Sometimes, we can all do with a good laugh. The beauty of humour is that it’s universal – anything can be funny; it just depends on how it’s done. If you think of stand-up comics through the ages, it’s the delivery of the material that sets them apart from someone telling a boring story. And so it is with print advertising. Take plumbing and heating service, for instance. How can you inject some humour into something as mundane as blocked drain services or central heating engineers? You’d be surprised. We have 7 perfect examples that may well make you laugh out loud.
- Special Brew:
This irreverent spoof advert for Carlsberg Special Brew was created by the Viz comic. Given the alarming rise in homelessness in recent years, it’s safe to say that it would still cause many sharp intakes of breath now. Still funny, though.
- Heil Hvac:
Air conditioning and social commentary may not be obvious companions, but this vintage advertisement for a firm of US air conditioning installers from 1977 certainly catches the eye, and not in a good way!
- Das Neue Handwerk
Whether you like it or not, builders’ bums and plumbers’ cracks are a common sight these days and form the butt (!) of many a joke. This ingenious camouflage t-shirt shows a photo of German Chancellor Angela Merkel with a slogan that translates as ‘more attractive than you think’. Whoever said Germans don’t have a sense of humour?
- Care Heating Cooling
Another old American advert for a central heating company entices husbands to look after their wives, with the little ditty ‘Show her you care, fix the air’.
- Professional Plumbing
This cute vintage enamel is sure to bring a smile to many a qualified plumber. And perhaps gives a little reminder to householders that choosing a professional plumber is worth paying extra for?
- Budget Rod
Whoever thought to introduce ’Budget Rod’ into an otherwise unremarkable advertising poster for a local plumbing and boiler Breakdown Company clearly had maximum eye grab in mind!
- British Gas
The 2013 Twitter campaign following an unpopular 9.2% price rise by British Gas led to the creation of this creative spoof advert.
