Investigating the Effect of Humor Types on the Advertising Virality: Humor Style and Social Ties of Consumers in Social Networks

In the present era, where speed and competition are two important principles in commercial and industrial activities, advertising has played a very important role in attracting the attention and convincing consumers. Humor is one of the types of advertising attractions and can highlight the brand and the audience's desire to share ads, and thus spread the advertising message and make it viral. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of different types of humor on the virality of advertising according to the humor style of the audience and the social connections of consumers in social networks. To achieve the purpose of this study, a quasi-experimental method was used. Seven types of humor were selected from a pool of humorous ads and the participants willingness to share was measured after watching the ads. 236 consumers participated in this study as a statistical sample. The results of this study showed that humor and types of humor have a significant effect on the virality of advertising. Also, the variable of social links of consumers modulates the relationship between the virality of advertisements on social networks and types of humor.