The hypodermic needle theory was developed in the 1920's and 1930's, the theory basically states the fact that the media can influence large groups of people by "injecting" them with appropriate messages, designed to trigger a desired response, suggests a powerful and direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver. The theory implies that the mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences, and assumes that we will believe what we see and hear. It also expresses the view that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the receiver or audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message.
The mass media in the 1940's and 1950's in particular were perceived as a powerful influence on behavior change, this was because during these times they were less sources of information resulting in the audience thinking and believing almost everything they are told through the limited media forms of that time such as the radio and newspapers. A perfect example of this is when a broadcast of "War of the worlds" was performed in the 1930's, the performance was in the form of a real news broadcast and this lead to many people listening thinking it was real and that planet Earth was being invaded by Mars. This is a perfect example of a passive audience as they are believing anything heard on the news.
This theory however is now out of date and invalid as they are many more sources of media for us in the 21st century meaning it is no longer consumed in the same way. Audiences today are not as passive meaning that more up to date theories such as Stuart Halls used of gratification theory is much more accurate. However it can be argued that a form of the hypodermic needle theory still happens today, such as when people report fake celebrity deaths which have been found from unreliable sources, many people do still fall for stories and believe they are true if its all over social media.
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