The Target Audiences of Oprah’s Book Club
Oprah’s Book Club has become the most popular and influential literary discussion since its creation in 1996. Oprah was able to encourage change throughout America by promoting literacy through her talk show. Ted Striphas explores the cultural politics of Oprah’s Book Club and the prominent participation of women, who are primarily distinguished as Oprah’s target audience. The books selected by Oprah are mainly geared towards women. Oprah attempts to connect with her largely female based audience by promoting an assortment of books, namely all of a similar genre. Oprah generally picks genres that will appeal to the female audience, such as romance, insecurity, and inspirational and sympathetic stories of victimization, all of which tug at the heartstrings of readers (400, Davis). Furthermore, her live talk show audience is almost entirely comprised of women. Thus, the book club can be easily perceived as being targeted to middle class women, also known as the “middlebrow” women of society (352, Aubry). On the other hand, even though Oprah’s Book Club is allegedly a “middlebrow” clique, some authors have different viewpoints as to who is representing the target audience. For example, Aubry describes Oprah as a charismatic individual who is capable of attracting a vast range of audiences, although particularly women, who transcend all class and racial boundaries (352). However, Davis interprets Oprah’s Book Club as an empathetic crossing within differences of culture, while focusing on Caucasian female fans discussing African-American women’s fiction (359, Davis). These papers investigate Oprah’s social ability to engage a widely diverse audience with popular literature. This paper will argue that although Oprah attempts to empower people of all races and backgrounds, predominantly the female population is affected because her selection of books appeals to their emotions.
In America, Oprah’s Book Club...