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Article: But is it funny? (humor in advertising) (column)
- Article from:
- Graphic Arts Monthly
- Article date:
- August 1, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It seems like only yesterday that John Caples, master ad copywriter, was advising his students to avoid humor in the craft.
Firms and agencies for which I worked over the years were uniformly suspicious of humor in marketing, and they didn't think it was funny when I argued for comic relief. Sometimes I won such arguments, and at least half the time the humor I got permission to use backfired. I never lost my taste for humor, but I did become cautious. That was then and this is now, and in case you hadn't noticed, humor has been doing quite well in advertising.
Bartles and Jaymes, McDonald's, The California Raisins, and others have proven that humor ...