The Hypodermic Needle Theory

The Hypodermic Needle Theory, also known as the Magic Bullet Theory, was the first major theory concerning the effect of the mass media on society.

It stated that media was all powerful and that it directly affected the audience very strongly. It started around the mid 1920s and lasted until 1950s. The theory also states that people would watch the media and instantly believe it without thinking it over or asking for evidence, this is why they called it the magic bullet theory as if a bullet hits you, you fall, the same way as if the media advertised this information to you, you would fall for it.

There were many factors which contributed to this, they are television and radio as they were upraising in popularity and more and more people were buying them in the 1930s. Also various industries were using media to advertise their own theories and thus creating propaganda. Later on as technology became more developed, more and more people researched and realised that media had some sort of influence on some types of people.

Overall I think that the hypodermic needle theory is correct to a degree. I believe that media does influence you to a certain extent however I think that this theory was over exaggerated by some people at the time. Media can influence you in some ways, for example if Cadburys were making an advert, they would obviously want to make the chocolate sound really appetizing and really delicious, this would then entice the audience to then go out and buy the chocolate. In other cases, the BBC news for example, it shows us what is happening all over the world, sometimes it shows us people dying in Africa and do donate to them, this affects the audience as they feel sympathetic and are highly likely to donate to their cause.