Medias Influence On Societal Issues

MEDIAS INFLUENCE ON SOCIETAL ISSUES
Medias Influence on Societal Issues

Cristina Rowe
Global Connections
Mr. Gregory Falls
16 December 2015

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Abstract
Media has an impact on the public, it encourages certain actions that often turn into habits. How
does media impact the public and contribute to increase societal issues? By using sex, tobacco,
alcohol, and violence, the media glorifies a positive view of these activities to the public. People
are often influenced by these images and experiment with that behavior, leading to increased
rates of abuse. There are many methods that the media uses to reach out to the public and it
reaches across many forms of technology and print. Media uses association, making use of a
product or an action personal and creating a view of a social norm. On what age group does
media have the most impact? Media has the largest influence on adolescents. Surveys taken in
the United States, the UK, and Australia show how media has increased the number of people
taking part in violence and smoking. They indicate that advertisements, celebrities, and social
media are important factors in increasing these acts. Individuals get information from the media;
that is how they increase their knowledge of societal issues. When they see that sex, violence,
and use of tobacco are common or more acceptable, many will emulate this behavior. Scholars
have written books and articles about their studies, stating that the media affects the publics
view. It affects their emotions and ways of thinking, and leading to use and abuse these actions
and products.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract
Table of Contents
Introduction
Limitations
Methodology
Literature Review
Argument
Conclusion
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Resources
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Introduction

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Today, the media is increasing its reach over the public. It does this through a broad range
of traditional media sources such as radio, television, and print sources including billboards as
well as digital sources such as the Internet. Advances in technology make it increasingly easy to
reach across all social boundaries. The media influence is encouraging more and more people to
experiment with risky behavior. As a result, the use of alcohol and tobacco products, as well as
participation in sex and the attraction to violence, has increased. The media uses different
techniques to appeal to different segments of the population. The net effect is the use of these
products and sex and violence increases, particularly among teens and young adults. The
message is in songs, advertisements, visuals, and videos. It is hard not to notice this media.
This study will show how media is portraying sex, tobacco, alcohol, and violence, and
how segments of the population react to it. It will also explore media in different countries, and if
there are different impacts on other populations. Are there different reactions to the media? How
is the media influencing these different populations? There are many influencing factors in the
media that are intended to entice certain groups such as teens and young adults. Media
encourages experimentation; experimentation can lead to abuse. One issue may not be as
important in one place as it is in another. Media may target different population groups in
cultures in different ways and therefore impact these groups differently.
Media portrays potentially dangerous behaviors involving sex, tobacco, alcohol, and
violence in an appealing fashion, encouraging experimentation and ultimately leading to
increased rates of abuse of sex, tobacco, alcohol, and violence.
Limitations

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In this paper, it is not possible to find all the information needed to answer the question.
There are limitations, and one limitation is that this paper will not be able to include all media
available and all locations where it may have an effect. There is a limit on time conducted and
available research material. Therefore, this paper will focus on the U.S. and a few other locations
to analyze and compare the efforts of different media.
Also, it would not be possible to know in all cases what influences people to commit
actions like taking drugs. There is not a way to tell if media is the complete reason that people
have started behaving one way. There may be other reasons that someone starts taking drugs or
drinks alcohol, has sex or commits violence. There will be many interviews of people with a
connection to media influences or people with personal stories, but there will be only one direct
interview.
This paper will also focus on the major electronic and print media sources. It cannot have
every source of media. Another limitation is other factors that influence some peoples decisions
that affect certain societal issues. The paper will show how media takes a huge place in being an
influence.
Methodology
Research was taken from different articles found in databases as well as other scholarly
articles. The articles help explain what kind and type of media is shown today. They will show
what the strategies are used by advertisers to get the public to use the product. Advertisers create
appealing advertisements for the product they are trying to sell, even if there is a negative view
of it in the society. The research taken is quantitative. There are not direct interviews with those
who have been affected by media, rather, surveys of adolescents affected by media influence.

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The surveys as well as scholarly articles show that the media uses different factors to reach these
people, also that they media affects some people personally.
Online books have explained how the media is expanding its range for public view. It
explains how its reach on different electronic devices and technology makes so people have
access to the media regularly. This makes easier to find advertisement of products that are not
good for the body or mind like tobacco and vapor, which are legal for those over eighteen. And
since they are legal, their advertisements will be more in abundance.
There will also be a personal interview of a teenager since the most influence the media
has is on teenagers. The paper will show how much of the media she has access to in her daily
life. It will also tie in the influence it tries to have on its audience.
Literature Review
Research on the impact of media reveals common themes. One assumption is that the
public is just a sponge and will just absorb what it hears or sees in the media. It assumes that the
media does not have any effect on people, but media is increasing and many forms of it are easy
to access. Different forms of media affect adolescents. While the environment plays a big role on
the issues and decisions made by these adolescents, the medias portrayal is an important part in
affecting them.
There are multiple methods used by the media to influence the public and individuals.
The public opinion of an issue that is shown on media depends on how much attention is given to
it; the more attention an issue is given the greater the impact on public opinion. Media can
impact a person by revealing an action as cultural and social norms. Something that may have
negative consequences would be perceived as right and a normal and regular behavior. This in
turn shapes the behavior of those paying attention.

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There is media coverage on both the pros and cons of different behaviors, like smoking;
the pros sometimes out-weigh the cons. In the article, Impact of Tobacco Control Policies and
Mass Media Campaigns on Monthly Adult Smoking Prevalence, from 1995 2006, there was an
Australian population survey, which was supported by the Australian National Health and
Medical Research Council, that measured smoking prevalence where media exposed the negative
ads and the price of cigarettes increased. In the smoking prevalence, there was a 0.3% reduction
due to the medias ads and the price of cigarettes, but not because of smoke-free restaurant laws.
Conducted by eight doctors, the survey found that the increasing amount of mass media
campaigns against tobacco and the price of tobacco increasing has reduced the smoking
population.
In the book Young People Alcohol and the media, Authors Amanda Atkinson, Gill Elliot,
Mark Bellis, and Harry Sumnall show how individuals, specifically adolescents, view portrayals
shown in media play an important part in determining how impacting the media actually is. The
portrayals are often realistic, desirable, and can even relate or show similarity to the audience.
The fact that the experiences of drinking alcohol having a positive outcome are seen in media
helps form opinions about this behavior. Many people are affected by the portrayals of their
favorite celebrities. Using celebrities is a method that media often uses to interest people who are
fans of that celebrity, who are often seen drinking alcohol in media.
Alcohol brands sponsorships are an example of the media creating a cultural norm. A
popular example of this is with beer drinking and football as beer brands target football fans
when they create their advertisements. This creates cultural association and influences young
people.

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Many researchers agree that easy access to social media by many adolescents influences
them to form opinions based on what they see. Some include images relating to alcohol as well
as other substances and behaviors. Advertisers can document different items and messages, but
individuals can do the same thing and put their own messages on the Internet. They can go out
for a night smoking or drinking and show what they did, which others can see and might emulate
their behavior. There are many social media sites that are continuing to grow and accumulate
such as Facebook; popular sites may increase peer pressure with regard to particular behaviors.
Media is informative and helps people increase their knowledge of certain behaviors and
from that knowledge, form attitudes and opinions. Many examples of media include the Internet,
television and movies, radio and recorded music, newspapers, and books and magazines. It is
becoming easier to interact with the media in the many media platforms.
There were many surveys published in medical articles taken on adolescents and the
tobacco that they see in films. In the Hood Center for Children and Families, Doctors Tickle JJ,
Beach ML, Dalton MA, Ahrens MD, Sargent JD, Mott LA, Heatherton TF, Titus-Ernstoff L,
Gibson JJ, and Adachi-Mejia AM conducted five different studies on the effects of movies that
contain smoking and drinking on adolescents. They found that the kids who witnessed movies
with smoking in it are more likely to smoke than those who have not seen the movies. One study
showed that movies rated PG-13 have the same amount of smoking as movies rated R. Even
movies rated G and PG show a significant appearance of alcohol and smoking. Sexual content,
though, was more prevalent in PG-13 and R rated movies than in G and PG movies.
In The Influence of Media Violence on Youth, Anderson, C., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein,
E., Huesmann, L., Johnson, J., Linz, D., and Wartella E., conducted research (2015) on the
effects of media violence. They mentioned the short-term and long-term effects of the portrayal

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of violence in media. Overall, there is an increase in aggressiveness with exposure violent media.
The short-term effects are not as threatening, but still increases the likelihood that one would use
verbal and physical aggressive behavior. This article mentions how one becomes more
aggressive when affected by violent media. It increases physiological arousal, which in turn
triggers a tendency to follow or start the observed behavior. Violent media tends to reduce ones
negative emotional response to violence and create aggression-supporting beliefs. No one is
completely immune to the impacts of violent media.
Researchers used many methods to assess the impact of media. Some used a scientific
and observational approach. They all found real impacts of media, while acknowledging there
are other factors that can create opinion and influence certain behaviors.
Argument
Media is all around us in different forms and keeps increasing its presence as technology
advances. In the last decade, social media has become a global phenomenon, and is used
constantly by adolescents. Adolescents are a major target of medias influence. Billions of people
can access media content through the World Wide Web, tablets and computers, smart phones,
televisions and smart televisions and other sources such as radio, movies, newspapers and books,
magazines, and recorded music. Social media refers to the platforms, technologies, and services
that allow individuals to communicate and even allow individuals to participate as consumers
and producers. In Brazil, the most popular social network in Orkut, which is a Google project
that did not succeed in America but flourished in Brazil. Recently people have been moving back
to Facebook. On social networking sites (SNS), uploads and tags of alcohol-related images have
appeared. This causes adolescents to see drinking as a social norm, as people post pictures and
information about their night out and drinking. This influences teens to drink. In a report from

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Business Insider reported in November 2014, social media has remained the fastest-growing
division of markets, and that it will continue growing. It is estimated to reach fourteen billion
dollars by 2018.
According to a survey in Australia measured monthly from 1995-2006, the exposure of
mass media tobacco control advertising campaigns has helped to decrease the prevalence of
smoking. The two ways that the media influences alcohol is the repetition of content containing
alcohol, as a cultural norm, and deterring young people from drinking alcohol by reporting the
negative use of alcohol. But adolescents in the UK reported in 2011 that they see less content
with anti-drinking messages than the other way around. They say the sensible drinking
messages shown in SNS and alcohol-related advice published in teen magazines are scarce when
compared to pro-normative drinking messages and advertisements.
Adolescents said that effects of alcohol, such as hangovers, are not often seen in
television. Also, audiences often see celebrities drinking and this influences their positive attitude
toward of drinking. Adolescents, in a 2011 survey, state that they do not see as many young
people drinking, but when they do, it is excessive and they are often binge drinking. Another
product that is increasing its coverage in the media is electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes. They
are making smoking look glamorous and also using celebrities to make them look appealing. In
one advertisement for Blu brand e-cigarettes, there was a tough looking man wearing a slim pair
of jeans and shirtless as he puffs his e-cigarette with an urban skyline in the background. He
attends a concert and strolls through the Incan ruins in Peru. The man is actor Stephen Dorff.
Dorff said this:

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For us smokers, times have changed. But a few things remain the same. Our desire to
explore. To adventure. To roam without boundaries. With Blu, we can still be ourselves.
After all, this country was founded on free will. Embrace it. Chase it.
These celebrities are used to making products like smoking and drinking cool and attractive.
These e-cigarettes are even coming in flavors like cherry crush and vivid vanilla. According to
the new congressional report in 2011, Gateway to Addiction?, E-cigarette makers are using a
broad range of marketing techniques previously employed by traditional cigarette companies to
entice young people to use their products. Another ad that Blu used had Jenny McCarthy, an
actress and former playboy centerfold. She had on a low-cut dress and used the e-cigarette as she
flirted with a man at a bar. Not only did this advertisement use a celebrity to influence viewers to
use the product, but it also used sex appeal.
Adolescents, again, are the most vulnerable group to be affected by sexual content in the
media. They are exposed to the content while in a developmental period when their sexual
attitudes, sexual behaviors, and gender roles are in a formative stage. On average, teenagers who
watch network television see 143 accounts of sexual behavior during primetime very week. With
those accounts, three to four times as many of the sexual behavior happens between unmarried
people as between married people. The sexual messages shown on television are presented with a
positive view towards sex, and little of the risks and consequences of unprotected sex is
portrayed. When it comes to movies that are presented on television stations, 80 percent contain
sexual content. In music videos, 60 percent show some sort of sexual feeling or impulse. Even a
minority of music videos contain provocative clothing as well as sexual body movements. A
study taken of the United States as a whole states that over 80 percent of adolescents say they
and their peers learn much about sex, violence, and drugs from movies, television shows, and

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other forms of entertainment media. The more that people are exposed to media influences many
to accept the values, behaviors, and beliefs that the media portrays.
There are many techniques that the media uses to influence the public. One well-known
technique is the alcohol brands that sponsor food. This is an example of cultural association. Due
to this cultural association, people associate beer with food, and this specifically targets football
fans. The consistent picture creating a social world media can often lead the audience see this
world as reality. They see it as facts and norms, and when sex, drinking, and tobacco are seen as
a social norm, it will be more likely for the viewer to imitate these acts. Four variables that affect
the behavior of the public through media are the reactors predispositions, economic
inducements, physical inducements, and social pressures. The reactors predispositions involve
the stored memories and past associations of the individual whose behavior is being affected.
The economic inducements include examples such as bribery, gifts, and pay raises. Physical
inducements include violence, love, and protection from violence. The social pressures can either
encourage or discourage the reactor to think or act out what the propagandist tries to advertise.
Violent media is mainly seen through video games, films, and television. There are
behavioral responses for short-term and long-term exposure. Just short-term exposure to violent
media overall leads to increased likelihood that the viewer will show verbal and physical
behavior as well as aggressive thoughts and emotions. When one already has aggressive
thoughts, there will be increased physiological arousal and an automatic tendency to act on the
observed behaviors can be triggered.
Many people witness smoking, alcohol, sex, and violence through movies today.
According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) as reported in December of
2009 in the Journal of Health Communication, in PG-13 movies, alcohol is shown just as much

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as in R-rated movies. About half of PG-13 movies have just as much smoking shown as in Rrated movies. Even G and PG rated movies display smoking and drinking content. In 88 percent
of R-rated movies, there is a high frequency of violence. In the Journal of the American Medical
Association (JAMA) of May 18, 2005, lead author Dr. Anna Adachi-Mejia stated, The
continued presence of tobacco brand appearances in movies, whether paid or not, undermines the
intent of The Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) and limits the favorable impact the MSA
could have on preventing youth smoking. MSA prohibits tobacco companies to pay for their
brand to appear in movies; these tobacco companies did sign the agreement. The Lancet in July
of 2003 reported the exposure of fifty movies to 3,547 adolescents from ten to fourteen years old.
Seventy-three percent of the adolescents had responded and on average (after seeing sixteen of
the fifty movies), stated that there were about 98.5 smoking occurrences. Of the participants, ten
percent or 259 students had started to smoke in the follow-up period. In the highest quartile of
exposure to movies that contained smoking, adolescents had a 2.7 times more likely chance to
start smoking compared to adolescents in the lowest quartile of exposure to the movies. The lead
author Dr. Madeline Dalton stated, Even after taking into account child characteristics, social
influences and parenting characteristics, we estimate that 52.2 percent of smoking initiation in
this group of adolescents can be attributed to the exposure to smoking in movies.
The environment has a major influence on adolescents to behave a certain way and try
things that are bad for their health. Advertising concentrates on attracting public attention to
inform them of the information that the advertisers want them to know. They target their ideal
audience for their product or service. The reach of global media has expanded the customers that
advertisers can target in different regions of the global culture, and this increases the potential
market for goods and services. About two thirds of the population spends time on social

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networks. Companies use social media in India and across the world because of customers
responses, brand awareness, and interaction. In urban India, by December 2012, the amount of
social media users reached sixty-two million. The sudden access to mobile Internet and
smartphones helped spur the growth in the use of social media. There are fifty-one million Indian
users who use Facebook. Everyday, around 100 million Indians use social media, which is larger
than Germanys population. And the media helps reinforce the attitudes of those who use it.
Mass media can reinforce attitudes and prompt the audience to take action, and it all
depends on the attention that mass media receives. There is a risk of greater usage of alcohol and
other products as a result of the prominence of late-night talk shows, sports, primetime
television, and music videos. Many adolescents make decisions like drinking with a progressive
and logical decision-making process, but it can often be overwhelmed with wishful thinking. In a
survey taken in California by two public schools, the appeal that products have through alcohol
logos was higher with the younger students. Arianna DiQuollo from Virginia Beach, VA, goes to
Kellam High School and witnesses media every day. She said this:
News usually is the source of media I see everyday. I am on Facebook for at least fifteen
minutes everyday. YouTube will be another. I see violence in video games like Tomb
Raider and Black Ops. I see alcohol at least two or three times in commercial breaks. I
see a lot more alcohol commercial ads. There are some preventing smoking ads just on
Nickelodeon and Xbox all the time, TV every once in a while.
The media is around everyone everyday. Some are more exposed it to others, but everyone is
susceptible to medias influence. Media that tries to influence people towards these bad products
and actions is more prevalent than ads trying to do the opposite.

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Conclusion
Media is a major influence in peoples lives, particularly adolescents. It gives them an
opinion, a side, and an attitude towards alcohol, sex, and violence. The environment is a huge
factor in influencing ones decisions, and the media is a large part of that. There are many forms
of media such as movies, television, social networks, radio, video games, and music. Many are
part of peoples everyday lives. Through these forms of media, product advertisements are able
to reach to many parts of the globe.
The media portrays concepts and products as social norms and uses different techniques
that encourage participation in certain actions or use of certain products. Also, media is a way
that many people get their information and knowledge. If media is saying that e-cigarettes are
healthier, they will believe it and start using them.
Adolescents can be very vulnerable. Habits often start after hearing about smoking,
alcohol, sex, and violence through media. They are influenced by the positive messages
portrayed by them media, as well as a significant amount of peer pressure. They do not always
see the bad and harmful effects of the products or actions.
Not only is the media powerful in the United States, but in other places as well. Social
media is extremely popular in the Brazil and India, and is used frequently. Advertisements spread
to reach other locations and can create the same responses.

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Resources
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Atkinson, A., Elliot, G., Bellis, M., & Sumnall, H. (2011, September 1). Young People, Alcohol
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Austin, E., Pinkleton, B., & Fujioka, Y. (2000, February 1). The Role of Interpretation
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