, one is home. An eccentric picture may do you serious damage. One may gain attention by wearing a fool’s cap. But he would ruin his selling prospects.’13

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During Bucks MA Advertising workshop in Karmarama, on the 24th

July 2012 in London 11

IPA (Institute of Practitioners of Advertising) Effectiveness awards are held in London since 1980 and award low and medium budget campaigns to distinguish work based only on objective results. 12 http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/humour

13 Claude Hopkins, My life in advertising, Quality Prints, New York, 1946, p.129

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John Caples, American Advertising Federation Hall of Famer, wrote:

‘Avoid humor. You can entertain a million people and not sell one of them. There is not a single humorous line in two of the most influential books in the world, namely, the Bible and the Sears Roebuck catalog. ‘ 14

The other side of the matter:

Monty Schiller, a modern famous blogger and copywriter responds to the traditional vision: ‘People don’t buy from clowns? People don’t buy from sourpusses as well’

And the fascinating David Meerman Scott adds:

‘Most marketing and communications programs from business-to-business software and technology companies are dreadfully dry and painfully boring. I mean if some of these companies tried to smile at themselves, their screens would crack. But guess what? Your buyers, no matter what sort of organization you work for, are people—real people with a sense of fun—not nameless, faceless, corporate drones. Sometimes a bit of the unusual and funny can work wonders.’ 15

Combining both points of view, I collected and organized four general simplistic rules to use humour in modern advertising:

1.- Use it to reinforce and support a basic promise.

2.- Use it to be friendly, not just funny.

3.- Use it to attract, not to distract.

4.- Never lose sight of what you are really doing: Selling something

In other words: Smile when you sell.

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John Caples, Tested Advertising Methods ,5th

edition, Prentice Hall, New York, 1998, p.201 15

David Meerman Scott, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, John Wiley & Sons, 3rd

edition, New Jersey, 2011, pp.82,83

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Case Study: Cinzano

Cinzano vermouths date back to 1757 and the Turin herbal shop of two brothers, Giovanni Giacomo and Carlo Stefano Cinzano, who created a new "vermouth rosso" (red vermouth) using "aromatic plants from the Italian Alps in a [still-secret] recipe combining 35 ingredients. The alcoholic drink became known as the "vermouth of Turin" proved popular with the bourgeoisie of Turin and, later, Casanova.

Between 1978 and 1983, Cinzano and the advertising agency CDP (Collett Dickenson Pearce) launched a series of television ads staring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins. 16

What made this campaign special was the brilliance of the strategy to ally humour to the communication but with never losing track of the key elements of the product and the brand.

First of all, the elegance associated with the brand, demonstrated by the suits, dresses, lifestyle and scenes represented in all the ads.

The fact that you do not have to know Italian to appreciate an elegant Italian drink – in every ad, Leonard Rossiter makes at least three or four mistakes trying to speak Italian.

The smell is present in all the ads as the brand found out that it was one of the most distinct characteristics of their drink.

Fig. 13 Cinzano and its distinct smell 1978, 1979, 1979, 1983

The rich ingredients: “The blend of fused with herbs and spices” – The charismatic line that Dickenson always says after smelling the drink.

In all the ads, someone (normally the beautiful Joan Collins) always ended up with a glass of Cinzano spilled over her blouse, but always from different situations.

Fig. 14 Cinzano and always the spilled drink 1978, 1979, 1979, 1983

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PirMZGL-0mQ

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What the creatives at CDP brilliantly did was come up different episodes or small stories of an elegant bourgeois couple, with nuggets of delicate humour but always keeping themselves faithful to the key brand values.

What it did was it sold a lifestyle, a dream, a status, a symbol of self-achievement that ended up setting the tone for alcoholic drinks advertising in the following decades.

Objectively, what it really did was to apply humour elements to the communication of simple elements defined as brand core values. This resulted in the definition of a strong brand personality and huge brand awareness. People relate to brands, in fact, as Chris Malone17 explains, “Brands are people, too. (...)For our ancestors who lived thousands of years ago, the ability to recognize people, to correctly judge their intentions, and to build trusting relationships was crucial to survival. People were the first brands; faces were the first logos.”

Cinzano built a personality, Italian, sophisticated, successful and friendly, and everyone wanted to be ´friends’ with this person. This ‘relationship’ almost emptied the supermarket shelves and ‘wrote the rules’ to other brands like Martini know how to communicate in this category.

Fig. 15 Martini print ad “Join the Martini People”

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Chris Malone, Brands are people too, On Marketing – Forbes, 28 – 11 – 2011 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2011/11/28/brands-are-people-too/)

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‘Follow the Money´

As stated before, the advertising business is, precisely that – a Business. As in every business, the expenses, salaries and profit margins have to be covered and, in this case, all the brands (excluding pro-bono services) that request the agency’s services represent the source of income. In other words, the ‘Client’ pays the bills. As clients understand their importance to the business, sometimes they have a hard time trusting their brands and their own reputation to someone else. As Jim Carrol, head of planning in JWT London explained, If in the past, brands trusted entirely in their agencies and the interaction was minimal, in the current economical environment, brand managers and marketers want to understand exactly what the advertising agency has in mind for their brands and some even want to add their input to strategies and creative executions. 18 So nowadays, clients are more involved in the process and brands’ advertising budgets are tighter due to the rough economy environment. By these reasons, what do they have to say about agencies’ new responsibilities? Chris Kyle, vice president of Global Brand Communications at Adidas summed it all very clearly:

‘Simply put, we don’t need an advertising-focused agency anymore. We need a marketing agency that can think strategically and creatively, and deliver ideas that work across all channels. That’s a much bigger challenge that making an ad campaign’ 19

More specifically on humour, David Jobber wrote: ‘Humour works when it works. Some of the best brands in the world have leveraged humour to such an extent that the viewers look forward for newness in humour each time they see a new advert from that brand.’ And this is extremely valuable, when the audience has genuine interest about what brands have to say. Further, Jobber explains: ‘If the strategy is well structured, if it is well executed, if research shows that humour will help to sell, it is worth the risk.’ And wisely finishes his chapter with the alert: ‘But If not crafted properly, humour can also backfire pretty badly at times.’20 In conclusion, the economy is not helping, that is a fact, but clients in general are still willing to invest in humour for their brands as long as agencies think strategically and are able to back they plan with strong objective evidence that humour is, in fact, the best solution to the client’s business problem.

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During Bucks MA Advertising workshop in JWT, on the 18th

June 2012 in London 19

Eliza Williams, This is Advertising, Laurence King Publishing, London, 2010, p.34 20

David Jobber, Principles and Practices of Marketing, McGraw-Hill Higher Education; 6 edition, London, 2009, pp. 561-562; 565

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In this chapter, we tried to define ‘success’ as before this concept is often associated merely with sales. Humour is more complex by nature. Brings long term qualitative advantages instead of short term quantitative ones and that can be hard to understand in today’s environment. The economy transformed the industry and more cautious clients demand results. What humour can offer is not sales or share of market but an identity that drives sales and all the other results that make shareholders very happy.

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Chapter 3 Stand-up Advertising In this final chapter we will attempt to make a practical link between two disciplines that, at first sight, have nothing to do with each other but that can have more in common than previously thought. Stand-up comedy and Advertising – the basics principles, the touch points, the differences and similarities and what they can teach each other in the future. In this chapter, we will try to answer the research questions: “What type of product/target audience/media is humour best used for?” and “Could comedians be the ultimate copywriters?”

Types of humour

Comedy and advertising have evolved a lot in the decades, both practically and theoretically. What once was done by experience, expertise or ‘a natural talent’, now can be studied, learnt and analysed.

It is now possible to clearly identify and differentiate between types of humour used both in stand-up comedy and advertising.

Although there is more than one approach to this exercise, I am presenting the one I think is more accurate and relevant to this study, the classification by Catanescu & Tom21, written in 2001, with the intention to find out whether the type of humour used in advertising varies by medium.

1. Comparison: combining two or more elements together in order to produce a humorous situation. A good example is the Gold Star Beer ad in 2008, placed in bars and clubs in Israel, very simply, it compared the ‘night out experience’ for men and women. The campaign was a success and became viral.

Fig. 16 Gold Star Beer “Thank God you’re a man”

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Catanescu & Tom, “Types of humor in television and magazine advertising” Review of Business, Vol. 22, 2001, pp.42-46

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2. Personification: Attributing human characteristics to inanimate things like objects, animals or plants to create a surprising result. The first successful example was the recruitment ad during WWI with Uncle Sam pointing “I WANT YOU for U.S. Army”. For humour purposes, there are numerous examples, as the following by Pepsi:

Fig. 17 Pepsi “with a touch of lemon”

3. Exaggeration: Magnifying or overstating something out of proportion with a clear

purpose of highlighting a feature or characteristic. Volkswagen wanted to evidence the size of their new Bus, this was the creative result.

Fig. 18 VW Bus “Directions”

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4. Pun: Using language elements in order to create new meanings often results in humour. It has to be easily recognisable and clear or else it will not work. Petbarn played with the literal meaning of the Super Bowl, event known for having the most expensive advertising breaks in the world.

Fig. 19 Petbarn “Super bowl”

5. Sarcasm: Making a statement or assertion deliberately contradicting one’s beliefs with

intention to express the opposite to critique or make a point. Durex, the condoms company brilliantly wished ‘Happy Father’s Day’ to all who use their competitors’ condoms.

Fig. 20 Durex “Father’s Day”

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6. Silliness: According to the Catanescu & Tom, the most common in television advertising. Ranges from funny facial expressions and ludicrous situations to physical clumsiness or clown-like behaviour. Eurostar trains tried to convince their customers to make the most of their summer in London with unusual scenarios.

Fig. 21 Eurostar “Summertime”

7. Surprise: All advertising where unexpected situations lead to a humorous situation.

Fig. 22 Primestar Satellite “That was close” 22

22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vc6U6kUSfk

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The tv ad for Primestar Satellite used the surprise element by showing a man, lovingly washing his car when he notices a giant object rolling down the road in his direction. He quickly jumps in the car, just in time to move it. The punch line comes with a twist, showing the car severely damaged as it was used as a shield to protect the Primestar satellite dish and the relieved owner saying “That was close...”

In parallel to these types, it is possible to divide humour into two basic groups according to its structure:

Incongruity – is based on a contrast between the theory and a practical situation that, by its contrast, is humorous per se.

Incongruity-Resolution - by far the most observed in advertising ideas, is based on the same principle but happens in a two-stage process, with an element of closure or resolution (often surprising).

The use of these to two styles and the ability to plan them allows a wider control over message variation, which is very important when the advertising campaign requires adaptation to more than one type of media (TV, print, radio, online, etc.).

An interesting international study by Mooij23 in 1994 focusing on the comparison of different styles of advertising concluded that different countries and cultures engage and respond in different ways to different factors as humour in advertising, concluding that, for example an advertiser has to be much more aware of the use of humour if he works in Great Britain than in United States or Canada, where humorous campaigns are less prevalent.

The author defends that these differences come from centuries of culture formation and adaptation to modern days. This fact supports his theory that some countries are naturally more graphic orientated as they respond better to images than text, some give more importance to colours while others respond better to black and white and so on.

This meticulous study gains even more relevance now that the world knows almost no borders and the global village requires more and more international advertising campaigns. Understanding how different cultures respond to different stimuli now becomes vital for international brands and ad agencies to create relevant and targeted communication for their audiences.

23

M. K. Mooij, Global Marketing and Advertising: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes, Thousand Oaks, 1998

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Touch points During a unstructured interview with Rick Kiesewetter24, experienced stand-up comedian and advertiser, we talked about how comedy and advertising are related. These touch points will show how these two worlds can be in fact, so similar. The first clear point of contact has to do with the writing structure. Similar to Catanescu and Tom’s model of Incongruity-Resolution, in comedy it is called, Setup and Punchline. The success of a joke depends on the comedian ability to tell a credible story, build up the Setup (creating incongruity) and then surprise with a Punchline (presenting the resolution). Here is an example: ‘NASA announced that the Mars rover found possible signs of life in Mars... Setup ... A homeless Martian tried to squeegee its windshield’ 25 Punchline Another touch point is about the work and result of both jobs. It is all about preparing something special for days, weeks or even months and a moment of truth, thirty seconds (advertising) or some minutes (stand-up comedy) to present to the audience. Despite the fact that the audience just judges the end result, if the audience was aware of all the hard work before that moment, all the preparation, all the people involved and the importance of that moment for the presenter (brand/agency or comedian), the perception of how hard can be that job sometimes could change. The last touch point has to do with the methodology. The difficulty of both jobs is to consistently come up with new ideas, good ideas. When they do not come, when it looks like the answer is playing ‘hide and seek’ because the professional knows he can find the answer, he knows that it is out there somewhere he just has to work hard enough to find it. While he does not find it, frustration takes place. This frustration is, in fact, the brain working hard for a solution. With patience and experience, creative people learn to embrace frustration as a process towards a solution. ‘Remember – frustration is the key to creativity, (...) frustration is good’. 26 As shown, the similarities are clear. Understanding the contact that comedy and advertising will establish the links of a future deeper relation between these two. It all comes down to creativity but more than just creativity - It is the professionalization of creativity.

24

Non scripted interview with Rick Kiesewetter conducted by myself, on the 18th

August 2012 in Charing Cross, London 25

Mike Bent, Set-ups and Punchline, Netplaces, Comedy writing, 2012 (full article: http://www.netplaces.com/comedy-writing/the-funny-five/set-ups-and-punch-lines.htm) 26

Elizabeth Sky-Mcilvain, Frustration is good, Literacy Journal, 13th

April 2012 (full article: http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2012/04/frustration-is-good-true-meaning-of.html)

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People vs. Brands As stated before, brands have personalities that people can relate to. What Kiesewetter suggests is that the opposite happens as well. In the comedy industry, there are some personalities more famous than others. Eddie Izzard, Micky Flanagan, Michael McIntyre are all famous names but also became brands. Any of the names above have their gigs constantly sold out because they achieved a status on their careers that almost everything that they present right now, everyone will laugh and applaud. It is not the fact that they are not funny like they used to be, there is just a point on comedians careers that they do dig as deep to get the best jokes as other factors like body language, charismatic accents or phrases take place and help building a character that people relate to, no matter what they say. Rick Kiesewetter suggested me an interesting exercise. To watch some of these famous comedians’ DVDs, write down their jokes and try to tell them myself and see how funny they are. Here are some examples: ‘Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. And monkeys do too… if they have a gun.’

Eddie Izzard

‘If you've never seen an elephant ski, you've never been on acid.’ Eddie Izzard

‘Normally you have news, weather and travel…..but not on snow day, on snow day news is weather is travel.’

Michael McIntyre

‘I've worked out what an ambience is - it's a night out without poor people.’ Micky Flanagan

The fact they are not that funny when we say them out loud. Kiesewetter explains: that charisma come from the experience, the way comedians tell jokes, the accent, tone, posture, body language, etc. The results are undeniably funnier. The same phenomenon happens with brands. Globally famous brands as Nike or Coca Cola reached a status that almost everything they say or do, has a huge audience attention and response. From this fact, the challenge is to understand how less experienced brands can build this charisma, this brand personality in order to relate with their audiences and create a meaningful relationship that leads loyal customers.

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Funny or Funny? Îs there a right kind of funny? Humour is always pointed to someone, a friend, a group, a public or a television audience. So, the concept of ‘funny’ always depends on who is it for. Kiesewetter explained me that in his gigs, he naturally adapts his scripts, his tone, his language and posture depending on who is in the audience, according to average age range, more men or women, country or city where he performs. Again, in advertising, the targeting concept is similar. Brands adapt their speech and tone to a specific audience to initiate a dialogue, contributing a relationship. But comedy and advertising are not two sides of the same coin. A funny idea for stand-up comedy might not work in advertising and vice versa. In stand-up comedy, a joke is the centre of the message, the humour in the principal objective. In advertising, the humour is there to support the core message: the brand benefits or the brand promise. The humour works for the message and not as the message.

Is there a perfect spot for humour? And by spot, we include, products, categories, target audiences, media channels, etc. Rick Kiesewetter’s answer was peremptory: ‘No… At least not in theory…’ According to the experienced comedian/advertiser, in theory there is no product, target audience or media that humour cannot be used for. There easier ones and more challenging ones. I decided to verify the truth of this point of view, step by step, through the following examples: In terms of category, beer brands are easier to apply humour has there is an intuitive connection (beer, friends, youth, parties, good times, amusement, humour) but even tough subjects as death can be advertised with humour.

Fig. 23 - Tuborg beer “Bachelor Party” Fig. 24 – Funeral Services “Come a little closer”

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The same happens to target audiences. The easiest association is with younger audiences, aged less than 35 years old. But again, everyone likes to laugh and the only challenge is to adapt the humour to the right audience Fig. 25 – Volkswagen Van “Bigger” Fig. 26 – Crosby’s “Grandma” Finally, with media channels, the same happens. Common sense says television would be the best choice as we have, image, movement, sound, special effects, etc. But other media channels, being more limited, are just more challenging. Print – Is one shot, one picture, one tagline, one message, silent, static and limited. Outdoor – Posters and billboards have the same limitations as print with the disadvantage that has to be read and understood much faster as it has be seen by driving people. Radio – It is just the sound, the image has to be created in the listener’s mind through sounds, voices and music, and it is subjective to the listener’s imagination and interpretation. Online – Trendy, cluttered and disorganized. With all the advantages of television but with the fact that it is interactive (audience can chose to engage or switch off and ignore the content). Finally, I asked Rick Kiesewetter his opinion about having more comedians working in advertising agencies. He explained that, in his case, comedy helps him to be a better advertiser and vice versa and that comedy professionals could have an important input in agency work. Their understanding of the suitability of different types of humour could provide an interesting cooperation resulting in a overall higher standard. To recap, in this chapter we went through the basic types of humour used in advertising and then, thanks to the helpful cooperation of Rick Kiesewetter, we analyzed the relation between humour and advertising, how they can be similar is some aspects.

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If more conservative professionals think that humour is not compatible with some subjects, targets or media choices, proof was given that this is not true, as it is my understanding that it is possible to achieve good results as long as there is a solid strategy behind the reason of choosing humour. From these actual conclusions, the key is to understand how advertising can learn and develop itself towards a funnier and more effective future.

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Conclusion In the beginning of this thesis, it was analysed the origins of humour in advertising as well as some social issues that time and practice taught professionals to overcome that made easier to make a modern analysis of the structure and theoretical principles behind the use of humour in advertising.

Understanding the past context and moving back to the present, it was not possible not to mention how the economy transformed the industry and why more cautious clients demand results more than ever. What humour can offer to this industry is not just sales or share of market but a stronger identity that drives sales and all the other results that can be called ‘success’. It was tried to truly define this term as before it was merely associated with quantitative results. Going through the basic types of humour used in advertising and, the relation between humour and advertising was dissected, raising the possibility of a future closer interaction. In the advertising industry, the constant attempt is to break barriers, redefine the rules and adapt to the changing demands of the industry. Humour has changed, advertising has changed, the way we ‘consume’ humour and advertising has changed as well. From this study, the parameters of effectiveness have been redefined. Brand managers and Marketers are constantly under pressure to present quantitative results, but this study helps to a new perspective, thinking long-term and building a strong brand personality that will bring surprising long-term and long-lasting results. That is what brands like Nike, Coca-Cola or others have been doing for decades and that is why they are successful and different in a cluttered and asphyxiating market. Likewise people, who brands are (and not what they do) is what makes them different. Hopefully this thesis will help and current future practitioners to understand the importance that humour can have in a long-term solid brand personality and most of all, the capital need of constant improving and learning process. From this thesis, if there would be only one message to remember, this would be: Humour does not sell per se, it does even better than that.

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References

Interviews: Bucks MA Advertising workshop in Karmarama, on the 24th July 2012 in London Bucks MA Advertising workshop in JWT, on the 18th June 2012 in London Non scripted interview with Rick Kiesewetter, on the 18th August 2012 in Charing Cross, London

Bibliography:

Caples, J., Tested Advertising Methods ,5th edition, Prentice Hall, New York, 1998 Catanescu & Tom, ‘Types of humor in television and magazine advertising’, Review of Business, Vol. 22, 2001 Herold, D., Humor in Advertising, McGraw-Hill Inc., Los Angeles, 1963

Hopkins, C., My life in advertising, Quality Prints, New York, 1946 Hurley, M.M.; Dennett, D.C., Adams, R.B., Inside Jokes – Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind, MIT Press, Massachusetts, 2011 Imsenk, D., Think Small, the story of the world greatest ad, Full Stop Press, New York, 2011

Jobber, D., Principles and Practices of Marketing, McGraw-Hill Higher Education; 6 edition, London, 2009 Mooij, M.K., Global Marketing and Advertising: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes, Thousand Oaks, 1998 Ogilvy, D., Confessions of an Advertising Man, Southbank Publishing, London, 2004 Scott, D.M., The New Rules of Marketing and PR, John Wiley & Sons, 3rd edition, New Jersey, 2011 Sullivan L., Hey Wipple, Squeeze This! – The Classical Guide to Creating Great Ads, John Wiley &Sons, Inc, New Jersey, 2012

Ward, J., Four Facets of Advertising Performance Measurement, The Longer and Broader Effects of Advertising, ed. Chris Baker, IPA London, 1990 Williams, E., This is Advertising, Laurence King Publishing, London, 2010

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Webography: Bent, M., ‘Set-ups and Punchline, Netplaces’, Comedy writing, 2012 (http://www.netplaces.com/comedy-writing/the-funny-five/set-ups-and-punch-lines.htm) Dooley, R., ‘Baby pictures really do grab our attention’, Neuro Science Marketing, 29 – 02 – 2008 (http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/babies-in-ads.htm) Malone, C., ‘Brands are people too’, On Marketing – Forbes, 28 – 11 – 2011 (http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2011/11/28/brands-are-people-too/) Sky-Mcilvain, E., ‘Frustration is good’, Literacy Journal, 13 - 04 - 2012 (http://eskymaclj.blogspot.com/2012/04/frustration-is-good-true-meaning-of.html) Sony Enterteinment - http://www.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/home IPA Effectiveness Awards - <http://www.ipaeffectivenessawards.co.uk/About-the-awards> Oxford Dictionaries - <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/humour>

Videos credits:

Schweppes <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7-bE-fvixg> Cinzano <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PirMZGL-0mQ> Primestar <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vc6U6kUSfk>

Pictures credits:

1.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=dispense+with+a+horse&num=10&hl=pt-PT&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=w5XOo3EdC5B2uM:&imgrefurl=http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2009/07/dayintech_0730/&docid=07jrTSm7rXy9MM&imgurl=http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/thisdayintech/2009/07/car-300x273.jpg&w=300&h=273&ei=fDA2UMaAPcKf0QWH2oG4CQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=364&vpy=148&dur=2456&hovh=214&hovw=235&tx=88&ty=132&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=152&tbnw=167&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:74 2.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=think+small&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=gkxUKsnBy8LVZM:&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Small&docid=2BlndjRH2dJT-M&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2b/Think_Small.jpg/200px-Think_Small.jpg&w=200&h=254&ei=0zA2UPzdJqjA0QXGvYHQAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=195&vpy=153&dur=1294&hovh=203&hovw=160&tx=115&ty=107&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=150&tbnw=117&start=0&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:71 3.- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7-bE-fvixg

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4.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=sabrina+projectors&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=EhqyP9fru_DNPM:&imgrefurl=http://www.retrothing.com/2012/03/the-image-of-women-in-photo-ads.html&docid=X8GadOspSmJl_M&imgurl=http://retrothing.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83452989a69e20168e9040765970c-800wi&w=550&h=497&ei=HDE2UMKoBsTF0QWcmIGYBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=704&vpy=153&dur=404&hovh=213&hovw=236&tx=149&ty=90&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=160&tbnw=177&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:83 5.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=venereal+diseases+ad&um=1&hl=pt-PT&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=o7qqlAC4YdVpQM:&imgrefurl=http://laceyadjournal.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/ad-17-venereal-disease-advertisement/&docid=jlRBsJCMsSPvSM&imgurl=http://laceyadjournal.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/30s-ad-venereal-disease.jpg&w=400&h=295&ei=ZjE2UODJOqmM0AXhv4CgCg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=296&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=137&tbnw=189&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:84&tx=88&ty=48 6.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=andrex+puppy+download&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=y7U5BkeAKwufOM:&imgrefurl=http://www.oknation.net/blog/ddstory/2010/12/12/entry-1&docid=T8qyFacYGexCKM&imgurl=http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/12/01/article-1334762-02A5F95C0000044D-846_306x423.jpg&w=306&h=423&ei=jzE2UJPFA-ah0QXGz4DoCw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=716&vpy=288&dur=1802&hovh=264&hovw=191&tx=100&ty=127&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=147&tbnw=102&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0,i:102 7.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=michelin+baby+ad&um=1&hl=pt-PT&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=mUmqz1_HNJdZ1M:&imgrefurl=http://jessicaachinwubaa.blogspot.com/2012/01/ethos-pathos-logos-theyre-everywhere.html&docid=a8kBxvVe_-lhuM&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PFbMJ1LgCnM/Tl_YeR3eemI/AAAAAAAAACk/iixExGOnUKY/s1600/michelin_baby.jpg&w=450&h=294&ei=tjE2UIbUN6aW0QWb8oCoDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=387&vpy=162&dur=406&hovh=181&hovw=278&tx=150&ty=95&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=147&tbnw=196&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:72 8.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=kenwood+ad&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=CAXqGpiqrpTVIM:&imgrefurl=http://micahman55.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/advertising-and-boundaries/&docid=wWjJRQQu0cXcxM&imgurl=http://micahman55.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/31-im-giving-my-wife-a-kenwood-chef-1961.jpg&w=500&h=495&ei=8zE2UIKGDYr80QXf3IGoDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=187&vpy=149&dur=202&hovh=223&hovw=226&tx=120&ty=96&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=162&tbnw=159&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:71 9.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=rough+on+rats&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=DSy2LEj0ynE4hM:&imgrefurl=http://www.bolingo.org/jia/laoshunian.htm&docid=IYDOCAiFESD3LM&imgurl

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=http://www.bolingo.org/ref/RoughOnRatsChinaMan.jpg&w=373&h=512&ei=CzI2UOiDHum70QXFq4CIDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=178&vpy=122&dur=36&hovh=263&hovw=192&tx=114&ty=112&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=148&tbnw=108&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:71 10.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=fairbank+soap+racist&um=1&hl=pt-PT&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=LJT24nyGZhnB6M:&imgrefurl=http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2009/12/28/racist-ad/&docid=3SA-g9w3Oq0EOM&imgurl=http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/a96917_a566_1-soao2.jpg&w=450&h=661&ei=SjM2UM1QhcnRBZ_zgegM&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=200&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=151&tbnw=108&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:69&tx=55&ty=67 11.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=abed+tahan&um=1&hl=pt-PT&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=S1JYaBQPkqWUkM:&imgrefurl=http://kherrberr.org/en/2011/12/2011s-top-10-offensive-to-women-ads/&docid=NbEOg6DL9Shv0M&imgurl=http://kherrberr.org/ar/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/abedtahan_billboard.jpg&w=500&h=350&ei=xzI2ULP8IumY0QX3l4DYCQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=238&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=147&tbnw=196&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0,i:97&tx=113&ty=47 12.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=dolce+gabanna+sexist&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=Xo7NRb_12yj2FM:&imgrefurl=http://www.kokoroyale.com/fashion/profiles/dolce-and-gabbana-handbags-erase-the-sexist-controversy/&docid=xswibZug4Q6fDM&imgurl=http://www.kokoroyale.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dolce-and-gabbana-controvercy-rape.jpg&w=600&h=386&ei=7TI2UIi6OOmM0AWliYCgAQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=249&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=133&tbnw=177&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:76&tx=113&ty=83 13.- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PirMZGL-0mQ 14.- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PirMZGL-0mQ 15.-http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.retrofair.co.uk/uploads/8/7/5/9/8759988/403406997.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.retrofair.co.uk/tobacco-and-alcohol.html&h=300&w=225&sz=21&tbnid=XH7JYvTbVHQ0sM&tbnh=240&tbnw=180&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=&usg=__VUaV4BrcW4qAUUEY2GNrLNpE1PM=&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ei=_TU2ULmoJ-el0QW7nIGYBQ&ved=0CDMQ8g0 16.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=thank+god+you%27re+a+man&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=C3lHScUrKVahTM:&imgrefurl=http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/2008/12/goldstar-beer-flow-chart/&docid=rGS_yGivip3wnM&imgurl=http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/commons/goldstarman2.jpg&w=1400&h=990&ei=WjY2UJFtsKTQBdzvgcAK&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=197&vpy=163&d

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ur=104&hovh=189&hovw=267&tx=153&ty=116&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=157&tbnw=220&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:71 17.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=pepsi+funny+ad&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=Ii30sTOl7RkJIM:&imgrefurl=http://www.womples.com/2009/08/funny-advertising-pepsi-with-lime-twist.html&docid=t_pGwIi9sNrIXM&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_h3zPEoKhop0/SpDqGio0ACI/AAAAAAAABe0/PKFbFZhbMZM/s400/funny-pepsi-lime-twist-ad.jpg&w=400&h=312&ei=iTY2UJKrIomo0QWZ34D4AQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=646&vpy=154&dur=273&hovh=198&hovw=254&tx=110&ty=101&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=147&tbnw=202&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:77 18.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://theyouthexpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/An-Ad-for-the-Volkswagen-Bus-exaggerating-its-size.jpg&imgrefurl=http://theyouthexpress.com/article/457/beware-of-ads/&usg=__purJxEu3Oezr4TEBFR6Z2FGQTWM=&h=377&w=524&sz=59&hl=pt-PT&start=1&zoom=1&tbnid=O6YtHSMNRA5wuM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=198&ei=dzc2ULvML6bB0gWu6IGAAg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvw%2Bbus%2Bad%26hl%3Dpt-PT%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D667%26tbs%3Dsimg:CAESZxplCxCo1NgEGgQIAQgJDAsQsIynCBo8CjoIARIUpQf1BYYG_1wb7Bd8GgAeDBtUGhAYaIJxUo3bX0k-1t2j8iGyEcv_1YU5s4Pq_1lVbkNFPppSJFaDAsQjq7-CBoKCggIARIEfW_19sQw%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=195&vpy=195&dur=444&hovh=189&hovw=264&tx=142&ty=110&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:78 19. - http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rspcansw.org.au/__data/assets/image/0007/5398/Petbarn.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rspcansw.org.au/_media/rspca_2008/sponsor_images&usg=__S9aROYiCS-tK4o7HSNb5J6sW--Y=&h=136&w=304&sz=9&hl=pt-PT&start=5&zoom=1&tbnid=MHC6WY06LGgqeM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=224&ei=jTg2UI-eGcmu0QWHzYHADw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpetbarn%2Blogo%26hl%3Dpt-PT%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D667%26tbs%3Dsimg:CAESZxplCxCo1NgEGgQIAwgKDAsQsIynCBo8CjoIARIU4gffB90G4AfbBv8F3AazBu0H5AcaIPxcp1b3e1pWhNrGkLy25qm_1glJITNdTakhnYnp0VEsJDAsQjq7-CBoKCggIARIEWN4uQAw%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=904&vpy=234&dur=252&hovh=101&hovw=227&tx=23&ty=72&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:90 20.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=durex+fathers+day&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=QNbMPR-NfkbsIM:&imgrefurl=http://inagorillacostume.com/tag/fathers-day-guerrilla-marketing/&docid=nQIv0nA0S1OItM&imgurl=http://inagorillacostume.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Durex-Guerrilla-Markeitng-Condom-Ad.jpg&w=520&h=684&ei=sTg2UJCQHsa30QXs-4DQBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=568&vpy=121&dur=257&hovh=258&hovw=196&tx=101&ty=162&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=142&tbnw=108&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0,i:80 21.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=eurostar+summertime+in+london&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=FCEwK4xBMk2bBM:&imgrefurl=http://thewalkingmoon.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/hat-or-hair/&docid=3JwR5BdRwO8bxM&imgurl=http://thewalkingmoon.files.wordpress.com/2011/1

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0/summeryw5.jpg&w=600&h=441&ei=2Tg2UJXSOYjS0QWbvYCoAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=185&vpy=158&dur=281&hovh=192&hovw=262&tx=127&ty=57&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=150&tbnw=191&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:71 22.- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vc6U6kUSfk 23.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=tuborg+bachelor+party&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=Vcv-ugtfrQAMLM:&imgrefurl=http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/tuborg_bachelor_party%3Fsize%3D_original&docid=vzLvEgYh0X6GfM&imgurl=http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/Bachelor-Party.jpg&w=1200&h=900&ei=ITk2ULX7I6Kt0QWe3IGABg&zoom=1 24.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=funeral+services+ad&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=mA1JgWXOlZYg1M:&imgrefurl=http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2008/05/27/14-creative-advertisements/&docid=ja8C4CFodNHb9M&imgurl=http://www.toxel.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/creativeadvertising13.jpg&w=450&h=338&ei=QDk2UOKyIcrB0QXAvIC4DA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=236&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=151&tbnw=198&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:71&tx=128&ty=81 25.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://divijmathur.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/print-ad-funny-vw-teddy1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://divijmathur.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/volkswagen-teddy-bear/&h=841&w=1168&sz=815&tbnid=EDHhuLryejAwSM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=125&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvolkswagen%2Bteddy%2Bbear%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=volkswagen+teddy+bear&usg=__kn2hy7UqHc9y71o8RgETQmphhx8=&docid=dH9MnD5tTDVLuM&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ei=XTk2UMjtOeql0QWQ4oDYBA&sqi=2&ved=0CB4Q9QEwAA&dur=333 26.- http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=crosby%27s+grandma&um=1&hl=pt-PT&sa=N&rlz=1C1VEAD_enPT401PT451&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=KbPabaW20kSFLM:&imgrefurl=http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/crosbys_fancy_molasses_grandmas_muffin&docid=BFkXNqzPMzWNlM&imgurl=http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/print-ads-crosbys-1.preview.jpg&w=445&h=590&ei=gzk2UOL0GIHL0QX-toG4DA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=312&sig=115608196583401018051&page=1&tbnh=148&tbnw=107&start=0&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:80&tx=47&ty=70