Entertainment as Media Effect

Abstract

Many of the chapters in this volume examine effects of media messages that are not intended by producers of these messages (e.g., distorted perceptions of reality, aggression, obesity, sexual dispositions) and that are the by-product of trying to attract and maintain large audiences for entertaining, informational, and commercial messages. Other chapters consider the intended effects of messages with primarily persuasive intent (e.g., public communication campaigns, political advertising). Although these types of media effects clearly are important and worthy of the rich research traditions they represent, when considered in terms of normative patterns of media influence, these frequently studied effects are not the primary intended effects of most of today’s media messages. From the perspective of producers, the primary purpose of the preponderance of today’s electronic media messages is entertainment.

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