“Your ad is a joke.”

In agencies, today, that remark is not a painful boot to the ego but a pat to the back. Creative teams across the world are building their portfolios and careers on funny platforms. And brands, well, they are cashing in like never before.

The size/importance/cost/category of the product is never a bother. It could be something as inconsequential as a 50 paise chocolate or as serious as contraceptives. Humour sells all as long as it is relevant. It manages to stand up from the clutter, get noticed. And remembered. People don’t like being distracted. But if you are intruding their lives with an ad it better be worth their time. It better bring a smile to their face.

We tried going back in time to dig out the earliest trace of humour in advertising. But to every old ad that we found funny there were two even older and even funnier.

We gave up the chase and decided to highlight a few ads (across time and eography) that tickled us.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department

Headline: Keep chopping

DHL

Headline: Nothing stops us.

Know more

Ogilvy and Mather have created some of the funniest ads in the Country. Fevicol, Mentos, Centre Shock, Hutch are, to name a few, the ads on a lighter note. Some ads pertaining to serious issues, such as Cancer and adoption have also been handled with a bit of humour.
Abhijit Karandikar and S Ramamurthy, the Creative Consultant duo at O & M, Mumbai write about why they think humour is a good way to go about spreading the message.