Advertising and the Organizational Production of Humour

Don O'Sullivan
Donncha Kavanagh

Abstract

The focus of this chapter is on a particular aspect of the relationship between humour and organization, namely the deliberate production of humour by organizations through advertising. Our aim is to study humour in advertising and through doing so to investigate what it tells us about humour, organizations and the social context of advertising/consumption. Specifi cally, we are interested in explaining the nature and increasing use of humour during the period that has come to be known as late capitalism.