The use of humor in television advertisements: A semiotic analysis

The purpose of this study is to examine the humorous advertisements broadcast on television, which is a mass media. It is aimed to help the relevant fields both theoretically and practically by revealing how the humor element is built in advertisements. In addition to the historical evolution of humor from past to present, studies on the use of humor in advertisements have been examined through literature research. Humor had a bad reputation for many years. This bad reputation has also set a barrier in its use as a appeal in advertisements. Therefore, studies on the use of humor in advertisements started relatively late. At this point, this study also aim to contribute to the literature and to guide those working in the field of advertising. The aforementioned study was conducted by selecting humorous television commercials broadcast on 7 national channels during the prime time (20:00-23:00), known as the most watched hours of television in the first quarter of 2020. Semiotic analysis method was used in the examination and analysis of 10 humorous advertisements selected by homogeneous sampling method, one of the purposive sampling methods. There are many advertisers, researchers and semiotician who analyze advertising messages using the semiotic method. J. Gritti's method is one of the most understandable and simplest among advertising analysis, with the eleven-question question-answer sequence method he developed. The advertisements analyzed in this study were also examined based on Gritti's method. The results obtained and the literature review show that the use of humor in advertisements has a positive effect in general. However, there are certain variables that limit or increase this effect. These can be listed as factors such as culture, gender, the source of the advertisement, and the profile of the audience. There are rules that must be observed and followed in order to optimize the humorous advertisement. These rules vary according to the advertised product, service or brand. However, another important factor to be considered at all times and under all circumstances is the target audience. Another subject examined in this study is the theories of humor used in humorous advertisements. It has been revealed that among the incongruity, superiority and relief theories, the incongruity theory is used more than the other humor theories. İt is found in advertisements that the theories of incongruity, superiority and relief , known as the theories used in creating humor, are used in harmony with each other.