Effectiveness of Violent Humour in Viral Marketing – The Gender Dimension

Abstract

The main objective of this research is to evaluate the impact that violent humor has on sharing probability, Attitude towards the Ad, Attitude towards the Brand, and Ad Message Involvement in viral ads and how can this help decision makers in advertising to improve the effectiveness of their viral content. An experimental study was designed to measure the impact of violent humor and gender of the protagonists in viral ads on ad message involvement, sharing probability of the ad, attitude towards the ad and attitude towards the brand. Results suggest that an ad's violent humour retains its good taste and can be effective for ad message involvement, sharing probability, and attitude towards the ad if opposite genders are used in ads. The same was not noted for attitude towards the brand for low level of involvement.

Keywords: Violent Humor, Viral marketing, Advertising, Gender, Ad Message Involvement, Attitude towards the ad, Attitude towards the Brand, Sharing Probability.