Humor as excellence? A study of the effect of self-enhancing humor on consumer brand attitude

Purpose In order to analyze the role of positive humor in the current market environment, this paper investigates the path of the brand’s self-enhancing humor on consumers' brand attitude. The brands are further divided by different genders and different popularity to make the results of the study more relevant and accurate. Design/methodology/approach This study uses an experimental approach to analyze the impact of brand’s self-enhancing humor on consumer brand attitude. This study was conducted on Credamo (https://www.credamo.com/#/), the largest data collection website in China with a database of over 3 million participants with a wide range of demographic variables. Findings The study found that: (1) the brand’s self-enhancing low humor (vs self-enhancing high humor) can significantly enhance consumers' brand attitude; (2) consumers’ brand confidence mediates the influence of self-enhancing humor on consumers' brand attitude; (3) brand gender plays a moderating role, and brand awareness mediates consumer brand confidence. Research limitations/implications This study conducted experiments only on cell phone and shampoo (two types of product brands). Practical implications This study helps brands to avoid the blind use of self-enhancing humor, and helps brands to appropriately apply positive humor in marketing. Social implications The influence of brand humor marketing in the context of social media is analyzed in depth, which helps brands to improve their marketing methods and further enhance consumers' consumption experience and happiness. Originality/value The study breaks the stereotype of “humor first”, explores the mechanism of the influence of self-enhancing humor on consumer brand attitude.