Culture and the use of comedy in British advertisements

Culture can be explained as a society's personality and the way in which people may view certain subjects. Culture may help an individual shape their personalities and identities.

This therefore means that if a society does not have many sub-cultures, what they view as a 'social norm' will be viewed the same by the majority of individuals. 

Culture can also be linked with beliefs and values, as it reflects the idea that what people believe in and trust, can impact the way they react to certain matters and situations. 

For example, since 2009, British financial service comparison website Go Compare has been very popular with the British audience, for good and bad reasons. The company decided to base their marketing on a large, Italian man singing his heart out. The lyrics would include the words 'Go Compare' continuously to remind the audience of the brand name. The audience also get to experience the Go Compare man annoying a couple who are struggling with financial services. This reflects a UK ecology, which is the fondness of humour in almost every subject.  

Go compare man annoying a customer

This marketing of the Go Compare advert is very smart, as it is so random, novel and annoying that the whole situation is funny and worth talking about; especially as the jingle/song is very catchy and will stick in the minds of anyone who watches the advert. This is useful, because it means that if an individual is looking for a financial service the song will spring back into their minds, even in 2016. The idea of using humour in a catchy song is very beneficial for the company, as it reflects a part of the culture in Britain and therefore becomes part of an individual's life. This means that even if the advert is not on television anymore, if 'Go Compare' is ever mentioned, the individual will remember the advertisement and think of the song. By creating this form of marketing, it is implied that instead of the company repeating the advert and making their audience get bored of seeing the same thing, they are able to make the audience help market the brand because the song is already stuck in their minds since the first few times they have heard it.   

The one and only Go Compare man

However, it can be argued whether the 'Go Compare' advert would work in every area of the world. This mainly because each society will have different ecologies, ideologies and social structures, so therefore they may not understand the whole 'humour' concept. This suggests that one view of humour may not be the exact same in every other society. For example, what one culture may find humorous may not be looked at in the same way elsewhere and may actually seem disrespectful; creating a negative experience for the consumer. 

Overall, I think the 'Go Compare' advertisement was a very successful form of marketing, as it uses annoyance and humour to keep their website gocompare.com in the minds of consumers. It is quite clear that the company is able to bring in a lot of attention, as it has been voted "most irritating advert"; which therefore shows that individuals can actually remember the advert. This hints that if they are ever in need of finding the cheapest, highest quality financial service, they will remember the ridiculous, repetitive advert and continue to their website; thus increasing the amount of people using the company's website.