mass-communication-theory

Chapter 10 Media and Society: The Role of Media in the Social World 287
The hierarchy-of-effects model was first developed by product marketers but is
now widely applied to social marketing. Critics argue that its assumption that
certain effects necessarily precede others in time is unwarranted. Some people, for
example, can be moved to act without ever being informed or even making a decision
about an issue or a candidate. Social marketers respond that although they
can’t hope to induce all the desired effects in every targeted person, they have evidence
that a well-structured step-by-step campaign using survey data to provide
feedback is much more successful than persuasion efforts based on simple linear
effects models.
Critics of social marketing point to limitations very similar to those raised in
our discussion of information-flow theory and of diffusion theory. Though social
marketing theory squeezes some benefit out of the older source-dominated lineareffects
models, it also suffers many of their limitations. In social marketing models,
sources use feedback from target audiences to adjust their campaigns. This use is
generally limited to changes in messages; however, long-term persuasion or information
goals don’t change. If audiences seem resistant, social marketers try new
messages in an effort to break down resistance. They give little thought to whether
the audience might be justified or correct in resisting information or influence. If
the effort to get out information fails, they blame the audience for being apathetic
or ignorant—people simply don’t know what’s good for them.
Thus the social marketing model is tailored to situations in which elite sources
are able to dominate elements of the larger social system. These powerful sources
can prevent counter-elites from distributing information or marshaling organized
opposition. The theory doesn’t allow for social conflict and thus can’t be applied
to situations in which conflict has escalated to even moderate levels. It applies best
to routine forms of information and works best when politics is reduced to marketing
of competing candidate images or the transmission of innocuous public health
messages.
Brenda Dervin (1989) tried to develop an audience-centered social marketing
theory that could serve some of its purposes while overcoming obvious limitations.
She argued that campaign planners must conceive of communication as a dialogue
between elite sources and various audience segments. There must be a genuine
commitment to the upward flow of information and ideas from audiences even at
early stages of campaigns. The purpose of campaigns should not be to induce audiences
to do things that elite sources want them to do, but rather to help people
learn to responsibly reconstruct their lives in ways useful to them. For example,
public health campaigns shouldn’t scare people into adopting better diets but
should encourage people to fundamentally reorient their lives so better eating
habits become one aspect of a larger lifestyle change.
Dervin’s model includes many systems theory ideas introduced in Chapter 7.
It assumes that mutual interaction between sources and audiences is more effective
than a source-dominated communication process. Sources will become better
informed about the everyday situations faced by audiences, and audiences will
gradually learn useful information for restructuring their lives. Dervin argued that
elite sources should learn to respect their audiences. These audiences will then
be more likely to see the wisdom of some of the things that those sources want
them to do.
Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.