Differences Between Humorous Techniques in Food Products Advertising in Iran and the United Kingdom During 2005-2015

Abstract

Commodity markets need the advertisement as the most important requirement to attract more customers and to sell more. One way to achieve this goal is through implementing humor. These days, streaks of humor can be noticed in most of the advertisements. This study sought the answer for the question: what are the differences of humor techniques and their implementation rate in food products advertisement of Iran and the United Kingdom? The research method is comparative quantitative along with a positivist approach. The theories around the use of humor in advertising were gathered through library research. The humorous techniques used in the samples were evaluated by of the use of humor techniques table of Moniek Buijzen & Patti M. Valkenburg (2004: 153-154). This study aimed to determine the differences in type and the usage percentage of humor techniques used in food product advertisement in Iran and the UK. The results indicate that the techniques with more dominant visual aspect (Humor in logic, comic appearance) have a greater use in both countries. Humor techniques that their implementation is difficult and those that are incompatible with the norms and culture of the society (humor in feelings, humor in behavior) have the lowest usage. The comparison of the usage percentage of each humorous technique and of the six categories of humor showed no significant difference between the implementation of humor in the advertising of the two countries.

Keywords

• humor
• advertising
• food products
• iran
• the uk