Humour: only a stress buster?
The Chief Creative Officer of Bangin the Middle Prathap Suthan (in Dec 2013 4Ps B&M cover story) rightly said that human beings are hard wired to humour and laughter, and that’s why humorous ads create a lasting impression. But humour may not influence the actual buying process. It adds only to the entertainment quotient and at present, mainly acts as a reliever from corruption and political paralysis in India.
Nina Rai
Online
Art of using humour
The cover story ‘Does it pay to be Funny?’ (4Ps B&M, Dec 2013) vividly presented the importance of humour in the effectiveness of any advertisement. Of late, the $550 billion industry is heavily relying on humour to leave a long lasting impression on the consumers’ minds. However, it is important to note that humour being a double-edged sword, there are product categories in which it should be completely avoided.
Ankur G
New Delhi
It’s Hinglish advertising
Simply put, Indian advertising is as Indian as the Indian consumer! Meaning, check with yourself – how quickly we get influenced by ‘West’? (Referring ‘How Indian is Indian advertising?’, 4Ps B&M, Dec 2013). I agree with Santosh Desai that Indian advertising is really nothing but “global hand-me-downs in their format with Hinglish inserted for desired effect. Truly, lazy, short-cut advertising
Archana Sethi
Mumbai
+91989245XXXX
Not always funny
No doubt, humour has proved to be an effective tool in low involvement product categories, be it Fevicol or Cadbury chocolates, but the same cannot be said about products like protections, still a taboo product to talk about in India (a Europe in itself!), leave alone making their ads humorous. Thanks for revealing benefits of using humour in advertisements in great depth. (‘Does it pay to…’, Dec 2013)
Shantanu
Noida
+91986507XXXX
