Katz and Lazarsfeld's original audience theory

1. HYPODERMIC NEEDLE
THEORY
CREATED BY KATZ AND LAZARSFELD

2. CORE SUGGESTION
• Mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on the audience and that
it has a powerful influence on behaviour change.
• Mass media influences audience by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ messages to trigger a
designed response.
• Suggests audience is passive and powerless, without considering other factors
such as situated culture.