A six-item, five-point Likert-type scale measuring the degree to which a person perceives a commercial advertisement to be humorous and intentionally attempting to amuse. Five items were adapted by converting key semantic differential descriptors from a prior humor scale into Likert-type statements; a sixth item was added by the authors to capture explicit humor intent ('the commercial was making a humor attempt'). Developed for use in two studies examining how gender moderates consumer responses to violent humor in advertising, where perceived humor was a central process variable in the path model. Items refer to 'the commercial' and are thus most directly applicable to television or video advertising, though they can be adapted for other formats with straightforward wording changes.
5-point Likert (anchors not explicitly stated; strongly disagree/strongly agree assumed); item 5 is reverse-scored
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
Items 1-5 were adapted from Zhang (1996, Journal of Advertising, 25(Spring), 15-32), who in turn used semantic differentials from Chattopadhyay & Basu (1990, Journal of Marketing Research, 27(November), 466-476). The Likert-type conversion was performed by Swani et al.; the original format used bi-polar adjective pairs. Item 6 ('making a humor attempt') was added by the authors to anchor the scale around explicit humor intent rather than pure hedonic response. This scale is distinct from ID 1395 (Attitude Toward the Ad (Entertaining), Lastovicka), which measures general entertainment value; the Swani et al. scale is specifically humor-focused. Item 5 ('I found the commercial dull') is reverse-scored.
Swani, K., Weinberger, M.G., & Gulas, C.S. (2013). The impact of violent humor on advertising success: A gender perspective. Journal of Advertising, 42(4), 308-319.
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