Rationale
The rationale for the current research is to provide insights into the extensive use of violence and humor in promoting ad popularity. This topic has gathered significant attention among researchers as it expands in the 21st century. Humor plays a role in making the audience believe that the events are not that serious. However, this notion significantly impacts the audience in that humor trivializes the violence, which later extends the acts as viewers imitate them.
Scharrer et al. (2006) also support the notion by using the keyword desensitization as violence is masked using humor. The effect of combining violence and humor is much greater than when the two are used independently. It makes violence realistic to the audience, hence giving the victim minimal consequences as violent action appears to be justified, making it appear attractive.
Several researchers, such as Wilson et al. (2002) and Glascock (2008), have identified high levels of violence and humor in television programs. Wilson et al.’s (2002) study shows that violence is significantly higher in programs that children watch compared to those viewed by adults. Furthermore, the programs reward violence or portray violent acts as unpunished as they include humor.
Current Hypotheses
This research has two main hypotheses; the first hypothesis is that there is no association between humor and violence in the likability of ads. The second hypothesis is that violence and humor are less combined in the Super Bowl program ads.
Participants and Procedure
The present study utilizes content analysis of the Super Bowl commercials using a longitudinal study design in five years where 2005, 2007, and 2009 were used to identify aired content (Blackford et al., 2011). No participants were included in the research because of the nature of the content analysis research.
The research used three raters: a male 30-year-old customer service representative, a female 29-year-old social worker, and a female 63-year-old former academic administrator (Blackford et al., 2011). The role of the selected raters was to provide the rating of the commercial content being aired based on the humor and violence it portrays. The collected data was later compared with the audience rating from two distinct sources.
Support of Hypotheses
The hypothesis that there is less use of violence and humor in Super Bowl ads is refuted as the findings show significant levels of combining the two to promote the likability of the ads. This is portrayed by the increased number of ads combining the two from 2005 to 2009, which is an upward trend (Blackford et al., 2011). The hypothesis of the association of violence and humor in the likeability of ads is found to be positive, which explains the increased use of the two when combined in the ad content. This is specifically positive when aggressive humor and violence are combined.
Implications
The current research implication is that combining humor and violence affects how violence is portrayed in society. It helps promote violent behavior because they are depicted as positive and crucial in solving day-to-day problems. The audience tends to find violence acceptable and liked, considering that it includes humor to hide the adverse effects of the outcome. The ads used are liked by society but have a long-term adverse effect. This is explained by the social cognitive learning theory examined by the current research, which highlights that people learn social behaviors through imitations and observations (Aronson et al., 2016).
The theory explains why people tend to perceive the same thing differently. Children are affected mainly by observational learning, considering that TV programs incorporating violence and humor are primarily directed at children. This explains why society has a significant level of aggressive behavior resulting from their views. For instance, current events that have been occurring include mass shootings in which teenagers are involved.
The current research findings explain this, as teenagers develop aggressive behavior through what they view. Since the content rewards violence, it makes them perceive the behavior as usual. It also lessens the sensitivity of violence as an individual’s reactions to violence reduce significantly.
The concept of self-defeating in humor is also investigated in current research, as television programs erode people’s behavior at the expense of their happiness. In doing so, the relationship between individuals and the media strengthens as their sensitivity to violent content reduces. This promotes aggression, especially in children, as they perceive violence as good. This also explains the mass shootings that teenagers do since it is a long-term effect of viewing violence and humorous content.
Limitations
There are two limitations in the current research, which are linked to the methodology. The first limitation is the way the research was carried out. Apart from using the content of violence and humor being aired, the researcher should have considered including children’s perceptions regarding the content and how they portray aggressive behavior in a longitudinal study. This could have provided the relationship between combined humor variables, violence, and aggressive behavior. The second limitation is the selected act of violence, as the researcher did not specify the type of acts portrayed by the program that may promote violent activities.
References
Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., Akert, R. M., & Sommers, S. R. (2016). Social Psychology (9th ed.).Pearson.
Blackford, B. J., Gentry, J., Harrison, R. L., & Carlson, L. (2011). The Prevalence and Influence of the Combination of Humor and Violence in Super Bowl Commercials. Journal of Advertising, 40(4), 123–134. Web.
Glascock, J. (2008). Direct and indirect aggression on prime-time network television. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 52(2), 268–281. Web.
Scharrer, E., Bergstrom, A., Paradise, A., & Ren, Q. (2006). Laughing to Keep From Crying: Humor and Aggression in Television Commercial Content. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 50(4), 615–634. Web.
Wilson, B. J., Smith, S. L., Potter, W. J., Kunkel, D., Linz, D., Colvin, C. M., & Donnerstein, E. (2002). Violence in Children’s Television Programming: Assessing the Risks. Journal of Communication, 52(1), 5–35. Web.