McLuhan’s Media Message
McLuhan expresses the importance of understanding the impact of media on society in order to fully understand a media’s message.
In J.D Appen’s book titled “Old Media, New Media, and Knowledge,” he brings up this idea regarding a media’s message. He references McLuhan who goes into more detail regarding the subject. McLuhan states that it is important for a media’s audience to understand its message in order for it to impact society.
For Example, Bud Light’s most recent Public Relations stunt involving actress and TikToker Dylan Mulvaney on April 1. Mulvaney is a transgender woman and activist who promoted the company during March Madness. As a result, Bud Light’s audience began boycotting Anheuser-Busch products. In addition, Kid Rock, an American singer and songwriter, boycotted the company and recorded himself shooting at Bud Light cases.
Bud Light was looking to promote and advertise to the trans community in order to show their support. Unfortunately, most of their audience were conservatives which prompted the negative backlash the beer company received. People and some celebrities began showing their contempt for the company as a result of their video promotion. Because of this, Bud Light lost millions of dollars in a matter of days.
Media’s Impact
One of the biggest things regarding media is their interactivity. This function allows people to share and communicate with others across the world. For example, social media like Instagram and Twitter have thousands of users who post videos and pictures. As such, corporations and famous people need to be careful with what they say and do as it could be posted to social media. People can comment, like, and share these posts at any time.
If something “bad” is done, it can affect that person’s career immediately with how fast things spread online. For example, Kanye West’s career took a turn thanks to a couple of factors. Originally he would post bizarre things on Twitter but things went even more south for him after interviewing with Alex Jones. In the interview, he made some comments about Hitler which resulted in Kanye being labeled a Neo-Nazi. Of course, posts and videos about his comments circled the internet as a result. Thanks to social media different messages from famous companies and people can either make or break one’s career.
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