Audience Theories - The Hypodermic Needle Model

The Hypodermic Needle Model is a theory that states that the audience of mass media is passive, and receive information transmitted via a media text with no attempt to absorb or question it. It suggests that the information from a media text passes into the audience's mass consciousness whether they want it to be there or not. This then resulting in behavior changes and drastic changes in personality.

The theory originated in the 1930s and is largely considered obsolete today.

The purple in this image represents information received via media text. It represents this theory because the information is being injected into the persons head, while they are making no effort to stop it.

This theory relates highly to propaganda. Old propaganda was used to influence mass audiences into joining and supporting causes and changing the attitudes of them. They used bold, bright colours and slogans that told people what to think instead of letting them make choices, leading them subconsciously to believe everything they were reading.