Identifying Global and Culture-Specific Dimensions of Humor in Advertising: A Multinational Analysis

Abstract

Humor is a commonly used communication tool in advertising in the United States, but U.S. marketers know little about its use and effectiveness in foreign markets. Such limited knowledge hinders international managers’ ability to determine which aspects of humorous communications are likely to be amenable to global standardization and which should be adapted to local expectations. The authors examine the content of humorous television advertising from four national cultures: Korea, Germany, Thailand, and the United States. Findings indicate that humorous communications from such diverse national cultures share certain universal cognitive structures underlying the message. However, the specific content of humorous advertising is likely to be variable across national cultures along major normative dimensions such as collectivism-individualism.