Have you ever watched a movie or listened to a song with someone, only to realise you interpreted its meaning or ending completely differently? This disagreement highlights a key concept in media and communication.
The Encoding and Decoding Model was developed by Stuart Hall in 1973. It explains how media producers encode messages with specific meanings into their content; however, they can be decoded differently by different audience members. In our case, the author encoded the ending with their intended meaning, yet my friend’s and my decoding led to different interpretations. This interaction between message creation and audience interpretation is the main port of Hall’s encoding/decoding model.
Encoding
Encoding is the process in which media producers embed meaning into a message. These meanings are based on their context, ideologies, and goals. Whether the meaning is intentional or not depends. For example, journalists try to be objective, yet every person is inherently biased. This bias can come across in their work, even if they don’t intend to. The meaning is conveyed using various tools, including language, symbols, tone, and signs. These elements are the ‘code’ through which the author embeds their intended message.
Let’s take a look at this Coca-Cola advertisement (2023). The company’s goal is to sell Coca-Cola. The ad presents the brand in a kind-hearted, community-building, spirited way to promote sales. The lyrics “Anyone can be Santa” resonate with a broad audience, showing the closeness that Christmas (with coke) brings. It evokes a festive, almost nostalgic mood by using codes associated with Christmas – Christmas lights, the colour red, presents, and happy people. It shows the message that with Coca-Cola, wintertime will be as magical as the advert feels.
But does the audience know this? How the audience interprets and decodes messages sometimes aligns differently with the producer’s intentions.
Decoding
Decoding is how the audiences interpret the encoded messages, influenced by their unique beliefs, experiences, and cultures. Thus, not every person interprets the messages the same. Hall theorised three decoding positions: Dominant, Negotiated, and Oppositional.
The Dominant Position is the intended way to decode. Audiences decode the messages the way encoders intended them to. In the example, encoders see the ad as something magical and festive – they want the same festivities, thus making them more likely to buy Coca-Cola for it.
The Negotiated Position is a compromising interpretation. The decoder does not completely agree or disagree. Audiences might appreciate the festive imagery and holiday cheer evoked but simultaneously criticize its commercialism, compromising the intended ideology and their beliefs.
The Oppositional Position is confrontational. The decoder rejects the intended message, interpreting it in opposition. Viewers might see the ad as exploitative of holiday cheer and greedy, not aligning with their celebration of Christmas (or lack thereof). The festive mood appears insincere, and the decoder contradicts the producer’s goal.
A sub-case of this would be Aberrant Decoding, where the audience misinterprets the message.
To summarise, the encoding and decoding communication model explains how producers encode messages with certain meanings, and the audience decodes these based on their values, consequently having different interpretations. This is often used in advertisements to push customers into viewing the brand a certain way and manipulate them into buying the product.
Bibliography
Xie, Y. et. al., (2022) “An Overview of Stuart Hall’s Encoding and Decoding Theory with Film Communication”. Multicultural Education, Vol. 8, Issue 1.
Shu H. (2017) “Stuart Hall and the Rise of Cultural Studies”. The New Yorker. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/stuart-hall-and-the-rise-of-cultural-studies (last accessed: 17.11.2024)
Coca-Cola (03.11.2023) “The World Needs More Santas | Coca-Cola” [YouTube]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znIyaGS5BNc&t=1s (last accessed: 17.11.2024)
Graph 1, 2, 3, 4: Created by me via PowerPoint.
Haddon Sundblom (1931) “Drink Coca-Cola, delicious and refreshing”, The Saturday Evening Post, Coca-Cola. Available at: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/coca-cola-christmas-30s/1108708. (last accessed: 17.11.2024)
The pictures you use always make me feel cheerful
This blog has truly given me a whole new understanding of advertising! I really didn’t expect Coca Cola’s winter advertisement to have so much meaning behind it. There are so many ‘coding’ and ‘decoding’ skills hidden behind it. They don’t just sell drinks, but give their products an emotional value such as family, warmth, togetherness, turning it into a symbol of the holiday spirit. It’s like they’re encoding Christmas spirit into every bottle. What makes me reflect is, how much of the content we subconsciously accept when watching these advertisements is designed? We thought the advertisement was just ‘enjoy’, but in reality, we’re already being shaped by the way it’s encoded.
This blog is a great representation of The Encoding and Decoding Model! I learned so much about advertising and how it works. I didn’t know that there was so much behind Coca Cola’s winter campaign. This was a great topic to choose, great job!
I really like the detail you’ve given on encoding and decoding, and the length to which you have gone to explain everything in detail so that someone, who doesn’t know what this is, will understand. The Coca Cola example resonates with a lot of us who have grown up with their brand in our childhoods. The way you described the encoding and decoding model was really informative and easy to read, and your analysis on the campaign as a whole is super interesting, with the emotional aspect and what everything may truly mean, so nice job!