PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ekin Pehlivan
AU  - Pierre Berthon
AU  - Leyland Pitt
TI  - Ad Bites
AID  - 10.2501/JAR-51-2-417-426
DP  - 2011 Jun 01
TA  - Journal of Advertising Research
PG  - 417--426
VI  - 51
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/51/2/417.short
4100  - http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/51/2/417.full
SO  - J Advert Res2011 Jun 01; 51
AB  - Irony is employed to add edge or bite to advertising—to make it stand out. Yet the irony of ironic advertising is that it is used but not thoroughly understood; practiced but not well researched. In this study, the authors set out to remedy this failing by laying the foundations of research into ironic advertising. Specifically, they define a construct and then develop a theory that explains how ironic advertising works. From this, they develop a series of propositions that specify how a message and its interpretation interact to determine the relative efficacy of an ironic communication. The article then outlines a research agenda and concludes by specifying the contribution of the theory to practitioners and researchers.