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