One of our local employers was on the front page of the Monadnock Ledger last week regarding a $400,000 settlement with OSHA for worker safety violations. Ouch! They not only have to pay the fines, but they also must take corrective actions & improve the safety of their workplaces for all of their employees. They have agreed to get a full time safety &...
Sometimes Humor Is a Pain in the Humerus
Submitted by TWP on Fri 9/24/10 8:18 am
Humor is tricky. Someone who laughs at the same things you find funny is a friend, making humor a great tool for engaging customers. Nonetheless, if you want a sure way to offend all your customers in one blow--choose humor.
There's an ad on TV now where the moderator condemns wimpy men who go shopping with their wives instead of staying home to watch sports on TV. The moderator's solution is for the wimpy men to buy a hand-held TV--allowing them to completely ignore their wives everywhere. So in one humorous minute the advertiser has managed to label male purchasers of their product as wimps and annoy all the women who buy gifts for husbands, brothers, sons, son-in-laws, brother-in-laws and fathers. Who's left?
Moral: don't target your customers with your humor. Your own company ("Does our insurance save you money? Did the little pig say whee, whee, whee all the way home?") and things that don't exist (talking Gekkos) are safe targets. Puns and word play are good choices. A twist on expectations can also be fun. HR Compliance 101 is a New Hampshire Human Resources company founded by Paula Mathews. In one issue of her newsletter, we turned around a piece on hiring mistakes and titled it "12 Ways to Hire a Really Bad Employee." Her clients loved it. You can read the article at http://www.hrcompliance101.com/newsletter/.
Humor is a wonderful marketing tool. Just handle it with care.
Do you have any examples of great or misguided humor? I'd love to hear about them.