The effect of humor on consumer attitude toward a condom brand
Abstract
Serious health issues and the alarmingly high abortion rate are ripple effects of the common act of avoiding sexual discussion in Vietnam. Humor, with its superiority in coping with shame, is supposed to make the audience be more open to equip themselves with safe sex information. In an attempt of learning what gives sense to a joke, cultural disparity are recognized to be the root cause in how people from different areas perceive humor. Hence, this study’s purpose is to learn how humor should be leveraged wisely in communicating a comparatively sensitive topic for Vietnamese – condom and its healthcare benefits.
The study was conducted with qualitative research to determine effective types of humor for advertising condom, in order to prevent any adverse reaction related to culture. Taking humor and message argument as indicators, four selected advertisements were tested in mass audience to (1) manipulation check whether each ad performed as expected; and (2) verify the positive impact of humor on consumers’ attitude. Findings of the study indicates the role of witty and decent jokes in Vietnam, different to the straight-forward and bold types favored in Western countries. When being effectively manipulated, humor enhances attitude towards the ad and brand. The collaboration between wise jokes and strong message argument amplify the impact mentioned above. The results indicate that humor is a useful means regarding to raising audiences’ preference towards the advertisement and eventually its brand.