Humor in the Advertising Business: Theory, Practice, and Wit - Softcover

Beard, Fred K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0742554260 ISBN 13: 9780742554269

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007

Synopsis

Beard's Humor in the Advertising Business offers any reader who studies, teaches, creates, approves, or simply enjoys funny advertising a concise yet thorough exploration of how advertising humor works and what advertisers hope to accomplish with it. As one of advertising's most frequently used message tactics (U.S. advertisers alone may spend as much as $60 billion a year hoping they can make their audiences laugh!), humor is an admittedly complicated topic: One viewer may react very differently from another to the exact same ad? or an ad may get a laugh but not make a sale. Supported with dozens of the world's funniest ads, insights from advertising's most successful creative strategists and artists, and decades of academic research? Humor in the Advertising Business presents an exploration of the whimsical side of modern advertising. Beard delivers more than a dry explanation of advertising humor. Readers who have chuckled or even laughed out loud at an advertiser's wit (and, really, who hasn't? ) will find a highly readable homage here. Great as a supplemental text in Advertising Principles, Copywriting, and Advertising Strategy courses.

About this title

About the Author

Fred K. Beard is professor of advertising at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma.

Review

In today's world of multi-channel marketing, humorous advertising breaks through the clutter and builds equity by enhancing brand awareness and attitudes. However, humorous advertising can also backfire. Responding to the need for a deeper understanding of humor in advertising, Fred Beard clearly describes the positives and negatives of this frequently used marketing strategy in the well-written and fun-to-read Humor in the Advertising Business. Avoiding excessive technicality, he intersperses theory with interesting cases and illustrations that keep the reader focused on how the material presented can be applied to real-world marketing strategy. (Dana L. Alden, Shidler College of Business, University of Hawai'i)

With extensive use of examples, summaries, and illustrations, the book is well-suited for students, academics, and practitioners. . . . Highly Recommended. (CHOICE, March 2008)

Fred Beard's book is a delightful romp through a century of business advertising, capturing both the highlights and the low points of what makes us laugh. It is destined to become a standard reference book for anyone conducting serious research on the topic of advertising humor or trying to write short stories, novels, scripts, or advertising copy. Humor in the Advertising Business―the first comprehensive treatment of advertising humor in several decades, and, like its predecessors, full of illustrations, insights, and drollness―should be required supplemental reading for many advertising and promotion courses taught throughout the US. (Douglas L. Fugate, Western Kentucky University)

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0742554260
• ISBN 13: 9780742554269
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 220