1. Making people laugh is tricky.

A. At times, the intended humour may simply not come off.

B. Making people laugh while trying to sell them something is a tougher challenge, since the commercial can fall flat on two grounds.

C. There are many advertisements which do amuse but do not even begin to set the cash tills ringing.

D. Again, it is rarely sufficient for an advertiser simply to amuse the target audience in order to reap the sales benefit.

6. There are indications that in substituting the hard sell for a more entertaining approach, some agencies have rather thrown out the baby with the bath water.