Raise your hand if you’ve ever been personally influenced by the media
It’s been said that mass media has the potential to heavily influence its audience to adopt a new idea or attitude about a subject. I think at some point in our lives we’ve all fallen victim to the media; however, I do not believe that it’s solely the media that influences us to make the decisions we make. Let’s back up a minute and take a look at a theory that embodies how influential the mass media can supposedly be: The Hypodermic Needle Theory.
Now if you’re anything like me then you probably don’t agree with:
- Audiences are completely passive.
- Audiences are all the same.
- Messages are directly injected into our brains and all of a sudden, we believe everything being told to us.
I believe media influence is deeper than what the hypodermic needle theory states, and researchers appear to believe the same as the theory is considered to be outdated today. Below are examples of three myths related to the theory that I have personally resisted throughout my life and plan to bust today.
Copycat Crimes
It is believed that the media — literature, movies, TV shows, music, video games, and print and television news — can cause people to commit crimes similar to the ones they’ve been exposed to by mass media. Many studies have proven that it’s more than just the media that influence these actions. According to Ray Surette from the Oxford Research Encyclopedias, this type of criminal offense results from a combination of media influence, the individual’s personal criminal history/environmental factors and the content in which the media is being presented. I’ve seen news about violent crimes and had my fun playing Call of Duty alongside my brother growing up, and neither of us has felt the need to show violence. At the end of the day, the media is just not powerful enough to be the sole cause here (thank goodness).
Propaganda and Voting Decisions
After the 2016 election, there was a lot of speculation over propaganda tools — news media and political advertisements — used by the Russians to influence voters. Propaganda is a major component of the hypodermic needle theory, but according to a study done by Lazarsfeld and Herzog, interpersonal media (ex: social media) influences voters much more than traditional news media as stated by the theory. Propaganda does not affect people because people choose what messages they accept from the media and to what degree it affects them. For example, if I watch a TV ad for Taco Bell, I can choose to accept the ad and go buy a taco, or I can reject it and eat whatever I have in my fridge. Therefore, we have another theory debunked.
Influencer Marketing
Over the last decade, influencers have emerged and dominated the media industry. They share most of their life online and build relationships with the people who follow them on their social media channels. Personally, my favorite influencers are on YouTube, and many of them work with brands to get their followers to buy a product. I do believe having a connection helps convince people to purchase a product but following an influencer does not mean I automatically accept and buy products they tell me I should buy. I’m not completely passive in their recommendations. Instead, I sit on it and think about whether or not I need the product. Once again, theory debunked!
How vulnerable do you think you are to media influence?
