Student research shows humor is the best way to attract consumer attention

A recent study completed by five TCNJ business students tested the profitability of using violent imagery in advertisements and commercials.

Words by Matt Huston '12

Think positive.

That’s the message a group of TCNJ undergrads has for the advertising world at-large. Last semester, the five classmates completed a study, “When Violence Sells,” in which they tested the profitability of using violent imagery in advertisements and commercials. Their conclusion?

“When ads become too violent, consumers focus on the aggression, which takes away from the advertisement,” the paper says.

The study suggests that humor, not violence, is the best way to get consumers’ attention. Humor, it says, is better at creating the sort of positive feelings consumers like to have while being sold a product: “When used correctly, humor, even with violent undertones, helps develop a strong connection between the product being sold and the consumer.”

In April, Meagan Germain ’12 traveled to the University of Montana to present the group’s findings at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), where over 2,600 other scholars—including four other TCNJ students—pooled their research.

“It was incredible to meet so many determined students and learn how they chose to study what they did,” she said.

Germain’s own study arose from a Consumer Behavior course taught by Karen Becker-Olsen, assistant professor of management, marketing, and interdisciplinary business. Becker-Olsen attended a conference on violent advertising and discussed the presentation with her class. Germain’s group, which included Michael Fallon ’10, Courtney Fuhro ’12, Jessica Tomaszewski ’11, and Wayne Sidor ’12, decided to dig further into the subject.

The group voiced a number of concerns, including the prevalence of violent acts in media, the effects it has on gender roles and social norms, and the high tolerance of viewers.

“From a policy perspective, it is troubling that these images are often below the threshold of shocking and are easily integrated into consumer pop culture,” their paper says.

In order to more closely examine the impact of violent advertising on viewers, particularly young viewers, the group visited volunteers at Rutherford High School, Germain’s alma mater.

“We wanted to understand how high school students perceive different violent advertisements,” she said, “and through a variety of violent visuals, we were able to achieve this.”

Germain and her peers showed the students a series of broadly violent ads and TV commercials and asked them to fill out responsive surveys.

“Some images appeared obviously aggressive, whether it being an image of a child wearing a collar and leash around its neck or a gun directly pointed at a woman,” she explained, “but other images had a humorous undertone.”

Based on the students’ reactions, the group determined that while a certain measure of violence tends to increase the effectiveness of humor, humor is still the key to making advertisements persuasive.

“Students without a doubt responded best to the ads that were humorous rather than just violent,” the group concluded.