Humour in the graphic advertising of Spain's General Directorate of Traffic (1960-2009)

Introduction: The objective of this research article is to analyse the use of humour as a semantic resource in the advertising campaigns of Spain's General Directorate of Traffic and identify the emotions expressed in the ads that use this resource. Methods: An interdisciplinary methodological approach is used to review previous research on humour as a resource for the development of the content and form of advertising messages. A historical review of the graphic advertising of the General Directorate of Traffic is offered to establish when and how humour has been used in the configuration of its advertising messages. The universe under study consists of all the graphic advertisements circulated by the General Directorate of Traffic from 1959 to 2009 (a total of 246 ads). Results and conclusions: The results confirm the presence of humour as a semantic resource in the advertising campaigns of Spain's General Directorate of Traffic across the decades under study. The ads that use humour associate this resource with the objectives, messages and types of emotions the General Directorate of Traffic aims to project.