TABOO ADVERTISING: CAN HUMOR HELP TO ATTRACT ATTENTION AND ENHANCE RECALL?

Taboo advertising is often seen as an effective way to attract attention and enhance recall. Drawing on arousal theory and the "taboo-superiority effect," this study questions the nature of the relationship between the level of tabooness and the achievement of those aims. Purpose-designed print advertisements manipulated levels of taboo and humor. Analysis of data collected from 180 respondents in France finds a curvilinear relationship, in which an optimum level of taboo-arousal achieves maximum attention and recall. It also finds that humor decreases perceived tabooness of objectively high-taboo advertisements. Implications for marketing communications strategy are discussed, and future research directions are suggested.