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Media Influence Essay 4
Media Influence Essay 4
Mrs. Russell
Writing 1
10 December 2018
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
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
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
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
With the increasing popularity of social media the influence that it has on us with
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
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
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
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
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
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
or passive capacity, while also understanding the basic function of what they are
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
depictions of social groups and possibly even enhance the positive media influence of
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
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
Brown, Ann, and Tess Knight. "Shifts in media images of women appearance and social
Australian magazines." Journal of Aging Studies, vol. 35, Dec. 2015, pp. 74-83.
2009/08/17/the-power-and-impact-of-gender-specific-media-literacy/.
Goodall, Hannah. "Media's Influence on Gender Stereotypes." Media Asia, vol. 39, no.
Roberson, Angela A., et al. "Peer, social media, and alcohol marketing influences on
college student drinking." Journal of American College Health, vol. 66, no. 5, 28
Rochelle, Tina L., and W. Y. Hu. "Media influence on drive for thinness, body
satisfaction, and eating attitudes among young women in Hong Kong and China."
Psychology, Health and Medicine, vol. 22, no. 3, Mar. 2017, pp. 310-18.
Journal of Social Issues, vol. 71, no. 1, Mar. 2015, pp. 171-85. EBSCOhost,
Tan, Aysia. "No Neutral Ground: How Media Influences Us." The Church of Jesus Christ
www.lds.org/liahona/2016/09/young-adults/no-neutral-ground-how-media-influen
Tukachinsky, Riva, et al. "The Effect of Prime Time Television Ethnic/ Racial
Study." Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, vol. 61, July 2017, pp.
2018.