BBC's Semiotic Analysis of Humor

What makes modern Britain laugh? How semiotics helped the BBC bridge the Humor Gap

Chris Arning

International Journal of Market Research, vol. 63, 3: pp. 275-299. , First Published March 15, 2021

In order to find out why BBC is losing its young audience, the company commissioned research centers to conduct semiotic analysis based on 800 data points for production advice. By adopting multifaceted methodology including hashtag taxonomy, this research offers suggestions to BBC and shows us the top 20 popular humor types and a table of humor quadrants with their rhetorical functions.

The top 20 types are (283-285) : human foibles (237 data points, i.e. entries f WhatsApp diaries), eccentric characters (164), inter-textuality (156), silliness/cheesiness (147), funny mannerisms (143), in-our group distinction (134), rubbishness/crapness (124), disparagement/diminishment (104), randomness/absurdity (103), emotional hysteria (102), gender rancour (97), slapstic/physical (95), anthropomorphism (93), transgression (90), schadenfreude/reversal (89), cultural/social mores (85), scorn/mockery (81), exaggeration/hyperbole (80), awkwardness/cringe (80), and word play/puns (80).

The table of the humor quadrants and the top 20 types mapped on the table (292):

Arning, Chris. “What Makes Modern Britain Laugh? How Semiotics Helped the BBC Bridge the Humor Gap.” International Journal of Market Research, vol. 63, no. 3, 2021, pp. 275–299., https://doi.org/10.1177/1470785321991346.

Humor and Business !?

Humor usage by sellers and sales performance: The roles of the exploration relationship phase and types of humor

Renaud Lunardo, Laurent Bompar, Camille Saintives

Recherche et Applications en Marketing (English Edition), vol. 33, 2: pp. 5-23. , First Published February 19, 2018.

 This paper attempts to answer John S. Wagle's call for research on the connection between humor and business (1985). With a focus on the connection between use of humor and sales performance, this paper through two studies based on 322 interviewees asserts that "the effect of humor usage on trust depends on relationship phases, humor having no positive effect during the exploration phase but a negative effect" (18). In other words, "humor has a positive effect over the whole range of relationship phases [between business partners]" (19) and yet "this effect turns out to be negative during the exploration phase" (ibid).

Based on Jap & Ganesan (2000) and Kusari et al. (2013), the relationship phases in this paper refer to the following four phases: exploration (reducing uncertainty: assessing compatibility, performance, and potential benefits), build up, maturity (sharing information and investment, establishing relational norms), and decline (business-partner relationship beginning to deteriorate, purposes served or dissatisfaction experienced, disengagement).

According to Lunardo, Bompar, and Saintives, use of humor is not a good idea in the first phase--exploration--when business partners like the buyer and the seller are accessing each other's business potentials. In addition, when offensive humor is sensed in this phase, negative effects ensue.

Examples of constructive humor and offensive humor are included in this article as follows (16):

Jap, Sandy D., and Shankar Ganesan. “Control Mechanisms and the Relationship Life Cycle: Implications for Safeguarding Specific Investments and Developing Commitment.” Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 37, no. 2, 2000, pp. 227–245., https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.37.2.227.18735.

Kusari, Sanjukta, et al. “Trusting and Monitoring Business Partners throughout the Relationship Life Cycle.” Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, vol. 20, no. 3, 2013, pp. 119–138., https://doi.org/10.1080/1051712x.2012.757716.

Lunardo, Renaud, et al. “Humor Usage by Sellers and Sales Performance: The Roles of the Exploration Relationship Phase and Types of Humor.” Recherche Et Applications En Marketing (English Edition), vol. 33, no. 2, 2018, pp. 5–23., https://doi.org/10.1177/2051570718757905.

Wagle, John S. “Using Humor in the Industrial Selling Process.” Industrial Marketing Management, vol. 14, no. 4, 1985, pp. 221–226., https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-8501(85)90013-6.