Messages
- Messages are the simplest part of the model. They are the ideas voiced in protest. They include brief slogans, lengthy speeches, and images.
- Messages can vary on an enormous number of dimensions that can affect the public’s perception of a protest. A brief listing includes whether messages are:
Some Ways Messages Can Vary
| General or specific | Single or multi-issue |
| Intellectual or emotional | Consistent or contradictory |
| Flexible or dogmatic | Similar or dissimilar to an audience’s values |
| Attributing responsibility for a problem to the audience or others | Attributing responsibility for a solution to the audience or others |
- Messages contribute to the meanings people extract from a protest. However, they’re also modified by the messengers, methods, media, and markets in the context.
