Audience Targeting - Maslow

Audience Targeting - Maslow

Learning objective: Application of audience theory to media texts.

Success criteria:
Discuss the audience of Outnumbered.
Discuss audience interaction with reference to UGT.
Discuss audience interaction with reference to Reception theory and NRS categories.

• Key words: Maslow, Hierarchy of needs.

Hierarchy of Needs
An American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, suggested that we all have different layers of needs. We have to achieve certain needs before going on to the next layer. Basically we all need to be able to eat and sleep in safety before we can go on to more complex social needs, such as getting married.

His Hierarchy of Needs suggests that once people have their basic needs met like housing, food, safety, shopping, technology, and a job they can then go on to satisfy successively ‘higher needs’ that occupy a set hierarchy or system of ranking.

Maslow studied well respected people such as Albert Einstein, and American presidents, and he studied one percent of the healthiest college student population. He came up with this pyramid where basic needs are at the bottom and at the top something called ‘self actualisation’. This describes a person who has gained the respect of a lot of other people  and has a high level of self esteem and self respect.


Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

So what has this to do with media texts? It is very relevant to advertisers, and institutions that carry advertising – newspapers, cinema, television and radio channels.

Maslow’s upper levels at the top of the pyramid are about self esteem and gaining the respect of others. This can be linked to the idea that consuming particular media texts fulfils self-esteem, as does buying certain products.

In a nutshell Maslow is suggesting that if you buy a new pair of trainers of the right brand as shown to you on in the media, then you will feel better about your self, because you have the respect of other people. Maslow's hierarchy can easily be linked to UGT when considering how audiences are targeted.

Can you prove or disprove this theory from your experience?

The ways in which texts are built to appeal to particular audiences 

•Since the BBC’s launch in 1922 it’s remit was to: 
“Inform, educate and entertain”

What does the wording of this ideology remind you of?

A big Media Institution like the BBC, must have the power to mediate and control the messages and values presented in their programming.

For example in Outnumbered they have chosen to ‘repeat’ the generic themes and issues of families being dysfunctional and chaotic, yet something to laugh at and with.

The characters' professions reflect the BBC’s intentions of providing an accurate ‘window into the World’ of suburban family dynamics and ‘disequilibrium’ (Todorov) – For example, Pete (Hugh Dennis) is a History Teacher and his wife Sue (Claire Skinner) is a part-time personal assistant.

Enigma Codes

Enigma codes; a theory that suggests a text (whether that be television, film, a poster etc.) portrays a mystery to draw an audience in, pose questions and, as such, become intrigued in the piece. 

For instance, a murder mystery will often not reveal the identity of the murderer until the end of the story, which poses the question "Who is the murderer?" "Will they be brought to justice?"

Action codes: what will happen next?

In this task I will be analyzing the video of Ed sheeran – the A team. The enigma code for this video is that it is a kind of flash back of this young girls life and how she became who she is and what caused her to die. It has a source of mystery to the video drawing the audience in and makes us wonder who the murder is and if it was her own doing.

The action code for the video is what will happen next. As we flash through the video things come apparent and leads us to think what will happen… as we think she will die she does because we see it at the beginning. Next the director might want us to think what will happen to her now she is dead. Will she move on? Or will she just roam around the world still not excepting her death.

The Role Of Selection

The Role of Selection, Construction and Anchorage in Creating Representations.

Representation- The role of selection, construction and anchorage in creating representations.

You will provide anchorage for given newspaper images within different texts.

Key words: Formal, direct, colloquial, hyperbole, imperative.

You will need to be familiar with the following media studies terms:

Selection: 

The idea that producers and audiences are both selective, eg: editors select the news from that day's events and audiences select what to watch and remember.

Construction: 

The idea that a media text is not a window on the world but is  a product of individuals in organisations making decisions over the selection of content. In other words; we see what they want us to see.

Anchorage: 

A way of ‘tying down meaning’, without anchorage meaning could be polysemic – open to various interpretations, eg a caption anchors meaning to a photo, music anchors mood in a media text.

The Construction and Mediation of Representations

A news photograph for example may appear to be presenting us with a factual image but before it goes to print it has been through a process of construction:

• The photographer has selected his/her position, lens, angle, exposure and framing before taking the picture.

• The picture editor will decide if the image needs to be cropped, enhanced or in any way altered before inclusion into the paper.

• An editor will choose which, of the many available photographs of the image, will be the one chosen for inclusion in the newspaper and, importantly at this stage, the images which do not meet the needs of the text will be rejected.

Even then, further mediation takes place:

• Will the photograph be large or small?  
• Will the photograph be on the front page or, less visible, on page 8?

Placement choices like this, along with cropping and framing, act to focus the attention of the reader in a certain way.

• What headline and text will be used to accompany the photograph?

• Will the photograph have a caption?

• Will it be positioned close to another photograph?

Anchorage is basically used in media to attach meaning to something through either the matching of words to images or the juxtaposition of two images which construct a meaning.

For example in advertising, an image alone is polysemic open to a range of interpretations. To clarify what the image means and so to make the image relevant to the purpose of the advert, text can be added. Thus the image serves as the 'hook' while the text anchors meaning. This can be said also for photographs attached to newspaper articles. The same photograph takes on different connotations with different accompanying texts.

Ethnicity

Representation. Ethnicity in the media

You will research texts dealing with the issue of ethnicity

and comment on how they have been represented in the media. Eastenders.

Key words: Stereotypes, cliché. Representation.

ETHNICITY ON TV

            

Martha From Dr Who

     The representation of people from different ethnicities has changed massively over the years.  This is probably because the population in Britain has become much more diverse recently and current society is much more used to mixing with people from all different cultures and backgrounds. 

      Here are some examples of very negative generic stereotypes that used to be seen (and in some case still are) in film and tv:

·      White people – often shown as good, pure, heroes, strong, or sometimes racist.

Michael Caine

·      Black people – often shown as exotic, strange, tribal, criminal, poor.

City of God

·      Asian people (Chinese, Korean etc) – often shown mainly as intelligent, submissive (quiet and shy),    nerdy, interested in technology

Hikaru Sulu (Star Trek)

·      Indian people – often shown as being poor, living in large families, very traditional, working in corner  shops

Sikhs

·      Middle Eastern people (arabs etc) – often shown as being terrorists, violent, aggressive, rich

Islamaphobia

·      Immigrants – often shown as being a drain on society, criminals, illegal, bad for Britain, taking British   jobs.

      In TV drama, people from particular ethnicities often have storylines that are centred around their culture.  For example, Indian characters often battle with the clash between British culture and their traditional culture eg: arranged marriages etc. They rarely have storylines that don’t have something to do with their ethnicity.  People also have commented that often people from minority ethnic groups (eg non white) are often portrayed in a very negative way.

Teenager

         Teenagers – Often shown as being aggressive, moody, lazy, criminals, hate school.It is significant when discussing the films to emphasise that they are representing working class youth, rather than youth generally. Middle class youths are absent from these type of representations.

There is a whole media industry aimed at socially constructing youth in terms of lifestyle and identity. Magazines are produced specifically for young people. Record companies, Internet music download sites, mobile telephone companies and radio stations all specifically target and attempt to shape the musical tastes of young people. Networking sites on the Internet, such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, allow youth to project their identities around the world.

Youth are often portrayed by news media as a social problem, as immoral or anti-authority and consequently constructed as folk devils as part of a moral panic. The majority of moral panics since the 1950s have been manufactured around concerns about young people’s behaviour, such as their membership of specific ‘deviant’ sub-cultures (e.g., teddy boys, hoodies) or because their behaviour (e.g., drug taking or binge drinking) has attracted the disapproval of those in authority.

Childhood

British children are often depicted in the British media in positive ways. Content
analyses of media products suggest that eight stereotypes of children are
frequently used by the media.

• As victims of horrendous crimes – some critics of the media have suggested that White children who are victims of crime get more media attention than adults or children from ethnic minority backgrounds.
• As cute – this is a common stereotype found in television commercials for baby products or toilet rolls.
• As little devils – another common stereotype especially found in drama and comedy, e.g. Bart Simpson.
• As brilliant – perhaps as child prodigies or as heroes for saving the life of an adult.
• As brave little angels – suffering from a long-term terminal disease or disability.
• As accessories – stories about celebrities such as Madonna, Angelina Jolie or the Beckhams may focus on how their children humanise them.
• As modern – the media may focus on how children ‘these days’ know so much more ‘at their age’ than previous generations of children.
• As active consumers – television commercials portray children as having a consumer appetite for toys and games. Some family sociologists note that this has led to the emergence of a new family pressure, ‘pester power’, the power of children to train or manipulate their parents to spend money on consumer goods that will increase the children’s status in the eyes of their peers.

Stereotype

The four parts of a media stereotype

How can the media build a stereotype? With any group of people, there will obviously be an enormous number of things that can be used in a stereotype, but because stereotyping is a form of simplification, normally the most obvious things are used. These are:

1. Appearance — this can include, physical appearance and clothing as well as the sound of the voice. e.g. “all teachers wear dreadful old clothes”

2. Behaviour — typical things that people in this group might do. “Grannies like to knit”

These first two features of media stereotypes are the same when we make our own stereotypes. They simply involve us thinking of something that may be true of some of the group in question and applying it to all.

The third feature of media stereotyping is peculiar to the media:

3. The stereotype is constructed in ways that fit the particular medium.

This is more difficult to understand but it is crucial for you to look for it. TASK: Compare the stereotype of a serial killer by researching the tabloid coverage of Fred West with the treatment of Hannibal Lecter in the film ‘The Silence of the Lambs’.

If you watch a film such as Silence of the Lambs and then look at the tabloid coverage of Fred West, you are seeing the same stereotype (the typical Serial Killer) being used, but there are obviously big differences which will depend on the specifics of the media used:

The film will use close ups of the killer’s leering face, soundtrack music and reaction shots of terrified victims to create their version of the stereotype.

The newspaper will use emotive headlines, blurred pictures of victims and police mug-shots of the killer along with shocking text and interviews with survivors.

In each case the text will create a stereotype which it’s audience will find familiar, but it will do it in very different ways.

4 There will always be a comparison whether real or imaginary with “normal” behaviour.

If you watch a film such as Silence of the Lambs and then lo+ok at the tabloid coverage of Fred West, you are seeing the same stereotype (the typical Serial Killer) being used, but there are obviously big differences which will depend on the specifics of the media used:

The film will use close ups of the killer’s leering face, soundtrack music and reaction shots of terrified victims to create their version of the stereotype.