Free «Media Theories» Essay Sample

Engagement Assignment

The magazine used in this question is the GQ and specific advertisements related to the fashion collections in the magazine. The advertisement, which particularly sticks out, is the one in which Eric Decker is in the company of Jessie James and he is wearing distressed denim jeans. The article that follows this advertisement is about the famous couple trying to create a reality TV show with their experiences in marriage. While the jeans are not given much space in the article, the price and stockiest can be found at the bottom of the article. This means that the purpose of the advertisement is to not only market the new reality TV show titled Beauty and the Bronco, but also to market the designer distressed denims. But this is only one way to look at it.

From a quantitative perspective, it may be noted that in the advertisement or rather in the article that follows the photograph, there is more mention of the TV show than the jeans and as such the main concern of the advertiser may have been the TV show. Using the words TV, show, comedy and reality as the codes, it can be stated that the reality TV show is mentioned more than five times in the article as opposed to the denims, which are only mentioned twice.    

Another advertisement in the same magazine that is analyzed is the one about Versace starring Nolan Funk. Using the qualitative analysis for this advertisement, the message is quite clear. Men like Nolan Funk wear Versace and so should a person if he/she have or want to have some. In the photograph is a caption stating ‘Nolan Funk for Versace’ implying just as much.

Using a quantitative analysis, there is not a lot of wording in this particular advertisement. There are just a series of photograph, each with a caption saying ‘Nolan Funk for Versace’. Each photograph in the series has a caption and thus the word repetition is consistent with the photography. In this case, there is not much to be read into the quantitative analysis except that Nolan Funk likes Versace and possibly wears the products.

The difference in the messages delivered in both instances is clear, implying that quantitative and qualitative analyses are radically different as well. In the first advertisement, a content analysis using the qualitative method would leave the audience more interested in the denims than the TV show whereas a qualitative analysis would expect an emphasis on the TV show based on the fact that it is mentioned many times within the accompanying article. While this may be true, the GQ magazine is mostly for men and reality TV may not be a major interest. Fashion is, however, as the magazine seems to have taught men to groom like superstars. With the great body, and celebrity status of the man in the photo it is impossible to consider that the show is the main motivation for that advert. He is shown in a magazine for men, with a bare chest thus exposing a perfect body, and a pretty pregnant wife by his side. That seems like the company is relating his perfect life to the idea that he wears distressed denims from Levi’s in a bid to get the other men to want his life and thus want the jeans.

For the Versace advert, the quantitative analysis is relatively the same as it is for the denims. The advert shows a successful guy with a perfect body and a seemingly perfect life telling, or rather suggesting to the other guys what they should wear. The qualitative may have nothing much on Versace or Nolan Funk given that there is not too much wording sufficient for patterns and repetitions.

Chapter 15

Question 1

By being a large block of people who could be easily reached through the media, the audience may have been perceived negatively given that despite being a group the people could not know each other. Commentators only saw them as a market being manipulated by conglomerates into buying whatever products they were selling. By researching the audience further and finding ways through which they could reach out to the media as well, they are no longer the mass market but rather a group of real people with needs, expectations and concerns.

Question 2

The goals of the research determine the tradition applied in the research in that media companies are guided by the goals to decide on the tradition that they would follow.

Question 3

Within the transmission model the audience is only a receiver, more like the mass. In the reception model, the audience is a group of active individuals who interact with the media based on their interpretation of the information while the attention model has the audience as receivers who get the information but do not play any role in production or interaction with the media organization.

Chapter 16

Question 1

- Information and research, where people may look to the media to inform them on subjects such as politics and science.

- Education, as learning tools to provide the necessary knowledge.

- Interaction, as a way of getting to know how other people in other parts of the world live.

Question 2

The ‘Uses & Gratifications’ approach is different in that it implores the assumption of an existence of a psychological connection with the audience unlike the other approaches that are based on the possibility of physical effects.

Question 3

The audience is more of a passive receiver of media transmission, and in today’s society passivity is not as easy to come by. With so many channels of communication, the audience and the producer are becoming one and the same.