Issues In Researching and Developing Media Projects Research Paper

Issues In Researching and Developing Media Projects - Research Paper Example The portrayal of multicultural aspect of European society commenced during the 1960s in Britain and France with the key motive of creating awareness among the migrant populations regarding the host society’s customs and policies. However, the contemporary media, has a completely reformed agenda, that of assimilating and integrating the migrant and multicultural populations within the predominantly white communities and cater to their needs and demands at par with those of their counterparts. The European mass media, today, through its multicultural approach, largely aims to eliminate or reduce the cultural misunderstandings through representation of culturally diverse communities, as opposed to the historical approach, of merely educating the migrants about the way of life of their host societies. It seeks to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of race, culture or social backgrounds of the individuals and encourage peaceful co-existence through intercultural exchange (Alle yne, 2010). This paper seeks to explore the extent to and manner in which multiculturalism is driven by advertising in different media. For the purpose of this study, various forms of mass media i.e. advertisements, books and films have been analyzed to understand the effect it has on promoting and depicting multiculturalism. The advertisements of popular brands, such as McDonalds, American Airlines, and Dove Real Beauty Campaign among others; the book ‘Londonstani’ by Gautam Malkani; and the film ‘Somers Town’ directed by Shane Meadows are studied, analyzed and discussed to gain a broader understanding of the subject. It concludes that the depiction of multicultural ideologies in the mass media, and advertising has facilitated a greater assimilation of culturally diverse communities and has fostered their identification as significant strata of society which is also a lucrative business