[I was reading through some of my father’s Decker Communications Newsletters and ran across this article on the power of Humor for persuasion — in speaking or advertising…]
Telling Texas A&M students they would be participating in an ‘auditory stimuli’ experiment, psychologist David Wilson sent half the group to listen to lecture tapes, the other half to hear excerpts from comedian Steve Martin’s “A Wild and Crazy Guy” album.
Once the tapes ended and the phony forms on ‘auditory stimuli” were filled out, Wilson had other pre-arranged students approach the listeners with, “I left home without any mondy today. Do you think you could spare some so I could go and get something to eat?”
Apparently warmed by humor, the group of students who listened to Steve Martin turned over, on average 2.5 times more money than their colleagues who listened to the lecture tape only.
Moral: Mirth moves mountains.