Audience Theory

1.      The Hypodermic Needle Model:

The advertiser injects information into the audience’s mind via different types of media. This was a simplistic way of attracting the audience as the view was that the audience would be easily susceptible to different information, for example, a poster on the side of the bus. They thought that if the audience saw this, that they would feel obliged to go out and buy it. However this was not the case as the audience didn’t take in the information as passively as the advertisers thought they would. This showed that different audiences were influenced in different ways. This method is very outdated, so it is not applicable to Grazia Magazine.

2.      Two-Step Flow:

This is a more developed version of the Hypodermic Needle Model as it targets the audience’s interests more specifically. This takes into account the type of lifestyle that the audience may lead. This would relate to Grazia Magazine as adverts are placed in the magazines to catch the eye of the reader. Grazia Magazine also includes high end adverts, such as ‘Louis Vuitton’, which would not be placed on the side of buses.

 

3.      Uses & Gratifications:

This form of advertisement was used during the 1960s. The aim of it was to relate to the public by communicating to them on a personal level. The advertisement used diversion; an escape from everyday problems, Personal relationships; such as, using the media for emotional interaction (Eg. Substituting soap operas for family life), Personal Identity; finding yourself in literary texts and Surveillance; Information which is useful for everyday living, such as, Weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains/deals. Nowadays, this from of advertisement is being increasingly used in products, such as video games and the internet.

 

4.      Reception Theory:                                                                                                          

      In the past couple of decades, a lot of research has been done to determine the way that individuals receive and interpret things and how their individual circumstances (gender, class, age and ethnicity) can affect it. Reception Theory has been created by using different conventions, to achieve a certain expectation and interpretation. So basically, this concept of advertisement has a preferred reader created by the publisher but yet an alternative reading as well, to appeal to a wider audience.

 

      We had to summarise the different audience theories and explain what they were and if they were effective or not.