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• 1 2019-05-06T18:58:33-07:00 The Benign Violation Theory 8 plain 873428 2019-05-10T14:27:23-07:00 You probably don't need me to tell you that one of the best ways to be remembered is to be funny. If something can make you smile, you're more likely to remember it. As such, advertisers try to be funny, and have done so for decades. However, humor tends to shift over time, and it can be difficult to determine what is or is not funny to certain audiences. If you're on the internet, for example, your primary audience is likely to be Millennials or Gen Z, and if you're not in either of those generations, figuring out what they find funny can be a challenge. 
  
  One theory of humor, and the one that I believe explains Internet humor the best, is the Benign Violation Theory, which claims that things are funny when "(1) a circumstance is appraised as a violation, (2) the circumstance is appraised as benign, and (3) both appraisals occur simultaneously" (McGraw, 75). Essentially, if you subvert expectations and be harmless, you can make people laugh. This theory explains the seemingly random memes that populate the internet, and explains why certain forms of comedy that were once acceptable have been receiving backlash from younger generations.
  
  In regards to webdesign, the theory helps with establishing where to draw the line for when experimenting with design principals goes too far. For example, you can do unexpected things, but don't inconvenience your user. For example, the Captain Marvel website does the unexpected by having some very 90's superhero music start up once you interact with the site. However, that music can easily be turned off at the top of the page, which is smart, because nothing will kill a website's traffic faster than music that can't be turned off.