What Makes People “Like” Comedic-Violence Advertisements?

ABSTRACT Comedic-violence—violence depicted humorously—in advertising is growing and seems to be making a connection with certain audiences. Yet, the determining factors that affect responses to this type of appeal are unknown. To address this gap, a survey of 423 U.S. adult Internet users was conducted to test the key factors that predict attitudes toward and sharing intention for comedic-violence advertisements: demographic (gender and age); personality (arousal-seeking tendency and normative belief about violence in advertising); and message-perception (perceived humor and perceived violence). While perceived humor is the key, results further shed light on the characteristics of people who are likely to enjoy and share such advertisements.