マス・マーケットは崩壊したか? : 分衆・小衆論とテレビ離れ論への批判を中心に(<特集>大衆社会論とジャーナリズム)

抄録

From 1984 to 1985 twe new theses appeared in the field of advertising and marketing journalism in Japan. One is "Bunshu-shoshu-ron"(theory of diverse and divided masses) which insists that the mass market has now dissapeared because of the multiplication and individualization of the Japanese consumers' preferenses. The other is called "TV-banare-ron"(assertion that the TV watching rete is decreasing) which claims that the effects of TV advertisments have waned because of a decrease in the TV watching rate. In my opinion these two conception significantly affect the gross amount of advertisements. In 1985 the growth rate of advertisement expenses in Japan was only 2.3% or the second to the worst in the post-war era. And the growth rate of TV-ad expenses was only 1.9% which is the worst since the beginning of commercial TV broadcasting (based on statistical data by Dentsu Inc.) Of course, we cannot assume that all these are caused by "Bunshu-shoshu-ron" or "TV-banare-ron", but at the sametime, we cannot deny the possibility that these assertions may have led to the underestimation of the effects of advertisemets. Being a researcher at a commercial broadcasting company, in this paper I have tried to make an empirical examination of "Bunshu-shoshu-ron" and "TV-banare-ron" in order to check their validity in the underestimation of the effects of advertisments. "Bunshu-shoshu-ron" is a qualitative analysis based on impressions or subjective judgements rather than a quantitative analysis. Using empirical data I made an analysis to test the assertion that there can be no more blockbusters in the already collapsed mass market. As a result of my analysis I believe that the above assertion can be refuted by the fact that many blockbusters are produced even in recent years, and many of them have more sales than those produced during the high economic growth era when the mass market is said have existed. For example, Minolta's α-7000 automatic camera and Tokyo Disney Land both accomplished 70 to 100 billion yen sales in a year. concerning other assertions of "Bunshu-shoshu-ron", I propose the corresponding objections. Concerning "TV-banare-ron", it is clear from Video Research and the Nielsen rating data that there is no trend toward a decreasing TV audience rate. Finally, I would like to criticize the general tendency for impression-based subjctivistic judgements, which are the characteristic of both theses.