Identifying global and culture specific dimensions of humor

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. Such limited knowledge hinders interna-tional managers ' ability to determine which aspects of humorous communications are likely to be ame-nable to global standardization and which should be adapted to local expectations. The authors examine the content of humorous television advertising from four national cultures: Korea, Germany, Thailand, and the United States. Findings indicate that humorous communications from such diverse national cul-tures share certain universal cognitive structures underlying the message. However, the specific content of humorous advertising is likely to be variable across national cultures along major normative dimen-sions such as collectivism-individualism. HUMOR is one of the most widely employed mes-sage techniques in modem American advertising. Indeed, several of the most memorable American tele-vision advertising campaigns (e.g., "Bud Light " and "Joe Isuzu") have incorporated humor as a central component of their communication approach. Given the widespread use of humor by the advertising in-dustry, academic researchers in the United States have sought to identify potential benefits (e.g., reduce