Cultivation Theory- Prof. George Gergner

Cultivation Theory

While watching a programme the other day called "How TV ruined your Life" I came across this information.  A professor back in the 1960's who researched into the audience and the power of the television over the viewer.

He came up the theory called the "Cultivation Theory"which is:

Over time watching television alters a viewers perception of the real world.  If the viewer sees things more frequently they start to relate this perception of world on the television with that of the real world.

This means if they see something such as a dark alley in a city where crimes always go on, then they will start to believe that they are more susceptible to crime.  This could be at a time even when crime rates are going down people start to believe otherwise because of this increase in watching it on the television and relating it to the real world.

This could therefore be used in a good way as in the television producers could then shape their viewers perceptions of the world to a positive view or a negative one.  This all depends however on the viewer and how often they watch television.  The more the viewer watches television the more likely they are to be "cultivated" and believe more of what they see is in the real world.  less frequent viewers will have more access and input from other sources of media which will change their perception and views of the real world.

Mean World Syndrome

This Professor George Gergner calls the "Mean world syndrome".  This is the feeling of fear a person has to something they see on television such as the example.  We as viewers start to think the world is against us and is a "Mean world".

Mean world syndrome is commonly used in rap music videos with violence and gangs, showing killings and murders,  I could then use this in my own work if I wanted to show that the world I lived in was like this for then my audience to believe this.

However as this was made in the 1960's where people believed in a lot they saw on TV it is not so true today.  People get hold of actual facts and figures which actually confirm their firms told to them by the media such as crime figure or disprove what the media says such as there is a massive decrease in house prices for example.

Criticisms of Cultivation Theory

 McQuail argues that ‘it is almost impossible to deal convincingly with the complexity of posited relationships between symbolic structures, audience behaviour and audience views, given the many intervening and powerful social background factors'


He says that are views of the real world are not just changed by how much we take in television but all of the other media mediums and also our friends and people we talk to.


How I could use it in my own Work


I could use this in my own work by showing images of things that I feel as an artist are important to me in my videos. If i were to make more videos I would then show these images again in more of my videos which then increase the amount of times my viewers see this. This would then make my viewers believe this thing is real in real life or that is how I am.


For example I could place me driving cars in the video.  Then by me repeatedly doing this my viewers of my music video would think I like cars and therefore maybe as an artist copy this or believe in real life I am really interested in cars when in reality i could hate them.

Deadmau5 Marketing- Target Audience

Appealing to the Target Audience (Demographics)

Taking Deadmau5 as an example I first looked into what age group is target audience is which is between the targets of 18-30.  This is considered to be quite a big target audience.  For an artist knowing your target audiences age is crucial.  This is to make music that will appeal to that age group, foe example if your target age group was below the eighteen you could not then go talk about explicit material.

Another reason why target audience is crucial is to make sure your music as an artist will appeal to them more.  This will depend on how old they are and what years they were brought up in, this will be a major factor that influences their choice of music.  For example you would really get many people who are eighteen say who listen to music that was popular when their grandparents were around.

Another thing to consider with target audience is your image as a performer.  If you are a heavy metal player then the norm that the target audience would be expecting you to wear would be black with maybe a chain of some sort from your jeans and tattoos.  If you do not go with the target image then the demographic age will not be as appealed to your music say to someone who does dress like this.

Imagery and text used to gain Fans

On Deadmau5's Facebook page he uses a dark profile picture with his simple yet original "Mau5head" design.  This minimilistic picture is much like his music.  This image therefore will draw in people who not only like this kind of imagery but also the same type of music.

On my space as you can edit your profile lay out a lot more we can see there are more uses of dark colours and minimilistic uses of his"mau5head" logo.  He also uses a number of very luminous bright colours that really stand out form these darker colours.  This the draws the readers/viewers attention straight to the text or image, therefore making the more important text stand out.

The imagery used is iconic because we instantly associate this with deadmau5 and therefore when we see it we have this set image of what it should be like and who it is meant to be.

How they get their Music Heard

Their is the obvious youtube that every artist will want to get themselves into, however their are others ways they can get their music heard by the target audiences.

One way deadmau5 does it is to put youtube links onto his myspace and Facebook page, this will then direct the audience to more his music and therefore getting a larger amount of people watching his music videos.

He also then has video streaming on his Myspace page which means people can click and listen instantly to his music without having to redirect to youtube where other videos may be.

He also uses instant links to where you can listen to sample pieces and full pieces of his music and then also buy it there instantly making it really accessible for the demographic audience.

Contacting your audience

Deadmau5 uses a blog section on which Deadmau5 can post blogs which can be commented on my fans therefore creating a more personal touch to his page.

He also has a regular wall on Facebook on which people can message him and laso the same on myspace which people can post links to other things they think he may find interesting and also comment on things he may be doing or request things.

Album Art and Magazine Advert

My album cover shows a consistency between the image in the back and front cover, showing the same image of the side on man.

This man is first shown in the front cover taking a pill. He is also made up of pills.  This imagery may suggest he is addicted to pills or is constantly having to take them because of a problem.  As our music video is to do with "a day in the life" of style it looks at also the issue of depression and repetition in daily life.

This repetition in daily life leads to depression therefore there is a connection here with the pills ad having to take them for depression they may be feeling.  This will also maybe relate to the audience and they may feel like they are depressed or their life is repetitive in some way and wanting it to change.

The second image is again linked into this idea of depression. We see the picture is of an x-ray of a man with a gun pointing into his mouth.  This is linked because some people get so depressed that they result in suicide.  This obviously is an extreme view of what could happen but is a good use of imagery on the back cover as a sort of warning as to what a repetitive lifestyle can lead to.

For this magazine advert I decided to keep thew colours neutral which again fits in with the theme of repetitiveness which we wills how in our music video and is represented through the lyrics of the song.

I have also shown repetition through my use of the band name and the album name by placing it a number of times on the page.  I have also used a different album cover as this was another one of my album ideas that I had previously and thought I would use it here.  As the imagery of the repetitive black lines again also fits in with the codes in my design of repetition and adds an understated look to the advert.  However I feel these understated look makes it look modern and fresh compared to a conventional eye catching magazine advert.