Stress Less, Sweat Less

The use of humor in advertisements and marketing communications is effective and widespread. The use of humor in ads has shown to increase consumer recall and improve perception of the brand being promoted, among other positive outcomes. This is assuming, consumers are not being offended and that the humor ties in well with the product being sold.

The following ad uses humor to capture viewers' attention, and stress (or de-stressing) to motivate purchases.

Recently, Nivea Germany released a video promoting its "Stress Protect" deodorant. In these videos, travelers are shown sitting in airports when "outrageous announcements" made over the intercom. Subjects appear stressed, and are immediately approached by security guards armed with (obviously) stress protect deodorant. Please see the video clip below for a laugh.

What do you think? Is this an effective use of humor in advertising?