What makes something propaganda

Regardless of how propaganda is employed, these common techniques are used to manipulate others to act or respond in the way that the propagandist desires. The desire to fit in with peers has long been recognized as a powerful force in society. Propagandists can exploit this longing by using the bandwagon technique to appeal to the public. This common propaganda technique is used to convince the public to think, speak, or act in a particular way simply because others are.

This technique involves convincing the public to behave in ways that are agreeable to the propagandists and serve their purposes. In order for this technique to be successful, propagandists have to first position themselves as having a product, idea or opinion that is worthy of elite status. Many publicists in charge of public relations for companies employ a similar technique as a way to maintain the perception that the business creates and sells high-quality goods.

Propagandists sometimes achieve their goal of swaying public opinion simply by using empty words. When employing this technique, propagandists will deliberately use vague terms meant to entice. Examination of the terms, however, can reveal that they offer no real definition or commitment to meaning. The goal of this type of propaganda can be to offer generalities that provoke audiences to expend their energy on interpretation rather than critiquing.

When attempting to convince the public to act, propagandists may use excessively positive words or those with agreeable associations. If the goal is to hinder action, propagandists can select words that are highly negative to communicate with the public such as those that inspire fear, anger, or doubt.

A simple and effective means of loaded words usage is the act of name-calling, which many political groups have used to disparage opposition, quell dissent. With the technique of transfer, propagandists conjure up either positive or negative images, connect them to an unrelated concept or item, and try to move the public to take action. Commonly, propagandists can associate the glory or virtue of a historical event with their product or the action that they want the public to take.

In a given situation it will accept any theory that might prove useful and it will abandon that theory as soon as the situation changes. National Socialism is for agrarian reform and against it, for private property and against it, for idealism and against it. The advertising man appeals to desire in the interest of his client.

The desire to be strong and healthy, to be socially acceptable, to be beautiful, sells drug products, cosmetics, reducing preparations, soaps, perfumes. Anyone who is accustomed to reading advertisements will instantly recall dozens of illustrations of appeals to such desires used to promote a wide variety of products.

The advertising slogan packs meaning into short sentences. The purpose is to get them noticed. They will find their way into the minds of people.

When a person is choosing a commodity to buy, it is expected that the slogan will come easily to the surface of his mind. Appeals were shortened and emotionalized, since many readers will not wade through explanations of why one commodity is better than another. The history of international political propaganda, the experts tell us, is full of examples of the use of striking slogans.

Though the Nazi propaganda both inside and outside Germany has been marked by terror, this is not a common characteristic of slogans and symbols. Sometimes slogans have fired the imaginations of people in the past and continued their influence down to the present. Propaganda makes use of slogans, but it also makes effective use of symbols.

A symbol is a concrete representation of air idea, action, or thing—a sign that stands for something, as crossed rifles stand for the Infantry and as wings and propeller represent the Air Forces.

A symbol can be a word, a mark, an object, a song, a flag, an image, a picture, a statue, or some collective or grouped representation—anything that conveys a common thought to masses of people. A symbol is a kind of cement that holds together a social group.

The propagandist knows the art of working with symbols. He uses symbols to develop both favorable and unfavorable attitudes. Symbol usage will create likenesses that are used much as a stenographer uses shorthand. Cartoonists have stereotyped symbols to represent the taxpayer, the college professor, and many others.

There is some reason to believe that in the past half century there has been a decrease in the number of popular symbols used in the Western nations. But a vast amount of symbolism has been created by the fascist, Nazi, and communist states. The Nazis made their symbols so unmistakable and conspicuous that if any German omitted to display or use them, he would be quickly detected. These symbols, you will recall, included the Nazi salute, the swastika, and a lot of titles, badges, and uniforms.

Catchwords and slogans abound in Nazi propaganda, contrived for the sake of impressing the German people. Then new ones are coined and must be on all German lips.

The attempt to affect the personalities and to control the behavior of individuals towards ends considered unscientific or of doubtful value in a society at a particular time.

Doob, , p. A set of methods employed by an organized group that wants to bring about the active or passive participation in its actions of a mass of individuals, psychologically unified through psychological manipulation and incorporated in an organization. Ellul, , p. Communication to convey a message, an idea, or an ideology that is designed primarily to serve the self-interests of the person doing the communicating Taylor, , p.

Pratkanis and Aronson, , p. Communications where the form and content is selected with the single-minded purpose of bringing some target audience to adopt attitudes and beliefs chosen in advance by the sponsors of communications. Carey, , p. Strategically devised messages that are disseminated to masses of people by an institution for the purpose of generating action benefiting its source.

Parry-Giles, , p. Marlin, , p. References Lasswell, H. Bernays, E. Ig Publishing, Brooklyn: NY. Doob, L. Public opinion and propaganda. New York: Henry Holt. Qualter, T. Propaganda and psychological warfare. New York: Random House.

Ellul, J. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Jowett, G.