Public shaming often makes the viewer uncomfortable. What happens, however, when you replace the shamed person with his or her’s best friend?
According to the Benign Violation Theory, humor arises when something is wrong yet okay, threatening yet safe, or what we call a benign violation. This intersection explains why it is often funny to see people shame their pets.
The negative feelings of the observer is mitigated because the animal does not know he or she is being shamed.
The signs are often quite hilarious on their own…