Humor i dansk tv-reklame. Et middel på tværs af livsstil?
Authors: Stigel Jørgen 
Published: March 2016

Udgangspunktet for denne artikel er, at humor spiller en relativt dominerende rolle i dansk tv-reklame, og at der dermed er tale om en stilart, som i høj grad søger at vinde tilslutning og sympati igennem en inkluderende henvendelsesmodus. Man kunne fristes til at antage, at dette skulle hænge sammen med en særlig dansk mentalitet, og at humor er mere eller mindre uomgængelig, hvis man vil have danske forbrugere i tale. Dette forhold kontrasteres med den tænkning i livsstile, som er blevet dominerende, dvs. en tænkning, der grundlæggende søger at udskille bestemte forbrugertyper eller -grupper og altså grundlæggende skiller eller ekskluderer i segmenter, målgrupper og værdifællesskaber og dermed i princippet også dikterer en udformning af kommunikationen, der sætter skel. Artiklens pointe er, at humor i flere henseender kan være en pragmatisk måde at omgå en række af de problemer, som såvel tænkning i livsstilssegmenter som i unikke mærkevarer sætter vis-a-vis et forholdsvist lille markedsområde, hvor kontakt via tv-reklame kan være relativt dyr. Og at humor bl.a. kan gøre det i kraft af, at dens særlige tvetydige modus forrykker kommunikationens realitetsreference til et andet plan og/eller til andre mere eller mindre groteske og derealiserede universer og figurer/figurkonstellationer. Det markeret forrykte kan dermed udgøre et fælles ’neutralt’ felt, som uanset skillelinjer i livsstile mv. kan appellere bredt og fungere inkluderende.

Humour in Danish TV advertising. A means of transcending lifestyle barriers?

The point of departure for the article is the fact that approximately 40% of Danish TV advertising in the 1990s had some humorous content and that fictional formats such as drama (and comedy) play an increasing role (cf. Stigel 2006 and 2001). Both small scale and large scale humour play a great role in Danish TV-ads and you might presume that this is due to some kind of special Danish mentality that one has to conform to in order to reach a Danish audience. Although humour in general has many faces the humorous style in Danish TV-ads is typically one of good will and seldom one of offensiveness. The intention is to include and create common ground in a playful way. In contrast the concept of lifestyle is basically a way of construing and segmenting audiences that prescribes exclusion and distinction or at least underlines barriers and differences between groups of people, their values and mentalities and accordingly also manifests these differences in the mode of address and the style of execution. The point the article makes is that humour in several respects represents a pragmatic way, making it possible to by-pass or transcend some of the problems raised by segmentation, lifestyle and unique brands - especially in a relatively small (Danish) market. The ambiguous mode of humour displaces the facts and the reality referred to by lifting things up to another (playful) level and/or by staging them via more or less grotesque events and non-realistic characters and universes. The displacement makes up a common, ’neutral’ ground and a marked level of incongruence in which it is possible to cross borders of lifestyle as well as other borders and problems inherent in marketing communication and consequently appeal in a broader and more inclusive way.