The most used “shtick” in advertising, and the one that goes wrong most often, is humour. You have all seen cringe-worthy commercials that make you wish you could just bop whoever wrote it on the head, or go off and poke about in the fridge while it’s on. Writers of commercials that use comedic techniques have to be quite skilled to pull it off. Humour in advertising for the professions is rare, though. Pompous ads, schmaltzy ads, dull-as-ditchwater ads, doom-prophet ads – all are frequent. But funny ads? Nope. I’m afraid people in the professions have a well-documented reputation – which by now has become meme fodder – for being mirthless and unable to laugh at themselves. Perhaps engineers (especially engineers with cats) and geologists (especially geologists and rocks) are the exception.
Comedic devices
Geology joke by famous scientific cartoonist, XKCD, alias Randall Munroe. Well, I think it’s funny. (www.xkcd.com)
That’s a pity, because like the humorist and scientist “XKCD” proves, the sciences and scientists can be very amusing. And there are so many comedic devices, or ways of expressing or evoking humour, to choose from. Which ones will work for what depends on the culture and the language of the person you want to make laugh. What’s funny in China might not be funny in Canada (with the exception of physical humour and slapstick, which is universally amusing.) This explains why humour, when translated, works better when it is completely recreated in the new language.
Each device works best, depending on how the joke is presented – as a picture or video, spoken, as text, or physically demonstrated. I have yet to get a joke written in code or presented as a taste or smell. Is it even possible to have a collection of smells that will make people laugh? Can anything taste funny – as in funny ha-ha, not funny peculiar? Ever seen inherently funny code? I haven’t.
Pick a device or combination of devices
repetition
hyperbole / exaggeration
understatement
double entendre (saying something that has two meanings, often one is rude)
oxymorons (an idea that contradicts itself)
pun (intentionally confusing two homophones)
juxtaposition / incongruity
combining opposites
mistaken identity
black humour ( taboo, shocking, gruesome or death references)
blue humour (sexual tension or innuendo)
dry humour / deadpanning (all sorts of humour, delivered without emotion or passion – or exclamation marks)
coincidence
surprise
irony
sarcasm
farce / Improbable coincidences
attribution swapping
extremism / screwballing
parody / spoofing (to imitate, make fun of, or comment on a work by creating a less flattering version of the original)
satire (poking fun at society or politics by exaggerating particular aspects)
absurdity / surrealism (magical thinking, situations beyond this world, outrageous things that are described as normal)
observational / situational comment (describes an over-idealized version of the world – the joke is that the situation or an aspects of it is not perfect)
highbrow (containing “intellectual” references that are extremely obscure or obtuse)
physical or slapstick humour (works best when presented physically or using video)
Using any of these devices or any combination of them will probably get you something funny, which will also probably get you into no end of trouble. Sad, but true.
Geoscience & Communications 
The most used “shtick” in advertising, and the one that goes wrong most often, is humour. You have all seen cringe-worthy commercials that make you wish you could just bop whoever wrote it on the head, or go off and poke about in the fridge while it’s on. Writers of commercials that use comedic techniques have to be quite skilled to pull it off. Humour in advertising for the professions is rare, though. Pompous ads, schmaltzy ads, dull-as-ditchwater ads, doom-prophet ads – all are frequent. But funny ads? Nope. I’m afraid people in the professions have a well-documented reputation – which by now has become meme fodder – for being mirthless and unable to laugh at themselves. Perhaps engineers (especially engineers with cats) and geologists (especially geologists and rocks) are the exception.
Comedic devices
That’s a pity, because like the humorist and scientist “XKCD” proves, the sciences and scientists can be very amusing. And there are so many comedic devices, or ways of expressing or evoking humour, to choose from. Which ones will work for what depends on the culture and the language of the person you want to make laugh. What’s funny in China might not be funny in Canada (with the exception of physical humour and slapstick, which is universally amusing.) This explains why humour, when translated, works better when it is completely recreated in the new language.
Each device works best, depending on how the joke is presented – as a picture or video, spoken, as text, or physically demonstrated. I have yet to get a joke written in code or presented as a taste or smell. Is it even possible to have a collection of smells that will make people laugh? Can anything taste funny – as in funny ha-ha, not funny peculiar? Ever seen inherently funny code? I haven’t.
Pick a device or combination of devices
Using any of these devices or any combination of them will probably get you something funny, which will also probably get you into no end of trouble. Sad, but true.
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