It takes a brave brand to literally sh*t on its own products. The Drum’s in-house humorologist, Paddy Gilmore, believes Ikea and Mother are expressing humor mastery with their latest Brighton bird poo ads. Here’s why.
Ikea is no stranger to good advertising, and a few weeks ago, it hit it out of the park again, with a lovely little campaign for its new Brighton store. It was as memorable as it was simple: a range of brightly-coloured furniture with splatters of seagull shit. Here’s one of the executions.
All credit to the ad agency behind the campaign — Mother — and to Ikea for not losing its nerve: you can easily imagine another brand baulking at the idea of their pristine armchairs being spoilt with seagull faeces. But Ikea took the chance – and rightly so.
And yet it begs the question: why are these ads funny?
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There are, in essence, two answers to this question. Let’s take them in turn.
The vast majority of humor experts talk about humor mechanisms. As the idea of a mechanism suggests, this is the ‘motor’ inside humor that creates amusement.
There are several mechanisms, but the one these ads use is called incongruity-resolution. These are two long words that basically mean we see an incongruity and resolve it in our minds.
Take the below BMW ad.
It is, of course, a scratched car. But then we read the headline: ‘Envy’ Artist unknown.
We read the logo.
And we’re amused.
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BMW cars, it tells us, are a work of art and above all, very, very desirable.
Incongruity-resolution is a staple of humorous advertising.
Why?
It’s quick to get, it engages the viewer in a game and, once solved, the viewer gets a little surge of satisfaction. It’s a puzzle, in other words. Once we’ve got the clue, we get the joke. Here’s a lovely example of another incongruity-resolution ad, this time for the café at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
So, that’s the mechanism that the ads use. But there’s another ingredient in them that makes them comical: this is the second answer to our question.
It involves something called the pratfall effect.
This is where a brand will highlight a deliberate flaw in its product, brand, audience or location – in short, anything to do with the brand. On the face of it, this seems insane – isn’t advertising all about saying how great our products are?
Well, yes, but highlighting a flaw has a huge benefit. It fosters honesty. It’s saying: other brands boast… but us? We tell you the truth. And, in a world in which many people openly loathe advertising, that carries quite a bit of weight.
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Volkswagen mastered this technique, epitomized by its first advertising of the Beetle, which came out at the same time as the moon landing in July 1969.
Getting back to the Ikea ads, they use the pratfall effect superbly.
After all, what could it tap into with Brighton?
You’ve got the Royal Pavilion or the famous pier. Or seaside tat like Kiss Me Quick hats or ice-cream. But none of these things are a) original or b) interesting.
They feel tired.
Instead, the fact that it’s a seaside town means that gulls are never far away. And by focusing on a “fault” of Brighton – the fact you could be splattered by a seagull at any one moment – Ikea is talking the locals’ language.
That’s quite an achievement for the world’s largest furniture retailer.
Humor welcomes the taboo – this is why Sigmund Freud was so interested in it, to the point that he wrote an entire book on the subject.
If you look again at the funny ads above for BMW, the Van Gogh Museum and Ikea, it pays to ask yourself: what are they about?
Sure, they’re ads, but they’re dealing respectively with vandalism, self-mutilation and seagull shit. And normally, these kinds of areas are off-topic, at least in polite conversation. When was the last time you discussed them over afternoon tea with your mother-in-law?
Freud saw humor as a release whereby we can legitimately explore taboo subjects in polite society.
We’re let off the leash and – even if momentarily – find pleasure in this freedom. If humor means Ikea sells more sofas to the good people of Brighton – and I’d wager it will – then they’ll be taking pleasure in their sales figures, too.
Paddy Gilmore is the founder of HumourScope: The Humor Consultancy. Using humor intelligently gives brands a clear business advantage — he helps them find this. He can be found on LinkedIn here.
Ikea
IKEA is a Swedish-founded Dutch-based multinational group, that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, kitchen appliances and home accessories. It has been...
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