Humor plays a key role in human life. It affects every aspect of our daily routine, including advertising. With the help of a good joke, you can start a successful career or launch a vast advertising campaign that will bring record-breaking sales. Sounds like a piece of cake, but it is not.
Sometimes even good jokes can become a dangerous weapon and wage a long war with your customers and competitors.
Let’s go over one of BrewDog’s advertising campaign. The brand released an inexpensive drink — “beer for girls”. The company intended to pass a message to the UK society relating the problem of gender inequality and the difference in their income levels. However, the society took such an original approach very aggressively and accused the company of sexism.
Wrong-way used humor causes a lot of negativity. Influencing public opinion in any form — motivational, nostalgic, inspirational — can be very dangerous and should be used carefully.
But there are some interesting exceptions. For instance, there is Zulu Alpha Kilo agency, which actively uses satire against competitors. If you visit the company’s website, you can see frank websites parodies of their opponents. The agency is actively trolling, fills its portal with fake banners and customer profiles, saturating everything around with caustic humor.
Of course, they inform visitors that this is just a parody, but everything is so bold and ambitious that it still remains unique. Many brands allow themselves to make fun of their competitors, but quite rarely. On contrary, Zulu Alpha Kilo does this all the time. Satire has become an integral part of the Zulu Alpha Kilo company’s image and plays a role of confirmation that they laugh not only at others, but also at themselves.
Using parodies, satire and irony is a great way to attract attention and create an unforgettable image of the brand. But this must be done very carefully, otherwise, there is a big risk that the image will become negative.