Audience Theory

Audience theory

There are 6 different types of audiences. These are:
(A) Upper middle class
Top management, bankers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals
(B) Middle class
Middle management, teachers, many 'creative' e.g. graphic designers etc
(C1) Lower middle class
Office supervisors, junior managers, nurses, specialist clerical staff etc
(C2) Skilled working class
Skilled workers, trades persons (white collar)
(C) Working class
Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers (blue collar)
(D) People at lowest level of income
Unemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers

Using these groups of audiences media institutions will conduct market research while in the making their media text. They need to think what the particular target audience will like. Things that will determine what they like are things like their age, gender, where they live etc. After working out what they need to add they will then incorporate that into there magazines that will increase their sales.

In the 1920s a theory was thought that large audiences would interrupt mass media in different ways. The theory basically says that people are injected with media. Once taken in, this then influences people and this was largely used during the World Wars to recruit more troops. Mass media was new when this theory was thought up. Things like radio and cinema were about 20 years old.

The Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that, media might easily change the audience’s behavior and thinking. The information is passively absorbed. This theory is still used today.

A well-known case of this was two boys named Jon Venables and Robert Thompson who killed a toddler named Jamie Bulger. The boys were influenced by violent video games and movies. This is what was thought to make the boys commit this awful crime.

Here you can see a famous rapper holding a gun. This can influence people listening to Rap and Hip-hop or following this culture to think it is correct to posses a gun. Media is giving off the wrong impression in this case..