Advertising using humour

There is a lot of talk about humour and how it affects advertising for a brand. Some of the talk is about if the humour actually results in sales, if maybe the humour insults too many people and if it should be used at all.
Does the humour result in sales? It might, because it might make people laugh but at the same time if it insults too many people they might lose the same amount of sales that they gained therefore the add would be considered ineffective.  I think it is entirely up to the brand and company if they want to use the humour and maybe they should just be a bit conscious of who they might offend and how many of their target audience they might offend. If they take a look at who might take offence they can refer back their target audience see their psychographics and demographics and evaluate it. They might offend a lot of people but the people who they for sure do not want to offend is their target audience. They have to be smart and careful when making ads that include humour that could offend. For example if you know your target audience is mainly animal lovers and you make a humorous remark about animals that could offend someone; you are stupid. Your target audience needs to be especially considered in all aspects of the design process. Their end goal is sales so if they use humour that could be offensive but doesn't offend their specific target I think it is okay. That brings me to the second point about if the humour insults too many people. It shouldn't and again the companies need to be aware of what they are putting out there.
I think humour should be used in moderation, just like anything in life. You can do it a little bit but don't over do it. If you aren't careful with your humorous advertising you could very well end up damaging your brand.

At the end of all of this, the companies need to pay attention to their content and their target audience. If the company has established their brand voice and tone it is safe to say they know the direction they are going in. If the brand identity is known to have a humours tone then they should continue to do what they are doing. I think it is mostly just important that companies are aware of what they are publishing! Just don't be dumb and you will good to go.