I’ve read a couple more posts on the use of humor including Geetha Krishnan's Humor in eLearning. Geetha’s post echoes most of my thoughts on humor including the issue of political correctness. What I found the most interesting were the horror stories from people who have used humor an offended people.
Make sure to check out David Lee’s comment where he mentions a sales meeting that went wrong due to the use of humor “After returning home from a very successful sales meeting where my product presentations with my marketing manager had received among the highest ratings from the sales force, I was called into my boss's office. The VP of HR and my boss's boss where there. I was informed that two jokes we included in our presentation had offended a handful of representatives and they were calling for the dismissal of me and my marketing colleague. Fortunately, a personal apology and an official reprimand calmed the offended employees and we kept our jobs.”
Earlier Davis states that “No instructional designer can be expected to know so much about every target employee to ensure a joke or a cartoon will not offend. In the case of instructor lead training, there is no assurance that every facilitator will have the background understanding and comedic timing to deliver a joke well. Best case scenario is you humor most and bore some. Worst case scenario is the company is sued and people lose their jobs.”
Do you similar horror stories? Would you agree that humor in training should be avoided? Could this be the sad reality of training in the year 2007? Are all blondes sensitive about blonde jokes? Is it possible for us to laugh at ourselves? Are jokes by their very nature at the expense of others? If so, is the price to high to pay? Are there are examples of training that uses humor effectively?
Interestingly the same argument is often made in connection with marketing i.e. humor in marketing is to risky. One of my favorite and most succuessful advertising campaigns is the Aflec duck. Maybe the key is to make fun of animals.... Then again the Geico gecko has a British accent. Are the British offended by the associated connection?
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Not all jokes need to poke fun at people. Sometimes situations can be funny or memorable. Sometimes you may have a customer with an unreasonable request that may seem odd or unconventional. Sometimes even the element of surprise can make people laugh. There are many, many jokes that do not have to offend. I should know since I am in eLearning and I perform stand-up comedy as a hobby.
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