The Humorous Message Taxonomy: A Framework for the Study of Humorous Ads

TLDR

The article proposes a new framework for studying humor’s communication effects, combining humor type, message type, and their interaction, and outlines a program for future research. The authors develop a taxonomy by combining three humor processes with five humor types to generate humorous message forms, then apply it to compare television commercials with prior humor‑appeal studies. The study finds that the humor types most studied in research differ markedly from those commonly used in television commercials.

Abstract

Abstract Abstract This article suggests a new framework for the analysis of humor's communication effects, a model that accounts for differences in humor type, message type, and humor-message interaction. Specifically, it describes three humor processes and the five humor types that result from combining them. Next, by crossing humor types and message types, it develops a taxonomy of humorous message forms. This Humorous Message Taxonomy provides a conceptual, experimental, and managerial framework for analyzing humor's communication effects. The Humorous Message Taxonomy is used to compare a sample of humorous television commercials to those message types used in prior humor appeals research. Apparently the humorous message types that have been most frequently researched differ considerably from those that are normally aired on television. The two final sections recommend a program for the study of humor effects and offer guidelines for operationalizing and manipulating humor in subsequent research.