Essay Sample on Media Case Study

There has been a revolution in the dissemination of information in society today. Media is the plural of the word medium, which refers to the communication channels through which we disseminate data (“What is media? Definition and meaning - Market Business News”, 2020). The data can include a product, person, weather, art, educational content, or other information. The channels of communication include the traditional print and broadcast media to modern digital media. Print media incorporate newspapers, magazines, journals, books, etc., whereas broadcast includes televisions and radios. Digital media have websites, podcasts, social media networks, mobile phones, and other information communicated through the internet. This paper will discuss television show as a media and how Apple has used it to market its products.

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The Modern Family TV Series

The Modern Family TV series is one of the best TV shows that duplicate people’s life f the people. The show has a topic which they focus on, and The shows are aired for free to the general public to view the content. Examples of television shows include Modern Family TV series, The Office, Life on Mars, Friends, etc. Television shows are commercial, and they depend on selling advertising time to companies to make their profit. Companies utilize the shows as a marketing strategy to reach many people due to viewers’ broadness. Apple is one company that used the television show, Modern Family, to market its product, iPad (Stampler, 2012). Television shows apply the Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver (SMCR) communication model when communicating to the viewers of the shows.

Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver Model

The Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver (SMCR) is a communication model that was introduced by David Berlo in 1960. In this model, Berlo indicates that effective communication depends on several variables that affect one’s ability to create, interpret, or be receptive to a message (Lymer & Carney, 2015). Some of the variables include communication skills, attitude, knowledge, socio-cultural systems, the channel used to send the message, the message’s content, the receiver’s senses, etc. (Kumar, 2020). This linear model of communication assumes that the beginning and end of a transmission of information. It does not display feedback from the receiver. In other words, it is a one-way model of communication. It starts when the sender channels the content and ends once the receiver receives it. iPad aired on Modern Family before it was available in the stores. Anyone interested to know more about the product had to wait to either call Apple offices or visit a store once it was available for sale.

Target Population. The Modern Family TV Series target young, adult, old and young families. The people who follow the TV series know how to deal with different social problems in our families. Smart television sets, computers, and mobile phones with screens are now cheaper and readily available hence, many people can own them. Internet availability has also contributed to the number of television shows streamed online. Companies such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus enable their customers to stream entertainment online. The total number of viewers of the final season of Modern Family 2011 was 12.09 million, while the demographic was 18-49 (“Modern Family ratings,” 2012). These statistics indicate that the iPad placement in the show in 2011 targeted a broad age bracket and population. The availability and affordability of electronic equipment and the internet have enabled many online users to stream television programs. Viewers purchased the iPad after viewing it on the Modern Family based on their social and cultural beliefs.

Cultural Context. Modern Family TV series talks about the current wave in the modern families that allow the gay and straight. Media messages occur in a social context that is already saturated with certain beliefs, attitudes, and opinions that vary across races, ages, gender, among others. These social differences indicate the cultural diversities within society. People accept or reject the messages relaid on the media based on their beliefs. In other words, the media has little or no effect on an individual if he or she does not believe the information that is represented. Apple successfully used the product placement on the Modern Family show to sell the iPad as most viewers of the show had embraced digital technology, including smartphones.

Media Theories. Researchers have been focusing on the implication of mass media on an individual and society. Media theories are derived from the study of the media and the assumptions of its effects on cultural diversity. The leading approach in the movie industry that is evident in this is the social responsibility theory. In modern families, there is a separation of duties. The couple in this film take different roles, which show the viewers it is possible to have gays, extended, and blended family. The Modern Family TV series is a premier series that shows three families with different personalities and mindsets. The families are nuclear, blended, and same-sex family. Media theories explain and predict the social phenomena that relate media to various aspects of our personal and cultural lives or social systems (“2.2 Media Effects Theories”, 2020; Cobly & Schulz, 2020). Modern Family TV series integrates two media theories. The normative approach, and the agenda-setting theory. The show describes how families relate to each other, which gives the viewer time to process the information and connect to it.

The Modern Family TV series demonstrates how three different families with different ideologies come together despite having differences in their family composition. The normative approach illustrates how the media is doing to society than it ought to be to the community (McQuail, 2020). The families each face different challenging situations, and through that, we get to see how their relationships and choices affect them. We see Patriarch Jay is married to a young Colombian woman. The marriage demonstrates interracial marriage and how their different culture brings unity with each other. As a society, we can tell that interracial marriages work despite having cultural differences.

The agenda-setting theory demonstrates how the media tries to influence its viewers for public awareness (“Agenda-setting theory,” 2020). Different cultures believe the married couple should sire their kids. In some cultures, it is a bad omen if a lady cannot have children. Barrenness has created divorces and family breakups. The Modern Family TV series, however, shows how you can have a complete family unit with adoption. Adoption has not been viewed as an acceptable way of having children, but Mitchel and Cameron proved to the viewers how a whole family setting could be through adoption.

Audience Response. The people always give a review of how they feel about specific media. It is good to note the response give movies’ rating. The reactions are different depending on the feeling that the people have about a particular item. When the viewer likes the project, it means that they will give a positive review. When they do not like the product, they will not get a useful review. The Modern Family TV series is an excellent program that both positive and negative responses from the fans. According to different TV series review companies, the Modern Family TV series received immense love from children, teenagers, and young adults.

The increase in the divorce rate has led to a rise in the number of blended families in society. Modern Family TV series incorporated the concept of blended families and how they thrive as a unit. A blended family constitutes a couple, the children that they have had together, and the children both of the spouse(s) have had from their previous relationship (“Blended family definition | Open Education Sociology Dictionary,” n.d.). In the show, Jay and Gloria’s blended family represents the rising norm of stepfamilies in society today. Families are remarried or re-coupled, and one out of two marriages ends in divorce (Smith-Driggs, 2017; “Stepfamily Statistics,” n.d.). Modern Family series increased the viewers’ responses to accepting the idea of blended families within the community (“Stepfamily Statistics,” n.d.).

Intersection. The media play a significant role in the communication of change and information. The Modern Family TV series is a great show that cuts across the many aspects of life. It is critical to note the type of family that we have today are diverse. The intermarriage in the communities today have helped make rich and varied families in America. The topics and the themes in the Modern Family TV series show are so many. Sexual orientation one of the many issues in this film. The TV series talks about sexual orientation where there is a gay family, extended family, and blended family. Sexual orientation is one of the topics which forms a great discussion in the United States. The movies try to shed light on this topic that many people have divided opinions about same-sex marriage.

The race is another thing embraced in the Modern Family TV series. Nationality is another issue highlighted in this series, and it is clear to see the different family formation, in this case, including from outside America. The race is another issue heightened in the film; the acts are trying to show that people from different cultural and national origin can blend in and form a great family. In America, we should be careful with race. The family is the basic unit of the culture, and therefore having the people guard the family in the right manner matters a lot. The movies show the communities and the view that people can form any family they want. It is about the feeling that one has toward a partner. Again the issue of adoption comes up in the series Modern Family, and in a different part of the country, many adopt children or the homeless people.

Religion guides the activities of the people in the home and families. Modern Family TV series explains the importance of worship and respect for the Highest. The nuclear and the extended family uphold the values taught in Churches, while the gays have their way of worship. In this movie gay couple, they ultimately do not talk about religion. Marriage equality was passed in the United States that gave the people the right to marry who they love, and it was important for the movie makers to incorporate that in the TV series. The Modern Family TV series explains that it is possible to do everything in marriage. It does not have to be a certain race, or religion, a particular gender, but it is all about who is comfortable marrying.

Conclusion

The movie talks about different things every day in our communities. Choosing a TV show is great because it reaches many people and it can have an impact. The message communicated in the movies is what type of right family should be in America. The target population in the Modern Family TV series is the basic unit that forms a culture. The targeted people are the young, old, and middle-aged people in the union of marriage or getting there. The periods and the cultural context are accommodating for this type of movie. It tells what people want to see and hear about the family. It discusses the common problem people face in families and how to solve them.

References

Kumar, D. (2020). Advanced educational technology (p., 121). Sankalp Publication.

Lymer, L., & Carney, W. (2015). Fundamentals of public relations and marketing communications in Canada (p. 91). The University of Alberta Press.

Modern Family ratings. canceled + renewed TV shows - TV Series Finale. (, 2012). Retrieved 8 December 2020.