Humorous advertising that travels: a review and call for research

Evidence of the universal value of humor appears in its widespread use as a communication device. Despite frequent appearances in advertising, within and across national contexts, researchers tend to treat humor as a culture-bound phenomenon, without offering universal theories or frameworks for exploring the use of humor-based ad appeals in cross-cultural advertising. This article undertakes a systematic review and synthesis of literature on humor in cross-cultural advertising to produce a research taxonomy (7Cs). On the basis of this taxonomy, the authors suggest a research framework which highlights the need to focus on cultural values rather than country differences, consideration of alternative research methods, careful assessment of measurement equivalence issues, and the inclusion of both cognitive and affective models of Ad effectiveness. A set of research propositions is developed to guide further research on humor in cross-cultural advertising.