Nicole Landis
Trisha Dandurand
English-1613
Reflective Paper #2
June 11, 2008
Injected Society
According to David Croteau and William Haynes in the book Media/Society: Industries,
Images, and Audiences, media creates our ideology (159-187). This is an idea that is supported
by the way the media portrays products through commercials to the American public. One of the
main models used is the hypodermic needle model. The hypodermic needle model “stresses the
effects of the mass media on their audiences and in turn “injects” the audience with ideas and
meanings” (Connor). Although a lot of people believe they are not persuaded by media, the fact
of the matter is that they most likely are. A great number of products advertised on commercials
use the hypodermic needle model. The advertiser hypes up the product to make it seem like a
person needs or should have what they are suggestively selling.
People have a desire to experience what other people experience whether it is vicariously
or by actually going out and doing it. According to Cecil Greek, a professor at FSU, individuals
internalize experiences through interaction…and the media plays a very strong role in our
socialization process within our technological society because what we cannot experience
ourselves we can see…also the media has the ability to provide images of experiences most
people are unlikely to have (Greek). So, when the media uses the hypodermic model when
advertising they are suggesting to us what is important, sexy, and desirable.
A great example of this is the Master Card commercials where in the end a person gets
something that is “priceless”. The first one that comes to mind is when they show a father and
son duo traveling with their Master Card in tow. The father and son go on all these great
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adventures exploring their roots and in turn find out they are of a different nationality. Then they
go to where their ancestors really are from and are in turn fulfilled. Throughout this entire
commercial they are telling the audience how much everything costs and in the end when they
find out where they are really from it is “priceless”. The advertisement is building up traveling
with a Master Card and makes it seem like there is no other way to travel. In a sense they are
telling the audience that if they too get a Master Card they can have a “priceless” experience like
the father and son had.
The second Master Card commercial that comes to mind starts with a woman sitting at a
beach with the song “My Favorite Things” playing in the background. The woman then goes on
many adventures including horseback riding, drag racing, and diving. Again the ad tells how
much money these adventures cost. At the end of the commercial it says “getting the most out of
life…”priceless.” In this commercial they make it seem like a person can only do these types of
things if they have a Master Card. It also suggests that using a Master Card is the best way to
experience these escapades. This commercial is also telling the audience what is considered to
be “priceless” and to have these kinds of experiences is important.
Another example of the hypodermic needle model being used to sell a product is the
commercials for Axe. Axe is a male line of products ranging from deodorant to body spray. In
all the commercials advertising Axe there is an attractive male using the product and as an effect
the male is bombarded by hot women. An example of one of the commercials is the “boom
chicka wah wah” one. In this commercial the attractive male uses Axe in the morning when he
wakes up. Then he goes to work at a grocery store as a produce stocker. As he is doing his job a
women walks by pushing an elderly man in a wheel chair. The woman makes an exaggerated
sniffing sound as she pushes the elderly man away from her down the aisle. The woman then
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begins to gyrate and say “boom chicka wah wah” as she struts towards the male. When she gets
closer to the male she begins to dance sexily implying she wants to have sex with the male right
there in the produce section of the grocery store! This ad is portraying that if a male wears Axe
body products he will be wanted by sexy women. Also by portraying a male in a minimum wage
position they are signifying that this will happen no matter what the male’s economic status is.
The next example of an Axe commercial has an idea that seems so ridiculous to me. The
commercial begins with hundreds of women running through the wilderness in bikinis. There
are also hundreds of other women swimming through the ocean. All of the women are heading
to the same place. Then the audience sees the attractive male standing on the shore spraying
himself with Axe, meanwhile swinging his arms like a monkey. The women are portrayed as
being in a primitive race to get the guy. I’m talking hundreds of women going after the same
man. How unrealistic is that? They advertise this as “the Axe effect” which strongly suggests if
a male uses this product he will receive the same effect of women wanting him just for the way
he smells. This in turn displays to the male audience what they should think women consider as
sexy.
My next example of the media using the hypodermic needle model in commercials is the
Herbal Essence advertisements. Herbal Essence is a brand that ranges from shampoo and
conditioner to hair color. In one of their commercials there is a husband and wife sitting
watching television. Then the woman sees an ad for Herbal Essence volume shampoo and
suddenly gives her husband a sexually suggestive look. She next runs upstairs with her husband
close behind, but instead of going to the bedroom she makes a beeline for the bathroom locking
her husband out. All the while there is a voice saying things like “get ready to have things done
to your body you have never dreamed of with Herbal Essence” and “it turns dull limp hair into
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hair full of body and totally fulfilled.” After jumping in the shower she begins lathering her hair
and making orgasmic sounds. Meanwhile her husband’s ear is glued to the door. A split second
later she is out of the shower waving her head around with her hair dry and nicely styled. It is at
this point that she lets her husband in the bathroom and says “you only want me for my body.”
Next the husband looks at the camera and gives a look that says “ooh yeah.” Now this ad is not
only telling the audience that they should use Herbal Essences it is also suggesting that if
someone does they will get a number of things in return. For instance if a person uses this
product they will be fulfilled. Now this is very sexually suggestive due to the fact that while the
woman is in the shower she is making sexual noises. So in turn if the woman uses this product
her hair will not only be fulfilled or full of body, but her sexual desire will also be taken care of.
It also suggests that a woman’s husband will also be extremely attracted to her. It shows this by
the husband acting very turned on throughout the whole commercial.
Another Herbal Essence commercial that has stood out to me is one for their hair coloring
products. In this commercial there is a woman who has just dyed her hair red and blows out a
candle. Next thing you know there is a hot fire fighter at her door giving her a sexually
suggestive look. Then the audience hears “with color like this what will you get away with?”,
and at the end it says to blame it on the color. This commercial is telling the audience that a
woman with vibrant hair can get away with anything because of her looks which is totally
ludicrous. By her blowing out a candle it is suggesting that the woman did this to attract a fire
fighter who just so happens to be hot. The Herbal Essence commercials try to display to women
what should be desired and how they can achieve these things through what their hair looks like.
All of the commercials examined have multiple aspects in common. First of all they all
use the hypodermic needle model of advertising. Next they all are super hyped campaigns.
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Although I only used two examples of commercials for each product, they all have many more
than that. Lastly all of these commercials try to “inject” the American public with ideas of what
should be important, sexy, and desirable. Volumes of people will say that they are not
influenced by the media, but a lot of the times they don’t look into commercials enough to see
the suggestive ways the media tries to sell us products. What do you think?
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Works Cited
Connor, Gerry. “Audience.” 2001. The UK Media and Moving Image Education Cite.
http://www.mediaed.org.
Croteau, David and William Haynes. “Chapter 5 Media and Ideology.” Media/Society:
Industries, Images, and Audiences. Thousand Oak, CA: Sage Publishing, 2002. 159-187.
Greek, Cecil. “Lecture 1: Media and Reality.” 21 Apr. 2003. http://www.criminology.fsu.edu.