The Uses And Gratification Theory

Recently, Fenty Beauty released a commercial onto Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. This is the ideal method for displaying the makeup line because commercials have motion, which allows the viewer to see the use of the products in various looks. This advertisement shows a wide variety of people from different cultures and parts of the world. This makes it relatable to almost all people watching it because people automatically connect to advertisements where they see people that they associate with themselves. Therefore, by using this technique people will have a positive image of the brand and are more likely to buy the products. Along with the use of diverse models, there were animations of the products all linking together. By showing models in various shape, skin colour and background, Fenty Beauty focuses on an audience that has been rarely targeted. The audience for the makeup line are people with darker skin tones. The market for this audience was nearly untouched so there was definitely money to be made. This advertisement is also very unique in the way it shows its products. It has an aesthetic feel and makes itself visually appealing by using varying shades of colour, shapes, and camera angles along with upbeat music synced animations keeps the audience engaged. This creative use of visuals make it more appealing to the audience so that they are more likely to buy the product. The visuals show all the products in the product mix. The packaging of the products in the

Instant gratification is something that everybody is used to nowadays. Whether wanting to find an answer to a question, needing to add numbers together or finding out if a pregnancy test is positive, answers come instantly. Most people do not realize that earlier generations did not have those answers available in the blink of an eye. People had to wait for things. They had patience and realized that not everything in the world is instant. Society now demands that everything should happen right away and we should not have to wait for anything, but that is making the world full of impatient, entitled people. Since most people do not know what it’s like to not have instant gratification most individuals take that for granted. Instant gratification has caused a lot of problems in society, including taking away face-to-face communication, patience, and certainty.

These theories will be useful in determining my underlying motivations behind my choice of media and content and how my experiences help shape the meaning I provide to the former. Although I have a very active lifestyle, media does consume the largest portion of my time. For the sake of this analysis, the table above simply refers to the television shows and movies I watched throughout a week, however it is important to note that in addition, all time spent of the phone, computer, reading and listening to radio also comprise of media consumption.

The dove beauty campaigns are again a perfect example of this, as they depict a digitally altered photo of a woman being presented on a billboard (Tpiper). Depicting a remarkable transformation of an ordinary woman, this video shows a billboard model being produced through means of excessive makeup and hair styling in conjunction with digital editing after the photo was taken. This woman is not natural. She has pounds of makeup on her face, as well as photoshopped touchups, and yet she is perceived by the public as the standard of beauty. Nobody is able to compare with such a carefully sculpted face, and therefore this establishes unrealistic expectations

In the experiment group, children were asked to postpone their desire to eat marshmallow for ten minutes, but they were notified how much time left to hold their

Other notes: Another approach to a study on uses and gratifications could be working backwards from pleasures and gratifications to needs (Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch 1973). Whichever way you proceed with a study, you need to systemize categories of the needs and wants of people to gauge the gratification from a particular type of media (Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch 1973).

Utilizing the new sensation of technological media, with its instant projection to a broader audience base, can be both advantageous and unfavorable. As media is frequently updating

Darrin Brown, Sharon Lauricella, Aziz Douai and Arshia Zaidi composed a study focusing on the uses and grats of the aforementioned genre as a means of better understanding the relationship between television and its audiences (Brown, Lauricella, Douai, Zaidi, 2000). Blumber and Katz’s theory on uses and gratifications suggest that audience’s choose to watch certain programs as it satisfies a particular need; in other words, people use a program to gratify or please themselves (Who Watches Crime Dramas and Why?, 2012). They identified four main uses and grats: entertainment and diversion, where there is an idea of escapism; surveillance and information, where people have an urge to become more knowledgeable in a particular area; personal identity, where there is a comparison between the characters and audience members; and finally, personal companionship, where audience’s become involved with characters as if they were real (Who Watches Crime Dramas and Why?, 2012). The uses and Gratification theory assumes that audiences use mass media as an outlet for satisfying certain needs and desires (Brown, et. al, 2000). According to another group of scholars, the gratification individuals get when using such media are both social and psychological in nature (Brown, et. al, 2000). In

When I came to USA I was thinking about making quick money because when you are in Africa you hear people saying in America everybody is rich. My husband told me you need to go to school first if you want to have a better life in the future. I came to school and I did not work for the entire 5 years. I put off the idea of working and dedicated my life to school. Successful students apply delayed gratification by making commitment through sacrificing themselves, developing growth mindset and having a passion for it.

The Dictionary defines the word Beauty as “A beautiful person, especially a woman.” Nowhere in that definition does it suggest the woman is a size 0 with big breasts, flawless skin and high cheekbones. This is the message Dove is trying to send by creating “Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty”, to make women of all shapes, sizes, and color feel beautiful everyday. However, shortly after Dove released their first campaign, media columnists such as Richard Roeper and Lucio Guerrero were quick to reflect their “professional” opinions. After reviewing Jennifer L. Pozner’s article on Dove’s “Real Beauty” Backlash and the naïve comments these active media members have made, I found through

a. Couldry states that “Mass media generally are considered a prime candidate given the on-line profusion of information and entertainment services. This article compares the daily mass media habits of heavy, light, and nonusers of personal computers and on-line services based on 1994 and 1995 national surveys conducted by the Times-Mirror Center for the People and the Press.”

Redbook magazine are devoted to selling products ranging from shoes to shampoo. The entire magazine only has only 210 pages. Approximately 6-8 min of every half hour television show is produced by ad agencies. Americans are bombarded with advertisements. We see them everyday in many different forms and through different mediums. Advertisers study America’s population through a systematic breakdown and analysis of our likes and dislikes in relation to our differences. These differences include gender, sexual orientation, economic status, location, race, ethnicity, and more. Advertisers have substantial knowledge of what appeals to each of these demographics and how these demographics will respond to

The uses and gratification theory seeks to understand the uses of which people seek media to fulfill certain gratifications (Baran and Doris, 2006) by identifying how people utilize the media to gratify their needs and desire.

The Dove campaign for Real Beauty was the brainchild of Ogilvy & Mathers, Edelman Public Relations and Harbinger Communications (to be referred to as simply Ogilvy) and the project was known as the “Evolution” campaign. The marketing campaign began in 2004 under the corporation known as Unilever. This diversified conglomerate is the parent company to the Dove Company’s line of beauty and body products. The campaign began as a result of survey conducted in which only 2% of women believed they were “beautiful.” Unilever saw an opportunity to reach a saturated market from a fresh perspective. After hiring Ogilvy, the message grew into one of the most successful advertising campaigns in Unilever’s storied history.

The worth of media is a very controversial topic. Media has given us the ability to do things in new and creative ways such as how we learn and accomplish our everyday tasks. However, we do not always know how to interpurate this information. The technology available today is constantly impacting and influencing society in tremendous ways. Many of the impacts that are accocated with media are addressed in negative ways, but can be seen from a positive perspective as well. In the current generation, media and its influences can be found everywhere. These influences widely impact today’s adolescents and maturing teenagers because they are still developing into adults. Medias purpose is not only to inform us, but to allow us to mold ourselves in how we want to be perceived online. Also, it allows us easy access to unbelievable amounts of information. Living in an era known as the “information age” is riveting, but what are we suppose to do with all of this new technology and information?