LESSON ONE: Communication Models I

To understand ads, we must first look into the general process of looking at media. There are many models that try to illustrate the process of communication. Some are very basic, others are too complex (even for me!).

Here are my favorite communication models:


1- THE SHANNON-WEAVER MODEL (AKA mother of all models):

The Shannon-Weaver model was developed by mathematicians Shannon and Weaver. It is widely used in communication and different fields of social sciences. I think the reason behind its popularity is its simplicity. Nevertheless, the model does include the basics of communication: the sender, the reciever, the concepts of encoding and decoding, noise (internal/external), the message, and the channel the message goes through. Although the Shannon-Weaver model does incorprate feedback, it does not answer the question of effect. What was the effect of the message on the reciever?




2- THE LASSWELL MODEL:

The Lasswell model asked that question: WITH WHAT EFFECT?

The question of "effect" is really important. If you think about it, the whole reason we analyze the media (advertising included) is because ultimately it does have an EFFECT on us.