It’s no joke: The critical power of a laughing chorus (original) (raw)
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Advertising and the Organizational Production of Humour
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Abstract The focus of this chapter is on a particular aspect of the relationship between humour and organization, namely the deliberate production of humour by organizations through advertising. Our aim is to study humour in advertising and through doing so to investigate what it tells us about humour, organizations and the social context of advertising/consumption. Specifi cally, we are interested in explaining the nature and increasing use of humour during the period that has come to be known as late capitalism.
African Journal of Business Management, 2011
Surrounded by staggering world-wide economic crisis and country specific financial burden, Turkish consumers feel pinched and marketers face the challenge to find a way to attract their attention to make them buy what they provide. In tough times, is humor the remedy for marketers? This paper aims to find an answer to this question and it examines the impact of humor in advertising. Alongside its advantages, humor also carries certain risks: will the viewer be bored after a few exposures; will it create an unexpected offense on the viewer? The paper investigates the views of various marketing experts on use of humor in marketing communication as to understand if such an approach will work with special focus given to the “psyche” of the population during a period of economic uncertainty and value consciousness. With the aims stated, the researchers conducted a series of expert interviews with marketing professionals, academicians and psychologists. Additionally, a focus group with se...
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While there has been considerable study of conspicuous consumption in marketing, no research has investigated conspicuous consumption of religious products. In this paper, we argue that consumers may need to demonstrate their association and support for a religion in part by the purchase, use and display of religious products. We explore consuming of religious products via observations and in-depth interviews conducted with different stakeholders involved in the distribution and consumption of religious commodities in Pakistan. Automated computer analysis of transcripts and field notes highlights the different concepts that shape the thinking of each group. A large majority of the participants’ accounts offered justifications and excuses (Corrado, 1991) as possible explanations for consumers’ conspicuous behaviour. Our findings can help better understand these dynamics within a Muslim society. It is recommended that visual elicitation technique be used in any future data collection exercise.
Controversial Humor in Advertising: Social and Cultural Implications
As Nash observes, “[v]irtually any well known forms of words – from the language of politics, of advertising, or journalism, of law and social administration – will serve the requirements of wit” (my emphasis). As a matter of fact, witticisms, puns, jokes, satire, parody, etc. are examples of the different forms and guises in which humor can come. Be it scripted (e.g. jokes) or naturally occurring, humor can be used to enhance or challenge interpersonal and social relations. It is therefore not surprising that it has been often used in advertising to seek the involvement of the audience while promoting products, services and, consequently, the brand or corporate company that provides them. As Berger explains, humor can create what he calls the “halo effect”, meaning “a feeling of well-being that becomes attached to the products being advertised [sic.]”. Nonetheless, humor in advertisement has often been considered risky, especially due to its potential offensiveness, which can be inadvertent or intentional. Moreover, the (non) appreciation of a humorous advert may very well depend on various factors (e.g. personal situation, beliefs, etc.) that often escape the marketers’ control. It is therefore interesting to explore the possible reasons that can lead to a negative response by the receivers of controversial adverts that consciously or unconsciously entail humor. In particular, this paper concentrates on adverts that have been considered offensive by their receivers at the local, national or global level, on the basis of their themes, language and culture-specific references. Considering that such adverts or campaigns set out to address and/or seek the involvement of their target clientele in today’s hyper-politically correct world, the latter’s (unexpected) reaction is worth exploring, as it can be of great interest to advertising companies and marketers alike. Before proceeding with an in-depth analysis of the issue at hand, I will offer a brief overview of humor and how it can be defined for the purposes of this paper.
The Intricacies of (Debatable) Humour in Advertising: A Cross-Cultural Standpoint
Academic Journal of Modern Philology 18, 2022
Given the marked presence of humour in many areas of thought and language, as well as in people's social, emotional, and aesthetic experiences, it comes as no surprise that humour studies are considered an interesting interdiscipline worth studying. This paper is, therefore, an attempt at joining three academic fields, namely advertising discourse, Cultural Linguistics, and humour studies. The author will enquire into the operation of (debatable) humour applied in multimodal advertising discourse. She will make the cultural aspect the focus of attention in order to highlight the role of cross-cultural differences in the perception of humour. Based on her previous studies (Stwora 2020a, 2020b) on attitudinal responses to controversial humorous ads in English, she will join in an exploratory discussion with a view to showing the ways in which ad reception may be influenced by the culture-specific force of humour. Working towards a more comprehensive outlook on humour in use in the context of advertising discourse, the present paper will start with a few words on humour in general and on debatable humour in ads. Then, the cultural side of humour will be discussed. Finally, the author will discuss her research from the cultural standpoint.
Joking Aside: Theorizing Laughter in Organizations
Humour is becoming an increasingly prevalent topic in organization studies. On the one hand, humour is said to enable workers to undermine management control; on the other hand, humour is said to provide managers with a resource for ensuring compliance with corporate objectives. This paper seeks to challenge the duality found in the literature between rebellious and disciplinary forms of humour by examining the meaning and significance of laughter in organizations. Following Bergson, it will be argued that laughter serves to rectify overly rigid behaviour that has temporarily disrupted the natural elasticity of life. This will serve to attune us to the way in which laughter -whether it is directed at a dominant group or a marginalized group -plays a socially normative role in organizations through processes of ridicule and embarrassment.
Comedy Matters: Laughing Games in a Viral Joke World (book manuscript)
This unfinished book manuscript develops an argument for a critical theory of humor and is based on revised lectures used in teaching Philosophy of Humor for many years. It argues for a pragmatic and anarchist theory of humor and liberated culture, and against the new puritanism and cancel culture ethics that are impacting the practice of stand up comedy today.
Young consumers' views on humorous BELFcommunication
Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 2020
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to gain understanding of how young consumers with varying cultural and linguistic backgrounds experience and perceive humorous Business English lingua franca (BELF) mediated communication used in transit contexts.Design/methodology/approachFor the collection of qualitative data, the present study relies on focus group discussions in three European countries. The data were analyzed by the authors by applying the phenomenographic approach as a method.FindingsYoung European consumers expressed a preference for humor and playfulness in BELF-mediated communication, yet they can be a challenging group to be informed and entertained with humorous BELF communication, as they differ in their taste of humor due to varying language- and culture-based identities. However, BELF as a communication tool was seen as functional and unproblematic by the informants. These informants perceive the role of resonant – wit type of humor in BELF – messages with noncultura...