One-third of ads use some form of humour and those that do are more effective, but this has been in decline since the global recession of 2009, according to research from Kantar.
Only 33% of the ads analysed by Kantar incorporate some form of humour, despite half of its Creative Effectiveness Award winners using humour.
Recent winners of the WARC Awards for Effectiveness have also used humour to stand out among consumers, including supermarket Aldi and restaurant chain KFC.
Humour is used most often in TV (37%) and YouTube (30%) advertising but is less...