Can Aggressive Humor Pay Off in Brand-to-Brand Dialogues on Social Media?

Mathieu Beal () and Nguyen Nguyen
Additional contact information
Mathieu Beal: EM - EMLyon Business School
Nguyen Nguyen: UCD - University College Dublin [Dublin]

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Brands use humor to interact with other brands on social media. Previous research has concluded that brands should favor affiliative humor, while aggressive humor should only be considered under special circumstances. However, this recommendation contradicts real-world evidence of brands achieving significant success through aggressive humor. Drawing on vicarious superiority theory, this article investigates the effects of aggressive humor, introducing the mediating role of feelings of superiority and the moderating roles of self-categorization with the perpetrating brand (SCP) and the targeted brand (SCT). Studies 1A and 1B show that a perpetrating brand elicits equally positive brand attitudes when employing aggressive or affiliative humor toward a targeted brand if customers possess SCP. Study 2 investigates the consequences of aggressive humor for the targeted brand, resulting in two conclusions. First, unlike affiliative humor, aggressive humor prevents customers with SCP from transferring their positive attitudes toward the perpetrating brand to the targeted brand. Second, for customers with SCT, a perpetrating brand's use of aggressive humor encourages less positive attitudes toward the targeted brand. Study 3 explains that aggressive humor makes customers with SCT feel less superior after being exposed to aggressive humor, which they cope with by changing their attitudes toward the targeted brand.

Keywords: Humor; Brand; Brand image; social media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01-12
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Journal of Advertising, In press, pp.18. ⟨10.1080/00913367.2025.2609287⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05476051

DOI: 10.1080/00913367.2025.2609287

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().