Do humour and threat work well together? The moderating effect of need for cognition in humorous threat persuasion advertisements

Using humour to communicate threatening information in advertising has often been observed in practice, but seldom been tested in research.

Do humour and threat work well together? The moderating effect of need for cognition in humorous threat persuasion advertisements

Hye Jin Yoon

Southern Methodist University

James Mark Mayer

Indiana University

Introduction

A recent Above the Influence advertisement plays off the stereotypical ‘Lost Pet’ poster. The ad features an image of a human brain, with ‘LOST! Last seen at a party Saturday night. If found please call: 555-0183’ as the copy. It implies that drugs might make you ‘lose your brain’, but instead of conveying this through intimidating imagery and tone, it adopts a humorous one. With such examples often observed...

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