Avoid Satire in Comparatives

To influence your shoppers, compare what you offer to what others offer. And compare benefits or features of the various alternatives you offer. But avoid satire in your comparisons.
     For an example of the risks of satirical comparisons, consider the “What Happens in Blank” TV spot created by R&R Partners and used last year by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The original “What happens here, stays here” campaign designed by R&R nicely projected the naughtiness which is a prime marketing point for Las Vegas. Once hitting public exposure, the tag line morphed into “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” and that, in turn, inspired the 2008 20th Century Fox flick, “What Happens in Vegas.”
     Much better success in retailing location marketing than, let’s say, New Hampshire’s “You’re going to love it here” or New Jersey’s “Come see for yourself.”
     The “What Happens in Blank” spot features a satirical edge, apparently aiming to point out how inserting your own town’s name into the slogan will only highlight how your own town falls far short of Las Vegas by comparison. My analysis is that the ad could produce some hearty chuckles in viewers, but leaves a bitter aftertaste for many of these consumers.

• Satire is ridicule packaged in humor. The problem is that what some people consider to be funny, others don’t. If the humor falls flat, all that’s left is the ridicule. If you use satirical comparisons, you risk being seen by the consumer as mean-spirited, and that can interfere with your selling appeal. Researchers at University of Massachusetts-Amherst demonstrated how humor differs even between the U.S. and the U.K., both of them individualistic cultures. Other research has shown how collectivist cultures—like in Japan—and family-oriented cultures—like in Mexico—come to dislike retailers that seem to depend on ridicule to make a point.
• Researchers at Northwestern University and Ohio State University find that humor in selling functions as a source of distraction. The laughter keeps the shopper from thinking about counterarguments. The problem with satire in comparatives is in order to get the joke, the audience has to be thinking too closely about arguments and counterarguments. The “What Happens in Blank” ad makes fun of the elderly, the handicapped, the overweight, and even county fairs, all within a span of thirty seconds.

Click below for more:
Compare Unknown Brands to Best-Known Brands
Be Aware How Shoppers Compare Products
Joke Around to Facilitate the Sale