Table of Contents

Chapter one - Introduction......................................................................................... 3

Title............................................................................................................................ 3

1.0 Introduction....................................................................................................... 3

1.1 Background to the study...................................................................................... 3

1.3 Research Problem................................................................................................. 4

1.3 Objectives............................................................................................................. 5

1.4 Research Questions.............................................................................................. 5

1.5 Significance of the study...................................................................................... 6

1.5.1 To the company (Victoria Foods)............................................................................ 6

1.5.2 To the body of knowledge..................................................................................... 6

1.5.3 To the researcher................................................................................................ 6

1.6 Assumptions......................................................................................................... 6

1.7 Delimitations of the study.................................................................................... 7

1.8 Limitations of the Study....................................................................................... 7

1.9 Conclusion............................................................................................................ 8

Chapter two Literature Review.................................................................................9

Theoretical Framework............................................................................................... 9

AIDA Model.............................................................................................................. 9

Empirical Literature.................................................................................................. 11

Definition of Humor............................................................................................... 11

The Functions of Humor........................................................................................ 11

Methodology................................................................................................................ 15

13 Schedule.................................................................................................................. 16

14 Budget.................................................................................................................... 17

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15 References............................................................................................................... 17

Chapter one - Introduction

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 Title

An assessment of the impact of humor appeal in advertising on company sales in the food
manufacturing sector- Case study of Victoria Foods

1.0 Introduction

This chapter will highlight the background of the problem leading to the research study as well
as the objectives of the study. This chapter will raise relevant research questions which will be
answered in chapter four of the study. Chapter one will also highlight the scope of the research as
well as limitations faced and the ways in which they were defied.

1.1 Background to the study

Advertising is one of the critical marketing variables which marketers use to differentiate
products in a cluttered marketplace (Motwani and Agarwal, 2013). In order to increase the
effectiveness of advertising for a product, advertising messages should be unique and
meaningful. According to Kotler and Armstrong (2010) advertising is any paid form of non
personal presentation of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Motwani and Agarwal
(2013) suggest companies have attempted to use many vehicles to create this differentiation
effect. One such vehicle is the employment of humor. Although the use of humor in advertising
presents billions of dollars a year in spending worldwide, the efficiency of humor as a
communication device still remains uncertain (Spotts, Weinberger and Parsons 1997). Humor
helps setting a good mood to transfer message and gain acceptance. For this reason, humor is
used in about 24 percent of prime time television advertisements and 35 percent of radio ads
(Clow, 2007). The frequent use of humorous materials and appeals has become the primary
tendency in advertising. Humorous materials have been widely used in advertisements and most
enterprises believe that humor is effective in attracting consumers attention and influencing their
preferences (Yu Chang and Chang, 2014).

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Todays dynamic business environment is continuously changing because of globalization,
regulatory changes, increasing intensity of competition, increasing demanding customers, new
information technology, mergers and acquisitions (Wing, Nouri and Nilay 2006). Firms are
increasingly adopting advertising in order to increase market share and sales and to retain
customers. According to a study by Alden, Hoyer and Lee (1993) humor is a commonly used
communication tool in advertising in the United States, but U.S. marketers know little about its
use and effectiveness in foreign markets. Because of this limited knowledge international
marketing managers' ability to determine which aspects of humorous communications are likely
to be open to to global standardization and which should be adapted to local expectations.
Communication managers in the United States have generally assumed that humor enhances
advertising's effectiveness (Madden and Weinberger 1984). The frequent use of humorous
materials and appearances become the key tendency in advertising. Humorous materials have
been widely used in advertisements and most enterprises believe that humor is effective in
attracting consumers attention and influencing their preferences. In a study conducted by Chang
and Chang (2014) in Taiwan, showed that in advertisements, by using humorous elements
consumers attention can be aroused, their feeling of resonance can be stimulated and thus formed
better advertisement attitude. Consumers are more likely to want to share an advertisement that
make them laugh, thus humorous appeals in advertising are ways by which marketers are trying
to inform, persuade and remind consumers about their brands.

Alden, Hoyer and Lee (1993) in their study note an overall conclusion is that humor is more
likely to enhance recall, evaluation, and purchase intention when humorous message coincides
with ad objectives, is well-integrated with those objectives, and is viewed as appropriate for the
product category. Under these circumstances, humorous advertising is more likely to secure
audience attention, increase memorability, overcome sales resistance and enhance message
persuasiveness (Scott, Klein, and Bryant 1990). In an article by Kuilenburg, Jong and Rompay
(2011), they state advertising research shows that the use of humor enhances liking, in part
because it generates positive effect. This can lead to a more heightened awareness of the brand,
allow people to process the brand more and thus create a stronger association with the brand
name (Smith, 1993). In another study by Yan (2014) cites ( Fang,2011) shows that studies
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showed that audiences are more open to a humorous message, because humor lowers audience
defenses, making them more receptive to the message. Previous studies have indicated that
adopting humor in advertising can enhance consumer concerns and interest them, increase the
degree of favor toward advertisements or brands and maintain longer lasting memories of
advertisements (Yan, 2014). In contrast, some studies speculate that humor in advertising may
lower message comprehension and found humours commercials to be no more effective than
comparable serious messages (Duncan, Nelson and Frontczak 1984; Fang, 2011).

At the Zimbabwe Food Conference and Expo in July 2015 ZFCE chief executive officer Mr
Alois Burutsa said thematic areas relate to enhancing local food production which entails
preference of local food brands, farmer and industrial support, price stabilization and
employment creation; genetically modified organism technology in Zimbabwe, profitable or
poisonous, maximising cereal farming and processing, ensuring guaranteed availability of staple
foods to all at affordable prices can local industries adequately supply the nation. The conference
seeks to come up with ways to assist in the push towards food security as espoused in Zim-Asset.
In a Daily news report by John Kachembere on 19 may 2014 presented that cheap imports were
cocking the Zimbabwe local manufacturing industry. Many companies had shut down including
one of Victoria Foods competitors, Cairns Foods. In his report, Stephen Chikomba, a business
development manager with Mallcrest Enterprises, said local products were being pushed out of
the market because people prefer cheap, foreign goods imported from Asia. Chikomba however,
noted that there was a need for government to protect the local manufacturing industry still
suffering from the effects of hyperinflation from stiff competition until they are strong enough to
compete internationally.

Victoria Foods was holding brand activations in areas surrounding their Factory mainly talking
to vendors and tuck-shop owners about the new Tuck-shop where they could hoard goods in
bulk. The communication was mainly through direct marketing activities like roadshows where
flyers were distributed. The other activities included press adverts with all their products and
specific adverts in the press for their main products which are mealy meal and flour. There were
also congratulatory adverts meant for their business partners and suppliers in the paper as a form
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of advertising. These were a bit pricey as opposed to radio. There were radio adverts focusing
on these two main products as well. Any other communication would focus on new product
launches. Vic Foods also participated in Food Expos as a way of increasing brand presence. After
trying all other promotional efforts without a positive impact of company performance, in 2015
Victoria Foods embarked on a marketing strategy of advertising using humor appeal on the
nations radio station, Starfm. Starfm has the highest number of listeners according to ZAMPS
2014 and 2015, the researcher will be able to receive all necessary feedback from people who
actually listen to the advert. The advert consists of a comedy treat using contemporary humor
during the 7am-8am drive hour, twice a week in its attempt to Bring back the laughter to your
home. The brand offers a wide range of products from mealie meal, flour, pop corn, maputi and
other corn snacks.

1.3 Research Problem

Opportunities and benefits of using humor as a stimulus in advertising may seem appealing to an
advertiser and businesses as they all aim for boosting sales. Due to budget constraints and after
having tried other marketing communication, Victoria foods has committed its advertising
budget in 2015 to humor messages hoping to rejuvenate the brand in a cost effective way and
improve company performance but to date sales have been going down . Its market share has
gone down as compared to its competitors, National Foods and ProBrands. Sales at Victoria
Foods have been decreasing despite the increasing advertising expenditure. The emergence of
new radio stations and alternative radio receivers in Zimbabwe has also lead to a fragmentation
of the radio audience. The purpose of this study is therefore to assess the impact of humor
appeal in advertising on sales.

1.3 Objectives

1.3.1 To assess the effect of humor messages on creating customer awareness

1.3.2 To assess the effect of humor messages on creating customer interest
1.3.3 To assess the effect of humor messages on creating customer desire of a brand

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1.3.4 To assess the effect of humor messages on inducing customer action to buy the brand
laurac@keylogistics.co.zw

1.4 Research Questions

1.4.1 Can humor messages create customer awareness?

1.4.2 Can humor messages create customer interest?
1.4.3 Can humor messages create customer desire of a brand?
1.4.4 Can humor messages induce customer action to buy the brand?

1.5 Significance of the study

This research has relevant implications for both academics and advertising practitioners.

1.5.1 To the company (Victoria Foods)

From a managerial perspective, this research will explore the rationale of why humorous appeal
has an effect superior to that of conventional creative strategies, and why adopting an optimally
humorous ad creates brand awareness and brand association. The results will benefit Victoria
Foods to find out if humor advertising can rejuvenate their brand personality. It is necessary to
conduct a study to examine the role of humor in television advertising, especially on a particular
issue such as brand image shaping, and provide useful information to the advertisers to help them
decide whether they should invest in the use of humor in television advertising or should change
direction to another technique.

1.5.2 To the body of knowledge

From a theoretical perspective, this study expands the domain of humorous ads affecting brand
perception in Zimbabwe. To find out if humor advertising can bring rejuvenate a brand.

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1.5.3 To the researcher
It gives an understanding into the communication device of media advertising using humor and
its impact in Zimbabwe. In addition, consumer and mass communication researcher would find
the addition of such a study to the body of media knowledge worthwhile for generating idea and
assumptions for future studies and research.

1.6 Assumptions

1.6.1 The research instruments used to collect data will be completed truthfully by the
respondents

1.6.3 The research will be of value to Victoria Foods and recommendations will be
considered with great respect

1.6.4 All the information that is needed from the company that concerns the research is
available.

1.7 Delimitations of the study

1.7.1 Humor will be one of the two main focuses in this paper. However, the psychological
aspects of humor in consumers perception are not deeply studied.

1.7.2 Research on different advertising media. This research centers on humor appeal used on
radio and not any other media such as television or print. However, Starfm has the highest
number of listeners according to ZAMPS 2014 and 2015, the researcher will be able to receive
all anticipated feedback from nationwide to maintain validity and reliability.

1.7.3 Similarly, humor has various approaches when designed for diverse product type. For this
reason, the empirical research aims to identify how humor appeal is used in advertising

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campaigns of packaged food products which are limited to (mealie-meal and flour sales ) for this
study. Other product types and their use of humor in advertisement are not covered in this paper.

1.8 Limitations of the Study

1.8.1 The marketing manager at Victoria foods is new to the company and was not there when
the concept of using humor as an advertising strategy was developed and implemented, however
to overcome this limitation, she has put the researcher in contact with their advertising agent
(Urban Africa Media) who developed the concept.

1.8.2 The researcher cannot use brand perception of the consumer as a dependent variable
because there is no data available of the consumers perception of Victoria Foods brands before
the campaign to compare it to after the humor appeal advertising campaign.

1.9 Summary

Victoria foods as a brand was associated with being boring and to others even nonexistent.
Coming up with a marketing strategy to rejuvenate the brand and bring back top of the mind
awareness for the brand was long overdue. Humorous advertising is a way to tap into consumers
lifestyles and grabbing attention of the consumer and changing perception to associate it with
laughter and joy. Although humor advertising is a way to break through the communication
clutter, the efficiency of humor as a communication device still remains uncertain.

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 Chapter two Literature Review

2.0 Introduction

In chapter one, the researcher outlined a research area that led us to an overall research purpose
which landed us to our research questions. This chapter will review literature related to the
research questions and research objectives in chapter one.

2.1 Theoretical Literature

Definition of Humor

A dictionary definition of humor is the quality of being amusing or comic, the ability to express
humor or amuse other people, a mood or state of mind (Oxford dictionary). The definitions of
humor in advertising are various. Kotler (2010) formulated the basic definitions of humorous
advertisements by judging whether the advertisement included puns, satire, jokes, slapstick,
irony and incongruities. Humorous advertisements are perceived to have many complex
elements, such as cultural, temporal, and individual differences (Kelly and Soloman, 1975). Stern

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(1996) suggests that the term humor itself breeds confusion by confounding the formal aspects
of the stimulus advertisement with the response aspects of effects on consumers
Humor appeal in advertising can be defined as an audiences response to specific messages in
advertisements, for example if the advert makes them smile, laugh or feel happy it can be
classified as humorous.

AIDA Model

With much advertising expenditure wasted in ineffective campaigns (Abraham and Lodish 1990;
Lodish et al. 1995a), advertisers should be concerned with how advertising affects consumers,
how it works, in order to formulate more effective advertising strategies. Several models have
been proposed for the effectiveness of advertising that have been called the effectiveness of the
hierarchical models. Most of all is that the model used is the AIDA model that is presented by
Elmo Lewis in about 1906. Still, after about a century, this model comes with a lot of fans (Barry
& Howard, 1990).The first formal advertising model was probably AIDA (Attention +Interest
+Desire +Action), attributed to E. St. Elmo Lewis in 1898 (Strong 1925, p. 76). According to
Kotler (2009) AIDA model suggests the desirable qualities of a good message. In putting the
message together the company must decide what to say in message content and how to say it in
message structure and format (Kotler,2009). There are many different models for designing an
effective message, and most of them have aim to explain how to attract customer from attention
to action. AIDA is an acronym that describes what happens when a consumer engages with an
advertisement. According to Farooq, Shafique, Khurshid and Ahmad (2015) the AIDA model of
advertising plunks for the different phases a customer goes through before she or he buys a good:
Attention: attracting the attention of a customer
Interest: raising customer interest by demonstrating features and benefits
Desire: convincing customers that the good will satisfies their needs
Action: stimulating customers to buy a good
According to Farooq, Shafique, Khurshid and Ahmad (2015), all stages are uniformly important
and need to be satisfied. In message content marketing the communicator has to figure out what
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kind of appeal a company should put more focus on. The standard AIDA hierarchical model is
demonstrated as below:

Humor in Advertising

Beard (2005) recounts, in the early twentieth century humor was rarely used in advertisements as
it was frowned upon for being an improper way to sell products. Slowly over time, aided by the
creative revolution that took place in the 1960s, humor started appearing more often in
advertisements. This happy approach was reflective of the social backdrop during those times.
With the introduction of television, advertisers felt that televised advertisements needed become
interesting and entertaining. Afterwards, throughout the 1970s, marketers became divided
depending on their beliefs in using soft-sell or hard-sell tactics to promote their products. Humor
began to take precedence shortly thereafter, and has since evolved, shaped and influenced by
consumers acceptance and demands. Due to its subjective nature, the effectiveness of humor has
been in the literature. Humor has been found to be a great attention-grabbing technique, helping
to increase attention paid to the ad, awareness, attitude towards the ad, and even to enhance
source liking (Eisend, 2009).

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Effect of Humor appeal in adverting on customers attention / awareness

According to this hierarchical model, grabbing a consumers attention deserves the most
attention from marketers when designing an advertisement strategy. The first thing your ad needs
to do is grab the viewer's or listeners attention (Rawal, 2013). An advertisement needs to capture
the attention of the customer, or they will have lost them for good. The can be achieved by the ad
commercial that has an appeal required for the brand to be promoted. Using humor as an appeal
for Victoria Foods ads would certainly grab a listeners attention as they want to hear the end of
the jokes which then leads to the advertisement of their products straight after. The main reason
for getting the consumers attention using humor appeal is to leverage brand visibility and
increasing mindshare through tapping into the cultured radio listenership space.

According to Clow (2007), Weinberger and Gullas (1992), humorous advertisements grab
attentions and attracts viewers interest by its ability to cutting through clutter. In a test of
attention effects, Speck (1987) compared humorous ads what non-humorous controls on four
attention measures: initial attention, sustained attention, projected attention and overall attention.
Herold says that humorous advertising is more likely to arrest people's attention, increase
memorability, and enhance message persuasiveness by attracting attention in a relevant way,
then by imparting pleasant information an making a soft sell, all in a mixed atmosphere of
relaxation and integrity (Keller, 2009). Many of the advertisers agree that humor enhances
audience attention, at least on the first few exposures to the persuasive communication (Sternthal
and Craig, 1973). The findings about the impact of the humor on attention are very positive.

It was found that humorous ads outperform non- humorous ads on each of the attention
measures. As mentioned, humor is often executed by using incongruity, the initial response may
be a cognitively recognition of discrepancy. When the meaning of humor is resolved, the
consumers generate a response by laughter and amusement. That is one of the aims of marketers
when sing humorous advertisements to communicate with their target consumers. . Previous
study by Vezina (1997) suggests that humorous advertising may be a valid strategy for attracting
attention, similar to provocation advertising that can enhance brand awareness.

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Effects of Humor Appeal in advertising on Customer Interest

Once the attention of a customer has been seized, the advertisement must create interest in the
product or service. This can be achieved by demonstrating product features and benefits so that
people get interested in the product. Music and promoted language should be fit as well with
experience and attitudes of customers. At this stage it is important to use emotions to address the
fact that this offer or purchase is a good deal. In addition to that, the marketer can let the
customer know what will happen or will not happen if they do not purchase the product or
service. This is where the advertising appeals come to play. In an article by Kuilenburg, Jong and
Rompay (2011), it is stated that advertising research shows that the use of humor enhances
liking, in part it generate positive affect. This can lead to a more heightened awareness of the
brand, and allow customers to create a stronger association with the brand name. Previous
studies have shown that adoption of humor in advertising can enhance consumer concerns and
interest them (Beard, 2005) and Speck (1991) adds it can increase the level of favor towards the
advertisement or the brand being advertised.

Effects of Humor Appeal in adverting on Customer Desire

There is big distinction between being interested in something and desiring it. An advertisement
must convert the viewer's or listeners interest into a strong desire for what is on offer. A radio
advertisement must create a strong motivation and generate a need for buying the product even if
need is not there or even if the customer is already committed to another brand. This is
achievable only if the advert has used the correct appeal in the advertisement. Weinberger and
Spotts (1997) found that humorous advertising is more attractive than nonhumorous advertising
and increases the brand memory of consumers, making consumers feel good by being
persuasive. In addition, Speck (1991) believed that different types of humorous ads lead to
different psychological reactions and produce various advertising effects.

Effects of Humor Appeal in Advertising on Action to buy

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When a brand promotes its image, brand or products through an advertisements, advertisers and
marketers should ensure they are able to convince their customers to make a final buy or be
inquisitive to know more about the product/brand. How so ever attractive and customer focused
an advert may be ,if there is no strong positioning in the minds of the customer the brand will be
lost among the advertising clutter and a lot of efforts are then required to tell the viewers and
listeners how beneficial the product is for its target market. Emphasis of the products or services
benefits is crucial at this stage to persuade the customer to take action and buy the product.
Zimmer, Rutherford, Wolf, Brendus, Campo and Schrek in a previous study assert that it is
important to assess if humors use in advertising aids memorability only or if it also affects
motivation to purchase a product or brand. Being able to determine this would be advantageous
for marketing companies because they would be able to develop effective humor ads that
motivate the public to buy their products.

2.2 Empirical Literature

The Functions of Humor

Humor tends to relax the audience, break the ice and create a connection between the
communicator and the audience (Tellis, 1998). Humor is one of the most extensively used
methods of evoking positive responses to advertisements. Humor in ads may influence product
liking in multiple ways. Humor is found to influence consumers' brand attitude and their brand
information recall. Perceived humor appears to be affected by social setting, but unaffected by
another mediating factor: frequency of exposure. When humorous messages are passed on to
consumers by ads, consumers pay attention to the brand. The main purpose of humorous ads is to
communicate effectively, meaning that the information can be remembered, thereby changing
consumer attitudes. When advertisement makes audiences laugh, they are more likely to want to
share it with others. Thus, humorous appeals are the means by which marketers attempt to
inform, persuade and remind consumers directly or indirectly about the brands they market. Voss
(2009) even suggests that presenting negative consequences in a humorous way can be effective.

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The two minute thirty seconds radio program concept follows a simple structure of a fifteen
second Branded Opening Billboard, two minutes of content derived from the social network
following the most trending and liked jokes and articles that will have proven their popularity.
This content, in the different episodes, will be delivered by different radio personalities to give
the radio program the versatility it needs to remain interesting. The closing of this radio show
will be a fifteen second branded closing billboard, which, just like the opening billboard, will
push the product. The critical idea is to transform peoples interest through humour and curiosity,
without intrusion, harnessing it into value for the Victoria Foods Brand. Instead of making the
listener shift into the core message, the program will deliver the message within the users
environment without any mind shift.

Farooq, Shafique, Khurshid and Ahmad (2015) note humor raises ad information recall and has
positive effect on brand attitude. Because of its potential use, humor and its role in commercial
advertising will remain the concern of researchers and practitioners identically. Perceived humor
seems to be influenced by societal setting, but uninfluenced by another mediating factor: the
occurrence of exposure (Zhang & Zinkhan, 1991).

The success of humor appeal as an advertising tactic is based on the fact that it makes consumers
to watch or listen, laugh and remember. The latter aspect carry massive weight as in recall tests,
consumers most often remember humorous ads. For Success, humor should be connect to
product advantages and should ties the product features, benefits to the consumers and personal
values of the mean-ends (Clow & Baack, 2002).

The benefits of Humor

Weinberger and Gulus (1992) state the nature of products affects the appropriateness of a humor
treatment. Though humor is used with many types of products, its use is more successful with
existing rather than new products. Humor also appears to be more appropriate for low
involvement products and feeling-oriented products. Victoria Foods products are already existing
products and their products like flour and mealie meal are low involvement products which make
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them ideal for humor appeal advertising. In addition, Fugate (1998) provides a list of humors
benefits in advertising that has also been shown and proved by many other studies
Humor grabs attention and Weinberger and Gulus (1992) agree the vast majority of
studies conducted in both advertising and education bear this out.
Humor encourages people to remember the ad and therefore the message
Humor shows we are human we can laugh and smile with the rest of humanity
Humor makes people like us and by extension improves our brand image. Weinberger
and Gulus (1992) agree humor enhances liking. The link between humor and liking is
stronger than for any other factors. In light of an increased emphasis in advertising on
affect, this finding should not be underestimated.

Consumer Brand Perception

Each day a person receives dozens of advertisements on various media channels. However, not
all of them reach his mind and understood exactly as the manufacturer wants it. Human
perception is subject to the laws of psychology, knowledge of which often comes to help
marketers to develop the concept of brand promotion. Brand loyalty will only be if it is of
interest to the needs and motives of a potential buyer.

Previous studies have shown that adopting humor appeal in advertising may improve consumer
concerns and interest them (Beard, 2005). Humorous advertising has an emotional appeal to
people and is universal. In Zimbabwe today, people are living day to day stressful lives with
recession and retrenchments being the order of the day. It is important that advertisers come up
with the non conventional methods of advertising. Something that can lighten up someones day
especially early in the morning when driving to work, make them laugh and Victoria Foods has
found a way to bring back laughter to your home. There are a lot of benefits of humor

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advertising for example, it brings an emotional attachment, and connection, and associates the
brand with positive things and happy feelings. This association was meant to rebuild the brand
image as positive and favourable, to attract customers and arouse the desire to buy thereby
increasing the companys sales.

Company Performance

Koontz and Donnell (2003) state organizational performance refers to the ability of an enterprise
to achieve such objectives as high profit, quality product, large market share, good financial
results, and survival at pre-determined time using relevant strategy for action. Organizational
performance is the final achievement of an organization which is measured either in financial
and non financial indicator, and contains a few things, such as the existence of certain targets are
achieved, has a period of time in achieving the targets and the realization of efficiency and
effectiveness (Gibson, Ivancevinch and Donnelly 2010).

Humor appeal in advertising and company sales

According to the research by Duncan in 1979, and by Duncan, Nelson, and Frontczak in 1984,
advocates of humor in advertising maintain that lighthearted message appeals secure audience
attention, increase memorability, overcome sales resistance, and enhance message persuasiveness
(para. in Scott, Klein, and Bryant 498). Herold says that these roles of humor in advertising are
played by attracting attention in a relevant way, then by imparting pleasant information and
making a soft sell, all in a mixed atmosphere of relaxation and integrity (Alden ,Mukherjee, and
Hoyer, 2000). However, Flaherty, Weinberger and Gulas (2004) say that if an intended as
humorous is not perceived as humorous, its effectiveness at influencing attitudes and purchases
can be seriously harmed (Chang and Chang, 2014). Victoria Foods focus and objective was to
attract customers to the brand, and evoke an interest and desire to buy its products which would
improve company sales volume and profits and ultimately return on investment. The brand was
meant to be more appealing, as they attempted to make it a lighter, more cheerful, favourable
brand on the market. Therefore, what advertisers would like to clearly know is the actual sales
volume after broadcasting advertisements. In Hsus (2012) view, if consumers detect the

18
intentions of advertisements, it will affect their decision-making process, which will eventually
be reflected in their purchasing behaviors.

In a study done by Hoang (2013), habitual buying behavior refers to situations where a consumer
has low involvement in a purchase and perceives insignificant brand difference. This product
category includes everyday use products and commodities such as toilet paper, salt and pepper.
Consumers simply buy them without considering different brands. If they keep choosing the
same brand, it is a more habitual decision than strong brand loyalty. In these situations, consumer
does not pass through the usual belief-attitude behavior sequence. Instead, they passively learn
about the products by watching television or read magazines. Consumers are buying based on
brand familiarity, marketers use ad repetition to build brand familiarity instead of brand
conviction. In order to encourage purchases, marketers often use price and sales promotion to
initiate product trial (Kotler, Armstrong 2010). Hoang (2013) also notes many purchases are
routinized that we may not realize we have made them until we check our shopping cart. For
instance, when a consumer ran out of tooth paste, he usually picks the usual brand without
considering other brands prices or attributes. Although he might seems like a careless consumer
but this routinized purchase reduces the time and energy he has to spend for mundane decision.
However this type of decision making challenges the marketers who are trying to introduce a
new product. In these situations, marketers have to convince consumers to replace their habit
with a new one. As the conception with Victoria foods was that it was nolonger existant, they
were trying to remind customers of their presence on the market and remove this routine
behavior of a customer getting into a shop and picking their competitors product or even the
foreign products that had flooded the market.

Negative effects of humor appeal

The purpose of the socially humorous appeal in advertising is to create a verbal attack, satire,
laughter, spite or deception which might lead to higher levels of irritation that may carelessly
produce discontent in some listeners or viewers, therefore this type of advertising can be least

19
favourable. Another factor is regarding internationalization context, Mooij (1994) reported that
humor is heavily cultural-bound. Jean (2011) explains society-oriented, this type of humor is
grounded on superiority theory, which means that the social mechanism resulting from humor
will make individuals realize that they are superior to others. The target audiences of society-
oriented humorous advertisements are often people with feelings of superiority, and the
advertisements include assaults, irony and derision, rendering humorous effects by laughing at
others. The negative aspects of humor can be that it can be culture sensitive, for example a joke
about the Ndebele people may be funny to the Shona people, but offensive to the Ndebele
people. Or in these serious times we are living, some people may be looking for facts and figures
and not emotion, for example, how much what is being advertised will cost them at the end of
the day.

Spott, Weinberger and Parsons examined Speck's outline of the typology of humor that
incorporates the relatedness of humor in advertisements on three levels one of them being Humor
dominant advertisements, which means the humor takes more important place than the message
in the advertisements, so once the humorous elements are removed, the advertisements means
nothing. Some recent studies say that humor does not affect the level of liking for brand names.
Berg and Lippman, in the study about the role of humor in radio advertising in 2001, found that
there were no differences in level of liking for brand names presented with humorous material
versus brand names presented with nonhumorous material. However, the study was about the
radio advertising, so visual effect are lacking when presenting humorous materials.

Humour as an advertisement appeal is getting popular in many countries. According to Fletcher

(1995) society nowadays simply shops for pleasure, enjoyment and fun, where in most case;
humour is the suitable choice of appeal. Many of the most memorable ad campaigns tend to be
funny. One may disagree with this notion given the state of many economies to date. With
recession, inflation rates and most recently the unemployment rate increasing in Zimbabwe
society no longer shops for pleasure and enjoyment but rather what the dollar can give them.
Some would agree and say yes, the humor appeal would lift spirits and bring laughter to a
consumer and next time they are in a retail supermarket would remember the joke and pick up a
Victoria Foods product because of the brand association and familiarity. Humor as an ad feature,

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which is likely to put people in a good mood and it may also operate by elevating consumers
mood (Cline, Altsech & Kellaris, 2003).

2.3 Conclusion

Although humor could be seen a tool of emotional strategy, the main purpose of advertising is to
persuade attitude change of consumers and boost their purchase intention, rather than produce
any emotional consequence. Furthermore, according to the assumption of Franzens emotions
model (1999), a positive brand attitude and brand-loyal purchase behavior are the consequence
of the specific feelings the brand produced in its consumers. Tao (2012) suggests the
effectiveness of humor advertisement on consumers responses remains uncertain and
inconsistent in both theoretical and practical fields despite its popularity.

Chapter three - Methodology

3.0 Introduction

This chapter will show the way in which the researcher will conduct the research. It will outline
the was the descriptive study will be carried out. From the communication with Victoria Foods
and the instruments used to collect the data and why they were the most suitable. It focuses on
methods/techniques used in conducting the research, the logic behind the methods employed, and
justifications for each of the approaches/techniques.
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3.1 Research design

The researcher is going to use a mixed research which is a descriptive case study. Joubert and
Ehrlich (2007) define a descriptive study is usually set out to describe characteristics of the
group being investigates, and the statistical goal is usually simple data description or estimation
of a characteristic in the study population. Justification of using a descriptive study is that they
are useful to marketers in that they will provide information that will help them develop
appropriate services, allocate resources and decide on priorities and target certain populations. A
case study is a documented study of a real life situation or imagined scenario used as a training
tool in business, schools and firms.

The researcher will use secondary data which are the sales reports figures from the case study
Victoria Foods showing sales volumes before the humor appeal advertising campaign and after.
This is a less expensive way of collecting data and allows for historical comparison. The
principle function of advertisements is to give information to customers, it may be to inform,
remind or persuade them to buy their brand using media and create advertising effects. If the
advertising effects can be measured before and after broadcasting period or an advertising
campaign it may facilitate better planning and control of advertising resources. Eisend (2009)
suggests using sales volume increase as a standard for measuring advertising effects. In practice,
the most frequently adopted experimental method is to compare the different ratios of the
current and past advertising expenditure to sales volume. The utmost objective of advertising is
to offer services and to sell products. Therefore, what advertisers would like to clearly know is
the actual sales volume after broadcasting advertisements.

3.2 Research Instruments

The researcher will also use primary data, which will be data collection methods using surveys
conducted using questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaires will be self-administered
questionnaires. These will require the respondent to fill in the questionnaire themselves. An
interviewer may stand by to assist with any problems that may arise.

22
The employees of TM/Pick n Pay supermarket will be given unstructured interviews. This means
the interviewer has a set of guide questions or themes that must be covered during the interview.
The respondent is given much more freedom to express thoughts and opinions.

Population

The population is the customers who shop from a local supermarket TM/Pick n Pay Arcadia and
employees from the supermarket.

Sample

An unnecessary large sample entails wastage and can lead to problems since it may be difficult
to closely supervise the collection of a large amount of information.

Sampling Technique

The researcher will use convenience sampling which is a type of non-random sampling. This
refers to selecting people who are easily available to participate, for example, customers who are
shopping at the supermarket on the day the researcher visits.

The respondents will be from the ages 18-65

3.3 Data Collection Procedures

3.3.1 The researcher will make appointments to meet with the Marketing manager of Victoria
Foods via telephone, as well as the advertising media company Urban Africa that came up with
the humor appeal concept for Victoria Foods. The researcher will also visit the supermarket,
TM/Pick n Pay Arcadia to ask for permission to conduct the study from management which will

23
include a set date to visit the store and hand out questionnaires as well as conduct interviews
with the employees.

3.3.2 The researcher will send through the application/approval letter for confirmation and
authorization to conduct the research via email. The researcher will also request for the concept
or brief and some of the broadcasted material of the Victoria Foods advertisement campaign
strategy from Urban Africa. From Victoria Foods the researcher will request the sales reports
which are private and confidential material and the researcher must be ethical and assure them of
confidentiality and privacy.

3.3.3 The researcher will ask that all approval letters be emailed back, as well as the data
collection instruments and requested material that will help in conducting the research. Theh
questionnaire to be filled by the customers will be completed and collected physically on the
same day.

3.4 Data Presentation and Analysis Procedures

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