Humor in Advertising: The Moderating Role of Prior Brand Evaluation

A consumer's prior evaluation of an advertised brand is hypothesized to moderate the effectiveness of humor in advertising. Further, cognitive responses are hypothesized as mediators of the impact of humorous ads on brand attitude. The results support the hypothesized moderator role of prior brand evaluation: when prior evaluation of the advertised brand is positive, a humorous ad is more effective than its nonhumorous counterpart in changing consumer attitudes and choice behavior. When consumers have a negative prior attitude, the opposite is true: a humorous ad is less effective in changing consumer attitudes and choice behavior than its nonhumorous counterpart. The results also support the conceptualization of cognitive responses as mediators of the impact of humorous advertisements on brand attitude.