The Hypodermic Needle Model

Definition: According to the theory the media is like a syringe which injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs into the audience who as a powerless mass have little choice but to be influenced.

This theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audiences might react to the mass media, suggesting that audiences passively receive the information through media text, without any attempt on their part to challenge or process the data.

Governments had just discovered the power of advertising to communicate a message, and produced propaganda to try and  audiences way of thinking, as this theory was developed in the 1920s. Therefore the Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that information from a text passes into the mass consciousness of the audiences unmediated.

Furthermore this theory suggests that as an audience, we are manipulated by the creators of media texts. In addition our thinking and behaviour might be easily changed by media-makers. This model assumes that the audience are passive and heterogeneous.

The Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that media texts/products brainwash audiences and manipulate their behaviour in a way that audiences are too passive to challenge. However its important to take into consideration how many people view this theory as simplistic because it does not take any account of peoples individuality and yet it is still very popular in society.

This theory may relate to the media product (music video) that I will be creating in the group. The narrative of the music video using the song 'All of The Day & All of The Night' by The Kinks could possibly influence the audience (receiver's of the product). As the song is about a man wanting to be with a woman, its inevitable that elements of the 'Male Gaze' wont feature. In relation to The Hypodermic Needle Model, the music video created may possibly influence the female's of the audience to look a certain way and pressure females to behave differently. Considering the context of when the music video will be set, it seems less likely that females will be influenced negatively. As this is a video which will have connotations of the 1960's era, it seems less likely that females from todays era would feel influenced or pressured to look and act like the female actress in the music video. If this video was made in the 1960's woman may have been directly affected by the media product that will be made.