In this world of streaming services and television you can pause and rewind, nobody watches adverts anymore. Audiences don’t want to sit around for five minutes during the ad breaks when they can just pre-record their favourite show and skip out all the gaps. The internet has altered the way people do everything so it’s only right that advertising changes too.
The trick is to get people to watch the adverts voluntarily. In recent years, we’ve seen the rise of cinematic adverts at Christmas as well as funny and creative video ads which are destined to go viral. Adverts which are voluntarily shared have a much bigger impact than ones which are paid to. Let’s look at all the different ways television adverts have used humour in recent years.

Pop Culture References

One of the best ways for companies to get some instant recognition in their ad is to include some references to pop culture. People are more responsive once they see their favourite films and television shows in an advert and there are numerous examples of this.

In an advert for Snickers, Rowan Atkinson brings back his Mr Bean character in a slightly different environment. In something which is part Bean, part Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Atkinson is part of a group of gravity-defying kung-fu warriors. He’s slow and clumsy and as he bumbles his way at the tail of the pack because after all, “you’re not you when you’re hungry.” Bean takes a bite of the product and all of a sudden, he’s back to his normal kung-fu master self.

Another famous British comedy character who starred in an ad is John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty. Everyone remembers the classic tree branch scene from Fawlty Towers and it just happened to fit perfectly as an advert for Specsavers.

On the other end of the pop culture spectrum, a recent advert from sports and casino brand Betway saw a return of the old James Bond movies. In a scene straight out of Goldfinger, a suited spy is strapped to a table and placed in mortal danger but the comedic villain is too concerned with making puns and playing the company’s ‘4-to-score’ game.

Star Power

Everybody loves a celebrity cameo. You can simply get away with more if you’re famous. Ad companies can push the limits of what is acceptable just by having a famous face featured and they certainly do.

Take John Cena’s Gillette advert for example. The WWE superstar is more used to intimidation in the wrestling ring but he applied those skills to the men’s bathroom. In the ad, Cena starts destroying various inanimate objects in the bathroom before encouraging an unsuspecting member of the public to take the Gillette Pro Glide Challenge. Try saying no to that.

Bug Light brought in its own set of famous faces for their 2016 Super Bowl Advert. Making light of the United States Presidential Election of the time, the ad casts comedians Seth Rogen, Amy Schumer, Michael Pena and Paul Rudd in the company’s announcement of the Bud Light Party.

The Bud Light advert wouldn’t be anywhere near as funny without the famous faces involved and neither would this one. Taylor Swift is one of the most recognisable faces on the planet today so it was quite a coup for Apple Music when they got her to appear in one of their adverts. What’s even more impressive is that they got Swift to lip-sync to a Drake song while running on a treadmill before brutally falling on her face.

Make a Character

If companies can’t get a famous face to appear in their adverts then they can always just make one. While there can be some crossover with a celebrity appearing, one popular strategy is to try and create a comedic character and get them to appear in a series of adverts. This is a combination of the previous two. The adverts feature a familiar face that becomes a part of popular culture.

Take the famous Go Compare adverts as an example. The ‘Go Compare Man’ is now a part of British popular culture thanks to the dozens of adverts he has appeared in since 2009. The actor, Wynne Evans, is actually a successful opera singer who has carved out quite a career. People may not know Wynne Evans but they know Gio Compario.

Peter Kay was perhaps the best known persona on this list when they first starred in advertising. Kay starred in the ‘No Nonsense’ John Smiths adverts which are still beloved today. Two more lamb bhunas here.

In America, there was a similar story for the brand Old Spice. Since 2010, ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ series of adverts have proven to be hugely successful, with the original advert attractive over 54 million views on YouTube. Stars Isaiah Mustafa and Terry Crews were both relatively unknown former-professional football players turned actors. The pair starred in the hilarious series of adverts which transformed the way Old Spice is perceived.

In this age of streaming and fast forward television, nobody wants to sit around and watch the ad break. Because of this, comedy has become hugely important in adverts because it gives consumers a reason to share the clips themselves. Companies can look to reference pop culture, to create a long-standing character or even get a big name celebrity to star in the clips and if they can do all three then that’s even better. It’s about making videos which people actually enjoy watching and comedy is the best way to do that.