Two Step Flow of Communication (active consumption)
Paul Lazarfeld recognised that a simple, linear model may not be sufficiently complex to understanding the relationship between message sent > message received.
Two-Step Flow: – The two-step flow of communication model says that most people form their opinions under the influence of opinion leaders, who in turn are influenced by the mass media.
Active consumption: The idea that people engage with the media, causing them to purchase the product.
– Clearly there is some voyeuristic, dominant signified ideas being portrayed in this advert. A massive over-sexualisation of the female gender.
– There is a clear constructed reality in the sense that using their body wash will attract these sexual desires in both genders.
– There is a male gaze feature here as the product is targeted towards men and the female is clearly being over-sexualised
– There could also be features of selective representation in the sense that it only represents and targets the views of the presumed straight male
– This is a negative stereotype towards woman that if men use AXE body wash they will instantaneously become sexually attracted to that man, creating dangerous and incorrect ideas about their representation
– This is a reactionary view of woman being used in this advert to produce more sales to their target audience of the presumed straight male
– The paradigm of the items of the body brush versus the whip shows a indexical sign of the objective of the advert to sexualise their product effectively
– This is a ideologist representation of male products being shown to be a signified show of how the products are used to attract women
QUANTITIVE:
– Social class: Commoner; targeted at lower social classes not particularly with any high social status.
– Income: Lower; the price of the product is lower as it is targeted at the lower income civilians. Minimum wage and higher up until before premium incomes.
– Education: No particular intelligence groups targeted. Basic understanding of hygiene.
– Target consumer: Sexually active adults and/or any adult who are intrigued in voyeuristic ideas, specifically targeted at the presumed straight male.
QUALITATIVE:
– The mainstreamer; a regular person of common social class who buy products in an active consumer way. Relating to our male target consumer in a way that it is a cheap product and a basic need for most men, fitting into mainstreamer qualitative ideas, as well as targeting sexualised ideas.
Nivea men:
Representational analysis: A reactionary view when regarding women, they are being used as a dominant ideology where woman are used as an incentive for men to buy their product.
Semiotic analysis: The dominant signifier for this product is the male being shaven clean by the secondary signifier, the female where the product is being used appropriately to attract more sales at the target audience of the presumed straight male.
Textual analysis: The iconic sign illustrated here is the Nivea men shaving cream, a dominant signified idea of men’s products massively attracting women
QUANTITVE:
– Social class: Commoner; targeted at lower social classes not particularly with any high social status.
– Income: Lower; the price of the product is lower as it is targeted at the lower income civilians. Minimum wage and higher up until before premium incomes.
– Education: No particular intelligence groups targeted. Basic understanding.
– Target consumer: Adult males with facial hair or other body hair. Slight sexual characteristics with presumed straight male connotations.
QUALITATIVE:
– The mainstreamer: a regular person of common social class who buy products in an active consumer way – Relating to our male target consumer in a way that it is a cheap product and a basic need for most men, fitting into mainstreamer qualitative ideas.
– Passive Consumption : The slow forceful change of growing a belief or idea into someones thought process and perspective through media techniques.
– The Hypodermic Model :The telling of someone to do something and they follow the ‘command’.
–Harold Lasswell : Wrote Propaganda Technique in the World War in 1948. His theory was ‘the brew of subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers . . . knocked them into submission.’ Developed a linear model of communication.
– Lasswell’s Linear Model of Communication : Who (sender) > Says What (message) > Channel (medium) > To Whom (receiver) > With What Effect (Feedback)
– Two-Step Flow Model : The two-step flow model is the formation of opinions of products from the influence of opinion leaders.
– Active Consumption : This is an idea where the public engages with media communications.