The media and today - Essay Example

The Media and Today The role of media has been always considered important because of its ability to bring awareness in the people and its influence on their consciousness. Interestingly, the role of media is not a debatable question however; its effectiveness over the time is actually controversial. Various research studies have been conducted to evaluate the changing effectiveness of media and advertising over the time. There are two groups of people; first, those who believe in the increasing effectiveness of media over time; second, those who believe in the declining media effectiveness.

Meeuwis in 1993 illustrated the effectiveness of media by highlighting the role of television and press in the creation of nationalism in Serbia.1 Stuart Ewen argues that advertising has a more significant power in human collective consciousness as compared to the credit, which is given to it. Moreover, the two theories Social Learning theory and Cultivation theory also describe the importance of modern media in shaping the perceptions of people.2In 1990, Abernethy found 32 percent rate of television commercial avoidance and in 1994, King found 35 percent audience claiming to watch ads.

3 “Advertising effectiveness does vary over time, and when the market is in an unfavourable or unsaturated condition, advertising generally becomes more important and effective (Chung and Kaiser 1998).”4 A research conducted by Campbell, Margaret C. and Kevin Lane Keller on Television ads and internet ads showed that on both media the “wear out point happens sooner when the ad being repeated is for an unfamiliar brand as opposed to a familiar brand.”5 Marketing Evaluation research show that nowadays, power of media mix or ‘Surround Sound Marketing’ is greater as compared to what one medium can produce, thereby, highlighting a reduced effectiveness of media.

6 Moreover, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) revealed that about 62 percent of marketers uphold that in the last two years, the television advertising has become less effective.7In short, a radical changed has been seen in the advertising industry in the last few years. A logical perspective is that the consumers’ past responses to the media advertising is not the same because of the changing tastes, demographics, competition, economic and social factors, advertising theme etc. Furthermore, the marketing world has changed and even a target market consumer of a product/service is not considered to be ‘effectively exposed’, unless he watches the ad at least three to four times.

Therefore, because of the changing media trends, the evaluation of effectiveness of media over time has become an important area of investigation and a major concern for the businesses all over the world. Sources:Cannon, M. Hugh et al. "Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises." Sbaweb. 1996. http://sbaweb.wayne.edu/~absel/bkl/vol23/23aa.pdf (accessed February 17, 2009).Chung, Chanjin, and M. Harry Kaiser. "Does Advertising Effectiveness Vary over Time?" NICPRE. 1998. http://commodity.aem.cornell.

edu/nicpre/newslet/vol4no1/index.htm (accessed December 17, 2009).Equi Media . Effectiveness of TV advertising is decreasing. February 2008. http://www.equimedia.co.uk/index.php?id=98&article=18480128 (accessed December 17, 2009).Market Truths Limited. Interesting Results: Advertising Repetition. 2003. http://www.markettruths.com/information/results/20040209.asp (accessed December 17, 2009).Marketing Evolution. "Measuring Media Effectiveness: Comparing Media Contribution Throughout the Purchase Funnel.

" Marketing Evolution . November 2006. http://www.marketingevolution.com/in_the_news/Marketing%20Evolution%20Media%20Effectiveness%2020%20study%20analysis.pdf (accessed December 17, 2009).Teun, Dijk A. V. "The Mass Media Today: Discourses of Domination or Diversity ." Discourses . n.d. http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/The%20mass%20media%20today.pdf (accessed December 17, 2009).Vickers, Kim. "Aging and the Media: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow." CSUCHICO. 2007. http://www.csuchico.edu/cjhp/5/3/100-105-vickers.

pdf (accessed December 17, 2009).