HUMOUR IN ADVERTISING

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 June 1936, Page 5

HUMOUR IN ADVERTISING

| EXPERTS DISCUSS DANGER. ! Is humour in advertising dangerous? ■ Mr. W. Buchanan Taylor, and Mr. ;C. J. Rose, two advertising experts in I London, debated the question at th© j Advertising Managers’ Association’s meeting. ■ Said Mr. Buchanan Taylor (who spoke first) — “Isn’t, this a weary enough world already? Do not. conditions demand that wo shall at least add a light touch hero and I her?? Sordidness pre* vails too much in the lives of Man. | Everywhere comic relief is needed —- I even low comedy is better than no comedy at all. “Why ho drab, and dreay and moony? Advertising needs a little more elasticity. Humour is an en« hancement, provided that the individual handling if knows what humour is and when it. should bo applied.” Said Mr. Rose, in reply: “There are various kinds of humour, and I suggest that this very fact is a danger j against which wo have to guard. 1 "One of the most dangerous aspects |of humour in advertising is that once •you start it, your competitor starts the • same thing. I “I am convinced that women have ! not the same sense of humour as men, j and wc- are told that 80 per cent, of the' j goods wo sell are bought by women. It I that is so, is it not a fact that humour in advertising is horribly dangerous? "I suggest that any humour in advertising must he handled carefully. I believe it undermines people's confid. once in a. product.” After d'scussion, voting showed that Mr. Rose had won by a narrow margin.