“Countries across the globe commemorate the institution of marriage with a ceremony commonly referred to as a wedding” (Daniels and Loveless, 2007, p.3). Weddings are the only ritual that is consistent across many cultures/religions “and found in almost every society” …show more content…
These studies looked at the influence cinema films had on its audiences and concluded that there were slight influences on how the audience responded, but not a direct link (Jones and Jones, 1999). The research then went onto to assume “that the new mass media were powerful enough to exert a direct influence on their audiences” (Jones and Jones, 1999, p.158), this then brought to light the ‘hypodermic syringe’ model also known as the ‘hypodermic needle’ model (unmediated communication). The model was founded upon the earlier research and studies of propaganda and persuasion, which found that mass audiences were easily manipulated (Jones and Jones, 1999) and information could be hypothetically injected directly into them. This gave the mass media great power in influencing the audience thoughts and actions and this was a strong belief up until the 1940s ((Jones and Jones, …show more content…
Through using a variety of communication methods, both direct and indirect as well as two-step and multi-step which helps reinforce trends and influences within the wedding industry, helping to keep its position as a growing industry. However, it is important to remember the information provided may be biased, especially as information is passed on through third parties (opinion leaders).
The large increase in the WWW and the use of social media sites has also played a huge part in how opinion leaders are formed and the use of celebrity endorsement through them. The use of social media site such as twitter has helped people in the wedding industry to identify their main target audience and spread the word about wedding business and trends cheaply and easily. There are also things to consider when it comes to social media, information can be easily spread negatively leaving an impacting on the business and potentially ruining the reputation and image it has built up.
Sites such as Pinterest and Lover.ly have also given people the freedom to organise their own weddings from their homes and access information and trends easily, with the added benefit of being free unlike magazines. Sites like this rapidly help spread trends with the liking and sharing of pictures with