Music Videos as Promotional Devices: Culture and Influence

Introduction: The Music Video Debate

Music videos are constructed in many different ways. Many involve the artist and others singing and dancing to specific songs, while some tell stories or provide additional narrative context that makes the music video resemble a short television program. A well-known example is Michael Jackson's Thriller, a long-form video that involved extensive storytelling rather than simply accompanying a song. This kind of narrative-driven format still exists today, though it appears more common in country music than in rock and roll.

Regardless of genre, the debate over whether music videos are promotional devices or separate products in their own right has continued for many years. In 1981, music television first began broadcasting music videos 24 hours a day across the United States. The medium has grown to such an extent that it is almost constantly associated with pop culture among young people, and over 28 million individuals watch music television in the United States in any given week. In Europe, that number rises to 39 million. Music videos also represent a significant financial investment—record companies spend over $50 million every year to create and produce them. Despite this, while many would argue that music videos constitute a separate product, the evidence suggests otherwise.

Music videos are designed primarily as promotional devices, and they influence the culture of individuals and their social interests. Pop culture expects music videos, and these videos reshape how individuals think about both music and television. Videos exert a strong influence on everything from films to commercials, such that young people in America and around the world would be hard-pressed to imagine entertainment without them. Much of this influence stems from the way music videos engage audiences in ways that regular television programs and music CDs cannot. Because music videos are highly artistic and impressionistic, they are open to interpretation in a way that other genres are not. The density of potential meaning in many videos draws viewers not only to watch the visual accompaniment to the music but also to decode the nuances and subtleties that specific videos contain.

Many scholars view music videos as a promotional tool and also as evidence that communication is a social action—that mass communication is a means of encouraging individuals and audiences to participate actively in the messages they encounter through media. Viewers engage with the content of music videos and construct various meanings from what they see. This process is interactive: as viewing unfolds, meaning is assigned to the sounds and images presented. There are meanings embedded by the designers and producers of the video, but there are also meanings that extend beyond these, created by the observer.

How a particular viewer interprets a music video—and what it means to that person—is a central concern in research on this topic. Perception is especially important because viewers are also potential consumers: they may purchase the artist's album or buy clothing similar to what they see worn in the video. It is therefore critical to understand how music videos shape audience reactions and how they promote various artists, their lifestyles, and associated products.

Music videos serve many purposes and play several different roles. One of the most significant is the role of promotion and persuasion. In social action theory, the relationship between a message's intent, its content, and its interpretation by receivers is paramount. This theory examines argument from three angles: arguments as perceived and judged by those who receive them; arguments as created by the actors or producers of a given work; and arguments that emerge through the process of interaction with a message, independent of what either sender or receiver consciously intends.

Music Videos as Promotional Devices

Music videos have only had a strong cultural presence since the creation of MTV. Videos existed before then, but MTV brought them into the living rooms of millions and showcased them in a way no previous broadcast format had. Since the music video industry rose to prominence, a substantial body of writing has emerged that analyzes and critiques MTV, the music industry, and music videos more broadly. Unfortunately, most of the studies conducted in this area have not focused on the audience—that is, on how viewers perceive the videos they watch and interpret the content being portrayed.

This gap makes it difficult to determine whether music videos are designed for promotion or whether they function as separate products. Part of the difficulty is that videos originally conceived as standalone products may nonetheless be perceived as promotional material by their audiences. To truly understand popular culture and contemporary society, analysis must come not only from the perspective of those who create the videos but also from the perspective of those who watch them.

Some research has focused on how audiences respond to music videos, and much of this has appeared in the context of political communication. Other work has examined the social influence of music videos and their potential to shape different aspects of society. Descriptive studies have analyzed the content of various music videos, focusing in particular on gender, sex, and violence. Some researchers have determined that nearly 60% of music videos today portray sexual activity in some form, and slightly over 50% depict violence or criminal activity of some kind. Other studies have used coding procedures to examine violence and sexual elements alongside outlet type and general trends in video production (Baxter, De Riemer, Landini, Leslie, & Singeltary, 1985).

Audience Perception and Message Interpretation

These studies have indicated that violent behavior and sexual activity appear in over 55% of the videos examined. Music videos also tend to exhibit a relatively high degree of sexism, with women frequently portrayed as decorative rather than as active participants. Many videos additionally glorify material wealth and luxury as primary measures of success. While female characters in music videos do not appear as victims of violent acts as often as male characters do, over 60% of the videos studied contained some form of violence or aggression (Fiske, 1986; Kaplan, 1987). Many videos also engage with subject matter that most would consider controversial. However, these studies examined only what researchers perceived to be in the video—not whether viewers shared those perceptions.

The content of music videos is frequently regarded as more than entertainment. To many researchers, videos function as promotional material first and foremost. The concern extends beyond the question of whether a video is promotional to the question of what behaviors the video appears to endorse. A video is naturally designed to promote the artist and their music, but it appears that violence and other problematic content are also being promoted through the work of many artists today.

Some studies have examined viewer interpretations directly, asking participants open-ended questions about particular videos and the messages they conveyed. Researchers noted differences in perception related to gender, race, and whether the participant was already a fan of the artist in question (Brown & Campbell, 1986). Some of these findings also linked sexual activity and violence in videos to audience responses. This suggests a clear correlation between music video content and the influence those videos exert on their audiences.

This correlation speaks to the promotional power of music videos. It does not mean that every viewer will adopt the behaviors depicted, but it does establish that videos have the capacity to shape the reactions of certain individuals—promoting not only an artist but also a particular lifestyle or set of values, whether intentionally or inadvertently. Notably, studies that artificially introduced sexual themes and violence into videos found that these additions did not enhance the audience's overall regard for the video (Doherty, 1987).

Other research has examined the effects of violence and sexual content on how audiences evaluate a video across dimensions of visual appeal, emotional response, and musical appeal. Participants were shown videos pre-categorized as having high, moderate, or low levels of visual violence and sexual themes, then asked to rate the music, video, and lyrics on scales measuring emotional and visual response. Contrary to earlier findings, this study found that sexual themes had a positive effect on appeal, while violence had a negative effect (Aufderheide, 1986).

Another study focused specifically on the portrayal of violence against women in music videos. It found that men exposed to videos depicting violence toward women developed more antagonistic attitudes toward women generally, though no evidence emerged that such videos directly caused violent behavior in the real world (Hughley, 1991). This research also underscored the importance of distinguishing between lyrical content and visual content. The lyrics in a music video are largely the same as those on a CD, but the visual component brings the words to life and adds additional layers of meaning. Research suggests that audiences process music cognitively in ways that parallel the processing of music video content (Kinder, 1984).

A study that allowed one group of participants to hear only the audio from a video while another group watched the full video found substantial differences in meaning between the two groups. This finding is significant: listening to a CD alone may not promote a lifestyle or attitude in the same way that watching the corresponding music video can (Frey, Botan, Friedman, & Kreps, 1991). The question of whether music videos are inherently persuasive or promotional thus remains central to the field. Several key research questions must be addressed:

• Do viewers perceive music videos as argumentative or persuasive material, and to what extent?
• How are dominant claims or messages identified in music videos?
• Are audience members influenced by the messages they see in music videos?
• Are music videos regarded by audience members as political or social statements?
• Is an audience member's like or dislike for a particular music video associated with the influence it has over that person?
• Do audience members judge a music video on whether it attempts to influence their behavior or attitude?
• Do audience members see music videos as influential in their lives, and to what extent?
• Do audience members believe that those who create music videos seek audience agreement with their main promotional message?

These questions are important because they illuminate the relationship between the creators of music videos and the audiences who view them. An artist may intend a specific message, but viewers may interpret something entirely different. When this happens, unintended messages can reach an audience—messages that the artist never sought to convey. It is therefore vital that the messages transmitted through music videos align, as closely as possible, with the artist's intent.

Conclusion

It is important to consider what is meant by the term "promotional material" because many think of it simply as a way to promote an artist and make that artist's music more popular. This understanding is largely accurate, but what music videos actually promote when audiences watch them is also a form of promotional content—one that is not always equivalent to promoting a particular artist or their music. For example, music videos that depict extensive sexual activity and violence can be said to promote those behaviors, even if the artist does not personally condone them. Many young people—including children—watch music videos and may not recognize that what they are seeing does not reflect how real life and society should function.

There is therefore significant concern that music videos often promote content beyond the artist responsible for creating them. To fully understand the promotional dimensions of music videos, it is essential to develop a complete and nuanced understanding of what "promotion" means in this context. While music videos are designed as promotional devices to sell an artist and their music, the promotion of particular lifestyles depicted in many videos is increasingly a matter of public concern—one that may, in some cases, overshadow the music itself.

It appears that not all viewers of music videos pay primary attention to the music being performed; many are more focused on the visual content and the lifestyle imagery it conveys. This is beneficial when videos model positive behaviors and attitudes, but it becomes problematic when videos normalize violence or promiscuous sexual activity. When artists create music videos—for promotional purposes or otherwise—it would serve society well if those artists paused to consider what they are actually promoting, so that the well-being of the audiences who watch those videos can be safeguarded as much as possible.

References

Aufderheide, P. (1986). Music videos: The look of the sound. Journal of Communication, 36, 57–78.

Baxter, R. L., De Riemer, C., Landini, A., Leslie, L., & Singeltary, M. W. (1985). A content analysis of music videos. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 29, 333–340.

Brown, J. D., & Campbell, K. (1986). Race and gender in music video: The same beat but a different drummer. Journal of Communication, 36, 94–106.

Doherty, T. (1987). MTV and the music video: Promo and product. Southern Speech Communication Journal, 52, 349–361.

Fiske, J. (1986). MTV: Post-structural postmodern. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 10, 74–79.

Frey, L. R., Botan, C. H., Friedman, P. G., & Kreps, G. L. (1991). Investigating communication: An introduction to research methods. Prentice Hall.

Harvey, L. S. C. (1990). Temporary insanity: Fun, games, and transformational ritual in American music video. Journal of Popular Culture, 24, 39–64.

Hughley, M. (1991, March 31). Rock and responsibility. The Sunday Oregonian, D1, D3.

Kaplan, E. A. (1987). Rocking around the clock: Music television, postmodernism, and consumer culture. Routledge.

Kinder, M. (1984). Music video and the spectator: Television, ideology and dream. Film Quarterly, 38, 2–15.