Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Propaganda shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Propaganda offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Propaganda at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Propaganda? Wrong! If the Propaganda is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Propaganda then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Propaganda? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Propaganda and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Propaganda wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Propaganda then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Propaganda site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Propaganda, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Propaganda, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
. Translation: "Smash the old world, establish a new world."
depiction of a monstrous "European Anarchist" attempting to destroy the
Statue of Liberty.
Propaganda modern Latin: 'propagare', literally "extending forth" is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviour of large numbers of people. Instead of
Objectivity (journalism) providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. The most effective propaganda is often completely truthful, but some propaganda
lie to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the
cognition narrative of the subject in the target audience.
Etymology
The term originates with the
Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (
sacra congregatio christiano nomini propagando or
Congregatio de Propaganda Fide), which was founded by
Pope Gregory XV in 1622, shortly after the start of the Thirty Years' War. This department of the pontifical administration charged with the spread of Catholicism and with the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs in mission territory.
The Latin stem
propagationem- (from pro- "forth" + *pag-, root of pangere "to fasten"), conveys a sense of "that which ought to be spread" and does not refer to misleading information. The modern sense dates from World War I, when the term evolved to be mainly associated with politics.
sheet music to "We Are All Loyal Klansmen", 1923
movement
Purpose of propagandism
The aim of propagandism is to influence people's opinions or behaviours actively, rather than merely to communication the facts about something. For example, propaganda might be used to gather either support or disapproval of a certain position, rather than to simply present the position, or to try to convince people to buy something, rather than to simply let them know there is some thing on the market.
What separates propagandism from "normal" communication is in ways by which the message attempts to shape opinion or behaviour, which are often subtle and insidious among other characteristics. For example, propagandism is often presented in a way that attempts to deliberately evoke a strong emotion, especially by suggesting illogical (or non-intuitive) relationships between concepts or objects (for instance between a “good” car and an attractive woman or a sex symbol). on the cover of
Master Comics #21 (1941), flanked by his American patriotic enemies Captain Marvel (DC Comics) (left) and
Bulletman. Art by
Mac Rayboy.
An appeal to one's emotions is, perhaps, a more obvious and common propagandist method than those utilized by some other more subtle and insidious forms. For instance, propagandism may be transmitted indirectly or implicitly, through an ostensibly fair and Balance (public media coverage of politics) debate or argument. This can be done to great effect in conjunction with a broadly targeted, broadcast news format. In such a setting, arguments using "
red herring" and other ploys (such as
Ignoratio elenchi) are often used to divert the audience from a critical issue, while the intended message is suggested through indirect means.
This sophisticated type of diversion utilizes the appearance of lively debate within what is actually a carefully focused spectrum, to generate and justify deliberately conceived assumptions. This technique avoids the distinctively biased appearance of one sided rhetoric, and works by presenting a contrived premise for an argument as if it were a universally accepted and obvious truth, so that the audience naturally assumes it to be correct.
By maintaining the range of debate in such a way that it appears inclusive of differing points of view, so as to suggest fairness and balance, the suppositions suggested become accepted as fact. Here is such an example of a hypothetical situation in which the opposing viewpoints are supposedly represented: the hawk (see:
hawkish) says, "we must stay the course", and the dove says, "The war is a disaster and a failure", to which the hawk responds, "In war things seldom go smoothly and we must not let setbacks affect our determination", the dove retorts, "setbacks are setbacks, but failures are failures."
In this example, the actual validity of the war is not discussed and is never in contention. One may naturally assume that the war was not fundamentally wrong, but just the result of miscalculation, and therefore, an error, instead of a crime. Thus, by maintaining the appearance of equitable discourse in such debates, and through continuous inculcation, such focused arguments succeed in compelling the audience to logically deduce that the presupposions of debate are unequivocal truisms of the given subject.
The method of propaganda is essential to the word's meaning as well. A message does not have to be untrue to qualify as propaganda. The message in modern propaganda is often not blatantly untrue. But even if the message conveys only "true" information, it will generally contain partisan bias and fail to present a complete and balanced consideration of the issue. Another common characteristic of propaganda is volume (in the sense of a large amount). For example, a propagandist may seek to influence opinion by attempting to get a message heard in as many places as possible, and as often as possible. The intention of this approach is to a) reinforce an idea through repetition, and b) exclude or "drown out" any alternative ideas.
In English language, the word "propaganda" now carries strong negative (as well as political, mainly) connotations, although it has not always done so. It was formerly common for political organizations, as it had started to be for the advertising and public relations industry, to refer to their own material as propaganda. Because of the negative connotations the word has gained, today it is uncommon to admit producing propaganda, although opposing parties sometimes accuse each other of producing propaganda. Other languages, however, do not necessarily regard the term as derogatory and hence usage may lead to False friend with non-native English speakers.)
Public relations pioneer Edward Bernays in his classic studies eloquently describes propaganda as the purpose of communications. In
Crystallizing Public Opinion, for example, he dismisses the semantic differentiations (“Education is valuable, commendable, enlightening, instructive. Propaganda is insidious, dishonest, underhanded, misleading.”) and instead concentrates on purposes. He writes (p. 212), “Each of these nouns carries with it social and moral implications... The only difference between ‘propaganda’ and ‘education,’ really, is in the point of view. The advocacy of what we believe in is education. The advocacy of what we don’t believe in is propaganda.”
The reason propaganda exists and is so widespread is because it serves various social purposes, necessary ones, often popular yet potentially corrupting. Many institutions such as media, private corporations and government itself are literally propaganda-addicts, co-dependent on each other and the fueling influence of the propaganda system that they help create and maintain. Propagandists have an advantage through knowing what they want to promote and to whom, and although they often resort to various two-way forms of communication this is done to make sure their one-sided purposes are achieved.
Types of propaganda
Propaganda shares techniques with advertising and
public relations. Advertising and public relations can be thought of as propaganda that promotes a commercial product or shapes the perception of an organization, person or brand, though in post-World War II usage the word "propaganda" more typically refers to political or nationalism uses of these techniques or to the promotion of a set of ideas, since the term had gained a pejorative meaning, which commercial and government entities couldn’t accept. The refusal phenomenon was eventually to be seen in politics itself by the substitution of ‘political marketing’ and other designations for ‘political propaganda’. propaganda posterPropaganda was often used to influence opinions and beliefs on religious issues, particularly during the split between the Catholic Church and the
Protestants. Propaganda has become more common in political contexts, in particular to refer to certain efforts sponsored by governments, political groups, but also often covert interests. In the early 20th century the term propaganda was also used by the founders of the nascent public relations industry to describe their activities. This usage died out around the time of World War II, as the industry started to avoid the word, given the pejorative connotation it had acquired.
Literally translated from the Latin gerundive as "things which must be disseminated", in some cultures the term is neutral or even positive, while in others the term has acquired a strong negative connotation. The connotations of the term "propaganda" can also vary over time. For example, in Portuguese language and some Spanish language speaking countries, particularly in the Southern Cone, the word "propaganda" usually refers to the most common manipulative media — "advertising".
In English, "propaganda" was originally a neutral term used to describe the dissemination of information in favor of any given cause. During the 20th century, however, the term acquired a thoroughly negative meaning in western countries, representing the intentional dissemination of often false, but certainly "compelling" claims to support or justify political actions or ideologies. This redefinition arose because both the
Soviet Union and Germany's government under
Hitler admitted explicitly to using propaganda favoring, respectively, communism and fascism, in all forms of public expression. As these ideologies were antipathetic to liberal western societies, the negative feelings toward them came to be projected into the word "propaganda" itself.
{{Quote_box] campaigns by governments, which are intended to encourage or discourage certain forms of behaviour (such as wearing seat belts, not smoking, not littering and so forth). Again, the emphasis is more political in propaganda. Propaganda can take the form of leaflets, posters, TV and radio broadcasts and can also extend to any other
Mass media. In the case of the United States, there is also an important legal (imposed by law) distinction between advertising (a type of
overt propaganda) and what the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an arm of the United States Congress, refers to as "covert propaganda."
Journalistic theory generally holds that news items should be objective, giving the reader an accurate background and analysis of the subject at hand. On the other hand,
advertisements evolved from the traditional commercial advertisements to include also a new type in the form of
paid articles or broadcasts disguised as news. These generally present an issue in a very subjective and often misleading light, primarily meant to persuade rather than inform. Normally they use only subtle
propaganda techniques and not the more obvious ones used in traditional commercial advertisements. If the reader believes that a paid advertisement is in fact a news item, the message the advertiser is trying to communicate will be more easily "believed" or "internalized."
Such advertisements are considered obvious examples of "covert" propaganda because they take on the appearance of objective information rather than the appearance of propaganda, which is misleading. Federal law specifically mandates that any advertisement appearing in the format of a news item
must state that the item is in fact a
paid advertisement. The Bush Administration has been criticized for allegedly producing and disseminating covert propaganda in the form of television programs, aired in the United States, which appeared to be legitimate news broadcasts and did not include any information signifying that the programs were not generated by a private-sector news source.
Propaganda, in a narrower use of the term, connotes deliberately false or misleading information that supports or furthers a political (but not only) cause or the interests of those with power.The propagandist seeks to change the way people understand an issue or situation for the purpose of changing their actions and expectations in ways that are desirable to the interest group. Propaganda, in this sense, serves as a corollary to
censorship in which the same purpose is achieved, not by filling people's minds with approved information, but by preventing people from being confronted with opposing points of view. What sets propaganda apart from other forms of advocacy is the willingness of the propagandist to change people's understanding through deception and confusion rather than persuasion and understanding. The leaders of an organization know the information to be one sided or untrue, but this may not be true for the rank and file members who help to disseminate the propaganda.
More in line with the religion roots of the term, it is also used widely in the debates about new religious movements (NRMs), both by people who defend them and by people who oppose them. The latter pejoratively call these NRMs
cults. Anti-cult movement and
Christian countercult movement accuse the leaders of what they consider cults of using propaganda extensively to recruit followers and keep them. Some social scientists, such as the late Jeffrey Hadden, and CESNUR affiliated scholars accuse ex-members of "cults" who became vocal critics and the
anti-cult movement of making these unusual religious movements look bad without sufficient reasons.
Propaganda is a powerful weapon in war; it is used to dehumanize and create hatred toward a supposed enemy, either internal or external, by creating a false image in the mind. This can be done by using derogatory or racist terms, avoiding some words or by making allegations of enemy atrocities. Most propaganda wars require the home population to feel the enemy has inflicted an injustice, which may be fictitious or may be based on facts. The home population must also decide that the cause of their nation is just.
Wants You!" poster Propaganda is also one of the methods used in
psychological warfare, which may also involve false flag operations. The term propaganda may also refer to false information meant to reinforce the mindsets of people who already believe as the propagandist wishes. The assumption is that, if people believe something false, they will constantly be assailed by doubts. Since these doubts are unpleasant (see cognitive dissonance), people will be eager to have them extinguished, and are therefore receptive to the reassurances of those in power. For this reason propaganda is
often addressed to people who are
already sympathetic to the agenda. This
process of reinforcement uses an individual's predisposition to self-select "agreeable" information sources as a mechanism for maintaining control.
Propaganda can be classified according to the source and nature of the message.
White propaganda generally comes from an openly identified source, and is characterized by gentler methods of persuasion, such as standard public relations techniques and one-sided presentation of an argument.
Black propaganda is identified as being from one source, but is in fact from another. This is most commonly to disguise the true origins of the propaganda, be it from an enemy country or from an organization with a negative public image.
Grey propaganda is propaganda without any identifiable source or author.
In scale, these different types of propaganda can also be defined by the potential of true and correct information to compete with the propaganda. For example, opposition to white propaganda is often readily found and may slightly discredit the propaganda source. Opposition to grey propaganda, when revealed (often by an inside source), may create some level of public outcry. Opposition to black propaganda is often unavailable and may be dangerous to reveal, because public cognizance of black propaganda tactics and sources would undermine or backfire the very campaign the black propagandist supported.
arm-in-arm with Uncle Sam symbolizes the British-American alliance in World War I. Propaganda may be administered in insidious ways. For instance, disparaging disinformation about the history of certain groups or foreign countries may be encouraged or tolerated in the educational system. Since few people actually double-check what they learn at school, such disinformation will be repeated by journalists as well as parents, thus reinforcing the idea that the disinformation item is really a "well-known fact", even though no one repeating the myth is able to point to an authoritative source. The disinformation is then recycled in the media and in the educational system, without the need for direct governmental intervention on the media. Such permeating propaganda may be used for political goals: by giving citizens a false impression of the quality or policies of their country, they may be incited to reject certain proposals or certain remarks or ignore the experience of others. See also:
black propaganda,
marketing,
advertising
Techniques
Common media for transmitting propaganda messages include news reports, government reports, historical revision, junk science, books, leaflets, propaganda film, radio, television, and posters. In the case of radio and television, propaganda can exist on news, current-affairs or talk-show segments, as
advertising or public-service
announce "spots" or as long-running
advertorials. Propaganda campaigns often follow a strategic transmission pattern to indoctrinate the target group. This may begin with a simple transmission such as a leaflet dropped from a plane or an advertisement. Generally these messages will contain directions on how to obtain more information, via a web site, hot line, radio program, et cetera (as it is seen also for selling purposes among other goals). The strategy intends to initiate the individual from information recipient to information seeker through reinforcement, and then from information seeker to opinion leader through indoctrination.
A number of techniques which are based on social psychology research are used to generate propaganda. Many of these same techniques can be found under
Logical fallacy, since propagandists use arguments that, while sometimes convincing, are not necessarily valid.
Some time has been spent analyzing the means by which propaganda messages are transmitted. That work is important but it is clear that information dissemination strategies only become propaganda strategies when coupled with
propagandistic messages. Identifying these messages is a necessary prerequisite to study the methods by which those messages are spread. Below are a number of techniques for generating propaganda:
- Ad Hominem: A Latin phrase which has come to mean attacking your opponent, as opposed to attacking their arguments.
- Appeal to authority: Appeals to authority cite prominent figures to support a position, idea, argument, or course of action.
- Appeal to fear: Appeals to fear seek to build support by instilling anxieties and panic in the general population, for example, Joseph Goebbels exploited Theodore Kaufman's Germany Must Perish! to claim that the Allies sought the extermination of the German people.
- Appeal to Prejudice: Using loaded or emotive terms to attach value or moral goodness to believing the proposition. For example, the phrase: "Any hard-working taxpayer would have to agree that those who do not work, and who do not support the community do not deserve the community's support through social assistance."
- Argumentum ad nauseam: This argument approach uses tireless repetition of an idea. An idea, especially a simple slogan, that is repeated enough times, may begin to be taken as the truth. This approach works best when media sources are limited and controlled by the propagator.
- argumentum ad populum: Bandwagon and "inevitable-victory" appeals attempt to persuade the target audience to join in and take the course of action that "everyone else is taking."
- Inevitable victory: invites those not already on the bandwagon to join those already on the road to certain victory. Those already or at least partially on the bandwagon are reassured that staying aboard is their best course of action.
- Join the crowd: This technique reinforces people's natural desire to be on the winning side. This technique is used to convince the audience that a program is an expression of an irresistible mass movement and that it is in their best interest to join.
- Black-and-white fallacy: Presenting only two choices, with the product or idea being propagated as the better choice. (e.g., "You are either with us, or you are with the enemy")
- Beautiful people: The type of propaganda that deals with celebrity or depicts attractive, happy people. This makes other people think that if they buy a product or follow a certain ideology, they too will be happy or successful. (This is more used in advertising for products, instead of political reasons)
- Big Lie: The repeated articulation of a complex of events that justify subsequent action. The descriptions of these events have elements of truth, and the "big lie" generalizations merge and eventually supplant the public's accurate perception of the underlying events. After World War I the German Stab in the back explanation of the cause of their defeat became a justification for Nazi re-militarization and revanchist aggression.
- Common man: The "'plain folks'" or "common man" approach attempts to convince the audience that the propagandist's positions reflect the common sense of the people. It is designed to win the confidence of the audience by communicating in the common manner and style of the target audience. Propagandists use ordinary language and mannerisms (and clothe their message in face-to-face and audiovisual communications) in attempting to identify their point of view with that of the average person. For example, a propaganda leaflet may make an argument on a macroeconomic issue, such as unemployment insurance benefits, using everyday terms: "given that the country has little money during this recession, we should stop paying unemployment benefits to those who do not work, because that is like maxing out all your credit cards during a tight period, when you should be tightening your belt."
- Demonizing the enemy: Making individuals from the opposing nation, from a different ethnic group, or those who support the opposing viewpoint appear to be subhuman (e.g., the Vietnam War-era term "gooks" for National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam soldiers), worthless, or immoral, through suggestion or false accusations.
, urging Americans to buy Liberty Bonds
- Direct order: This technique hopes to simplify the decision making process by using images and words to tell the audience exactly what actions to take, eliminating any other possible choices. Authority figures can be used to give the order, overlapping it with the Appeal to authority technique, but not necessarily. The Uncle Sam "I want you" image is an example of this technique.
- Euphoria (emotion): The use of an event that generates euphoria or happiness, or using an appealing event to boost morale. Euphoria can be created by declaring a holiday, making luxury items available, or mounting a military parade with marching bands and patriotic messages.
- Disinformation: The creation or deletion of information from public records, in the purpose of making a false record of an event or the actions of a person or organization, including outright forgery of photographs, motion pictures, broadcasts, and sound recordings as well as printed documents.
- Flag-waving: An attempt to justify an action on the grounds that doing so will make one more patriotic, or in some way benefit a group, country, or idea. The feeling of patriotism which this technique attempts to inspire may not necessarily diminish or entirely omit one's capability for rational examination of the matter in question.
- personification of Finnish nationalism
- Glittering generality: Glittering generalities are emotionally appealing words applied to a product or idea, but which present no concrete argument or analysis. A famous example is the campaign slogan "Ford has a better idea!"
- Intentional vagueness: Generalities are deliberately vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretations. The intention is to move the audience by use of undefined phrases, without analyzing their validity or attempting to determine their reasonableness or application. The intent is to cause people to draw their own interpretations rather than simply being presented with an explicit idea. In trying to "figure out" the propaganda, the audience foregoes judgment of the ideas presented. Their validity, reasonableness and application may still be considered.
- Obtain disapproval or Reductio ad Hitlerum: This technique is used to persuade a target audience to disapprove of an action or idea by suggesting that the idea is popular with groups hated, feared, or held in contempt by the target audience. Thus if a group which supports a certain policy is led to believe that undesirable, subversive, or contemptible people support the same policy, then the members of the group may decide to change their original position.
- Causal oversimplification: Favorable generalities are used to provide simple answers to complex social, political, economic, or military problems.
- Fallacy of quoting out of context: Selective editing of quotes which can change meanings. Political documentaries designed to discredit an opponent or an opposing political viewpoint often make use of this technique.
- Rationalization: Individuals or groups may use favorable generalities to rationalize questionable acts or beliefs. Vague and pleasant phrases are often used to justify such actions or beliefs.
- Red herring/Chewbacca Defense: Presenting data or issues that, while compelling, are irrelevant to the argument at hand, and then claiming that it validates the argument.
- Repetition: This type of propaganda deals with a jingle or word that is repeated over and over again, thus getting it stuck in someones head, so they can buy the product.The "Repetition" method has been described previously.
- Scapegoating: Assigning blame to an individual or group, thus alleviating feelings of guilt from responsible parties and/or distracting attention from the need to fix the problem for which blame is being assigned.
- Slogans: A slogan is a brief, striking phrase that may include labeling and stereotyping. Although slogans may be enlisted to support reasoned ideas, in practice they tend to act only as emotional appeals. Opponents of the US's invasion and occupation of Iraq use the slogan "blood for oil" to suggest that the invasion and its human losses was done to access Iraq's oil riches. On the other hand, "hawks" who argue that the US should continue to fight in Iraq use the slogan "cut and run" to suggest that it would be cowardly or weak to withdraw from Iraq. Similarly, the names of the military campaigns, such as "enduring freedom" or "just cause", may also be regarded to be slogans, devised to influence people.
- Stereotyping or Name Calling or Labeling: This technique attempts to arouse prejudices in an audience by labeling the object of the propaganda campaign as something the target audience fears, hates, loathes, or finds undesirable. For instance, reporting on a foreign country or social group may focus on the stereotypical traits that the reader expects, even though they are far from being representative of the whole country or group; such reporting often focuses on the anecdote.
- Testimonial: Testimonials are quotations, in or out of context, especially cited to support or reject a given policy, action, program, or personality. The reputation or the role (expert, respected public figure, etc.) of the individual giving the statement is exploited. The testimonial places the official sanction of a respected person or authority on a propaganda message. This is done in an effort to cause the target audience to identify itself with the authority or to accept the authority's opinions and beliefs as its own. See also, damaging quotation
- Transfer (propaganda): Also known as Association, this is a technique of projecting positive or negative qualities (praise or blame) of a person, entity, object, or value (an individual, group, organization, nation, patriotism, etc.) to another to make the second more acceptable or to discredit it. It evokes an emotional response, which stimulates the target to identify with recognized authorities. Often highly visual, this technique often utilizes symbols (for example, the Swastika used in Nazi Germany, originally a symbol for health and prosperity) superimposed over other visual images. An example of common use of this technique in America is for the President's image to be overlayed with a swastika by his opponents.
- Unstated assumption: This technique is used when the propaganda concept that the propagandist intends to transmit would seem less credible if explicitly stated. The concept is instead repeatedly assumed or implied.
- Virtue words: These are words in the value system of the target audience which tend to produce a positive image when attached to a person or issue. Peace, happiness, security, wise leadership, freedom, "The Truth", etc. are virtue words. In countries such as the U.S. religiosity is seen as a virtue, making associations to this quality affectively beneficial. See ""Transfer (propaganda)"".
See also: doublespeak, cult of personality, spin (politics),
demonization, factoid
Models of propaganda
Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model
era showing a caricature of Kaiser William II, German Emperor biting the worldThe
propaganda model is a theory advanced by Edward S. Herman and
Noam Chomsky that alleges systemic biases in the mass media and seeks to explain them in terms of structural
economic causes.
"The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: 'the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.
" "Letter from Noam Chomsky" to Covert Action Quarterly, quoting Alex Carey, Australian social scientist. review of Carey, Alex (1995) Taking the Risk out of Democracy: Propaganda in the US and Australia, University of NSW Press.
First presented in their 1988 book
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, the
propaganda model views the private media as businesses selling a product — readers and audiences (rather than
news) — to other businesses (advertisers).
The first three (ownership, funding, and sourcing) are generally regarded by the authors as being the most important. Although the model was based mainly on the characterization of
United States media, Chomsky and Herman believe the theory is equally applicable to any country that shares the basic economic structure and organizing principles which the
model (abstract) postulates as the cause of
media biases. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Chomsky stated that the new filter replacing communism would be terrorism and Islam.
Ross' epistemic merit model
The Epistemic Merit Model is a method for understanding propaganda conceived by Sheryl Tuttle Ross and detailed in her 2002 article for the
Journal of Aesthetic Education entitled "Understanding Propaganda: The Epistemic Merit Model and Its Application to Art".Ross, Sheryl Tuttle. "Understanding Propaganda: The Epistemic Merit Model and Its Application to Art."
Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 36, No.1. pp. 16-30 Ross developed the Epistemic merit model due to concern about narrow, misleading definitions of propaganda. She contrasted her model with the ideas of Pope Gregory XV, the Institute for Propaganda Analysis,
Alfred Lee,
F.C. Bartlett, and Hans Speier. Insisting that each of their respective discussions of propaganda are too narrow, Ross proposed her own definition.
To appropriately discuss propaganda, Ross argues that one must consider a threefold communication model: that of Sender-Message-Receiver. "That is... propaganda involve... the one who is persuading (Sender) is doing so intentionally, target for such persuasion (Receiver) and means of reaching that target (Message)." There are four conditions for a message to be considered propaganda. Propaganda involves the intention to persuade. As well, propaganda is sent on behalf of a sociopolitical institution, organization, or cause. Next,the recipient of propaganda is a socially significant group of people. Finally, propaganda is an epistemical struggle to challenge other thoughts.
Ross claims that it is misleading to say that propaganda is simply false, or that it is conditional to a lie, since often the propagandist believes in what he/she is propagandizing. In other words, it is not necessarily a lie if the person who creates the propaganda is trying to persuade you of a view that they actually hold. "The aim of the propagandist is to create the semblance of credibility." This means that they appeal to an epistemology that is weak or defective. False statements, bad arguments, immoral commands as well as inapt metaphors (and other literary
Trope (linguistics)) are the sorts of things that are epistemically defective... Not only does epistemic defectiveness more accurately describe how propaganda endeavors to function... since many messages are in forms such as commands that do not admit to truth-values, it also accounts for the role context plays in the workings of propaganda.
Throughout history those who have wished to persuade have used art to get their message out. This can be accomplished by hiring artists for the express aim of propagandizing or by investing new meanings to a previously nonpolitical work. Therefore, Ross states, it is important to consider "the conditions of its making the conditions of its use."...
History of propaganda
Ancient propaganda
cartoon entitled "The Cruel Practices of Prince Rupert" (1643)Propaganda has been a human activity as far back as reliable recorded evidence exists. The Behistun Inscription (c. 515 BC) detailing the rise of
Darius I of Persia to the
Persian Empire throne, can be seen as an early example of propaganda. The
Arthashastra written by Chanakya (c. 350 - 283 BC), a professor of political science at Takshashila University and a prime minister of the
Maurya Empire, discusses propaganda in detail, such as how to spread propaganda and how to apply it in
warfare. His student
Chandragupta Maurya (c. 340 - 293 BC), founder of the Maurya Empire, employed these methods during his rise to power.Boesche, Roger. "Kautilya’s Arthasastra on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India",
The Journal of Military History 67 (p. 9–38), January 2003. The writings of
Roman Empire such as Livy (c. 59 BC - 17 AD) are considered masterpieces of pro-Roman propaganda.
19th and 20th centuries
as foolish.Gabriel Tarde's
Laws of Imitation (1890) and Gustave Le Bon's
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1897) were two of the first codifications of propaganda techniques, which influenced many writers afterward, including Sigmund Freud. Hitler's
Mein Kampf is heavily influenced by Le Bon's theories. Journalist
Walter Lippman, in
Public Opinion (1922) also worked on the subject, as well as psychologist
Edward Bernays, a nephew of Freud, early in the 20th century.
During World War I, Lippman and Bernays were hired by then United States President,
Woodrow Wilson, to participate in the Committee on Public Information, the mission of which was to sway popular opinion in favor of entering the war, on the side of the United Kingdom. The Creel Commission provided themes for speeches by "four-minute men" at public functions, and also encouraged censorship of the American press. The Commission was so unpopular that after the war, Congress closed it down without providing funding to organize and archive its papers.
The war propaganda campaign of Lippman and Bernays produced within six months such an intense anti-German hysteria as to permanently impress American business (and
Adolf Hitler, among others) with the potential of large-scale propaganda to control public opinion. Bernays coined the terms "group mind" and "engineering consent", important concepts in practical propaganda work. on a British First World War recruiting poster
The current public relations industry is a direct outgrowth of Lippman's and Bernays' work and is still used extensively by the United States government. For the first half of the 20th century Bernays and Lippman themselves ran a very successful public relations firm.
World War II saw continued use of propaganda as a weapon of war, both by Hitler's propagandist Joseph Goebbels and the British Political Warfare Executive, as well as the United States
Office of War Information.
In the early 2000s, the United States government developed and freely distributed a video game known as
America's Army. The stated intention of the game is to encourage players to become interested in joining the United States Army. According to a poll by I for I Research, 30% of young people who had a positive view of the military said that they had developed that view by playing the game.
Russian revolution
Russian revolutionaries of the 19th and 20th centuries distinguished two different aspects covered by the English term
propaganda. Their terminology included two terms: (agitatsiya), or
agitation, and , or
propaganda, see agitprop (agitprop is not, however, limited to the Soviet Union, as it was considered, before the October Revolution, to be one of the fundamental activity of any
Marxism activist; this importance of agit-prop in Marxist theory may also be observed today in
Trotskyist circles, who insist on the importance of
Flyer (pamphlet) distribution).
Soviet
propaganda meant dissemination of revolutionary ideas, teachings of Marxism, and theoretical and practical knowledge of Marxist economics, while
agitation meant forming favorable public opinion and stirring up political unrest. These activities did not carry negative connotations (as they usually do in English) and were encouraged. Expanding dimensions of state propaganda, the Bolsheviks actively used transportation such as trains, aircraft and other means.
Josef Stalin's regime built the largest fixed-wing aircraft of the 1930s,
Tupolev ANT-20, exclusively for this purpose. Named after the famous Soviet writer
Maxim Gorky who had recently returned from Italian fascism, it was equipped with a powerful radio set called "Voice from the sky", printing and leaflet-dropping machinery,
radiostations,
photographic laboratory, Movie projector with sound for showing movies in flight, library, etc. The aircraft could be disassembled and transported by railroad if needed. The giant aircraft set a number of world records.
Image:GPU.jpg|The
Gosudarstvennoye Politicheskoye Upravlenie thunderbolt strikes the enemy of the peopleImage:World October revolution poster.jpg|"Long Live World
October Revolution!"Image:1923 Bolshevik propaganda train.jpg|Bolshevik propaganda train, 1923.Image:ANT-20.jpg|
Tupolev ANT-20 "Maxim Gorky" propaganda aircraft in the Moscow sky.
Nazi Germany
Most propaganda in Germany was produced by the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (
Propagandaministerium). Joseph Goebbels was placed in charge of this ministry shortly after Hitler took power in 1933. All journalists, writers, and artists were required to register with one of the Ministry's subordinate chambers for the press, fine arts, music, theater, film, literature, or radio.
The Nazis believed in propaganda as a vital tool in achieving their goals. Adolf Hitler, Germany's
Führer, was impressed by the power of Allied propaganda during World War I and believed that it had been a primary cause of the collapse of morale and revolts in the German home front and Navy in 1918 (see also:
Dolchstoßlegende). Hitler would meet nearly every day with Goebbels to discuss the news and Goebbels would obtain Hitler's thoughts on the subject; Goebbels would then meet with senior Ministry officials and pass down the official Party line on world events. Broadcasters and journalists required prior approval before their works were disseminated. Along with posters, the Nazis produced a number of Leni Riefenstahl and books to spread their beliefs.
Image:Liberators-Kultur-Terror-Anti-Americanism-1944-Nazi-Propaganda-Poster.jpg|Nazi Poster depicting American "liberators" as monster.Image:Nazi_poster_Mutter_und_Kind.jpg|"Mother and Child" poster for charity subscription.Image:Nazi_poster_Alle_Zehnjährigen_zu_uns.jpg|"All 10-year-olds to us."Image:Nazi_poster_Der_ewige_Jude.jpg|
The Eternal Jew (film) poster for a movie.Image:Nazi_poster_Mütter_Kämft_für_eure_Kinder.jpg|"Mothers Fight for your Children."Image:Nazi_poster_Nederlanders.jpg|Invites Dutchmen to join the SS.Image:EnthanasiePropaganda.jpg|Poster promoting eugenics and euthanasia of disabled people.Image:dove.jpg] poster portraying Adolf Hitler. Text: "Long Live Germany!"
Cold War propaganda
from 1967The United States and the Soviet Union both used propaganda extensively during the Cold War. Both sides used film, television, and radio programming to influence their own citizens, each other, and Third World nations. The United States Information Agency operated the
Voice of America as an official government station. Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, which were in part supported by the
Central Intelligence Agency, provided grey propaganda in news and entertainment programs to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union respectively. The Soviet Union's official government station, Radio Moscow, broadcast white propaganda, while Radio Peace and Freedom broadcast grey propaganda. Both sides also broadcast black propaganda programs in periods of special crises. .
In 1948, the
United Kingdom's Foreign Office created the IRD (
Information Research Department) which took over from wartime and slightly post-war departments such as the
Minister of Information and dispensed propaganda via various media such as the BBC and publishing.
The
Sino-Soviet split between the Soviet Union and
People's Republic of China resulted in a number of cross-border operations. One technique developed during this period was the "backwards transmission", in which the radio program was recorded and played backwards over the air. (This was done so that messages meant to be received by the other government could be heard, while the average listener could not understand the content of the program.)
When describing life in capitalist countries, in the US in particular, propaganda focused on social issues such as poverty and anti-union action by the government. Workers in capitalist countries were portrayed as "ideologically close". Propaganda claimed rich people from the US derived their income from weapons manufacturing, and claimed that there was substantial racism or
neo-fascism in the US.n propaganda poster depicting a soldier destroying the
U.S. Capitol Building.When describing life in Communist countries, western propaganda sought to depict an image of a citizenry held captive by governments that brainwash them. The West also created a fear of the East, by depicting an aggressive Soviet Union. In the Americas,
Cuba served as a major source and a target of propaganda from both black and white stations operated by the CIA and Cuban exile groups. Radio Habana Cuba, in turn, broadcast original programming, relayed Radio Moscow, and broadcast
The Voice of Vietnam as well as alleged confessions from the crew of the
USS Pueblo (AGER-2).
George Orwell's novels
Animal Farm and
Nineteen Eighty-Four are virtual textbooks on the use of propaganda. Though not set in the Soviet Union, these books are about totalitarian regimes in which language is constantly corrupted for political purposes. These novels were, ironically, used for explicit propaganda. The
CIA, for example, secretly commissioned an
animated film adaptation of
Animal Farm in the 1950s with small changes to the original story to suit its own needs.
Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe
in Hungary in 1989.During the democratic
revolutions of 1989 in Central and Eastern Europe the propaganda poster was important weapon in the hand of the opposition. Brave printed and hand-made political posters appeared on the Berlin Wall, on the statue of St. Wenseslas in Prague and around the unmarked grave of
Imre Nagy in
Budapest and the role of them was indispensable for the democratic change.
The Afghan War
In the 2001
War in Afghanistan (2001–present),
psychological operations tactics were employed to demoralize the Taliban and to win the sympathies of the Afghan population. At least six
EC-130E aircraft were used to jam local radio transmissions and transmit replacement propaganda messages.Pamphlets were also dropped throughout Afghanistan, offering rewards for Osama bin Laden and other individuals, portraying Americans as friends of Afghanistan and emphasizing various negative aspects of the Taliban. Another shows a picture of Mohammed Omar in a set of crosshairs with the words "We are watching." This Technique has been shown to be rather ineffective in terms of long term opinions change given current political and social conditions in Afghanistan.
The US Air Force can use
cluster bombs to deliver leaflets. The LBU-30 clusterbomb is designed to allow an aircraft to deliver leaflets to a target area while minimizing wind drift.
The Iraq War
Psychological operations pamphlet disseminated in Iraq. Text: "This is your future al-Zarqawi" and shows
al-Qaeda fighter
al-Zarqawi caught in a rat trap.During the
2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi Information Minister
Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf repeatedly claimed Iraqi forces were decisively winning every battle. Even up to the overthrow of the Iraqi government at
Baghdad, he maintained that the United States would soon be defeated, in contradiction with all other media. Due to this, he quickly became a
cult figure in the West, and gained recognition on the
. Translation: "Smash the old world, establish a new world."
depiction of a monstrous "European
Anarchist" attempting to destroy the Statue of Liberty.
Propaganda modern Latin: 'propagare', literally "extending forth" is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviour of large numbers of people. Instead of
Objectivity (journalism) providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. The most effective propaganda is often completely truthful, but some propaganda lie to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the
cognition narrative of the subject in the target audience.
Etymology
The term originates with the
Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (
sacra congregatio christiano nomini propagando or
Congregatio de Propaganda Fide), which was founded by Pope Gregory XV in 1622, shortly after the start of the Thirty Years' War. This department of the pontifical administration charged with the spread of Catholicism and with the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs in mission territory.
The Latin stem
propagationem- (from pro- "forth" + *pag-, root of pangere "to fasten"), conveys a sense of "that which ought to be spread" and does not refer to misleading information. The modern sense dates from World War I, when the term evolved to be mainly associated with politics.
sheet music to "We Are All Loyal Klansmen", 1923
movement
Purpose of propagandism
The aim of propagandism is to influence people's opinions or behaviours actively, rather than merely to communication the facts about something. For example, propaganda might be used to gather either support or disapproval of a certain position, rather than to simply present the position, or to try to convince people to buy something, rather than to simply let them know there is some thing on the market.
What separates propagandism from "normal" communication is in ways by which the message attempts to shape opinion or behaviour, which are often subtle and insidious among other characteristics. For example, propagandism is often presented in a way that attempts to deliberately evoke a strong emotion, especially by suggesting illogical (or non-intuitive) relationships between concepts or objects (for instance between a “good” car and an attractive woman or a sex symbol). on the cover of
Master Comics #21 (1941), flanked by his American patriotic enemies
Captain Marvel (DC Comics) (left) and
Bulletman. Art by
Mac Rayboy.
An appeal to one's emotions is, perhaps, a more obvious and common propagandist method than those utilized by some other more subtle and insidious forms. For instance, propagandism may be transmitted indirectly or implicitly, through an ostensibly fair and Balance (public media coverage of politics) debate or argument. This can be done to great effect in conjunction with a broadly targeted, broadcast news format. In such a setting, arguments using "red herring" and other ploys (such as Ignoratio elenchi) are often used to divert the audience from a critical issue, while the intended message is suggested through indirect means.
This sophisticated type of diversion utilizes the appearance of lively debate within what is actually a carefully focused spectrum, to generate and justify deliberately conceived assumptions. This technique avoids the distinctively biased appearance of one sided rhetoric, and works by presenting a contrived premise for an argument as if it were a universally accepted and obvious truth, so that the audience naturally assumes it to be correct.
By maintaining the range of debate in such a way that it appears inclusive of differing points of view, so as to suggest fairness and balance, the suppositions suggested become accepted as fact. Here is such an example of a hypothetical situation in which the opposing viewpoints are supposedly represented: the hawk (see:
hawkish) says, "we must stay the course", and the dove says, "The war is a disaster and a failure", to which the hawk responds, "In war things seldom go smoothly and we must not let setbacks affect our determination", the dove retorts, "setbacks are setbacks, but failures are failures."
In this example, the actual validity of the war is not discussed and is never in contention. One may naturally assume that the war was not fundamentally wrong, but just the result of miscalculation, and therefore, an error, instead of a crime. Thus, by maintaining the appearance of equitable discourse in such debates, and through continuous inculcation, such focused arguments succeed in compelling the audience to logically deduce that the presupposions of debate are unequivocal truisms of the given subject.
The method of propaganda is essential to the word's meaning as well. A message does not have to be untrue to qualify as propaganda. The message in modern propaganda is often not blatantly untrue. But even if the message conveys only "true" information, it will generally contain partisan bias and fail to present a complete and balanced consideration of the issue. Another common characteristic of propaganda is volume (in the sense of a large amount). For example, a propagandist may seek to influence opinion by attempting to get a message heard in as many places as possible, and as often as possible. The intention of this approach is to a) reinforce an idea through repetition, and b) exclude or "drown out" any alternative ideas.
In
English language, the word "propaganda" now carries strong negative (as well as political, mainly) connotations, although it has not always done so. It was formerly common for political organizations, as it had started to be for the advertising and public relations industry, to refer to their own material as propaganda. Because of the negative connotations the word has gained, today it is uncommon to admit producing propaganda, although opposing parties sometimes accuse each other of producing propaganda. Other languages, however, do not necessarily regard the term as derogatory and hence usage may lead to
False friend with non-native English speakers.)
Public relations pioneer Edward Bernays in his classic studies eloquently describes propaganda as the purpose of communications. In
Crystallizing Public Opinion, for example, he dismisses the semantic differentiations (“Education is valuable, commendable, enlightening, instructive. Propaganda is insidious, dishonest, underhanded, misleading.”) and instead concentrates on purposes. He writes (p. 212), “Each of these nouns carries with it social and moral implications... The only difference between ‘propaganda’ and ‘education,’ really, is in the point of view. The advocacy of what we believe in is education. The advocacy of what we don’t believe in is propaganda.”
The reason propaganda exists and is so widespread is because it serves various social purposes, necessary ones, often popular yet potentially corrupting. Many institutions such as media, private corporations and government itself are literally propaganda-addicts, co-dependent on each other and the fueling influence of the propaganda system that they help create and maintain. Propagandists have an advantage through knowing what they want to promote and to whom, and although they often resort to various two-way forms of communication this is done to make sure their one-sided purposes are achieved.
Types of propaganda
Propaganda shares techniques with
advertising and public relations. Advertising and public relations can be thought of as propaganda that promotes a commercial product or shapes the perception of an organization, person or brand, though in post-World War II usage the word "propaganda" more typically refers to political or nationalism uses of these techniques or to the promotion of a set of ideas, since the term had gained a pejorative meaning, which commercial and government entities couldn’t accept. The refusal phenomenon was eventually to be seen in politics itself by the substitution of ‘political marketing’ and other designations for ‘political propaganda’. propaganda posterPropaganda was often used to influence opinions and beliefs on religious issues, particularly during the split between the Catholic Church and the
Protestants. Propaganda has become more common in
political contexts, in particular to refer to certain efforts sponsored by governments, political groups, but also often covert interests. In the early 20th century the term propaganda was also used by the founders of the nascent
public relations industry to describe their activities. This usage died out around the time of World War II, as the industry started to avoid the word, given the pejorative connotation it had acquired.
Literally translated from the
Latin gerundive as "things which must be disseminated", in some cultures the term is neutral or even positive, while in others the term has acquired a strong negative connotation. The connotations of the term "propaganda" can also vary over time. For example, in
Portuguese language and some Spanish language speaking countries, particularly in the Southern Cone, the word "propaganda" usually refers to the most common manipulative media — "advertising".
In English, "propaganda" was originally a neutral term used to describe the dissemination of information in favor of any given cause. During the 20th century, however, the term acquired a thoroughly negative meaning in western countries, representing the intentional dissemination of often false, but certainly "compelling" claims to support or justify political actions or ideologies. This redefinition arose because both the Soviet Union and
Germany's government under Hitler admitted explicitly to using propaganda favoring, respectively,
communism and
fascism, in all forms of public expression. As these ideologies were antipathetic to liberal western societies, the negative feelings toward them came to be projected into the word "propaganda" itself.
{{Quote_box] campaigns by governments, which are intended to encourage or discourage certain forms of behaviour (such as wearing seat belts, not smoking, not littering and so forth). Again, the emphasis is more political in propaganda. Propaganda can take the form of leaflets, posters, TV and radio broadcasts and can also extend to any other Mass media. In the case of the United States, there is also an important legal (imposed by law) distinction between advertising (a type of
overt propaganda) and what the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an arm of the United States Congress, refers to as "covert propaganda."
Journalistic theory generally holds that news items should be objective, giving the reader an accurate background and analysis of the subject at hand. On the other hand, advertisements evolved from the traditional commercial advertisements to include also a new type in the form of
paid articles or broadcasts disguised as news. These generally present an issue in a very subjective and often misleading light, primarily meant to persuade rather than inform. Normally they use only subtle
propaganda techniques and not the more obvious ones used in traditional commercial advertisements. If the reader believes that a paid advertisement is in fact a news item, the message the advertiser is trying to communicate will be more easily "believed" or "internalized."
Such advertisements are considered obvious examples of "covert" propaganda because they take on the appearance of objective information rather than the appearance of propaganda, which is misleading. Federal law specifically mandates that any advertisement appearing in the format of a news item
must state that the item is in fact a
paid advertisement. The Bush Administration has been criticized for allegedly producing and disseminating covert propaganda in the form of television programs, aired in the United States, which appeared to be legitimate news broadcasts and did not include any information signifying that the programs were not generated by a private-sector news source.
Propaganda, in a narrower use of the term, connotes deliberately false or misleading information that supports or furthers a political (but not only) cause or the interests of those with power.The propagandist seeks to change the way people understand an issue or situation for the purpose of changing their actions and expectations in ways that are desirable to the interest group. Propaganda, in this sense, serves as a corollary to
censorship in which the same purpose is achieved, not by filling people's minds with approved information, but by preventing people from being confronted with opposing points of view. What sets propaganda apart from other forms of advocacy is the willingness of the propagandist to change people's understanding through
deception and confusion rather than persuasion and understanding. The leaders of an organization know the information to be one sided or untrue, but this may not be true for the rank and file members who help to disseminate the propaganda.
More in line with the religion roots of the term, it is also used widely in the debates about new religious movements (NRMs), both by people who defend them and by people who oppose them. The latter pejoratively call these NRMs
cults. Anti-cult movement and
Christian countercult movement accuse the leaders of what they consider cults of using propaganda extensively to recruit followers and keep them. Some social scientists, such as the late Jeffrey Hadden, and CESNUR affiliated scholars accuse ex-members of "cults" who became vocal critics and the
anti-cult movement of making these unusual religious movements look bad without sufficient reasons.
Propaganda is a powerful weapon in war; it is used to dehumanize and create hatred toward a supposed enemy, either internal or external, by creating a false image in the mind. This can be done by using derogatory or racist terms, avoiding some words or by making allegations of enemy atrocities. Most propaganda wars require the home population to feel the enemy has inflicted an injustice, which may be fictitious or may be based on facts. The home population must also decide that the cause of their nation is just.
Wants You!" poster Propaganda is also one of the methods used in
psychological warfare, which may also involve false flag operations. The term propaganda may also refer to false information meant to reinforce the mindsets of people who already believe as the propagandist wishes. The assumption is that, if people believe something false, they will constantly be assailed by doubts. Since these doubts are unpleasant (see cognitive dissonance), people will be eager to have them extinguished, and are therefore receptive to the reassurances of those in power. For this reason propaganda is
often addressed to people who are
already sympathetic to the agenda. This
process of reinforcement uses an individual's predisposition to self-select "agreeable" information sources as a mechanism for maintaining control.
Propaganda can be classified according to the source and nature of the message.
White propaganda generally comes from an openly identified source, and is characterized by gentler methods of persuasion, such as standard public relations techniques and one-sided presentation of an argument.
Black propaganda is identified as being from one source, but is in fact from another. This is most commonly to disguise the true origins of the propaganda, be it from an enemy country or from an organization with a negative public image.
Grey propaganda is propaganda without any identifiable source or author.
In scale, these different types of propaganda can also be defined by the potential of true and correct information to compete with the propaganda. For example, opposition to white propaganda is often readily found and may slightly discredit the propaganda source. Opposition to grey propaganda, when revealed (often by an inside source), may create some level of public outcry. Opposition to black propaganda is often unavailable and may be dangerous to reveal, because public cognizance of black propaganda tactics and sources would undermine or backfire the very campaign the black propagandist supported.
arm-in-arm with
Uncle Sam symbolizes the British-American alliance in World War I. Propaganda may be administered in insidious ways. For instance, disparaging disinformation about the history of certain groups or foreign countries may be encouraged or tolerated in the educational system. Since few people actually double-check what they learn at school, such disinformation will be repeated by journalists as well as parents, thus reinforcing the idea that the disinformation item is really a "well-known fact", even though no one repeating the myth is able to point to an authoritative source. The disinformation is then recycled in the media and in the educational system, without the need for direct governmental intervention on the media. Such permeating propaganda may be used for political goals: by giving citizens a false impression of the quality or policies of their country, they may be incited to reject certain proposals or certain remarks or ignore the experience of others. See also:
black propaganda,
marketing, advertising
Techniques
Common media for transmitting propaganda messages include news reports, government reports, historical revision, junk science, books, leaflets, propaganda film, radio, television, and posters. In the case of radio and television, propaganda can exist on news, current-affairs or talk-show segments, as
advertising or public-service
announce "spots" or as long-running
advertorials. Propaganda campaigns often follow a strategic transmission pattern to indoctrinate the target group. This may begin with a simple transmission such as a leaflet dropped from a plane or an advertisement. Generally these messages will contain directions on how to obtain more information, via a web site, hot line, radio program, et cetera (as it is seen also for selling purposes among other goals). The strategy intends to initiate the individual from information recipient to information seeker through reinforcement, and then from information seeker to opinion leader through indoctrination.
A number of techniques which are based on
social psychology research are used to generate propaganda. Many of these same techniques can be found under Logical fallacy, since propagandists use arguments that, while sometimes convincing, are not necessarily valid.
Some time has been spent analyzing the means by which propaganda messages are transmitted. That work is important but it is clear that information dissemination strategies only become propaganda strategies when coupled with
propagandistic messages. Identifying these messages is a necessary prerequisite to study the methods by which those messages are spread. Below are a number of techniques for generating propaganda:
- Ad Hominem: A Latin phrase which has come to mean attacking your opponent, as opposed to attacking their arguments.
- Appeal to authority: Appeals to authority cite prominent figures to support a position, idea, argument, or course of action.
- Appeal to fear: Appeals to fear seek to build support by instilling anxieties and panic in the general population, for example, Joseph Goebbels exploited Theodore Kaufman's Germany Must Perish! to claim that the Allies sought the extermination of the German people.
- Appeal to Prejudice: Using loaded or emotive terms to attach value or moral goodness to believing the proposition. For example, the phrase: "Any hard-working taxpayer would have to agree that those who do not work, and who do not support the community do not deserve the community's support through social assistance."
- Argumentum ad nauseam: This argument approach uses tireless repetition of an idea. An idea, especially a simple slogan, that is repeated enough times, may begin to be taken as the truth. This approach works best when media sources are limited and controlled by the propagator.
- argumentum ad populum: Bandwagon and "inevitable-victory" appeals attempt to persuade the target audience to join in and take the course of action that "everyone else is taking."
- Inevitable victory: invites those not already on the bandwagon to join those already on the road to certain victory. Those already or at least partially on the bandwagon are reassured that staying aboard is their best course of action.
- Join the crowd: This technique reinforces people's natural desire to be on the winning side. This technique is used to convince the audience that a program is an expression of an irresistible mass movement and that it is in their best interest to join.
- Black-and-white fallacy: Presenting only two choices, with the product or idea being propagated as the better choice. (e.g., "You are either with us, or you are with the enemy")
- Beautiful people: The type of propaganda that deals with celebrity or depicts attractive, happy people. This makes other people think that if they buy a product or follow a certain ideology, they too will be happy or successful. (This is more used in advertising for products, instead of political reasons)
- Big Lie: The repeated articulation of a complex of events that justify subsequent action. The descriptions of these events have elements of truth, and the "big lie" generalizations merge and eventually supplant the public's accurate perception of the underlying events. After World War I the German Stab in the back explanation of the cause of their defeat became a justification for Nazi re-militarization and revanchist aggression.
- Common man: The "'plain folks'" or "common man" approach attempts to convince the audience that the propagandist's positions reflect the common sense of the people. It is designed to win the confidence of the audience by communicating in the common manner and style of the target audience. Propagandists use ordinary language and mannerisms (and clothe their message in face-to-face and audiovisual communications) in attempting to identify their point of view with that of the average person. For example, a propaganda leaflet may make an argument on a macroeconomic issue, such as unemployment insurance benefits, using everyday terms: "given that the country has little money during this recession, we should stop paying unemployment benefits to those who do not work, because that is like maxing out all your credit cards during a tight period, when you should be tightening your belt."
- Demonizing the enemy: Making individuals from the opposing nation, from a different ethnic group, or those who support the opposing viewpoint appear to be subhuman (e.g., the Vietnam War-era term "gooks" for National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam soldiers), worthless, or immoral, through suggestion or false accusations.
, urging Americans to buy Liberty Bonds
- Direct order: This technique hopes to simplify the decision making process by using images and words to tell the audience exactly what actions to take, eliminating any other possible choices. Authority figures can be used to give the order, overlapping it with the Appeal to authority technique, but not necessarily. The Uncle Sam "I want you" image is an example of this technique.
- Euphoria (emotion): The use of an event that generates euphoria or happiness, or using an appealing event to boost morale. Euphoria can be created by declaring a holiday, making luxury items available, or mounting a military parade with marching bands and patriotic messages.
- Disinformation: The creation or deletion of information from public records, in the purpose of making a false record of an event or the actions of a person or organization, including outright forgery of photographs, motion pictures, broadcasts, and sound recordings as well as printed documents.
- Flag-waving: An attempt to justify an action on the grounds that doing so will make one more patriotic, or in some way benefit a group, country, or idea. The feeling of patriotism which this technique attempts to inspire may not necessarily diminish or entirely omit one's capability for rational examination of the matter in question.
- personification of Finnish nationalism
- Glittering generality: Glittering generalities are emotionally appealing words applied to a product or idea, but which present no concrete argument or analysis. A famous example is the campaign slogan "Ford has a better idea!"
- Intentional vagueness: Generalities are deliberately vague so that the audience may supply its own interpretations. The intention is to move the audience by use of undefined phrases, without analyzing their validity or attempting to determine their reasonableness or application. The intent is to cause people to draw their own interpretations rather than simply being presented with an explicit idea. In trying to "figure out" the propaganda, the audience foregoes judgment of the ideas presented. Their validity, reasonableness and application may still be considered.
- Obtain disapproval or Reductio ad Hitlerum: This technique is used to persuade a target audience to disapprove of an action or idea by suggesting that the idea is popular with groups hated, feared, or held in contempt by the target audience. Thus if a group which supports a certain policy is led to believe that undesirable, subversive, or contemptible people support the same policy, then the members of the group may decide to change their original position.
- Causal oversimplification: Favorable generalities are used to provide simple answers to complex social, political, economic, or military problems.
- Fallacy of quoting out of context: Selective editing of quotes which can change meanings. Political documentaries designed to discredit an opponent or an opposing political viewpoint often make use of this technique.
- Rationalization: Individuals or groups may use favorable generalities to rationalize questionable acts or beliefs. Vague and pleasant phrases are often used to justify such actions or beliefs.
- Red herring/Chewbacca Defense: Presenting data or issues that, while compelling, are irrelevant to the argument at hand, and then claiming that it validates the argument.
- Repetition: This type of propaganda deals with a jingle or word that is repeated over and over again, thus getting it stuck in someones head, so they can buy the product.The "Repetition" method has been described previously.
- Scapegoating: Assigning blame to an individual or group, thus alleviating feelings of guilt from responsible parties and/or distracting attention from the need to fix the problem for which blame is being assigned.
- Slogans: A slogan is a brief, striking phrase that may include labeling and stereotyping. Although slogans may be enlisted to support reasoned ideas, in practice they tend to act only as emotional appeals. Opponents of the US's invasion and occupation of Iraq use the slogan "blood for oil" to suggest that the invasion and its human losses was done to access Iraq's oil riches. On the other hand, "hawks" who argue that the US should continue to fight in Iraq use the slogan "cut and run" to suggest that it would be cowardly or weak to withdraw from Iraq. Similarly, the names of the military campaigns, such as "enduring freedom" or "just cause", may also be regarded to be slogans, devised to influence people.
- Stereotyping or Name Calling or Labeling: This technique attempts to arouse prejudices in an audience by labeling the object of the propaganda campaign as something the target audience fears, hates, loathes, or finds undesirable. For instance, reporting on a foreign country or social group may focus on the stereotypical traits that the reader expects, even though they are far from being representative of the whole country or group; such reporting often focuses on the anecdote.
- Testimonial: Testimonials are quotations, in or out of context, especially cited to support or reject a given policy, action, program, or personality. The reputation or the role (expert, respected public figure, etc.) of the individual giving the statement is exploited. The testimonial places the official sanction of a respected person or authority on a propaganda message. This is done in an effort to cause the target audience to identify itself with the authority or to accept the authority's opinions and beliefs as its own. See also, damaging quotation
- Transfer (propaganda): Also known as Association, this is a technique of projecting positive or negative qualities (praise or blame) of a person, entity, object, or value (an individual, group, organization, nation, patriotism, etc.) to another to make the second more acceptable or to discredit it. It evokes an emotional response, which stimulates the target to identify with recognized authorities. Often highly visual, this technique often utilizes symbols (for example, the Swastika used in Nazi Germany, originally a symbol for health and prosperity) superimposed over other visual images. An example of common use of this technique in America is for the President's image to be overlayed with a swastika by his opponents.
- Unstated assumption: This technique is used when the propaganda concept that the propagandist intends to transmit would seem less credible if explicitly stated. The concept is instead repeatedly assumed or implied.
- Virtue words: These are words in the value system of the target audience which tend to produce a positive image when attached to a person or issue. Peace, happiness, security, wise leadership, freedom, "The Truth", etc. are virtue words. In countries such as the U.S. religiosity is seen as a virtue, making associations to this quality affectively beneficial. See ""Transfer (propaganda)"".
See also: doublespeak,
cult of personality,
spin (politics), demonization, factoid
Models of propaganda
Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model
era showing a caricature of Kaiser William II, German Emperor biting the worldThe propaganda model is a theory advanced by Edward S. Herman and
Noam Chomsky that alleges systemic
biases in the
mass media and seeks to explain them in terms of structural economic causes.
"The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: 'the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.
" "Letter from Noam Chomsky" to Covert Action Quarterly, quoting Alex Carey, Australian social scientist. review of Carey, Alex (1995) Taking the Risk out of Democracy: Propaganda in the US and Australia, University of NSW Press.
First presented in their 1988 book
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, the propaganda model views the private media as businesses selling a product — readers and audiences (rather than news) — to other businesses (advertisers).
The first three (ownership, funding, and sourcing) are generally regarded by the authors as being the most important. Although the model was based mainly on the characterization of United States media, Chomsky and Herman believe the theory is equally applicable to any country that shares the basic economic structure and organizing principles which the
model (abstract) postulates as the cause of
media biases. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Chomsky stated that the new filter replacing communism would be terrorism and Islam.
Ross' epistemic merit model
The
Epistemic Merit Model is a method for understanding propaganda conceived by Sheryl Tuttle Ross and detailed in her 2002 article for the
Journal of Aesthetic Education entitled "Understanding Propaganda: The Epistemic Merit Model and Its Application to Art".Ross, Sheryl Tuttle. "Understanding Propaganda: The Epistemic Merit Model and Its Application to Art."
Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 36, No.1. pp. 16-30 Ross developed the Epistemic merit model due to concern about narrow, misleading definitions of propaganda. She contrasted her model with the ideas of Pope Gregory XV, the
Institute for Propaganda Analysis,
Alfred Lee,
F.C. Bartlett, and
Hans Speier. Insisting that each of their respective discussions of propaganda are too narrow, Ross proposed her own definition.
To appropriately discuss propaganda, Ross argues that one must consider a threefold communication model: that of Sender-Message-Receiver. "That is... propaganda involve... the one who is persuading (Sender) is doing so intentionally, target for such persuasion (Receiver) and means of reaching that target (Message)." There are four conditions for a message to be considered propaganda. Propaganda involves the intention to persuade. As well, propaganda is sent on behalf of a sociopolitical institution, organization, or cause. Next,the recipient of propaganda is a socially significant group of people. Finally, propaganda is an epistemical struggle to challenge other thoughts.
Ross claims that it is misleading to say that propaganda is simply false, or that it is conditional to a lie, since often the propagandist believes in what he/she is propagandizing. In other words, it is not necessarily a lie if the person who creates the propaganda is trying to persuade you of a view that they actually hold. "The aim of the propagandist is to create the semblance of credibility." This means that they appeal to an epistemology that is weak or defective. False statements, bad arguments, immoral commands as well as inapt metaphors (and other literary Trope (linguistics)) are the sorts of things that are epistemically defective... Not only does epistemic defectiveness more accurately describe how propaganda endeavors to function... since many messages are in forms such as commands that do not admit to truth-values, it also accounts for the role context plays in the workings of propaganda.
Throughout history those who have wished to persuade have used art to get their message out. This can be accomplished by hiring artists for the express aim of propagandizing or by investing new meanings to a previously nonpolitical work. Therefore, Ross states, it is important to consider "the conditions of its making the conditions of its use."...
History of propaganda
Ancient propaganda
cartoon entitled "The Cruel Practices of
Prince Rupert" (1643)Propaganda has been a human activity as far back as reliable recorded evidence exists. The
Behistun Inscription (c. 515 BC) detailing the rise of Darius I of Persia to the
Persian Empire throne, can be seen as an early example of propaganda. The
Arthashastra written by Chanakya (c. 350 - 283 BC), a professor of political science at
Takshashila University and a prime minister of the Maurya Empire, discusses propaganda in detail, such as how to spread propaganda and how to apply it in
warfare. His student
Chandragupta Maurya (c. 340 - 293 BC), founder of the Maurya Empire, employed these methods during his rise to power.Boesche, Roger. "Kautilya’s Arthasastra on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India",
The Journal of Military History 67 (p. 9–38), January 2003. The writings of
Roman Empire such as Livy (c. 59 BC - 17 AD) are considered masterpieces of pro-Roman propaganda.
19th and 20th centuries
as foolish.
Gabriel Tarde's
Laws of Imitation (1890) and Gustave Le Bon's
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1897) were two of the first codifications of propaganda techniques, which influenced many writers afterward, including Sigmund Freud. Hitler's
Mein Kampf is heavily influenced by Le Bon's theories. Journalist Walter Lippman, in
Public Opinion (1922) also worked on the subject, as well as psychologist Edward Bernays, a nephew of Freud, early in the 20th century.
During World War I, Lippman and Bernays were hired by then United States President, Woodrow Wilson, to participate in the
Committee on Public Information, the mission of which was to sway popular opinion in favor of entering the war, on the side of the United Kingdom. The Creel Commission provided themes for speeches by "four-minute men" at public functions, and also encouraged censorship of the American press. The Commission was so unpopular that after the war, Congress closed it down without providing funding to organize and archive its papers.
The war propaganda campaign of Lippman and Bernays produced within six months such an intense anti-German hysteria as to permanently impress American
business (and
Adolf Hitler, among others) with the potential of large-scale propaganda to control public opinion. Bernays coined the terms "group mind" and "engineering consent", important concepts in practical propaganda work. on a British First World War recruiting poster
The current
public relations industry is a direct outgrowth of Lippman's and Bernays' work and is still used extensively by the United States government. For the first half of the 20th century Bernays and Lippman themselves ran a very successful public relations firm.
World War II saw continued use of propaganda as a weapon of war, both by Hitler's propagandist
Joseph Goebbels and the British
Political Warfare Executive, as well as the United States Office of War Information.
In the early 2000s, the United States government developed and freely distributed a video game known as
America's Army. The stated intention of the game is to encourage players to become interested in joining the
United States Army. According to a poll by I for I Research, 30% of young people who had a positive view of the military said that they had developed that view by playing the game.
Russian revolution
Russian revolutionaries of the 19th and 20th centuries distinguished two different aspects covered by the English term
propaganda. Their terminology included two terms: (agitatsiya), or
agitation, and , or
propaganda, see agitprop (agitprop is not, however, limited to the Soviet Union, as it was considered, before the
October Revolution, to be one of the fundamental activity of any Marxism activist; this importance of agit-prop in Marxist theory may also be observed today in Trotskyist circles, who insist on the importance of Flyer (pamphlet) distribution).
Soviet
propaganda meant dissemination of revolutionary ideas, teachings of Marxism, and theoretical and practical knowledge of Marxist economics, while
agitation meant forming favorable public opinion and stirring up political unrest. These activities did not carry negative connotations (as they usually do in English) and were encouraged. Expanding dimensions of state propaganda, the Bolsheviks actively used transportation such as trains, aircraft and other means.
Josef Stalin's regime built the largest fixed-wing aircraft of the 1930s,
Tupolev ANT-20, exclusively for this purpose. Named after the famous Soviet writer
Maxim Gorky who had recently returned from
Italian fascism, it was equipped with a powerful radio set called "Voice from the sky", printing and leaflet-dropping machinery,
radiostations, photographic laboratory, Movie projector with sound for showing movies in flight, library, etc. The aircraft could be disassembled and transported by railroad if needed. The giant aircraft set a number of world records.
Image:GPU.jpg|The Gosudarstvennoye Politicheskoye Upravlenie thunderbolt strikes the
enemy of the peopleImage:World October revolution poster.jpg|"Long Live World
October Revolution!"Image:1923 Bolshevik propaganda train.jpg|Bolshevik propaganda train, 1923.Image:ANT-20.jpg|Tupolev ANT-20 "Maxim Gorky" propaganda aircraft in the Moscow sky.
Nazi Germany
Most propaganda in Germany was produced by the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (Propagandaministerium). Joseph Goebbels was placed in charge of this ministry shortly after Hitler took power in 1933. All journalists, writers, and artists were required to register with one of the Ministry's subordinate chambers for the press, fine arts, music, theater, film, literature, or radio.
The Nazis believed in propaganda as a vital tool in achieving their goals.
Adolf Hitler, Germany's Führer, was impressed by the power of Allied propaganda during World War I and believed that it had been a primary cause of the collapse of morale and revolts in the German home front and Navy in 1918 (see also:
Dolchstoßlegende). Hitler would meet nearly every day with Goebbels to discuss the news and Goebbels would obtain Hitler's thoughts on the subject; Goebbels would then meet with senior Ministry officials and pass down the official Party line on world events. Broadcasters and journalists required prior approval before their works were disseminated. Along with posters, the Nazis produced a number of
Leni Riefenstahl and books to spread their beliefs.
Image:Liberators-Kultur-Terror-Anti-Americanism-1944-Nazi-Propaganda-Poster.jpg|Nazi Poster depicting American "liberators" as monster.Image:Nazi_poster_Mutter_und_Kind.jpg|"Mother and Child" poster for charity subscription.Image:Nazi_poster_Alle_Zehnjährigen_zu_uns.jpg|"All 10-year-olds to us."Image:Nazi_poster_Der_ewige_Jude.jpg|
The Eternal Jew (film) poster for a movie.Image:Nazi_poster_Mütter_Kämft_für_eure_Kinder.jpg|"Mothers Fight for your Children."Image:Nazi_poster_Nederlanders.jpg|Invites Dutchmen to join the SS.Image:EnthanasiePropaganda.jpg|Poster promoting
eugenics and euthanasia of disabled people.Image:dove.jpg] poster portraying Adolf Hitler. Text: "Long Live Germany!"
Cold War propaganda
from 1967The United States and the Soviet Union both used propaganda extensively during the Cold War. Both sides used film, television, and radio programming to influence their own citizens, each other, and Third World nations. The United States Information Agency operated the Voice of America as an official government station.
Radio Free Europe and
Radio Liberty, which were in part supported by the Central Intelligence Agency, provided grey propaganda in news and entertainment programs to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union respectively. The Soviet Union's official government station, Radio Moscow, broadcast
white propaganda, while Radio Peace and Freedom broadcast grey propaganda. Both sides also broadcast
black propaganda programs in periods of special crises. .
In 1948, the United Kingdom's Foreign Office created the IRD (Information Research Department) which took over from wartime and slightly post-war departments such as the Minister of Information and dispensed propaganda via various media such as the BBC and publishing.
The Sino-Soviet split between the Soviet Union and
People's Republic of China resulted in a number of cross-border operations. One technique developed during this period was the "backwards transmission", in which the radio program was recorded and played backwards over the air. (This was done so that messages meant to be received by the other government could be heard, while the average listener could not understand the content of the program.)
When describing life in capitalist countries, in the US in particular, propaganda focused on social issues such as poverty and anti-union action by the government. Workers in capitalist countries were portrayed as "ideologically close". Propaganda claimed rich people from the US derived their income from weapons manufacturing, and claimed that there was substantial racism or neo-fascism in the US.n propaganda poster depicting a soldier destroying the U.S. Capitol Building.When describing life in Communist countries, western propaganda sought to depict an image of a citizenry held captive by governments that brainwash them. The West also created a fear of the East, by depicting an aggressive Soviet Union. In the Americas, Cuba served as a major source and a target of propaganda from both black and white stations operated by the CIA and Cuban exile groups. Radio Habana Cuba, in turn, broadcast original programming, relayed Radio Moscow, and broadcast
The Voice of Vietnam as well as alleged confessions from the crew of the
USS Pueblo (AGER-2).
George Orwell's novels
Animal Farm and
Nineteen Eighty-Four are virtual textbooks on the use of propaganda. Though not set in the Soviet Union, these books are about totalitarian regimes in which language is constantly corrupted for political purposes. These novels were, ironically, used for explicit propaganda. The CIA, for example, secretly commissioned an animated film adaptation of
Animal Farm in the 1950s with small changes to the original story to suit its own needs.
Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe
in Hungary in 1989.During the democratic revolutions of 1989 in Central and Eastern Europe the propaganda poster was important weapon in the hand of the opposition. Brave printed and hand-made political posters appeared on the
Berlin Wall, on the statue of St. Wenseslas in Prague and around the unmarked grave of Imre Nagy in Budapest and the role of them was indispensable for the democratic change.
The Afghan War
In the 2001 War in Afghanistan (2001–present), psychological operations tactics were employed to demoralize the Taliban and to win the sympathies of the Afghan population. At least six EC-130E aircraft were used to jam local radio transmissions and transmit replacement propaganda messages.
Pamphlets were also dropped throughout Afghanistan, offering rewards for
Osama bin Laden and other individuals, portraying Americans as friends of Afghanistan and emphasizing various negative aspects of the Taliban. Another shows a picture of Mohammed Omar in a set of crosshairs with the words "We are watching." This Technique has been shown to be rather ineffective in terms of long term opinions change given current political and social conditions in Afghanistan.
The
US Air Force can use cluster bombs to deliver leaflets. The LBU-30 clusterbomb is designed to allow an aircraft to deliver leaflets to a target area while minimizing wind drift.
The Iraq War
Psychological operations pamphlet disseminated in Iraq. Text: "This is your future al-Zarqawi" and shows
al-Qaeda fighter al-Zarqawi caught in a rat trap.During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf repeatedly claimed Iraqi forces were decisively winning every battle. Even up to the overthrow of the Iraqi government at Baghdad, he maintained that the United States would soon be defeated, in contradiction with all other media. Due to this, he quickly became a
cult figure in the West, and gained recognition on the
Propaganda - transforming brand and business equity : Advertising ...
Propaganda is a new style of strategic & creative agency delivering brand strategy through to campaign and tactical implementation. Propaganda delivers brand planning and ... ...
Propaganda | Home
We're happy to anounce that we have rescheduled The Holloways live appearance at Propaganda in Bristol to Wednesday 6th August. All advance tickets for the original date still ...
Propaganda in Nazi Germany::
Propaganda within Nazi Germany was taken to a new and frequently perverse level. Hitler was very aware of the value of good propaganda and he appointed Joseph Goebbels as head ...
Public Diplomacy, Propaganda
A Good Word Gone Wrong' Atrocity propaganda Lies and half-truths A 'black art' 'defiling the human soul' at a time when the mind was only just becoming understood (psychology ...
Propaganda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in ...
Propaganda Promotional Business Gifts
Find Business Gifts, promotional items, business gifts and corporate gifts directly from hundreds of promotional product and Business Gifts suppliers.
Propaganda
BBC - History - Nazi Propaganda
Discover how the Nazi regime sought to influence the German people through propaganda. ... Nazi Propaganda By Professor David Welch. The story of the Nazi rise to power in the ...
Propaganda Advertising Ltd
The National Archives | Research, education & online exhibitions ...
You are here: Home > Research, education & online exhibitions > Exhibitions > The Art of War > Propaganda