Media has been used to share information with a wide audience over the recent past. Media has been increasingly used in political campaigns, creating brand awareness among businesses, advertising products and services, and mobilizing people of common interest in various encounters. The influencers in the various media platforms seek to develop trust with their target audience and seek to convince them to make decisions that suit the influencer’s interests. The technical advancements being experienced around the globe have led to most communication being done through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and bloggers. The effects of social media can be negative or positive depending on the influencer’s intention, the audience’s perception, and the campaign’s contextualization. This paper seeks to analyze, reason, and discuss the effects of a media campaign on both micro-level (individual) and macro-level (group).
Campaign Effects on Individual
In modern society, individuals rely essentially on media information to make decisions (Pop et al., 2022). Media campaign creates increased awareness and knowledge of an individual, which enable them to make informed decisions. Media campaigns through platforms like newspapers, bloggers, and Twitter provide detailed information on political candidates, issues, and products, enabling an individual to be knowledgeable about the choice to make (Greiner et al., 2023). Through media coverage, individuals form opinions on whether to support or reject the point that influencers present.
Despite the various benefits of the media campaign to an individual, they preset some negative impacts; they evoke emotional responses in individuals. When intimidating and threatening information is shared through social media, an individual may be evoked to respond emotionally through fear, anger, and enthusiasm (Greiner et al., 2023). These emotions are amplified or suppressed by the nature of the media coverage. Often, media campaigns may give people information that is undesirable and make them deviate from key life issues. Pop et al. (2022) articulates that media campaign has caused high desensitization since most of the shared content makes individuals less empathetic to real issues. Besides, the information overload that comes with a media campaign may overwhelm an individual and lead to confusion, apathy, or an individual developing a sense of helplessness (Bright et al., 2020). It is important that individuals be keen with the information they obtain from a media campaign to ensure that they benefit from it; the negative impacts should not be overlooked as they can be harmful to personal well-being.
Campaign Effect on Groups or Communities
Influencers often structure information to reach out to targeted individuals and communities. Information shared can significantly influence collective attitudes, behavior and beliefs making the community respond in a particular manner (Bright et al., 2020). The effect can be positive or negative depending on how the influencers present it to the audience. Notably, media campaigns have the effect of raising awareness in a particular community. The targeted community can be aware of issues that affect them; these may extend from the suitable political leaders a community should consider electing, health issues that concern the community, or even products and services that a community should consider buying (Pop et al., 2022).
Besides, media campaign affects a community by mobilizing their action as it brings about behavioral change and policy implementation (Boulianne, 2020). Through media campaigns, people are aware of how they can get involved in activities that concern the community. The influencers encourage people to take action that will present their (influencers’) best interests. The campaigns often use persuasive appeals to convince people of the best actions they should take (Greiner et al., 2023). By providing a clear message, specific actions to take, and accessible ways to get involved, media campaigns can effectively mobilize a community to take action toward a shared goal. The effect of mobilization towards a common purpose is vital for the advancement of a community because the members can join efforts to either put a leader in position, pass a proposal or amendment that serves the collective good or even oppose initiatives that can harm the society (Boulianne, 2020). Speaking in one voice is desirable as it gives a community power to govern through policies that favor the majority.
Moreover, media campaign affects a community by fostering community engagement and social cohesion, especially when the shared information encourages community-building initiatives in various political, health, social, cultural, and economic (Bright et al., 2020). Media platforms provide a key avenue in which matters pertaining to a community can be shared. Media campaign enables a group to create social power, which provides major pathways for communal conduct and cultural values (Greiner et al., 2023). The effect of a media campaign on a group depends on the campaign objective, the receptivity of the target audience, and the context in which it is received.
However, there are various negative effects of media campaigns on a community. These include aggravating divisions within the community by reinforcing stereotypes, promoting misinformation, or stigmatizing particular groups. Media campaigns can portray certain groups as criminals or terrorists, reinforcing negative stereotypes and further marginalizing particular communities (Boulianne, 2020). Additionally, media campaigns may promote misinformation in a community which can lead to confusion and misunderstanding within the community (Pop et al., 2022). Misinformation can cause people to make misguided decisions that harm themselves and others, such as refusing to get vaccinated or campaigns that encourage participation in harmful activities.
Furthermore, Greiner et al. (2023) articulate that media campaigns can stigmatize particular groups in society by focusing on their negative attributes rather than their positive contribution to society (Boulianne, 2020). Through negative influence, marginalization can grow to an alarming extent which can harm the whole community; this is because through divisions societal power of a community is weakened. The campaign creates polarization and division within a community by pitting different groups against each other. For instance, political rivals may use divisive language to mobilize their supporters and create hostility and conflict within the community, leading to the breakdown of social cooperation and cohesion (Pop et al., 2022). Community members should be careful with the information they access, while influencers should be responsible for what they share to protect the community.
Conclusion
Media campaigns can positively and negatively affect an individual and community. While media campaigns may increase awareness, promote collective action and foster community engagement, they can also lead to emotional response, intensify divisions, promote miscommunication, and stigmatize particular groups. Individuals and communities need to be discerning in their consumption of media. For influencers to be responsible in the messages they disseminate to the public. Ultimately, media campaigns should strive to promote social cohesion, respect for diverse opinions, and the common good of society.
References
Boulianne, S. (2020). Twenty years of digital media effects on civic and political participation. Communication Research, 47(7), 947-966.
Bright, J., Hale, S., Ganesh, B., Bulovsky, A., Margetts, H., & Howard, P. (2020). Does Campaigning on social media Make a Difference? Evidence from candidate use of Twitter during the 2015 and 2017 UK Elections. Communication Research, 47(7), 988-1009.
Greiner, L. H., Record, R. A., Wipfli, H., Strickland, J., Owens, J., Pugel, J., & Matt, G. E. (2023). Evaluation of a social media campaign designed to increase awareness of thirdhand smoke among California adults. Health Communication, 38(3), 437-446.
Pop, R. A., Săplăcan, Z., Dabija, D. C., & Alt, M. A. (2022). The impact of social media influencers on decision making: The role of trust in the consumer decision journey. Current Issues in Tourism, 25(5), 823-843.
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