1

Do Comical
Advertisements Help To
Recall An Ad & Increase
Buying Frequency?
[Type the document subtitle]

Submitted To: Ma’am Kausar Saeed

8/8/2016
Submitted By:
Hamza Khan Niazi (17130)
Adeel Ur Rehman (15739)
Arsalan Nadeem (15125)
Quratulain Javed (16417)
Asif Razzaq (19397)
LETTER OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Aug 08, 2016

This report is regarding Effect of Humorous Ads on Extent to Recall and Intention of
Purchase. This report has been prepared as a part of course requirement for Methods of
Business Research. The material complied and presented in this report is a result of
research work and data collected.
This report has proved to be a great experience. For this, I would like to thank our course
instructor “Ma’am Kausar Saeed” for providing us the opportunity, as well as his guidance
in the light of his vast experience in the field of Business Research.

Sincerely,
Hamza Khan Niazi (17130)
Adeel Ur Rehman (15739)
Arsalan Nadeem (15125)
Quratulain Javed (16417)
Asif Razzaq (19397)
LETTER OF AUTHORIZATION

Aug 08, 2016

Dear Reader:

As authorized by our teacher Mr.Amir Saeed, we decided to research on Effect of

Humorouse Advertisement on Extent to Recall and Intention of Purchase as a term report
for Methods of Business Research. This report includes executive summary data collected
and analysis done along with research proposal, questionnaire and processing sheet as
annexure.

Truly,

Hamza Khan Niazi (17130)

Adeel Ur Rehman (15739)
Arsalan Nadeem (15125)
Quratulain Javed (16417)
Asif Razzaq (19397)
Table Of Contents

Contents
No table of contents entries found.
Abstract:

This report investigates the characteristics of Effect of Humorous Advertisement on Extent to Recall
and Intention of Purchase. Most of the research available Effect of Humorous Advertisement on
Extent to Recall and Intention of Purchase is in general which can be found on its effects in the
context of Pakistan. The trend towards the advertisement that encountered by different people and
their effect is not as much in other countries. Therefore, we conducted this study in order to
identify the effect of Humorous appeal in Pakistan. The main problems focused I this report are Is it
the Comical aspect that helps Recalling the ad or an ad can be recalled through other characteristics
like theme, celebrity or what not? And Is it the Comical aspect that improves a Purchase Frequency
or a purchase is influenced by other characteristics of an ad?
To investigate, few Pakistani brands were a selected criteria that how does the advertisement affect
different age group members in different manner. This has different affect on behavior of their
intention to purchase.
The study was carried out through survey questionnaires. The population of this study includes
General Public, colleagues, friends, family who encountered Humorous ads through different
medium, different people of different age groups . The research was conducted for a whole month
which included all the steps from collecting the data till the final documentation.
An analysis of the sample of 250 people was conducted. The data gathered was analyzed using
statistical tool SPSS. This report provides a brief description of the variables that affects the
Purchase Intentions. Also, this study shows that the Purchase Intention can be influenced through
effective use of jokes, surprises, exaggeration and presence of celebrities. It also explained the
relationship and the factor that influences the consumer buying intention. .
A thorough comprehensive analysis is done in order to identify the factors that can affect the extent
to recall and purchase intention. Research is based on these factors, along with an in depth
coverage of the sample population on the basis of gender and income. At the conclusion, it has
proven that jokes, surprises, exaggerations and presence of celebrities have a positive relationship
with the purchase intention and these factors correlate with purchase intention which has proven
the study’s hypotheses. Neither of the variables have an effect on the consumers buying intention
except for the presence of a celebrity. The presence of a celebrity in a comical advertisement can
change the customers buying decision and alter their views about the brand. In this case U-Fone fits
the picture perfectly; the telecommunication company uses the strategy of comical advertisements
mixed with celebrities and hence the results of our research are clearly in the favor.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The term “advertising” originates from the Latin word “advertere” which means “to turn the mind
towards”. Advertising has a psychological impact on consumers and influences the buying decisions
of consumers. As a marketing vehicle, one of advertising’s features is to aim at persuasion of
potential customers (Kotler, Armstrong2010). A mean to achieve this ultimate goal is advertising
appeal, which is a force that stimulates customer mindset towards the product or service and
initiates buying decision.

Today most of the organizations are focusing on creative marketing in terms of Ads in order to
attract consumer bases and to represent indifferently. Organizations have begun speaking with
shopper in a comical way making better recognition and situating of their item and administrations
through various sorts of promotions accurately hilarious advertisements. In this study we would
like to recognize the Extent of Recall if there should be an occurrence of Ads all the more
unequivocally Humorous Ads and the Frequency with which a buyer would Purchase an item in
view of amusingness.

Advertising of consumer products either on TV, Radio or Print Media uses humor widely
and its usage ranges from approximately 15% to over 40% (Kelly and Solomon 1975;
Markiewicz 1974). This is a very basic understanding that humor generates the wanted
effects in persuading consumers to accept products. It is not difficult to understand that
many significant attempts have been done to examine the relation between humor and a
various types or ranges of response variables. These variables include the humor that
actually a consumer perceives while hearing or viewing the advertisement, ad recall and
also the brand attitude.
Now days it is estimated that the effect of the advertisement caring humorous appeal has
gone just beyond the short-term enjoyment to the advertisement message recall (Gelb and
Zinkhan 1986). Through this recall, target market of that advertisement reminds it for a
longer period of time. This study has jokes, surprises, exaggeration and presence of the
celebrities as independent variable and purchase intention as dependent variable.
 1.1 JOKES IN HUMOR ADVERTISEMENTS
A number of firms like Ufone, Mobilink, Habib bank etc are using different types of jokes in
humorous advertisement. Basically, they are showing jokes by describing it in a scenario
which makes consumers laugh and is very effective. Consumers now like these ads from
others.
1.2 SURPRISES IN HUMOR ADVERTISEMENTS
Showing surprises now days in humorous advertisements are increasing. Sometimes firms
can use little more surprises or suspense in humorous advertisements as to give a touch of
comedy in their ads.
1.3 EXAGGERATION IN HUMOR ADVERTISEMENTS
Exaggeration is one of the techniques that firms can use to sell their products by showing it
in their advertisements. Sometimes too much exaggerations will leads towards the
artificiality of the brand and as well as the product. So, companies use this factor
accordingly and in humor advertisements these factors can be use easily as the
technicalities of humor advertisements is to make laugh while watching them and
exaggerations can fulfill them by showing the situations overstated than in natural ones.
1.4 PRESENCE OF THE CELEBRITIES IN HUMOR
ADVERTISEMENTS
As different celebrities have different traits that consumers have attached with them e.g.
consumers identify Faisal Qureshi as a comedian and always laugh when they see him
because he mostly comes in humorous advertisements. So, consumers always attach the
celebrity’s traits with the product and these celebrities can influence them to change their
buying decisions.

Problem Statement:
Business sector is loaded with aggressive items and administrations; every item has its
own particular concealed trade off regarding cost and advantages that would be
anticipated to buyer's outlook so as to pull in them and further hold them as a client.
Advertisement is the most well-known approach to impact and change buyer mentality and
comprehension about the item. It is difficult for marketing to evaluate the understanding of
message being delivered to consumers through advertisement. Likewise, the Extent of
Recall of an Ad and the Frequency of Purchase is a question and requires research study
in order to find the answers depending upon their attitude and demographic attributes.
1. Is it the Comical aspect that helps Recalling the ad or an ad can be recalled through
other characteristics like theme, celebrity or what not?
2. Is it the Comical aspect that improves a Purchase Frequency or a purchase is
influenced by other characteristics of an ad?

Research Objectives:
The objectives of this study are as follows:
 To measure the Effect of Comical Advertisement on Extent to Recall
 To measure the Effect of Comical Advertisement on Frequency of Purchase

SIGNIFICANCE:

Humors as an advertisement appeal is getting popular in many countries. This empirical

study will explore the new aspects of the Humorous Advertisements in Pakistani
environment. Customers in different cultures respond differently to humors and possess
different behaviour in purchasing and decision making. Previously, in Pakistan humors in
advertisements are not very common but now companies are adopting this strategy
gradually as Ufone has launch my humorous ads which found attractive to the customers
and aided in recall. To maintain validity and reliability, we conduct this empirical study
concentrates on studying Pakistani consumer behavior and acquires empirical data among
Pakistani consumers.
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
A significant number of the most paramount promotion crusades around, have a tendency
to be entertaining. Promoters utilize this technique to draw in clients to their item.
Many of the most vital advertisement battles around have a tendency to be amusing.
Sponsors utilize this system to draw in clients to their item. Gatherings of people like to be
entertained, yet not pitched. Individuals will give careful consideration to a silly business
than an authentic or genuine one, opening themselves up to be impacted. The way to
entertaining publicizing is guaranteeing the amusingness is fitting to both item and client.
The harmony amongst clever and unpalatable can frequently be sensitive; and an advertiser
must be sure the constructive outcomes exceed the negative before a promotion can be
presented.

There are several techniques of funny advertising that are adapted by the companies to
their target market through advertisement.On one hand, author Mike Levit, managing
partner of Partners & Levit Advertising and a professor of marketing at New York
University, says that the best products to sell using humor tend to be those that consumers
have to think the least about. Products that are relatively inexpensive, and often
consumable, can be represented without providing a lot of facts, and that's where there's
room for humor. Candy, food and toys/entertainment related products have proven to
benefit the most from humor in their campaigns. One of the most important things to keep
in mind is relevance to the product. Along with that he repetition of the company name and
the actual content of the commercial reinforce the message in a relevant manner.

Another point to remember is that when using humor in advertising is that different things
are funny to different people. A commercial that may leave one laughing may leave a bad
taste in another's mouth. The target market must always be considered.
Similarly, author Kim Speier agrees with the statement that comedy is the most
strategic way of advertising for dull products. Who likes shopping for insurance or
toilet paper? That’s why the use of humor is all the more valuable. It’s easy to take
an exciting or entertaining product, like a car or clothing line, and make the
marketing enjoyable. But the real gift is with those who can take something that
people don’t typically enjoy shopping for and make it an experience they will
actually look forward to. She also believes that Humor can also lend itself to
companies in highly-competitive or saturated industries.
According to Mike Levit, Humor in advertising tends to improve brand recognition,
but does not improve product recall, message credibility, or buying intentions. In
other words, consumers may be familiar with and have good feelings towards the
product, but their purchasing decisions will probably not be affected.
Our research, however, is to prove that humor doesn’t only help recognize the brand
but also help in recalling it and changing the consumers buying behavior.
On the other hand, Survey results from Adobe and Edelman Berland indicate that
consumers want ads that tell them stories. According to Nielsen, the most-liked TV
ads in 2012 relied on “audience-appropriate humor, an ownable creative concept
and a relatable, emotional appeal,” while Ace Metrix finds that the most effective ads
“stressed innovation while embracing cause and humor.” A common theme? Humor,
which seems to appeal more to Americans than to citizens of other countries, and
which consumers believe makes them more likely to remember a product, according
to new survey results from Lab42.

Taken in combination, the research from Lab42 and Ace Metrix suggest that
perceptions of behavior and actual behavior may differ. That is, consumers may
believe they’re more receptive to funny ads, but actually not be. In the end, as the
Nielsen and Ace Metrix studies attest with regards to TV ads, marrying humor with
informativeness and emotion may prove most effective

According to a research conducted by Calvin P. Duncan, James E. Nelson & Nancy T.

Frontczak,
even when attempted humor fails, it promotes recall as well as does a serious
version of the same advertisement.It is possible that unsuccessful humor distracts
and, in some instances, irritates target listeners. Irritation, in turn, may lead to
consumers disliking the advertisement and, ultimately, the product itself.

"A joke is a very serious thing," Sir Winston Churchill is quoted as saying. It's
certainly true in the multi-billion-dollar world of TV marketing. Most major
advertisers pay to test their TV commercials with a small sample of the target
audience before the ad actually goes on TV and for good reason. A humorous ad will
get people's attention and enhance affection for the brand. A bad joke might get the
kind of attention that undermines affection for the brand. With ad a budget running
to millions of dollars no one wants to waste money by irritating their potential
customers.
Because buyers must act on the basis of incomplete information, they automatically
and consciously incur a risk in every purchase and non-purchase decision. The size
of the risk buyers perceive depends on the importance of the particular purchase
and on the quantity of relevant information about the product category and the
competing brands. A purchase decision can be considered as an optimization
process through which buyers seek the product or the brand that will yield the
greatest satisfaction. The choice process can be considered as the search for the
most satisfying trade-off among brands that possess desirable attributes at different
levels.
This view of the role of additional information in consumer purchase decision has
implications for advertising. An advertisement reaching a potential buyer while the buyer
is seeking information will have a greater impact, since the buyer is spared the time and
effort needed to seek out this information himself and is less likely to turn to competing
brand advertisements to obtain the additional information.
HUMOR DEFINED
The word humor as described above conveys a very particular meaning but in real terms
its meaning is much broader. 7 of the several ways have been working to compete with this
issue. Single discloses the description of humor in terms of its incentive property. As a
result, the occurrence of humor in a publicity appeal might be calculated in terms of
whether punches, jokes, under estimating statements, irritating comments and over joked
phrases can be implemented. Though, this and other dated schedules can be superior in the
literature is yet unsuccessful to identify the properties that build each class humor.
Furthermore, the element of humor by means of incentive properties is more applicable to
a conversation that how to produce humor than to the influential contact of humorous
connections are addressed in this paper. Next loom to the characterization of humor entail
an assessment of the response elicited to a restricted stimulus. Humor is institutively
elaborated in terms of increased screams, and smiles made by an audience in answer to
specific appeal. Unfortunately, these behavioral index of humor present certain
measurement and interpretation problems. The intensity and duration of arousal, smiles,
and laughter are difficult to scale. In addition, these manifestations may be attributable to a
release of nervous energy as well as to a humorous appeal. A third alternative is to define
humor in terms of the perceptual responses of the audience. This may be achieved by
administering a pencil-and-paper test which measures the extent to which individuals
perceive a message to be humorous and entertaining. Humor is operationalized in this
manner for the use of this paper. This is not predestined to entail that the characterization
of humor in terms of its incentive properties or behavioral implications is inconsequential.
Certainly, this data is critical to the development of effective humor in advertising.
However, this review is concerned primarily with the effectiveness of humor as a
motivational basis for persuasion; this problem need not be elaborated here. It is adequate
to be familiar with whether or not communication recipients recognize a convincing
meaning to be humorous.
 2.1 TYPES OF HUMOR USED IN DIFFERENT ADVERTISING
MEDIUM
Catanescu & Tom (2001) conduct different researches in order to find whether different
types of media are suitable for showing humorous ads. His study recommended that
different types of factors that are affecting the humorous on different media type. There
are no types of humor that are universally acceptable. Additionally, defined two more
types that can be used by different mediums:
Contrast and embodiment defined as follows:
1. Contrast - put more than two scenes jointly in creating a humorous situation or
humorous scenarios. A case Hewlett Packard ad in magazines featuring a delighted home
with joys all around on an occasion sending that memorable snap to their grandparents , all
will be normal if the son did not resembled a hairy tough look, the same ad is presented in
another manner but the son showing a more tougher look this time.
2. Embodiment - attribute person uniqueness to other organisms. Often these ads are very
effective and innovative.
3. Exaggerated - Overstating and magnify anything out of quantity.
4. Jokes - by means of elements of language to generate novel purpose, which results in
comedy.
5. Mockery – As per Reick, mocking remarks or scenarios come under stupidity.
6. Ridiculousness - including funny similes and making facial expressions that make every
one laugh.
7. Surprise – It includes all unexpected scenes or situation from humor arises like the
famous UFONE ad in which the beautiful women with such a male oriented voice was a
surprise for all.
THE BENEFITS OF HUMOR IN ADVERTISING
Weinberger & Gulas (1992) made study on the impact of humor in advertising. Humor
research is weighed down by many difficulties and many factors can intrude within the
association of humorous ad and its outcome. Now they find different benefits of humor that
are as follows.
 Humor grabs mind this is proved by the majority of researches performed in
education and advertising sector have shown this.
 Humor do not damage understanding, in spite of showing some negative results of
humor still it is universally accepted as a neutral element and has gained support of
different educational sectors .
 Humor increases likelihood and the relationship between these two elements is
strongly unchallenging and can’t be denied.
 Associated humor is superior to un associated humor and there is an opposite
impact found among both the variables when they were compared
 The personality of the invention influences the suitability of a humor action.
Although humor is working with many brands, making use of humor is more
successful with obtainable quite than new products that are going to be launch in
the markets. Humor is perfect for low involvement products and also for the
emotionally bonded products.

Weinberger & Gulas (1992) pointed out another interesting fact that humor can’t be made
a successful factor for an ad we can’t predict that the humor element used will definitely
make the ad successful. According to Fatt (2002), comedy based ads have been always
found to be influencing and superiorly are award winning. He further said ad maker should
use humor in a proper match with the brand so that they can avoid mistakes that lead
towards failure. Companies are spending millions of dollars in making humor as a part of
their ads and their appeals. As it is more or less proves do. Fatt (2002) agrees with
Weinberger & Gulas (1992) that humor used in magazine, television and radio ads tends to
grab viewers attention more increasingly. Humorous advertisements generally break
humor lacking ads in four types: early concentration, continual concentration, expected
concentration, and on the whole attention. However, there is a difference in efficacy
between related humors with unrelated: humor associated directly with the advertised
brand works more successfully than not related humor. Thus, simply putting humor into an
ad has not the same strength of attention as by means of additional included humor
dealing. (Fatt, 2002)
Fatt (2002) states that researches on the efficiency of comedy on the grip of message in ads
have shaped diverse consequences. A ratio of 64 percent of ad research management
believes that humor has null consequence or opposing influence on people via ad. The
researchers suggest that the type of humor used might conclude its consequence on
understanding.
Fatt (2002) suggest that the strength of the communication can decide consequence humor
has on the expressiveness of the ad. Research has shown that humor in a less effective soft
advertisement can really boost the ad’s expressiveness. On the other hand, humor in a
hard sell, high-intensity humor can diminish that ad’s expressiveness. (ibid)
According to Fugate, the advantages of funny ads include:
 Humor seeks enthusiasm
 Humor motivates people to keep in mind the ad - and therefore the message
 Humor shows we're materialistic
 Humor increases likeability of us by many people like UFONE ads
PURCHASE INTENTION
It can be defined as one’s purpose to make an intent purchase of any brand that
resembles his personality and provides him with pleasure, the brand is normally
decided upon after research and decision on certain factors. Making the decision of
purchase needs an effective brand assessment of all the valuable market brands. (Teng
larouche, 2007).
BRAND KNOWLEDGE
Brand awareness and brand image consists of Brand knowledge (Agarwal and Rao,
1996; Mackay, 2001; Pappu and cooksay, 2005). Basically, the most recent purchase
of any customer is always effected by brand knowledge and also further studies
found out that brand image is directly affecting consumer purchase and brand
awareness (Franz-Rudolf Esch et al. 2006). From studies they concluded that two types
of consumer behavior one is current behavior that is buying the brand and using the
brand and plus the experience in making use of that brand and future behavior is the
intention to buy that product againg in the future (Franz -Rudolf Esch et al. 2006). As
different humorous ads showing different celebrities that are not only showing their
image as humorous actors but also increases that brand image as well.
BRAND AWARENESS
How easily a consumer memorize or recall a brand and this is done through humorous
advertisements as consumers recall at what the laugh and humorous advertisements
plays vital role in enhancing the brand awareness. (Keller,1993). Brand recall is a tool
by which we can easily measure and predict brand awareness (Franz-Rudolf Esch el al.
2006).
BRAND IMAGE
When consumers are attaching to a brand by its positive feature or different attributes
and have positive recommendations to other is called brand image (Keller, 2003). It is a
very important factor as it adds consumer decision process either he/she buy certain
product or not (Dolich, 1969).
BRAND RELATIONSIP
Brand relationship has a positive relationship with the emotions and the cognitive of
the consumers and it generates a strong bond between brands and the consumers,
from this it is known that if a consumer purchase a brand and make repurchase of
that brand it means that there is a positive relationship between the brand and the
consumer (Fournier, 1998).
BRAND ADVERTISEMENTS
When a consumer is encountered by an advertisement and if he like the features,
situations, scenes, personality or any other factor that matching him/her personality he
like to adapt that brand more and also humorous advertisement showing different
surprise, jokes or even celebrities that most of the consumer find that these factors
fulfilling their needs and wants so in this way consumers attitude towards the brand is
positive (Edell and Burke, 1987; Gardner, 1985). From different studies it is found that
positive responses have always positive evaluation of product and negative responses
have negative evaluation of the product (Teng, Laroche and Huihuang, 2007).
Theoretical Framework

DEPENDENT VARIABLE

 Extent to Recall
 Intention of Purchase

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
 Humorous Advertisement
 HYPOTHESIS
In order to sum up the literature review, this research study is to explore whether the use of funny
advertisements can attain positive response towards remembering an advertisement and buying
intention and or not. Based on the theoretical framework and the presented literature review, two
hypotheses were formed

 H1: Humor has positive effect on Extent to Recall of an Ad.

 H2: Humor has no Effect on Consumer Buying Intention

.
STATISTICAL TOOLS
The statistical tools that are used in this study are Frequency, Correlation and Cross
tabulation.

SOFTWARE EMPLOYED
Microsoft Excel used for this research study.
Research Methodology:

Research Design:
This research is based on quantitative and experimental research design. We included 7 brands
which include humorous, emotional factors and some were endorsed by famous celebrities to find
out what really affects the buying decision of the consumers. The brands which we selected include:
 U-fone
 Clear Shampoo
 Sensodyne
 Dove
 Fair & Lovely
 Shan Masala
 Pantene

The data for this survey was collected through the survey which included 21 questions. For
the demographic variables , multiple choices were given. Demographic variables such as
gender, age were asked. Questions were asked to check the knowledge of people about the
specific brand and the medium on which the respondents came across the ads. The other
variables, to gauge the perceptions of the consumers the respondents were asked a series of
questions to identify the agreement or disagreement with statements concerning objects or
attitudes in five point likert scale. Two extremes of the continuum ranged from strongly
disagree to strongly agree.

Sampling:
A sample of 100 respondents is taken from the population which includes General public, friends,
family, colleagues, students, relatives and everyone who encounters these ads on different
mediums or watch television. Questionnaires are used to record the responses of the people. The
sampling method used in this research is Convenience Sampling to acquire the desired results.
Both male and female were included in the sample of 100 respondents.

Measures:
The secondary data was collected through internet and journals, while the source of primary data
was solely questionnaires. Questionnaire was designed keeping in view the objective and
hypothesis of the research. Likert scale with five-points ranging from strongly agree to strongly
disagree was used for most of the statements regarding respondents’ personal feelings towards the
humorous factor in the ads.
Findings & Results:

GENDER WISE DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS

Gender
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid Female 51 51.0 51.0 51.0

Male 49 49.0 49.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

INTERPRETATION:
The total sample size for this research is 100 people. Above analysis shows that about 51%
respondents are male while 49% are female respondents. This includes 51 males and 49
females among 100 respondents.
AGE WISE DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS

Age

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Under 18 12 12.0 12.0 12.0

18-24 38 38.0 38.0 50.0

25-34 19 19.0 19.0 69.0

35-44 16 16.0 16.0 85.0

45-54 11 11.0 11.0 96.0

55+ 4 4.0 4.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

INTERPRETATION:
Above analysis shows the age bracket of the respondents. The highest number of
respondents belongs to the age of 18 to 24 years with 38% followed by 19% from the age
of 25 to 34 years. The age between 35 to 44 years is 16% and 12% is less than 18 years of
age. The second lowest was 44 to 55 with 11% and the lowest being 4% of 55 above.
Among 100 respondents 38 belongs to the age group of 18 to 24 years of age. This depicts
that the most of the respondents belong to this age group.
DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS BASED ON MASS MEDIA ELECTRONIC MEDIUM
Medium Of Communication Used

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Television 46 46.0 46.0 46.0

Radio 1 1.0 1.0 47.0

Internet 46 46.0 46.0 93.0

Newspaper/Mag 7 7.0 7.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

INTERPRETATION:
The above data depicts that most of the respondents follows TV & Internet as
Communication of Medium with equal percentages for both i.e 46%. It can be anticipated
that most of the respondents observe ads either on TV or Internet which means high
probability to get attention if the advertisement campaign is running over TV followed by
Internet.
RECALL OF AN ADVERTISEMENT IN TERMS OF ATTRIBUTES

Which Attribute helps you remember the most?

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Humour 39 39.0 39.0 39.0

Celebrity Endorsment 31 31.0 31.0 70.0

Expert Opinion 8 8.0 8.0 78.0

Product Offering 13 13.0 13.0 91.0

Emotional 8 8.0 8.0 99.0

Testimonial 1 1.0 1.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

INTERPRETATION:
The above data depicts that most of the respondents like to see humorous ads followed by
Celebrity endorsements ads where as testimonials gets least attention. It seems that the
attribute humor have positive effects on a person’s likeness to the advertisement.
FREQUENCY OF ADS BEING RECALLED
Advertisemen Advertisemen Advertisemen
Ads t 1 t 2 t 3 Frequency Percentage
U-Fone 61 9 4 74 25%
Clear 13 15 6 34 11%
Sensodyne 11 24 13 48 16%
Dove 5 27 9 41 14%
Fair & Lovely 4 13 17 34 11%
Shan Masala 3 6 27 36 12%
Pantene 3 6 24 33 11%
Total 100 100 100 300 100%
INTERPRETATION:
The above data depicts that most of the respondents were able to recall the humorous ads
followed by expert opinion & product driven ads respectively. Ufone being highly recalled
and Pantene being lest recalled.

Remember the slogan for Ad1?

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent

Valid Yes 80 80.0 80.0 80.0

No 20 20.0 20.0 100.0

Total 100 100.0 100.0

INTERPRETATION:
The above data represents that the people who selected an Advertisement from the list
that they recall as the strongest (Ad1), are likely to remember more information about the
Advertisement . Regardless of the attribute of the Advertisement , people can easily
remember the details.
Correlations among variables on aggregate data

Correlations

Which Attribute
helps you
Advertisement remember the
you Remember. most?

Advertisement you Pearson Correlation 1 .383**

Remember. Sig. (2-tailed) .000

N 100 100
Which Attribute helps you Pearson Correlation .383** 1
remember the most? Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 100 100

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Interpretation:
There is a positive correlation between the attribute of an Advertisement and the Advertisement
you remember. It means that the attribute that you prefer to watch in advertisements helps you to
remember it. The relationship is significant. So, we can say that the attribute of an Advertisement
does help you to easily recall an Advertisement .
The stronger the memory of an Advertisement a person has, the more likely a person is to
remember the details of an Advertisement like the slogan, tagline, jingle or the message conveyed
through that advertisement.
The Regression analysis will further elaborate the relationship

Model Summary
Adjusted R Std. Error of the
Model R R Square Square Estimate

1 .383a .147 .138 1.478

a. Predictors: (Constant), Which Attribute helps you remember the most?

This shows that the possibility of remembering an Advertisement can be increased upto 38.3%
upon the showing the preferred attribute desired by a person in an Advertisement .
Hence, our hypothesis H1: Humor has positive effect on Extent to Recall of an Advertisement ,
can be proved through the Analysis of the above data.
Furthermore, the cross tabulation of the age groups and attribute preference will show us which
form of advertisement will affect the age groups.
CROSS TABULATION ANALYSIS-MEDIUM AND AGE

Age * Which Attribute helps you remember the most? Crosstabulation

Count

Which Attribute helps you remember the most?

Celebrity
Humour Endorsment Expert Opinion Product Offering Emotional Testimonial Total

Age Under 18 2 6 1 2 1 0 12

18-24 21 8 2 6 0 1 38

25-34 6 7 3 2 1 0 19

35-44 5 5 1 2 3 0 16

45-54 5 4 1 0 1 0 11

55+ 0 1 0 1 2 0 4
Total 39 31 8 13 8 1 100

Interpretation:

This analysis shows that under 18 prefer Celebrity Endorsements over humor in an
advertisement and the age group 18-24 prefer humor over any other form of
advertisement. The age group above 34 onwards have similar liking to humor and celebrity
endorsements along with a significant part of 35-44 age group members being attracted to
emotional advertisements as well.
CORRELATION ANALYSIS FACTORS (JOKES, EXAGGERATION, SURPRISES, PRESENCE
OF CELEBRITY, BUYING INTENTION)

Correlations

Buying
Jokes Exageration Celebrity Surprises Intention

Spearman's rho Jokes Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .212* .274 .178 .082

Sig. (2-tailed) . .034 .006 .077 .418

N 100 100 100 100 100

Exageration Correlation Coefficient .212* 1.000 .065 .113 .139

Sig. (2-tailed) .034 . .521 .264 .168

N 100 100 100 100 100

Celebrity Correlation Coefficient .274** .065 1.000 -.033 .259**

Sig. (2-tailed) .006 .521 . .744 .009

N 100 100 100 100 100

Surprises Correlation Coefficient .178 .113 -.033 1.000 -.084

Sig. (2-tailed) .077 .264 .744 . .406

N 100 100 100 100 100

Buying Intention Correlation Coefficient .082 .139 .259** -.084 1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .418 .168 .009 .406 .

N 100 100 100 100 100

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Interpretation:

The above data shows the relationship among different variables. The relationship between
jokes and exaggeration in the humorous ads is 21.2% which shows that there is a positive
relation between these two variables, also the relationship between the jokes and presence
of the celebrity in the humorous ads show strong positive relationship between these two
variables as they have 27.4 % correlation.
The relationship between jokes and buying intention is not significant because the
significant value is over .050, similarly there is no relationship between exaggeration and
buying intention or surprise and buying intention. But there is a significant positive
relationship between celebrity endorsement and buying intention as they have a 25.9%
correlation.
Hence, our following hypothesis are the results:
 H1: Jokes in the humorous ads have no impact on a consumer’s buying intention. Hence H1
is not accepted.
 H2: Exaggeration in the humorous ads has no impact on a consumer’s buying intention.
Hence H2 is not accepted.
 H3: Surprises in the humorous ads have no impact on a consumer’s buying intention. Hence
H3 is not accepted.
 H4: Presence of the celebrity in the Humorous ads has a positive impact on a consumer’s
buying intention. Hence H4 is accepted.
Conclusion:

The above data conclude different aspects of jokes, exaggeration, surprises and presence of
celebrity and these variables have different effects on the variable Buying Intention and it
is proven from the data that I have gathered and analyzed in my research.
Neither of the variables have an effect on the consumers buying intention except for the
presence of a celebrity. The presence of a celebrity in a comical advertisement can change
the customers buying decision and alter their views about the brand. In this case U-Fone
fits the picture perfectly; the telecommunication company uses the strategy of comical
advertisements mixed with celebrities and hence the results of our research are clearly in
the favor of our conclusion.
As the highest frequency of the Advertisement being recalled was of U-fone, our
hypothesis stands proven.
Furthermore, the age group of 18 to 25 is attracted more toward the Humorous
Advertisements. This age group is the mostly encountered by Humorous Advertisement
and watch through the internet rather than any other medium. There are many aspects of
strategizing your target market through different crosstab analysis of the questionnaire,
which can include Gender-Age, Age-Medium, and Gender-Medium etc.
Apart from the buying intention, another aspect of this research was to find out the extent
of a consumer to recall an Advertisement . In this case, the ability of a customer to recall an
Advertisement depends upon the type of attribute they prefer to see. From the statistics
above we can conclude that most of the people prefer watching funny Ads rather than any
other attribute. So, as we have said before, since humor is the most preferred attribute,
comical advertisements holds the greatest positive impact on a persons’ ability to recall.
In today world, firms that employ Humorous appeal for their products or brand they
should focus more on these specific factors that enhances the humorous appeal more
attracting to consumers so that they buy that product or prefer their brand more.
Through this research it is concluded that presence of celebrity leads toward Buying
Intention of the customer more through humorous advertisements.
RECOMMENDATION
From the research it is recommended that in order to influence customers more, firms
need to employ Humorous Appeal in their Advertisement and focus more on adding jokes
and exaggeration more in the ad and also the presence of celebrities also enhance the ad
and thus people ending up with intended to buy that brand more.
Other recommendations through this research includes that consumer prefer TV and
internet over any other medium and they like to watch motion videos rather than still ads
in magazines or newspapers, so this also shows a trend that motion videos in humorous
ads are also preferable over others plus the age bracket 18-25 encounters more ads as they
see television more so target market for humor advertisement can be of this age bracket
and companies can easily made product according to this age bracket need and then
advertised it. Also the companies can easily identify the gender so that their reach in their
target market can be possible and easy.

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTION

Although this research provides the relationship between buying Intention and the
independent variables that are jokes, exaggerations, presence of celebrities and surprises.
Further research could be directed specifically at the brands that using Humorous Appeal
in their Advertisements. This research specifically covers the Effect of Humorous Ad on
Buying Intentions but other can conduct this study for different brand that are actually
using Humorous Appeal in their ads.
Further, this study is conducted in advertisements in Pakistan. This will provide the
opportunity for other researchers to conduct this research in other sectors as well like in
banking sector or other service sectors. This could include the comparisons and discern
any trend in humorous Ads in different settings.
Another direction for future investigation might include the examination of the relative
differences of influence among various types of advertisement appeals, so other an also
selected them for further research.
LIMITATIONS

This study will not accomplish some of the important aspects and these are as follows:

 The companies are not cooperative for the study.

 Lack of resources.
 Short time span.

Moreover, as respondents were volunteer customers, some respondents/customers did it in a non

serious way just to oblige the students and few expected some lottery prize for the favor . Hence
regarding the generalizability and representativeness, sampling error might have occurred as some
of the volunteers had different motives for performing the survey, which cannot be determined.
However, it provides a sense of direction for future research.
REFRENCES

Aiello, John R., Donna E. Thompson, and D. M. Brodzinsky (1983), "How Funny is Crowding
Anyway? Effects of Room Size, Group Size, and the Introduction of Humor," Basic and
Applied Social Psychology, 4 (No. 2), 193-207.
Appel, Valentine (1971), "On Advertising Wear Out," Journal of Advertising Research, 11,
11-13.
Belch, E. (1982), "The Effects of Television Commercial Repetition on Cognitive Response
and Message Acceptance," Journal of Consumer Research, 9 (June), 56-65.
Belch, George E. and M. A. Belch (1984), "An Investigation of the Effects of Repetition on
Cognitive and Affective Reactions to Humorous and Serious TV Commercials," Advances in
Consumer Research, 11, 4-10.
Berlyne, D. E. (1970), "Novelty, Complexity, and Hedonic Value," Perception and
Psychophysics, 8, 279-286.
Brooker, George (1981), "A Comparison of the Persuasive Effects of Mild Humor and Mild
Fear Appeals," Journal of Advertising, 10, 2940.
Brown, Gary E., Paul A. Dixon, and D. Hudson (1982), "Effect of Peer Pressure on Imitation
of Humor Response in College Students," Psychological Reports, 51, 1111-1117.
Butcher, Jennifer and Cynthia Whissell (1984), "Laughter as a Function of Audience Size,
Sex of the Audience and Segments of the Short Film 'Duck Soup'," Perceptual and Motor
Skills, 59, 949-950.
Calder, Bobby J. and Brian Sternthal (1980), "Television Commercial Wearout: An
Information Processing View," Journal of Marketing Research, 17 (May), 173-186.
Chattopadhyay, Amitava and Junal Basu (1989), "Prior Brand Evaluation as a Moderator of
the Effects of Humor in Advertising," Paper under reviewing.
Coser, Rose L. (1959), "Some Social Functions of Laughter," Human Relations, 12, 171-182.
Craig, C. Samuel, B. Sternthal and C. Leavitt (1976), "Advertising Wearout: An Experimental
Analysis," Journal of Marketing Research, 13 (November), 365-372.
Duncan, Calvin P., and Janes E. Nelson (19853, "Effects of Humor in a Radio Advertising
Experiment," Journal of Advertising, 14, 3340, 64.
Gelb, Betsy D. and George M. Zinkhan (1986), "Humor and Advertising Effectiveness After
Repeated Exposures to a Radio Commercial," Journal of Advertising, 15 (No. 2), 15-20, 34.
Hair, Jr., J. F., Rolph E. Anderson and Ronald L. Tatham (1987). Multivariate Data Analysis,
2nd ed., Macmillan Publishing Company, New York.
Haase, Richard F. and Michael V. Ellis (1987), "Multivariate Analysis of Variance," Journal of
Counseling Psychology, 34 (No. 4), 404413.
Hummel, Thomas and Joseph Sligo (1971), "Empirical Comparison of Univariate and
Multivariate Analysis of Variance Procedures," Psychological Bulletin, 76 (No. 1), 49-57.
Kelly, J. P. and P. J. Solomon (1975), "Humor in Television Advertising," Journal of
Advertising, 4, 33-35.
Madden, Thomas J.and Marc G. Weinberger, (1984), "Humor in Adverting: A Practitioner
View," Journal of Advertising Research, 24, 23-29.
Osterhouse, Robert and Timothy Brock (1970), "Distraction Increases Yielding to
Propaganda by Inhibiting Counterarguing," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 15
(August), 344-358.
Scott, Cliff, David M. Klein, and Jennings Bryant (1990), "Consumer Response to Humor in
Advertising: A Series of Field Studies Using Behavioral Observation," Journal of Consumer
Research, 16, 498-501.
Sternthal, Brian and Sanmuel Craig (1973),"Humor in Advertising," Journal of Marketing,
37, 12-18.
Zinkhan, George M. and Betsy D. Gelb (1985), "The Effect of Repetition on Humor in a Radio
Advertising Study," Journal of Advertising, 14, 13-20, 68.
Zinkhan, George M. and Betsy D. Gelb (1990), "Humor, Repetition, and Advertising
Effectiveness," Advances in Consumers Research Vol. 17, 438-441.
Aiello, John R., Donna E. Thompson, and D. M. Brodzinsky (1983), "How Funny is Crowding
Anyway? Effects of Room Size, Group Size, and the Introduction of Humor," Basic and
Applied Social Psychology, 4 (No. 2), 193-207.
Appel, Valentine (1971), "On Advertising Wear Out," Journal of Advertising Research, 11,
11-13.
Belch, E. (1982), "The Effects of Television Commercial Repetition on Cognitive Response
and Message Acceptance," Journal of Consumer Research, 9 (June), 56-65.
Belch, George E. and M. A. Belch (1984), "An Investigation of the Effects of Repetition on
Cognitive and Affective Reactions to Humorous and Serious TV Commercials," Advances in
Consumer Research, 11, 4-10.
Berlyne, D. E. (1970), "Novelty, Complexity, and Hedonic Value," Perception and
Psychophysics, 8, 279-286.
Brooker, George (1981), "A Comparison of the Persuasive Effects of Mild Humor and Mild
Fear Appeals," Journal of Advertising, 10, 2940.
Brown, Gary E., Paul A. Dixon, and D. Hudson (1982), "Effect of Peer Pressure on Imitation
of Humor Response in College Students," Psychological Reports, 51, 1111-1117.
Butcher, Jennifer and Cynthia Whissell (1984), "Laughter as a Function of Audience Size,
Sex of the Audience and Segments of the Short Film 'Duck Soup'," Perceptual and Motor
Skills, 59, 949-950.
Calder, Bobby J. and Brian Sternthal (1980), "Television Commercial Wearout: An
Information Processing View," Journal of Marketing Research, 17 (May), 173-186.
Chattopadhyay, Amitava and Junal Basu (1989), "Prior Brand Evaluation as a Moderator of
the Effects of Humor in Advertising," Paper under reviewing.
Coser, Rose L. (1959), "Some Social Functions of Laughter," Human Relations, 12, 171-182.
Craig, C. Samuel, B. Sternthal and C. Leavitt (1976), "Advertising Wearout: An Experimental
Analysis," Journal of Marketing Research, 13 (November), 365-372.
Duncan, Calvin P., and Janes E. Nelson (19853, "Effects of Humor in a Radio Advertising
Experiment," Journal of Advertising, 14, 3340, 64.
Gelb, Betsy D. and George M. Zinkhan (1986), "Humor and Advertising Effectiveness After
Repeated Exposures to a Radio Commercial," Journal of Advertising, 15 (No. 2), 15-20, 34.
Hair, Jr., J. F., Rolph E. Anderson and Ronald L. Tatham (1987). Multivariate Data Analysis,
2nd ed., Macmillan Publishing Company, New York.
Haase, Richard F. and Michael V. Ellis (1987), "Multivariate Analysis of Variance," Journal of
Counseling Psychology, 34 (No. 4), 404413.
Hummel, Thomas and Joseph Sligo (1971), "Empirical Comparison of Univariate and
Multivariate Analysis of Variance Procedures," Psychological Bulletin, 76 (No. 1), 49-57.
Kelly, J. P. and P. J. Solomon (1975), "Humor in Television Advertising," Journal of
Advertising, 4, 33-35.
Madden, Thomas J.and Marc G. Weinberger, (1984), "Humor in Adverting: A Practitioner
View," Journal of Advertising Research, 24, 23-29.
Osterhouse, Robert and Timothy Brock (1970), "Distraction Increases Yielding to
Propaganda by Inhibiting Counterarguing," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 15
(August), 344-358.
Scott, Cliff, David M. Klein, and Jennings Bryant (1990), "Consumer Response to Humor in
Advertising: A Series of Field Studies Using Behavioral Observation," Journal of Consumer
Research, 16, 498-501.
Sternthal, Brian and Sanmuel Craig (1973),"Humor in Advertising," Journal of Marketing,
37, 12-18.
Zinkhan, George M. and Betsy D. Gelb (1985), "The Effect of Repetition on Humor in a Radio
Advertising Study," Journal of Advertising, 14, 13-20, 68.
Zinkhan, George M. and Betsy D. Gelb (1990), "Humor, Repetition, and Advertising
Effectiveness," Advances in Consumers Research Vol. 17, 438-441.
QUESTIONNAIRE
“Do Comical Advertisements Help To Recall An Ad & Increase Buying
Frequency”
The questions you see in this questionnaire are based on what watch and see in comical
advertisements. Please rate the questions according to our perceptions about comical
advertisements.

Gender:

o Male
o Female
Age:

o Under 18
o 18 - 24
o 25 - 34
o 34 – 44
o 45 – 54
o 55+
Which medium of communication do you use the most?

o Television
o Radio
o Internet
o Newspaper/ Magazine
o Other ______________ (Please Specify)
Select 3 ads from the list below which you can clearly remember:

Advertisements Ad 1 Ad 2 Ad 3
U-fone
Clear Shampoo
Sensodyne
Dove
Fair & Lovely
Shan Masala
Pantene

Do you remember the slogan/ tagline/ catch phrase in:

Ad 1: [ ] Yes [ ] No
Ad 2: [ ] Yes [ ] No
Ad 3: [ ] Yes [ ] No

Tick the attributes that help you remember an ad:

o Humor
o Celebrity Endorsement
o Expert Opinion
o Product offering
o Bandwagon
o Emotional
o Testimonial