:: Decoding a message ::

Yesterday was Marketing Communication lesson. As usual, class was packed with students. Lecturer taught us The Communication Process.
It was all about sender (advertiser) have a message, need to encode (into advertisement), need to have the message transmit through some channel (media i.e TV, radio, newspaper), then decode the message (into plain text), transmitted to receiver (targeted audience).

But you see, different people have different perspective, viewpoints when decoding a message. The lecturer cite a very interesting example that leads me to think of something that had ever took place. Here goes the example:

2 cars travelling side by side. One of the driver shouted to the other, "PIG!!!". Upon hearing that, the driver got so infuriated that she shouted back, "BITCH!!!". Not long after, the driver who shouted 'BITCH' ran over a pig. Not only did she killed the poor pig, she was injured and landed in the hospital. The driver who shouted "PIG" was trying to tell the other driver there is a pig in front but that driver misunderstood her intention and thought she was hurling abusive words at her.

This is an example of miscoding a person message. How many times did misunderstand another person because of the words used in a message?

I will remember this lesson and learn to listen with a open heart, that way, we will not have unnecessary misunderstandings...