Explaining Cross-Cultural Variations in the Use and Effects of Humor in Advertising

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Humor is one of the most effective tools in advertising, but people with different cultural backgrounds apply humor to varying degrees, use different types of humor, and respond to humor differently. Of particular interest for practitioners and researchers therefore is the question of how the crossing of national boundaries influences the use and effects of humor in advertising. Evidence uncovered in prior research in this field is very limited and inconclusive, as neither humor nor advertising research provides an appropriate theoretical background that explains cross-cultural variations in the use and effects of humor. Furthermore, previous studies have failed to explain cross-cultural differences because they have compared only two or three countries, and they have failed to apply methodologies that address the cultural influence at both the individual and country level. In this project, we provide an answer to the question of how and why the use and effects of humor in advertising vary across cultures. We explore alternative theoretical explanations and test them using a large database of different countries to identify a much-improved explanation for the cross-cultural differences in the use and effects of humor. We also combine both individual and aggregate levels in explaining cross-cultural variations in humor.The empirical part covers (1) a content-analytic study that addresses differences in the use of humor in advertising across several countries, (2) a meta-analytic study that addresses the moderating influence of country differences on the effects of humor in advertising, and (3) an experiment that corroborates the causal effects of humor and transfers the aggregate findings to individual data.Addressing these issues provides knowledge that contributes to humor research (by explaining cross-cultural variations in humor), to advertising research (by explaining and predicting cross-cultural differences in the use and effects of humor), and to practice (by providing guidelines on how to use humor in advertising efficiently when it is applied in different cultural contexts). Based on the complimentary competences of both principal investigators (PIs), the project will lead to the formation of a specialized and integrated Polish-German research team that will (1) combine advanced research methods, (2) develop innovative topics in the field, (3) and will be therefore capable of competing with the leading international research groups