Laughing to Keep from Crying: Humor and Aggression in Television Commercial Content
Dr. Erica Scharrer, Associate Professor of Communications at the University of Massachusetts, will be the guest speaker at this week's Marketing Pro-Seminar. All are invited to attend.
Topic: Laughing to Keep from Crying: Humor and Aggression in Television Commercial Content.
Abstract:
This study found that a week of prime-time programming on the broadcast networks yielded 4,347 commercial messages (either for products/services or movie trailers/television program promotions), of which 536 (12.3%) contained some form of aggression (physical, verbal, or “fortuitous”). Those 536 messages then formed the sample used in this content analysis. Among the key findings: Just over half of the commercials combined aggression with humor. Humor was more common when the aggression was fortuitous, meaning occurring by accident or otherwise without a perpetrator. An application of the major theories of humor to the content found psychoanalytic humor was the most frequently employed humor technique, followed by incongruity and then superiority.
More information about Dr. Erica Scharrer.
