Have you noticed the trend in television advertising, current for quite a while now, for advertisers to make their cherished customers look like idiots? It’s based on the search for the holy grail of humor. But just as humor is not a joking matter for a professional comedian, it’s a similarly serious subject when promoting products and services.
There are so many examples (watch out for them…it’s a good game and won’t take you long) that it is almost becoming the norm. But how can it ever be a good idea for a manufacturer or the provider of a service to make their customers look (at best) dim and (often) plain stupid? Now there is very big difference between gently poking fun so that we are all in on the joke, versus effectively making the character so inept or insensitive or downright unintelligent that he/she is not part of the joke…subtle difference, but vitally important. The very best humor in advertising delivers a wry, knowing chuckle by the intended target audience member, not a major belly-laugh. Belly-laughs have a very limited life span, whereas wry smiles prompted from, perhaps, an accurate portrayal of real life or an “I’ve experienced exactly that situation.” moment endure often for very long periods of time.
Obviously, we are not all amused by the same thing. But when in a Seinfeld episode Jerry explains to a telephone marketer that he is busy right now and offers to call him at home later, and then the caller says that is not possible because he doesn’t want people calling him at home, and Jerry answers “Now you know how I feel.”, we all laugh because we’ve all been in that exact situation (except weren’t clever enough to think of that witty repost). Yes, that’s sit-com humor and it’s one joke in a long stream of them. How much more difficult is it then to achieve that same height of memorability in not just 30 seconds but a 30 second time segment that is repeated again and again? No wonder that old remote is kept close at hand.
The other ‘trick’ is to ensure that it is not the humor that is remembered in isolation of the product or service. We’ve all experienced that ‘water cooler’ moment when the action of a commercial is being relayed and, when asked, the brand cannot be remembered. That was hard-earned marketing money well spent wasn’t it?
The problem with making the customer look foolish is that we, the audience, certainly do not want to be associated with that portrayed person and, by association, the product or service that is being pitched. Advertisers have only themselves to blame for accepting such weak attempts at humor from their advertising agencies.
When the little girl in the Dairy Queen spot cons the little boy she knows into buy her a desert using feminine guile (and so saving her mom the expense) we not only smile but are likely to remember the ad because the humor comes out of the cake and it’s not really at the expense of the poor little chap who wasn’t clever enough to see though feminine charms. Compare that to FedEx clearly suggesting in one of their spots that those who use their service have no idea where certain parts of the world are…well, you see what we mean.
If you can’t be genuinely amusing and make that humor central to the core marketing message, then stay well away from trying to be funny.
