In my previous essay I theorised that the general public is not aware of the true effects that the media has on their lives and everyday behaviour. However, I did not have any evidence to prove this and so investigated further into a journal called ‘Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion’ by David Phillips and a book called ‘Media, Communication, Culture A Global Approach’ by James Hull. The main aims of both of these was to prove that the Mass Media greatly influences human behaviour, in addition to the fact that it has a lot more control over us than we realise. They both present findings that have strong implications towards imitation and suggestion having an immense impact on social behaviour, individuals and trends within cultures. Not only did they put forward evidence to prove this, they also revealed that these concepts lie greatly within the modern society; with the media shaping almost every decision and action made by individuals on a daily basis.
Phillips had shown that the national level of suicides increases considerably for a brief period of time after a suicide story is published in a newspaper and that the increase only occurs after the publication. He shows that the more publicity a story is given the greater the effect; especially in the surrounding region of where it had been publicized.
Lull on the other hand uses historical events and recognisable brands of our modern age, to show how the mass media has had an effect on them. In turn, establishing how corporate giants such as Microsoft, would never have become household names without the media. He also reminds us that technology and the media vastly advances as the year’s progress and so the effect of cultural impact changes.
In order to prove my theory further i.e. that the mass media has an immense influential impact on the general public; there are numerous research methods that I could carry out. These methods would include interviewing and interacting with the general public in multiple ways, observing people and also trying to start trends myself, on a smaller scale. The majority of the research would provide qualitative information. Therefore, it will be up to me to delve into the research and figure out patterns, trends and any correlation between the mass media and their influence on the general public. I would also be using members from the general public i.e. strangers throughout my investigations as they will give unbiased answers and will provide a wide range of ages and socioeconomic backgrounds.
The first set of experiments that I would carry out would involve using photographs to find out information indirectly from the general public. In the first experiment of this type, I would gather around 5 photographs portraying different styles of clothing and outfits from a range of decades including our own. These would then be shown to a variety of people and they would be asked to put them in order of what they would be most likely to wear. This would be used to discover whether or not their answers correspond with the current trends in fashion and in turn could show that people are influenced by the media and what is seen to be “fashionable” by them. However, problems that could occur during this is the fact that every person has their own personal tastes and there will always be those who simply to do not conform to the norm. This is something that in reality cannot be controlled as people will always have opinions and some will always go against trends.
I would then conduct a similar investigation only this time I would select around 3 photographs, all with one type of outfit that are extremely similar. However, in one of the photographs a celebrity would be wearing the clothes. After showing people the pictures, I would ask them which outfit is their favourite or what one they are most likely to buy. This would allow me to see if people chose the photo with the celebrity, simply due to it being a worn by a celebrity. Therefore giving me an indication of how susceptible people are to celebrity endorsement and in turn the media. While this data could be quite informative there are problems, such as people deliberately not choosing the picture with the celebrity. Either due to not wanting to admit they are influenced by them or simply the fact they don’t like that particular icon. A way round this would be to have a number of these outfits all with different celebrities and test the exact same people to see how the results vary.
Observing people is another way of finding out information and is a means of viewing people acting naturally. If I were to observe a magazine stand, over a period of time, I could take notes on what type of women tend to buy each magazine. Creating this link between magazines and fashion trends would tell me what kind of impact the media is having through this medium and whether or not women are influenced on what to wear by shopping advertisements, celebrities and clothes advertisements within magazines. This would be a rather trustworthy source but a problem could be that some women don’t dress up to go to the shops and would therefore be creating a false impression. In order to tackle this I could observe them even more and take note on what type of casual wear they are wearing i.e. is it still fashionable items of casual clothing?
Another investigation I would carry out, that would give me a rapid link between media influence and people would be to get a variety of companies slogan’s and/or logo’s and ask people which company they belong to. This would reveal just how much people are being subliminally brainwashed by companies and their advertisements. In other words, revealing the power of media and the extents of it. As a source of evidence this would be extremely trustworthy as there is no reason for people to lie or hide the fact that they recognise brands.
I would also peform interviews with members from the general public and ask them about their thoughts on the topic of ‘Charity’. Using questions to find out how often they would normally give to charity and the effect that largely publicised and media hyped charity events, for example Red Nose Day, have on them. Consequently discovering if the media influences people to make donations and feel as though they should participate. This again would back up the media power of imitation and suggestion on people. However, due the delicate subject matter people could lie about their answers, as they will not want to be seen in a bad light and will naturally want to look good. The only way around this would be to engineer the questions so that they would be asked indirectly; meaning that the results are more likely to be reliable.
A final method I could use to really test the power of the media would be for me to become the source of publication. I could start a trend on a small scale, for example in my particular college at university, wearing a certain outfit a few of times a month. I would then start distributing a small number of flyers about the price of the garments of clothing or where to buy them. Insinuating, that this is the latest fashion trend and observe how many people start wearing either the full outfit or items from within it. Although this would only be on a small scale it would allow me to create a positive correlation between the affect of advertising and publicity on people.
In conclusion, all of these methods would provide me with extremely beneficial evidence towards proving that the mass media greatly influences our everyday thoughts and lives throughout all age groups and classes. They would also enable me to see which age groups or classes are most influenced.
Bibliography
Lull, James, 1995, Media, Communication, Culture A Global Approach, Polity Press in Association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Phillips, David P, 1979, Suicide, Motor Vehicle Fatalities and the Mass Media: Evidence toward a Theory of Suggestion, The University of Chicago Press
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