Media Effects

Media Effects - Does Advertising Work There’s a nice piece of anecdotal evidence in Mark Lawson’s column in The Guardian today which should be useful for any student studying the Media option at AS level.

Here’s my summary of Lawson’s column Mark Lawson is critical of the government’s refusal to allow ITV to take money in exchange for characters in dramas and comedies using recognisable products. The most common objection to product placement is that it’s a form of subliminal advertising. But a stronger case is that the method is dramatically distracting. The fact that audiences are so aware of these huckstering intrusions - to the extent that they are now often met in cinemas by open groans - certainly establishes that the effect is far from subliminal, and casts doubt on how effective they are at all. The culture secretary’s ruling smacks of patronising nannying. At a time when the traditional funding methods of television face bankruptcy, viewers can probably live with the regulars in the Rovers Return drinking real beer. Link to the original article in The Guardian here.

How useful do you think this evidence is? (think back to methods)

Of course, there may be reservations about the anecdotal nature of Lawson’s evidence, but personally, I think he makes a telling point. In sociological terms, Lawson is pointing out that human beings are reflexive. That’s a concept used heavily by interactionists of various types, as well as Tony Giddens, who you’ve doubtless heard of, probably in the context of his attempts to solve the structure/action debate.

But it does suggest that it isn’t useful to see people as mindless robots who just react automatically to media messages. There’s a process of ‘negotiation’ going on. As ever, that will be mediated by power relationships.