An Active Audience: Just one or
many?
Michele Morehouse
This Final Project is Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Master of Arts Degree
Purpose of Study
Are brands’ effective in succeeding to make their audience aware of
their presence?
If so, how is this accomplished?
What media is used?
What processes accomplishes this?
Research Question
How can audiences misinterpret the dominant meaning of an
advertisement?
Hypotheses
• Hypothesis 1: Narrative structure and style elements effect how the
decoders interpret the dominant meaning within an advertisement.
• Hypothesis 2: Connotative and Denotative meanings cause audiences
to have his or her own interpretation.
• Hypothesis 3: People alter or interpret information or content to fit his
or her existing views.
Semiology
Symbol
Signal
Index
Sign
Allegory
Icon
Denotation
Connotation
Syntax
Photogenia
Pose
Object
Aestheticism
Lexical Meanings
“Port”
Root Word
Example: Import or Portable
Text and Narration
What is an Audience?
“several groups divided by their reception of different
media and genres, or by social and cultural positioning”
- Shaun Moores
Audience Reception Theory
Encoding-Decoding Process
Structure of Meaning
“the world has to be made to mean”
- Stuart Hall (2001)
Dominant Meaning
MAPPING
Classifications of Decoding
• Dominant
• Negotiable
• Oppositional
Dominant Position
Negotiable Position
Oppositional Position
Dominant Paradigm
Active Audience
Uses and Gratification Theory
What Drives an Audience?
Social
Cultural
Environmental
Consumption
Fan Community
“varying degrees of semiotic productivity,
produce meanings and pleasures that pertain
to their social situations out of the products of culture industries”
-John Fiske (1992)
Selective Processes
• Selective Exposure
• Selective Perception
• Selective Retention
Selective Exposure
Selective Perception
“as a symbolic sign vehicle or structured discourse”
- Hall (1979)
Selective Retention
Challenge
Can an Audience interpret the dominant
meanings presented in the advertisements?
Results: Successful Encoding-Decoding Process
Methodology
Study Part 2: Survey Collection
Study Part 1: Textual Analysis
STRUCTURE
FUNCTIONS
Textual Analysis
Number of Case Studies: 5
Sources Allocated from: YouTube
Brand Focus: Samsung Mobile  Galaxy Campaigns
Time Frame: 2013 to 2014
Analysis Key Components:
1. Case Study Summarization
2. Narrative Structure  Theme and Motif
3. Style  Settings, Imagery, Verbal Cues, Music, Cultural References
Sphere of Denotative and Connotative Meanings
Exhibit 1: Connoted and Denoted
Meanings:
Advertisement
Connotative
Denotative
Sweet Dreams
Create something extraordinary
“Design Your Life”
Evolution & A Long Time Coming
No longer fiction, but reality
“Its Finally Real”
(Smartwatch  Gear S)
Right Up Our Street
Popularity
“Britain’s most popular phone”
Introducing Galaxy Gear Circle
User initiative
Tutorial
Note Pun Intended
Product Value
Puns:
“I will domi-note you!”
“I will have an Ameriaco-note.”
“Note in my house!”
Sweet Dreams
Theme (Narrative): “Everyone has a story and every story starts
somewhere.” (Samsung U.S. News, 2013).
Denotative: “Design Your Life.”
Connotative (Style): Imagery, Verbal Cues and Music
Evolution & A Long Time Coming
Theme: “I’m on my way.” (Journey)
Denotative: “Its Finally Real.”
Connotative: Imagery, Verbal Cues and Cultural References
Right Up Our Street
Theme: “Capture every moment beautifully”
Denotative (narrative): “Britain's most popular phone”
Connotative (style): Imagery & Verbal Cues
Introducing Galaxy Gear Circle
Theme: “Ease of Access”
Denotative: “Design Excellence,” “Intuitive Experience” & “Hands Free
Intelligence”
Connotative (style): Music and Emotional Appeal
Note Pun-Intended
Theme: “Do you Note?”
Denotative (narrative): “Do you Note”
Connotative (style): Settings, Imagery and Verbal Cues
Survey Analysis
Number of Participants: 45
Number of Data Collection Rounds: 3
Where did survey take place:
Communications Department from the College of St. Rose
Demographic:
Undergraduate Students
Comparative Audience Responses
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Sweet Dreams'
Evolution' & 'A Long
Time Coming'
Right Up Our Street'
Dominant
Introducing Galaxy Gear
Circle'
Negotiable
Oppositional
Note Pun Intended'
GAPS
Sweet Dreams  Oppositional
Evolution & A Long Time Coming  No gap established
Right Up Our Street  Oppositional
Introducing Galaxy Gear Circle  Negotiable
Note Pun-Intended  Oppositional
Beyond the Surface
1. I needed to understand the structure of an
advertisement
2. Understanding the structure of meanings
produced.
Dominant Meaning
Advertisement
Each
case
Sweet
Dreams
Theme Connection
study makes a connection
with
the
audience
Everyone has
a story
to tell
or create
Evolution & A Long Time Coming
Different generation’s childhoods illustrating the
product through iconic pop culture
How?
Right Up Our Street
Every moment in life needs to be captured no
Relatable Themes to matter
an audiences
life
the importance
Introducing Galaxy Gear Circle
People are always on the go in life, always in
constant motion
Note Pun-Intended
Social Interaction – being with people and
having fun
Narrative Structure
1. Structure and format are fundamental to the production of content
2. Narrative Structures devices  motifs and themes (set the
foundation for two new standards of thought)
a) Motifs  central themes: Dominant Meaning and Slogans
b) Themes  storyline themes: cultural and social references
Dominant Style Devices
Imagery: Vulnerable
1. Open to interpretation
2. Accessible by the audience
Verbal Cues: Secure
1. Symbolic
2. Duality of denotative and connotative meanings
Standards of Style Devices
1. Active audience can consciously consume content:
a) Ex. Denotative details of the content => visual objects
2. Active audience is unconsciously active in consuming content:
a)
Ex. Connotative Context => Tone
Dominant Style Function
Ex. Sweet Dreams  obscure emotions
Advertisement
Sweet Dreams
Evolution & A Long Time Coming
Emotions
Determination, Light-heartedness & nostalgia
1. Mysterious
Upbeat & reminiscence
2. Gloomy
Right Up Our Street
Introducing Galaxy Gear Circle
Note Pun-Intended
Upbeat
Determined & Fast-pace
3. Dark
Silly & Trivial
Aesthetics & Emotional Appeal
1. Audiences draw upon illustrated emotions in the content
2. Process to fit his or her needs
3. Each scenario is different
Encoding-Decoding Duality
Encoder ------ Message ------- Decoder
Encoder------Message-X-X-X-X-X- Decoder
Transmission Successful!
Transmission Failed!
Degree of Participation
Dominant GAP  Oppositional
Oppositional Gap  Present + Successful = Audiences full participating
Oppositional Gap  Present + Failure = Audiences as partially active.
Partially Active:
1. Audience chooses to interpret given information, but feels
disappointed or left unsatisfied
2. Audience couldn’t relate to the information at all
Active Audience Discoveries
Audiences are defined as:
1. Selective
2. Either aware or unaware of content
3. Actively Passive
Limitations
Hall’s decoding classification  too basic
Why? Audiences offer multiple interpretations
Future Study
Create new measurable devices that:
1. Identify the how dominant meanings are consumed
2. How are the messages conceived by the audience
Result of measurable devices:
1. Brand can produce an appropriated message that reaches the
audience
2. Audience can clearly identify the dominant meaning within
the content of an advertisement
Bibliography
(2013). Samsung Debuts the GALAXY Note 3 and GALAXY Gear with “Design Your Life”
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