Money makes the world go round. And let's face it, nobody is going to get any money from anyone unless there is something to sell and somebody to buy what they're selling. A very common way to try to sell something is to use humor to sell it. Humor always works as it is really a form of distraction. You focus the viewer or listener's attention on the joke of the ad and they almost forget what it is that you're trying to sell. But they do remember enough to at least remember the product name. If the ad was funny enough, they may just go out and buy the product. You don't have to look very far to find humor in sales either. It's all over the place. You see it every day on some of the funniest commercials on television; you hear it in between songs on your favorite radio station and see it in print in your favorite newspaper and magazine every time you thumb through the pages. Let's face it, most newspapers and magazines are more ads than they are content. Otherwise the price you'd have to pay for them would more resemble than national debt. See, there's some humor for you. The long list of funny ads goes on forever. From the early days of television we've had some real classics. Who can forget a commercial that was voted one of the funniest of all time. It was an ad for Alka Seltzer. The wife is laying in bed trying to sleep and the husband is sitting up on the edge of the bed moaning over and over "I can't believe I ate the WHOLE thing". Finally after a few of these complaints the wife tells him to take his Alka Seltzer. After the voice-over guy finishes telling us how Alka Seltzer will quickly relieve our upset stomach, we go back to the husband and wife for the punch line of the joke. The wife asks the husband if he took his Alka Seltzer. His reply. "The WHOLE thing". A true classic. A few years later, in 1969, there was another commercial of a guy who is actually making a commercial endorsing what appears to be meatballs. He has just one line, "Mama mia, that's a spicy meatball". But each time he attempts the line he keeps messing it up. The problem is, he has to keep taking a bite of the meatballs before he speaks his line. Well, after a while, he's eaten so much that he's got an upset stomach. Fortunately, there's some Alka Seltzer around and after taking it he feels much better and delivers the line to perfection. But then the oven door pops open and they have to do a retake again. The final line of the commercial is the director saying, "Let's take a break for lunch". Another classic commercial that is just as funny today. Unfortunately the ad was pulled because Italian Americans thought it was degrading them. These are just two examples of how humor has been used to sell products to the buying public. Yes, it is very effective. |
