Hypodermic Needle Theory

The Hypodermic Needle Theory (HNT) or the Magic Bullet Theory (MBT) implies that mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audience. In the 1940s and 50s it was perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change.

Several factors contributed to this 'strong effects' theory of communication. Some of these are:
- The fast rise  and popularisation of radio and television
- The emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising and propaganda
- Hitler's monopolisation of the mass media during WWII to unify the German public behind the Nazi party.

The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by 'injecting' or 'shooting' them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. These illustrations suggest a powerful and direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver. They express the view that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message. The audience is passive and end up thinking what they are told because there is no other source of information.

New assessments that the Magic Bullet Theory was not accurate came out of election studies in "The People's Choice" (Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet, 1944/1968). The project was conducted during the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 to determine voting patterns and the relationship between the media and political behavior. The majority of people remained untouched by the propaganda; interpersonal outlets brought more influence than the media. The effects of the campaign were not all-powerful to where they persuaded helpless audiences uniformly and directly, which is the very definition of what the HNT does. As focus group testing, questionnaires, and other methods of marketing effectiveness testing came into widespread use; and as more interactive forms of media (e.g.: internet, radio call-in shows, etc.) became available, the HNT was replaced by a variety of other, more instrumental models, like the two step of flow theory.

I suppose the message I have tried to directly inject into my audience, is about the enjoyment of life. I have tried to communicate to my audience that life is happy and good and should be filled with laughter. However I am not aiming my video at the mass media, but a select group of people. I do not think this theory necessarily applies to my work on a whole, but there is some relevance in that I am trying to spread a message.