Oprah Winfrey is huge name in todays world. This name brings tears, smiles and energy into millions of lives. She is a living example of courage, faith and hard work. With her unending effort she has proved to the world that anyone can do anything provided that its the right thing.
The paper revolves around The Oprah Winfrey Show. It begins by giving a brief background about Oprah and her success. It also briefly mentions the awards and achievement of Oprah as an ordinary person and as a star. Oprah Winfrey has affected millions of people worldwide and thus her influence on the people is elaborated in detail. After this the values and ideology Oprah represents are stated. Not only the positive aspect is mentioned in this paper, but the criticism on Oprah is also highlighted. In the end the overall contribution of Oprah to television and to America is discussed and concluding remarks are given.
Background
Oprah Winfrey is the most influential woman in media according to Forbes. She has a huge fan following. Be it talk shows or social media, Oprah Winfrey is everywhere. Press mentions and her remarkable earning power also contribute her making the most influential woman (Blakeley, 2009).
Born on January 29, 1956, Oprah Winfrey is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in US. She was born to a poor family. She suffered a lot of misery in her childhood. She was abused and also raped. She thought she had lost herself but then her grandmother saved her and showed her the true meaning of life. She went through so much pain and now helping others and taking them out of misery makes her feels better, which is a great tremendous contribution to society.
Oprah Winfrey has the highest rated talk show in history. She was the first African American woman to become a billionaire. Being a black woman she never backed out, she has always moved forward. By 1998, Oprah Winfrey Show had received 30 Daytime Emmy Awards and also received a life time achievement award at just the age of 44. Her show is broadcasted in more than 100 countries. Oprah Winfrey is not just good at talking she has also won three beauty pageants (Krohn Cosgrove, 2005).
Problem Statement
Many leadership, culture and communication studies have been done to study Oprah Winfrey traits and communication style. Oprah Winfrey has won millions of hearts and people follow her blindly. Therefore this paper aims to study how she influences them and what is the extent of persuasion. The paper aims to identify the key factors which contribute towards what Oprah Winfrey is today.
Degree of Influence
In 1986, Oprah started her own show The Oprah Winfrey Show and since then her influence on people kept growing. It is the longest running daytime television talk show in the nation and approximately around 40 million viewers watch her show in US alone (Pop, 2009).
The Oprah Winfrey show was a major influence to women on a variety of issues including child abuse, education, health care, racism and poverty. The show also included healthy, beauty and fashion tips. She covered every sort of issue and went into detail of each one of its which showed her motivation toward it.
The Oprah Winfrey show attracts people from all age groups. She relates to people and helps them in any way she can. In this world of violence and terrorism activities, people feel relieved and soothed to see celebrities working for a good cause. Oprahs optimistic nature helps people to focus on the positive aspect of their lives and learn from the negative side. Especially the black people who have always been discriminated in every way, they can easily open up and even feel that they also exist.
Oprah was aware of the fact that she is one of the few black women to ever have a voice in American society, so she must use it to the fullest. This doesnt mean that she restricted herself to blacks only. She managed to address people from all the races and ethnics groups and won their hearts. In fact she managed to erase some strict lines between different races in America (Oprah Winfrey, 2000). She managed to clear the misunderstandings between the varieties of societies and tried to created peace amongst them. Due to her positive attitude many people changed their perspectives.
The current president of United States of America was also endorsed by Oprah Winfrey. She had never previously endorsed any political candidate but she endorsed Obama as he was a close friend of hers. Obama appeared in her show on Oct 18, 2006 and as a result the Illinois senator vaulted 358 the week following his appearance (Tancer, 2007). Oprah is just like a leader which people love to follow. People have faith in her, she is like an enlightenment to them who guides them and will never let them down.
This is not it. Articles, books and magazines are overloaded with examples of Oprahs widespread influence. Such as according to a survey airline travels choose Oprah Winfrey as the celebrity that theyd most like to be seated with on long flights (Lowe, 1998). She also endorsed some products which started selling like hotcakes such as lemon drop martini, banana pudding and Rachael Rays 5 minute fudge. It just seems the marketers waste billions of dollars in promoting their products through various channels they should simple make Oprah Winfrey use their products and then people would love to buy and use those products as well (Tancer, 2007).
Another very popular story is that Oprah wanted to find her favorite brownie and she found it in the suburbs. She pointed that Lennerts deeply fudged brownies were one of her favorite things and within hours the manufacturer got 1,000 brownie orders. Demand exceeded supply and the brand was globally known as.
The Oprah Brownie (Sotonoff, 2009).
Audiences treat Oprah Winfrey as their girlfriend. A girlfriend who you can trust and share your stories. Fans believe that girlfriends defend and support each other and thats what Oprah Winfrey does. She supports her guests and women all over the globe. She has the art of creating para-social relationship in which the guests and strangers feel the illusion of having an intimate relationship with host of the show. Normally there is a distance between the host and the guest but at The Oprah Winfrey Show everyone talks as if they are friends or relatives (Lowe, 1998).
Oprah Winfrey is so influential that the word Oprah is now used as a word in the language. Its very frequently used in the youth dictionary which means to engage in persistent, intimate questioning with the intention of obtaining a confession usually used by men of women, as in I wasnt going to tell her, but after a few drinks, she Oprahd it out of me. Even the Wall Street Journal and National Review magazine confirmed and asserted the emerging of a new word among adults (Lowe, 1998).
Studying the Success of Communication
The Oprah Winfrey Shows success gives us deep insight into communication strategies and techniques. She might not use these techniques deliberately but they can be used as tools for effective communication.
Fran Lebowitz states that Oprah Winfrey has the greatest influence on the adult population and is almost like a religion (Lowe, 1998). This statement has great depth. Association of the word religion means Oprah Winfrey has a set of rules and ideologies which she believe and have also persuaded her audience to believe in it.
One would wonder why Oprah is so influential. What are the traits and characteristics that one requires to be so persuasive and influential How does she make America and people around the globe follow her According to Patt Williams and Michael Mink the secret of Oprahs success is her sincerity. Oprah states that one of her secrets to success is in believing the fact that she is no different than the viewer. She is known as a great anchor and a great business woman but more than that she is known as a philanthropist. She loved helping people in any way she could. She herself had gone through humongous miseries and pain in her childhood and had successfully overcome all the fears and miseries. Therefore she wanted to genuinely help others to come out of their miseries as well. Having gone through the pain herself, she understands the pain of others. Understanding others make her more sincere in work as a philanthropist (William Mink, 2003).
Another important aspect of Oprahs communication success is pointed out by Laurie L. Haag. Ability to construct intimate relationships plus her own legend seems to be the formula for success. It has been pointed that talk shows hosted by women always had the touch of homeliness and friendliness. These women talk shows started in 1960s and paved the way for the Oprah Winfrey Show (Haag).
The art of managing different voices is also very important while studying Oprah. She is never monotonous and knows how to vary her pitch and tone according to the situation. She has various voice tones that her fans are familiar with. Viewers are aware of the serious Oprah, the playful Oprah, the empathic Oprah and the angry Oprah. This level of connection with the viewers is build over a huge span of time (Haag).
Another important aspect of Oprahs communication is the non verbal aspect. She has been known for touching her audience members and grabbing their arms as she asks questions. These gestures add an informal touch to the environment and guests feel comfortable. Non verbal cues such as eye contact are a strong asset of Oprah. She makes sure she maintains strong eye contact with the guest to show she wants to know the story. Her other gestures such as laughing, crying and screaming make her more human than other talk show hosts. When the audience sees the host cry, they automatically connect to the host. (Haag ,n.d.).
The Church of Oprah Winfrey
Oprah addresses moving issues that matter to countless people and thats what makes her popular. Her shows are not only emotional but are fun as well. She has the art to navigate complex discussions as well as light-hearted matter that the audiences love to watch (Pop, 2009).
Due to racism it was believed that only whites and blondes can have access to money, fun and fame. Oprah made everyone see the right direction. She reinforced the idea that anyone can seek after fun and time. Its not limited to whites only. Americans who were used of racial discrimination liked the new view point. Oprahs book live your best life endorses the concept of believing in yourself and doing whatever best you can. According to her its important for everyone to realize their true potential and then do what they love. Unless and until a person does what he loves, he cant be successful. Oprah asserted the notion of doing the right thing. She believed if you are right then success will follow you.
Oprah also encouraged women to believe that they can find value in their lives and make a difference in the world. She represented the advantages of recognizing women rights. She has made humongous contributions regarding women rights and one of these was funding a young womens hostel. In order to help women she created the Dr. Phil show which assisted troubled individuals.
Oprah has a unique of making people talk about their stories. She talked to her guests in a way that no one else could. People could tell their stories to Oprah fearlessly. This shows that Oprah induced courage in people. People stood up for what they were and tried to learn from their mistakes.
Criticism
Despite of all her efforts and hard work she couldnt stay away from criticism. She made some blunders due to which many people criticized her. Many people felt that they have lost respect for her.
Suzanne Somers was invited by Oprah Winfrey on her show to stay her secrets of staying young. Suzanne Somers secrets were quite unusual and ignited the audiences. In order to stay young the 62 year old actress rubs potent estrogen cream and progesterone as well. She swallows 60 vitamins and supplements daily to remain healthy and show her as a 30 year old. Somer also claimed that all these drugs were FDA-approved and completely organic, natural and safe. Thats not all she stated that she wears nanotechnology patches to help her sleep, lose weight and promote overall detoxification. (Kosova Wingert, 2009)
All in all Oprah was promoting whatever Suzanne Somers did. By the end of the program Oprah stood up for Somers and said every woman should read books related to bio-identical hormones. Oprah didnt acknowledge the fact that these hormones pose great risks for cancer in women. Oprah holds her guests as prophets and shell go to amazing heights to defend them. The problem here is that Oprah is widely relied and worshipped in America. If she purchases a brownie, people purchase it if she discards something, people discard it. Thats why the women health activists criticized Oprah for having Suzanne Somers at her show as it promotes taking of artificial hormones to look young (Kosova Wingert, 2009).
Despite of the criticism, Oprah Winfrey is known as Americas beloved best friend. She is the most trusted and relied upon celebrity in America. She invades people personal space and people dont mind. She questions people about intimate details and people tell her all the stuff willingly. This shows that Oprah Winfrey show is a true success. She is a role model today for African American youth. She has given hope to previously neglected societies of America. She has ignited the ray of hope in her audiences.
Criticism is inevitable and unavoidable. Critics will always be there and cant be diminished. The important point here is how you handle criticism and how you respond to it. Oprah handled criticism wisely and always responded in a timely manner to all accusations.
The Oprah Winfrey show has ended now but Oprah Winfrey hasnt. She continues to connect to her audiences through social media and her magazines. She still contributes into many charities and is trying harder to make this world a better place.
The paper revolves around The Oprah Winfrey Show. It begins by giving a brief background about Oprah and her success. It also briefly mentions the awards and achievement of Oprah as an ordinary person and as a star. Oprah Winfrey has affected millions of people worldwide and thus her influence on the people is elaborated in detail. After this the values and ideology Oprah represents are stated. Not only the positive aspect is mentioned in this paper, but the criticism on Oprah is also highlighted. In the end the overall contribution of Oprah to television and to America is discussed and concluding remarks are given.
Background
Oprah Winfrey is the most influential woman in media according to Forbes. She has a huge fan following. Be it talk shows or social media, Oprah Winfrey is everywhere. Press mentions and her remarkable earning power also contribute her making the most influential woman (Blakeley, 2009).
Born on January 29, 1956, Oprah Winfrey is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in US. She was born to a poor family. She suffered a lot of misery in her childhood. She was abused and also raped. She thought she had lost herself but then her grandmother saved her and showed her the true meaning of life. She went through so much pain and now helping others and taking them out of misery makes her feels better, which is a great tremendous contribution to society.
Oprah Winfrey has the highest rated talk show in history. She was the first African American woman to become a billionaire. Being a black woman she never backed out, she has always moved forward. By 1998, Oprah Winfrey Show had received 30 Daytime Emmy Awards and also received a life time achievement award at just the age of 44. Her show is broadcasted in more than 100 countries. Oprah Winfrey is not just good at talking she has also won three beauty pageants (Krohn Cosgrove, 2005).
Problem Statement
Many leadership, culture and communication studies have been done to study Oprah Winfrey traits and communication style. Oprah Winfrey has won millions of hearts and people follow her blindly. Therefore this paper aims to study how she influences them and what is the extent of persuasion. The paper aims to identify the key factors which contribute towards what Oprah Winfrey is today.
Degree of Influence
In 1986, Oprah started her own show The Oprah Winfrey Show and since then her influence on people kept growing. It is the longest running daytime television talk show in the nation and approximately around 40 million viewers watch her show in US alone (Pop, 2009).
The Oprah Winfrey show was a major influence to women on a variety of issues including child abuse, education, health care, racism and poverty. The show also included healthy, beauty and fashion tips. She covered every sort of issue and went into detail of each one of its which showed her motivation toward it.
The Oprah Winfrey show attracts people from all age groups. She relates to people and helps them in any way she can. In this world of violence and terrorism activities, people feel relieved and soothed to see celebrities working for a good cause. Oprahs optimistic nature helps people to focus on the positive aspect of their lives and learn from the negative side. Especially the black people who have always been discriminated in every way, they can easily open up and even feel that they also exist.
Oprah was aware of the fact that she is one of the few black women to ever have a voice in American society, so she must use it to the fullest. This doesnt mean that she restricted herself to blacks only. She managed to address people from all the races and ethnics groups and won their hearts. In fact she managed to erase some strict lines between different races in America (Oprah Winfrey, 2000). She managed to clear the misunderstandings between the varieties of societies and tried to created peace amongst them. Due to her positive attitude many people changed their perspectives.
The current president of United States of America was also endorsed by Oprah Winfrey. She had never previously endorsed any political candidate but she endorsed Obama as he was a close friend of hers. Obama appeared in her show on Oct 18, 2006 and as a result the Illinois senator vaulted 358 the week following his appearance (Tancer, 2007). Oprah is just like a leader which people love to follow. People have faith in her, she is like an enlightenment to them who guides them and will never let them down.
This is not it. Articles, books and magazines are overloaded with examples of Oprahs widespread influence. Such as according to a survey airline travels choose Oprah Winfrey as the celebrity that theyd most like to be seated with on long flights (Lowe, 1998). She also endorsed some products which started selling like hotcakes such as lemon drop martini, banana pudding and Rachael Rays 5 minute fudge. It just seems the marketers waste billions of dollars in promoting their products through various channels they should simple make Oprah Winfrey use their products and then people would love to buy and use those products as well (Tancer, 2007).
Another very popular story is that Oprah wanted to find her favorite brownie and she found it in the suburbs. She pointed that Lennerts deeply fudged brownies were one of her favorite things and within hours the manufacturer got 1,000 brownie orders. Demand exceeded supply and the brand was globally known as.
The Oprah Brownie (Sotonoff, 2009).
Audiences treat Oprah Winfrey as their girlfriend. A girlfriend who you can trust and share your stories. Fans believe that girlfriends defend and support each other and thats what Oprah Winfrey does. She supports her guests and women all over the globe. She has the art of creating para-social relationship in which the guests and strangers feel the illusion of having an intimate relationship with host of the show. Normally there is a distance between the host and the guest but at The Oprah Winfrey Show everyone talks as if they are friends or relatives (Lowe, 1998).
Oprah Winfrey is so influential that the word Oprah is now used as a word in the language. Its very frequently used in the youth dictionary which means to engage in persistent, intimate questioning with the intention of obtaining a confession usually used by men of women, as in I wasnt going to tell her, but after a few drinks, she Oprahd it out of me. Even the Wall Street Journal and National Review magazine confirmed and asserted the emerging of a new word among adults (Lowe, 1998).
Studying the Success of Communication
The Oprah Winfrey Shows success gives us deep insight into communication strategies and techniques. She might not use these techniques deliberately but they can be used as tools for effective communication.
Fran Lebowitz states that Oprah Winfrey has the greatest influence on the adult population and is almost like a religion (Lowe, 1998). This statement has great depth. Association of the word religion means Oprah Winfrey has a set of rules and ideologies which she believe and have also persuaded her audience to believe in it.
One would wonder why Oprah is so influential. What are the traits and characteristics that one requires to be so persuasive and influential How does she make America and people around the globe follow her According to Patt Williams and Michael Mink the secret of Oprahs success is her sincerity. Oprah states that one of her secrets to success is in believing the fact that she is no different than the viewer. She is known as a great anchor and a great business woman but more than that she is known as a philanthropist. She loved helping people in any way she could. She herself had gone through humongous miseries and pain in her childhood and had successfully overcome all the fears and miseries. Therefore she wanted to genuinely help others to come out of their miseries as well. Having gone through the pain herself, she understands the pain of others. Understanding others make her more sincere in work as a philanthropist (William Mink, 2003).
Another important aspect of Oprahs communication success is pointed out by Laurie L. Haag. Ability to construct intimate relationships plus her own legend seems to be the formula for success. It has been pointed that talk shows hosted by women always had the touch of homeliness and friendliness. These women talk shows started in 1960s and paved the way for the Oprah Winfrey Show (Haag).
The art of managing different voices is also very important while studying Oprah. She is never monotonous and knows how to vary her pitch and tone according to the situation. She has various voice tones that her fans are familiar with. Viewers are aware of the serious Oprah, the playful Oprah, the empathic Oprah and the angry Oprah. This level of connection with the viewers is build over a huge span of time (Haag).
Another important aspect of Oprahs communication is the non verbal aspect. She has been known for touching her audience members and grabbing their arms as she asks questions. These gestures add an informal touch to the environment and guests feel comfortable. Non verbal cues such as eye contact are a strong asset of Oprah. She makes sure she maintains strong eye contact with the guest to show she wants to know the story. Her other gestures such as laughing, crying and screaming make her more human than other talk show hosts. When the audience sees the host cry, they automatically connect to the host. (Haag ,n.d.).
The Church of Oprah Winfrey
Oprah addresses moving issues that matter to countless people and thats what makes her popular. Her shows are not only emotional but are fun as well. She has the art to navigate complex discussions as well as light-hearted matter that the audiences love to watch (Pop, 2009).
Due to racism it was believed that only whites and blondes can have access to money, fun and fame. Oprah made everyone see the right direction. She reinforced the idea that anyone can seek after fun and time. Its not limited to whites only. Americans who were used of racial discrimination liked the new view point. Oprahs book live your best life endorses the concept of believing in yourself and doing whatever best you can. According to her its important for everyone to realize their true potential and then do what they love. Unless and until a person does what he loves, he cant be successful. Oprah asserted the notion of doing the right thing. She believed if you are right then success will follow you.
Oprah also encouraged women to believe that they can find value in their lives and make a difference in the world. She represented the advantages of recognizing women rights. She has made humongous contributions regarding women rights and one of these was funding a young womens hostel. In order to help women she created the Dr. Phil show which assisted troubled individuals.
Oprah has a unique of making people talk about their stories. She talked to her guests in a way that no one else could. People could tell their stories to Oprah fearlessly. This shows that Oprah induced courage in people. People stood up for what they were and tried to learn from their mistakes.
Criticism
Despite of all her efforts and hard work she couldnt stay away from criticism. She made some blunders due to which many people criticized her. Many people felt that they have lost respect for her.
Suzanne Somers was invited by Oprah Winfrey on her show to stay her secrets of staying young. Suzanne Somers secrets were quite unusual and ignited the audiences. In order to stay young the 62 year old actress rubs potent estrogen cream and progesterone as well. She swallows 60 vitamins and supplements daily to remain healthy and show her as a 30 year old. Somer also claimed that all these drugs were FDA-approved and completely organic, natural and safe. Thats not all she stated that she wears nanotechnology patches to help her sleep, lose weight and promote overall detoxification. (Kosova Wingert, 2009)
All in all Oprah was promoting whatever Suzanne Somers did. By the end of the program Oprah stood up for Somers and said every woman should read books related to bio-identical hormones. Oprah didnt acknowledge the fact that these hormones pose great risks for cancer in women. Oprah holds her guests as prophets and shell go to amazing heights to defend them. The problem here is that Oprah is widely relied and worshipped in America. If she purchases a brownie, people purchase it if she discards something, people discard it. Thats why the women health activists criticized Oprah for having Suzanne Somers at her show as it promotes taking of artificial hormones to look young (Kosova Wingert, 2009).
Despite of the criticism, Oprah Winfrey is known as Americas beloved best friend. She is the most trusted and relied upon celebrity in America. She invades people personal space and people dont mind. She questions people about intimate details and people tell her all the stuff willingly. This shows that Oprah Winfrey show is a true success. She is a role model today for African American youth. She has given hope to previously neglected societies of America. She has ignited the ray of hope in her audiences.
Criticism is inevitable and unavoidable. Critics will always be there and cant be diminished. The important point here is how you handle criticism and how you respond to it. Oprah handled criticism wisely and always responded in a timely manner to all accusations.
The Oprah Winfrey show has ended now but Oprah Winfrey hasnt. She continues to connect to her audiences through social media and her magazines. She still contributes into many charities and is trying harder to make this world a better place.
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