'Media Effects' (Sabrina)

Hypodermic Needle Theory.

·It is the media injecting messages into our head and forcing us to consume about basic stereotypes and common ideologies before we can make our own opinions.

·Developed in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

·Not valid anymore, disproved by more modern theories.

·The theory says that an audience will absorb all of the intended information; they will unknowingly believe anything they see.

·Also known as the magic bullet theory.

·The Hypodermic Needle Theory implies that the mass media has an incredibly powerful and direct effect on the audiences.

·The War of the Worlds was a broadcast that was said to inject an opinion into the minds of the unknowing “gullible” public who would react in the desired way.

Relating to my music video:

The media often injects the idea that fashion is important in the world and to be conscious of how we look, the majority of people in our society are self-conscious about themselves due to the way the media makes us feel like we need to look. This results in low self-esteem for many and helps the beauty/ fashion industry successful as a result. Fashion is always changing, which my chosen song 'Fashion' implies heavily, telling the audience that if you want to be in fashion, it is important to keep up to date and look a certain way. The mass media wants the mass audience to comply with the fashion industry, and those that do are seen as a 'passive audience'.

The Two Step Flow Theory

(1940) Lazerfeld et al conducted a full scale investigation on the effects of political mass communication; they focused of the 1940 presidential election campaign that was published in 1944. They found that people are more likely to be influenced by other people rather than the mass media and that they would be more likely to consume an opinion leader’s ideology because they are respected.

Based on the hypodermic needle theory which is the simple mass media gives a mass audience a message to absorb. Lazerfeld found the effect of the media was minimal and much more influenced by opinion leaders and more likely to respond to people they trust and know. Limited effects: Lazerfeld et al concluded that only 5% of people change their voting behaviour as a result of media messages. Exposure to election broadcasts turned out to be a relatively poor predictor of their voting behaviour, particularly when compared with other factors such as their interpersonal communication with friends, family, colleagues etc.

Relating to my video:

My music videos narrative goes on the basis of the hypodermic needle theory in that the 'geek' girl is easily influenced by the mass media and wants to be like the girl on the magazine. However my 'preferred' reading for the audience is that the she is being manipulated by the media and in the end sees this and is tired of changing to fit in. therefore becoming an 'opinion leader.'

The media often injects the idea that fashion is important in the world and to be conscious of how we look, the majority of people in our society are self-conscious about themselves due to the way the media makes us feel like we need to look. This results in low self-esteem for many and helps the beauty/ fashion industry successful as a result. Fashion is always changing, which my chosen song 'Fashion' implies heavily, telling the audience that if you want to be in fashion, it is important to keep up to date and look a certain way. The mass media wants the mass audience to comply with the fashion industry, and those that do are seen as a 'passive audience'.
Applying this theory to the advertismnet of our finished video would reflect us as opinion leaders using social networks such as facebook and twitter to recommend the video to our peers