In the model A is the Davidoff company that is providing the design brief for C, which is the advert and its designer. B is the viewer or audience which is looking at the advert that C has designed. At the beginning A is getting background information from research, sales figures, or past experiences. On the diagram these are labelled as X1, X2, and X3. A then passes its information onto the designer in the form of X’, who designs the advert, but also uses information gained from X3, and X4. C then passes the advert on in the form of X” to C, who are the audience. In this model there is also feedback at work. A gets feedback both from the designer and the audience. The designer may have queries about certain parts of the brief or may suggest areas for improvement, while the audiences’ feedback would be in the form of sales or visits to the website mentioned on the advert. The audience also has feedback for the designer. This may be appreciation for the advert design or a complaint for things such as using inappropriate images of a naked body.
The diagram below shows Shannon and Weaver’s model of communication (1949)
This is a linear model, progressing from source to destination, therefore it is one way. This model could be used to describe advertising on the television or radio. The information source would be the company advertising a product and their specific advert. An example of this could be the Orange advert promoting media messaging. This advert is then transmitted via air waves, satellite or cable to the receiver which would be a television set. It then reaches its destination, which is the viewer by them turning on the TV. During this process however there is noise. Noise can come in many forms. It may be technological such as there being a bad reception or a power cut when the advert comes on. The noise can also be caused by the viewer as well. They may change channels when the adverts come on or leave the room to get a cup of tea. To overcome this viewer noise, Orange has developed an advert that makes the viewer sit down and watch it. The advert consists of several scenes where faces appear in the scenery, such as on a beach or in the hills. When you first watch this advert though, many people can’t see the faces and they look for the advert again so they can try to find them. Orange also places their adverts at the beginnings and ends of commercial breaks to increase the chances of the viewers watching the correct channel.
O2 are a mobile phone company that was launched in early 2002 after taking over from BT Cellnet. When they began their advertising campaign, they started off with short adverts on TV just saying O2. In magazines as well, it just said O2. No one knew who this company were. Then as time went on they started releasing more details about who they were and this culminated in their launch. After their launch, they continued to provide more information about themselves and the services they have to offer, the latest being media messaging and bolt ons. A communication model that could be used to describe this form of advertising is Dance’s helical model. There is a diagram below.
The model shows that communication is a circular process and is a two way relationship between the viewer and the company, in this case O2. As the viewer receives more information, the company is able to react to feedback, either through sales figures or customer enquiries and send out even more information for the viewer to process. For O2 this may be by providing extra services, such as bolt ons or just by providing them with extra information for example, use your mobile phone abroad. This means that as you move up the spiral it gets wider, due to more information being passed around.
Harold D. Lasswell (1948) developed a formula which is basically made up of several questions. It is an easy formula to follow and can be applied to a variety of forms of communication. The formula is outlined in graphical form below.
This formula could be applied to Marks and Spencer because they are currently trying to change their image. If you follow the formula through, the communicator would be the company Marks and Spencer. They’re message is that they’re trying to change they’re image and that it’s fashionable to wear Marks and Spencer clothes. One way in which they’re trying to do this is by using high profile celebrities in their advertising campaign such as David Beckham. The channels which they are using are mainly television and magazines. The type of magazine and TV scheduling are pretty much target audience related. The receiver is the target audience for this new, improved Marks and Spencer. The new campaign is aimed at the younger person so the adverts are found in magazines like Cosmopolitan or Loaded. Then finally, the effect is that hopefully younger people will look at the adverts and think ‘Yeah, Marks and Spencer don’t seem that bad, maybe I’ll shop there.’ or thoughts to that effect. The level of effectiveness though can only be measured through sales of goods or by surveys of people entering the Marks and Spencer stores.
A German scholar called Maletzke developed a model showing the mass communication process. The model is shown below.
Due to the complexity of the model, when describing it, it is easier to break it down into several parts. This model can be interpreted in many different ways. The backbone of the model is the four basic concepts of communicator, message, medium and reliever. The pointers leading into the communicator are all factors which affect the type of message that will be passed on. The communicators self image is how the communicator regards himself within the company and the image they want to create for the company. An example could be Monsoon. The image of the company is sophisticated and expensive. The personality structure of the company allows different kinds of peoples ideas to be taken into account when an advert is being designed. Different people may have alternate ideas as to how sophisticated can be put across in print. The communicator working in a team also affects the final outcome. Where the communicator is within the organisation also affects the outcome. The designer of an advert is usually bought in by a company; therefore they may have only limited knowledge of the company and its customers. Pressure and constraints caused by the public character of the media content refers to the legal or psychological aspects of the advert, such as not using offensive language or inappropriate pictures. The communicators’ social environment refers to the communicators’ way of gatekeeping and sorting information presented to them from their social surroundings. Essentially all these points are forms of research that helps the communicator decide upon a message.
This communicator then forms a message, in this case in the form of an advert for Monsoon. The message must then be presented through a medium. For Monsoon it is mainly adverts in magazines such as Cosmopolitan. This gives a clue to the sort of target audience that Monsoon are aiming their clothing and accessories towards.
Between the medium and receiver there are a set of factors which determine whether the message is interpreted correctly. These factors may include the fact that the viewer is not reading the correct magazine, they may flick past that page by accident, or they may get sick of all the adverts in magazines, so they don’t even bother looking at them and just read the articles.
On the far right of the model there are factors that influence the receiver themselves. The receivers self image may affect their perception of the message. They may think that Monsoon are not their style of clothing, and avoid shopping there or looking at adverts associated with the shop. The personality structure of the receiver may be that hey aren’t a very confident person so they would never dare wear an item of clothing from Monsoon. The receivers social environment would also affect the effectiveness of the advert. It is uncommon to find students walking around a campus in Monsoon clothing, whereas a person who had to do a lot of socialising as part of their job, such as PR probably would.
Putting all these sections together creates the basic structure of the Maletzke’s model. There are also other factors on the model such as the receivers image of the communicator and the communicators image of the receiver. There’s also the case where there may be spontaneous feedback from the receiver.
When studying adverts and campaigns there is no correct way in which the models being can be interpreted. It is down to the individual and their own understanding of it. Models can also only be used as guide because in reality, they are only a simplified version of events that can be used to cover a whole variety of events.
Bibliography
Fiske, J. “Introduction to Communication Studies – Studies in Culture and Communication.” (1994). 2nd Edition. London. Routledge
McQuail, D, Windahl, S. “Communication Models, For the Study of Mass Communication” (1993). 2nd Edition. Singapore. Prentice Hill.