Michael McKenzie

Mrs. Russell

Writing 1

10 December 2018

The Influence that Media has on Consumers

Media has a strong influence of those who are consuming it. This creates the

problem of society having negative views on themselves and others. Now with media

being so easy to access to a person it's more important than ever how it has an

influence on consumers. What we as a society get from media needs to be used in a

positive aspect in the real-world and really thought about before it negatively impacts

us. Understanding media’s influence on one’s mind is more important than ever before.

One of the biggest ways that the media influences us as a society is how we view

others around us. In most instances media portrays stereotypes of minorities and is

often sexist towards both men and women, more often towards women. Media is able to

build a bond between the characters and consumer, more commonly in television

shows. The bond between both the character and consumer can give a false sense of

knowing and understanding who that character is and lead to the consumer believing

that stereotypes of those characters are real (Riva, et al. 539). Stereotypes that media

gives to characters build a false image of that group of people and then is brought into

the real world. Riva, Dana, and Moran talk about the stereotypes of black culture on TV,

“some studies find that Blacks are less likely to be depicted as employed, more likely to

be seen in blue collar positions, and in the case of women, more likely to be criminals”
(Riva, et al. 540). Putting minorities and groups of people in the position of having an

image that makes them look terrible to the rest of society is immoral and can worsen

their lives.

The way media portrays minorities or groups of people can have an impact on

the people who are stereotyped. The people in these groups can have behavioral

changes that are influenced by the stereotypes that media depicts. Erica Scharrer and

Srividya Ramasubramanian talk about how those being depicted respond to their

stereotype, “Qualitative analysis demonstrated that students responded to the

curriculum in one of three ways: confrontation - challenging the stereotypes they saw in

the media clips; motivation - sparking the desire to prove the stereotypes wrong; and

navigation - articulating specific plans to exact roles directly opposed to the stereotypes

they encounter” (Scharrer and Ramasubramanian 177).​ ​Understanding that these

stereotypes exist can lead to a positive response from the viewer. If the person, who’s

group is being depicted by a stereotype does not take a positive outlook on the media’s

representation it can lead to a negative effect on them (Riva, et al. 542). A person’s race

being stereotyped has got to be frustrating when their image is being portrayed

incorrectly by mass media to mass amounts of people. This leads to those being

stereotyped to become self-conscious about themselves and their image.

With the increasing popularity of social media the influence that it has on us with

advertisements and what products we as consumers will buy is becoming more

prominent. Advertisements in media have a way of influencing what we will buy and why

we will buy it. Companies project these advertisements towards certain audiences
depending on their age, race, sex, etc. Sometimes these advertisements can be

projected towards the incorrect audience. These advertisements in media can be

accessed by anyone and it turns out it's not always being shown to the correct

audience. (Roberson et al. 370). When alcohol advertisements are shown to underage

audiences they get the wrong ideas on alcohol use. A journal touches base on this

stating, “Alcohol marketing on social media depicts drinking in a positive light. For

example, when young people were shown alcohol advertisements on Facebook and

asked their impressions of the intended message the most common response was

social success” (Roberson et al. 370). Advertisements can give the wrong idea and

influence those viewing them to make negative choices. This becomes more apparent

when advertisements in media try to shame the consumers’ body image. Ann Brown

and Tess Knight give an example on how these advertisements force shame,​ ​“Text

contained in advertisements for beauty products...often gave specific and prescriptive

advice to women on ways to avoid losing their youthful appearance” (Brown and Knight

abstract). These advertisements try to pick at the consumers and make them feel self

conscious on their self-image. This starts a huge problem of ruining people's confidence

because the viewer usually has trust in what the media is telling you.

Media influences the way we see ourselves in society. A more common thing of

this self-image problem is our body image. If this has to do with our face, hair, weight,

style, etc. The media influences body image usually through advertisements to get us to

buy their products. These advertisements focus on the insecurities that individuals have,

usually women. A study done by Ann Brown and Tess Knight on how two Australian
magazines push these advertisements on women said, “It was concluded that media

relay powerful messages to spread and modify cultural beliefs informing individuals of a

range of options that propose liberation from the problem of ageing” (Brown and Knight

abstract). Advertisements like this purposely aim the message at ageing women who

already are feeling negative about their body instead of giving a positive message to the

viewer. Advertisements are not the only things that are destroying body confidence in

those who engage in media, but all media has an impact on these individuals. Tina L.

Rachelle and W. Y. Hu did a study on how visual media gave women a negative attitude

towards their bodies, “Findings revealed that HK [Hong Kong] women exposed to the

thin-ideal video experienced greater increase in body dissatisfaction than their Shanghai

counterparts...The second and final hypothesis, that exposure to the thin-ideal video

would produce an increase in drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction and eating

attitudes, was partially supported” (Rachelle and Hu 315). Media pushes for an “ideal”

body-image that gets in the head of those consuming the message. This body-image

problem is even worse for teens who are being influenced by it, causing young women

to think badly about their bodies. Rebecca Richards Bullen talks about how media has

this effect on them saying, “the constant exposure of sexualization, objectification and

images of gender stereotypes directly contribute to girls’ lack of self-and

body-confidence, as well as depression and eating disorders” (Bullen). This creates an

issue of the whole process of pushing a non body-positive image to the next generation.

Instead of letting the media control us as both a society and as individuals we should
understand what we are consuming everyday on our screens and use it to our

advantage.

With media having a scary amount of control over what we think and feel about

both ourselves and others, being educated on the fact that it has this influence is

extremely important.​ ​While consuming media it is important to understand what it is

trying to make you feel. “No one is immune to media’s influence. We cannot expect to

indulge in media designed to affect us mentally and emotionally without its influence

being sustained in our subconscious long after the movie is over, the book is closed or

the song ends” (Tan). Understanding the impact that media has on society is beneficial

to how we consume media and think about it long after. This beneficial understanding of

our consumption of media is known as media literacy. Media literacy is known as “the

ability to analyze, augment and influence active reading of media in order to be a more

effective citizen” (Aufderheide 26). Educating people on media literacy seems to be

common but it is not a subject that a lot of people take into context while consuming

media. Hannah Goodall explains why it’s important for us to understand media literacy,

“Media literacy then allows people to be able to judge for themselves how to read the

media’s messages rather than absorb the content and potentially suffer the

consequences of a belief that may be imposed on them through the media.

Furthermore, by becoming media literate, audiences consume media in either an active

or passive capacity, while also understanding the basic function of what they are

watching” (Goodall 161).

Understanding what you are picking up from media is important. You don’t want to be

influenced on a subject and not understand why you think the things you do. This being

tied in with stereotypes being reinforced by media or the other ways that one would be

influenced by the ideas of media. These thoughts and beliefs that media puts in the

audiences head can be understood and if negative turned into a positive aspect. Erica

Scharrer and Srividya Ramasubramanian expand on the ways media negativity can be

changed for the better, “there is promise for education efforts addressing the media's

role in stereotyping to mitigate the effects of exposure to negative or narrow media

depictions of social groups and possibly even enhance the positive media influence of

exposure to non stereotypical and favorable media depictions” (Scharrer and

Ramasubramanian 171). Changing to a more positive media will allow for less negative

views on ourselves and the people around us but this change and understanding of the

media that is consumed is up to you the viewer.

There are many factors that influence us as both a society and individually.

Media is a big influencer with it being easily accessible and right at your fingertips. The

downside of a more accessible influencer is how it can negatively impact the consumer.

With it comes many problems: stereotypes of minorities and sexist views of both men

and women, how people should look and dress, and what consumers should buy to feel

more confident. These negative thoughts that media puts into the viewers head change

people's behavior for the worst if not handled correctly. While consuming media

understanding how its trying to influence the viewer becomes important and should
really be thought about before accepting its views. Next time while consuming media

think about how it is influencing you, the consumer.

 Works Cited

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status from 1960 to 2010: A content analysis of beauty advertisements in two

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