In this blog post, I will be discussing how the use of decoding and coding is used in advertising, audio and television . This theory came from a scholar called Stuart Hall. (Hsu, 2017) states He became one of the great public intellectuals of his time, an activist for social justice and against nuclear proliferation, a constant presence on British radio and television .
Stuart talks about in his theory how producers use signs to encode a media text. The producers would come up with the characters, plot and narrative. He Also explains in his theory about the use of decoding. (Aligwe, Nwafor and Alegu, 2018) says that Stuarts model claims that TV and other media audiences are presented with messages that are decoded, or interpreted in different ways depending on an individual’s cultural background, economic standing and personal experience. For example one of ITV’s biggest daytime television shows This Morning uses coding in the choice of coulors, lighting and setting that we see as the audience to making us feel welcome and establish a connection with the presenters. The prop of the sofa in the studio creates a very casual and relaxed environment. However, what the audience’s sees and feels are very different meanings as Stuart Hall’s Theory suggests. Even though This is made to look like a family entertainment shows sometimes as a audience it can appear distressing to us when we hear about a story on there of somebody passing away or goes missing. This does not just apply to television but many other forms of media as well as radio.
How does Stuart Hall’s Theory relate to other forms of media
Stuart’s theory can relate to the medium of radio. To understand more about what encoding and decoding means for different forms of media we have to relate to signs. This came from a scholar called Ferdinand de Saussure . (Sebeok ,1999) States A sign can be a sound which is then signified to create meaning. It is a audio sign which is called utterance. For example if you listen to a radio drama you might her someone bang their foot and they might say ‘ouch’ the signifier creates the meaning which means someone has hurt themselves.
A Sign can also be in a advertisement to create a meaning to get our attention as an audience . Relating back to Stuart’s Hall’s Theory of encoding and decoding, creators and producers create a product and use certain imagery to create a message to even donate money to charities. For example ,The Save The Children adverts, deliberately have pictures of children drinking dirty water to make us feel sorry for them. However, the public have a choice to donate what they want to and turn over the television and choose not to participate, which this is all part of the decoding model.
To conclude Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding theory can be used in many forms of media such as radio. television and advertisement. While this gives producers and creators context to create meaning and generate messages it also allows us as a viewer, listener or consumer to have our own opinions on media content.
Bibliography
Aligwe, H.N., Nwafor, K.A. and Alegu, J.C. (2018) ‘Stuart Hall’s Encoding-Decoding Model: A Critique’
Stuart Hall and the Rise of Cultural Studies | The New Yorker (no date). Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/stuart-hall-and-the-rise-of-cultural-studies (Accessed: 6 January 2025).
Stuart Hall and the Rise of Cultural Studies | The New Yorker (no date). Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/stuart-hall-and-the-rise-of-cultural-studies (Accessed: 6 January 2025).
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