Page 90 - Effective Communication Soft Skills Strategies For Success by Nitin Bhatnagar, Mamta Bhatnagar

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Mass Society and the Magic Bullet Theory

According to the magic bullet theory, media messages were perceived as
magic bullets. In the aftermath of war, there emerged a general belief in
the great power of mass communication. The media was thought to be
able to shape public opinion and to sway the masses towards almost any
point of view desired by the communicator. To name the tool—‘the new
hammer and anvil of social solidarity’ is propaganda. The basic theory of
mass communication that is implied by such conclusions is not quite as
simple as it would appear. Of course it is based on relatively straightforward
stimulus-response theory. But there are also certain underlying presumptions
of the social organization of the society and the psychological structure of
the human beings who are being stimulated and who are responding to the
mass communication message.
The first set of beliefs about the nature and power of mass communica-
tion was never actually formulated at the time into any systematic statement
by any communication scholar, but in retrospect it has come to be called as
‘the magic bullet theory’. It has also been called by other names such as the
‘hypodermic needle theory’, and the ‘transmission belt theory. The basic idea
is that the media messages are received in a uniform way by every member
of the audience and that immediate and direct responses are triggered by
such stimuli.
The tremendous impact of wartime propaganda was a solid and valid
proof that the media were powerful in precisely the manner so dramatically
described by Lasswell when he concluded that they were the new ‘hammer
and anvil of social solidarity’. There were also the seemingly indisputable
facts from the mass advertising of the time that the media were capable of
persuading people to buy goods in degrees and variety hitherto unheard
of. This belief added to the conviction of great power and it reinforced the
seeming validity of the magic bullet theory. It has also been termed as ‘effects
model’ or the ‘hypodermic’ approach of the ‘stimulus-response’ approach.
The idea that the mass media inject into the audience a dose of persuasive
communication, which has a fairly uniform effect on the audience, was easy
enough to understand. The hypodermic model draws attention to the analogy
on which it is based; the assumption explains that there is nothing interven-
ing between the media and audience, and the effects are direct. It is, thus, like
a syringe entering the flesh directly.
Some people considered media as powerful one, due to its impact
through the advertisement. In this regard several assumptions have been
made which appear to be unwarranted. The first is that advertising cannot
persuade us to do that we do not want to. Most advertising campaigns are
failures and the history of advertising is littered with products, which could
not be sold. Certainly there are some products which were first brought to the

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