A recently-conducted survey by leading B2B research and reviews firm Clutch has found that consumers are more likely to remember and enjoy an advertisement if it has humorous elements to it.

Clutch’s 2018 Advertising Survey asked over 1,000 U.S. consumers who had seen or heard an advertisement in the week prior to the survey about their views on advertisements. Over half (53%) of these consumers said that funny ads have an effect on them.

This type of ad also tends to get higher ratings. Amazon, Mountain Dew, Doritos, Avocado from Mexico, Tide, and Wendy's all featured humorous ads during the Super Bowl this year, and all received high scores.

According to Michael Ancevic, managing partner and chief creative officer of The Fantastical (an advertising agency that represents Samuel Adams, Panera Bread, and TripAdvisor), they offer consumers a break from everyday life. “Humor is just something people like to feel. It's a bit of a break from other news in the world or the seriousness of life in general,” he says.

Other important factors in ads are if they are from a trusted brand (51%), feature a new product of interest (46%), and are informative (44%).

Unsurprisingly, food and beverage ads are the most popular among consumers. The survey found that 80% of consumers prefer these types of ads.

Rob Albertson of Bandwidth Marketing (an agency that represents Allstate, Gore-Tex, and GrubHub) has noticed the effect food ads have on consumers. “Everyone needs to eat, so the connection is almost a given. Plus, the visual aspects in a food advertisement versus almost any other medium targets your taste buds – (like) a gorgeous pizza with cheese dripping,” he says.