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Why Humor Doesn't Translate 2

Using humor in advertising is a management decision. The reason it is used more in some countries than in others has to do with the cultural values of man­agement; it does not reflect the sense of humor of advertising audiences. Humor in advertising is found particularly in cultures of small power distance and weak to medium uncertainty avoidance such as the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands. Obviously, this configuration of dimensions makes managers willing to use humor in advertising, whereas in strong uncertainty avoid­ance cultures, management is not likely to do so.

In studies of the use of humor in advertising, a number of different humorous devices are usually distinguished: puns or word games, understatements, jokes, the ludicrous, the "comic" (as in comic strip), comedy, slapstick, satire, parody, irony, and black humor. In contrast to the stereotype of the German lack of humor, German studies distinguished a similar number of types of humor with only one difference: in English/American studies, "under­statement" is mentioned as a humorous device. This was not specified as a humorous device in the two German studies, which mentioned Schadenfreude (malicious pleasure) as a humorous device, one not mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon studies. The fact that in Germany less humor is used in advertising than in England doesn't mean that the Germans have a lesser sense of humor, but it reflects the risk aversion attitude of the German advertising industry as well as the purpose of advertising in Germany that follows the persuasion model.

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