Highlight Humility with Humor

Consumers respect retailers who know it all. But they avoid retailers who act like know-it-alls. Expertise is best seasoned with a dash of humility. This thought came to my mind as a ricochet off of the announcement of the December 13 death of Edie Stevenson.
     Ms. Stevenson wrote one of history’s most successful ads: “Let’s get Mikey. He won’t eat it. He hates everything.” And then, “He likes it.”
     Do you remember the product being advertised? If you watched much television during the ten years the ad ran, of course you remember it was for Life Cereal.
     That’s not the particular ad I associate with using humor to highlight humility, though. Two decades after the Mikey ad, Snapple reworked it so the dialogue went, “I’m not going to try it. You try it. “I’m not going to try it.” “Let’s get Mikey… He’ll try anything.” And then, “He didn’t like it….,” followed by the tag line, “With over forty Snapple flavors to choose from, there’s bound to be one you don’t like.”
     Snapple admitted their limitations. Last Christmas season, Allstar Products Group, the manufacturer and marketer of the Snuggie—that blanket with sleeves—used a similar technique. The first generation of TV ads for the Snuggie masterfully explained, in a straightforward way, the benefits of the product: “The ultra soft fleece keeps you totally warm, and the sleeves keep your hands free.” But the outlandish appearance of a person wearing a blanket promptly led to a seemingly endless procession of jokes and parodies.
     The crop of Snuggie ads introduced for the 2010 holiday season showed people joining in the fun with broad smiles on their faces, looking as silly and as warm as ever.
     Being able to laugh at yourself shows a humility which most shoppers find attractive. In many cultures, such as Latino and Chinese, ridiculing a retailer or product that competes with yours is considered offensive. Here, you’re ridiculing yourself. Humor usually relaxes tensions and lifts spirits, both of which enhance the desire to finalize the purchase.
     Even Mikey himself—being so cute and adventuresome—had to be brought down to size. That’s no mean feat with a kid who’s already little. Well, actually it was a mean feat. False rumors began that John Gilchrist, the actor playing Mikey, had died when he mixed fizzy candy Pop Rocks with Coke. The cause of death? His stomach exploded.

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Get Consumers to Laugh With You, Not At You
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