Journal of Advertising, 42(1), 30–41
Copyright C 2013, American Academy of Advertising
ISSN: 0091-3367 print / 1557-7805 online
DOI: 10.1080/00913367.2012.749082

Humorous Threat Persuasion in Advertising: The Effects of Humor, Threat Intensity, and Issue Involvement
Hye Jin Yoon
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, USA

Spencer F. Tinkham
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

2010) or ads that ridicule nonusers of the brand (Voss 2009), but these studies researched “humor types” and should be distinguished from humor effects studies in threat persuasion ads.
By looking into both the humor and threat persuasion literature, we set out to understand how humorous threat persuasion works in advertising and for whom it may be most effective.
Threat persuasion, otherwise known as fear appeal in advertising, deals with critical issues that might have negative consequences for the consumer or the public (e.g., health and environmental issues) (Freimuth et al. 1990). In the ad, threatening information presents the problem, and attitudinal or behavioral suggestions are given as solutions. Threat information is valuable in that it can help protect us from harm but is negative in valence and out of the ordinary in our daily lives. Such substantive yet negative and out-of-the-ordinary information is known to be unpleasant and cognitively arduous to process (e.g., Rozin and Royzman 2001; Schimmack 2005). When humor accompanies threat information, it can function as a buffer. By providing a positive surface cue that attenuates the negative thoughts and emotions and facilitates processing, humor can make a threat persuasion ad more pleasant and approachable.
It stands to reason that the motivation and ability to process threatening information will depend on the level of involvement the individual has with the threat issue. As humor