The Importance Of Propaganda In Public Relations

Both negative and positive, propaganda affects our lives daily sometimes without us even acknowledging that it exists. The main goal of propaganda is trying to sell your product or idea to other people, one major form of Propaganda occurs in the news. Propaganda is used for companies and trend setters who want to get their products and ideas out in the world so that they could potentially become popular. Smart propagandists discovered that to create the best propaganda, the viewer must not even realize that the product or idea is being sold to them. Propaganda creates an extremely large impact on us and is sometimes mistaken for being “just another advertisement” when they actually change the way we live our lives.

Propaganda has many different definitions and interpretations, depending on who you ask. When the word was first created it referred to the “reproduction of plants and animals” (Fellows pg 182), gradually became used as a religious term, from the 1600s until it was rebranded to be used for military purposes during World War II. The current definition of propaganda has changed quite a bit since the origin of the word. Michael Parenti for example said that propaganda is “the mobilization to influence the mass audience.” Another quote we heard in class defining propaganda was “the deliberate attempt of a few to influence the many to manipulate the facts” (K.Khory). While there is no conscience definition of propaganda especially because the definition has changed over time, it is generally agreed on that it includes some from of influence to the public.

Propaganda is a form of rhetoric that manipulates information to influence public opinion. It lacks critical balance as it overemphasizes elements that support a position and ignores opposing viewpoints. Although propaganda, in its original sense, could be used to promote positive causes, it has acquired a negative connotation and is used as a pejorative to describe ideological messages that people usually disagree with. Film is regarded as the most effective medium to distribute propaganda to a large audience of different classes. “In comparison with other arts, film has a particular forceful and lasting psychological and propagandistic impact because of its effect not on the intellect, but principally on the emotions and the visual sense” (Interview with Fritz Hippler qtd.

Propaganda can be seen all around us, it is used to influence and persuade us to act or think in a certain way. Propaganda is used in politics most of the time, we see it when candidates are running for positions in government. When it comes to propaganda is has a negative association connected to it, the way it is used in today’s society opponents use it to sometimes insult one another. Most usage of propaganda plays off of a person’s

As men were in headed off to war, women took over their jobs and learned the true meaning of hard work as they entered the workplace to replace men in a variety of jobs. As women started working they had to take on many roles that men had before the war. Women finally had their chance to prove themselves equal to men. They took on traditionally masculine roles in production, the community and even the military.

In George Orwell’s 1984, lies, cover-ups and false information control the thinking of the citizens of Oceania. The Party uses propaganda as the deadliest and most efficient method of control. Propaganda increases the citizens’ morale and makes them believe that no matter what they are told, the Party is always right. There are two main types of propaganda; changing the truth, doublethink, and another by creating fear within citizens. “Doublespeak” is a major aspect of everyday life in Oceania. The Party’s central slogans are “WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” is a good example (Orwell 4). The idea of the slogans is to convince the citizens that what they want is what they already possess. “War is peace”, it is a false sense of peace that citizens are led to believe that they are living peacefully in comparison to the warzone in Africa. Secondly, “freedom is slavery”, if a person has freedom, they becomes a slave to their own desires. Lastly, “Ignorance is strength” means if citizens are oblivious to the Party’s secrets and activities within Oceania, they will not rebel. This ignorance strengthens the Party’s power and total control over citizens. The slogan changes truth and makes the citizens believe that anything they want other than what their government wants can only make them unhappy. Therefore, no citizen will consider rebelling, as they believe the Party’s way of governing is the best and only way. “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”, another core

propaganda played a major role in the United States war effort. Although very subtle, propaganda was a major part of the victory for the United States. Radio broadcasts, movies, and comic books designs were produced during WWII by the Office of War Information. The Treasury Department also was a major creator of posters and propaganda. propaganda used fear, bandwagon and many other themes.

Propaganda is information used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. During World War Two, Propaganda was a popular method of advertising. It was commonly used in many country around the world. It helped countrys fund the war.

At no other time has a "like," retweet or generally thoughtless online movement been so intelligent of the condition of American politics. For the likeminded people social media acts as a glue which unite them under one roof of open discussion. They not only want to know what is going around but also want to know the opinions of other likeminded people and why their opinion is correct. Despite the fact that online networking permits individuals to be presented to various political perspectives, individuals have a tendency to be a piece of situations where their political assessments are continually fortified.

Adolf Hitler once said, “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” (“Adolf Hitler Quotes”). During World War II, the economy in Germany was struggling severely and the Germans wanted someone to blame. Under Hitler’s rule, he gave Germany just that, causing the persecution of millions of Jewish people. During the Holocaust, the Nazis used propaganda as a tactic to help people deceive themselves; Germans, Jews, and people from all around the world were affected by this propaganda, among them, a Jewish survivor, Martin Kapel, whose life was thrown off course and impacted by Nazi ideals from a young age.

On a positive note, social media sites such Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are turning into a common source of alternative news and national news for people that use the Internet. Some sites like Twitter are known for being ahead of traditional media when it comes to breaking news. If you use social media well you can create many necessary changes in society. Twitter for example, you can easily start a change and gain a lot of attention, if you are frequently online and constantly update your feed to spread awareness. When using Twitter to create social change you have to interact with your followers a lot, ask them for their thoughts, share your reaction and thoughts on relevant news, try and fit with the use of hashtags to get things trending that way it will be seen by many, post or repost different links and retweet other tweets as well. Discuss things with your followers, spark conversations with them, and build relationships with your followers. These networks

The techniques used to persuade the citizens contain very simple techniques of propaganda; plain folks and bandwagon are the two main ones. These types of propaganda are very useful and very easily caught on by the masses. What I mean by that is that everyone can either relate to the propaganda being used or have some sort of understanding of it. This by far is probably the most easiest and inexpensive propaganda to use as well as being simple with not much time to spend on producing in whatever way or form you decide to place it or put out.

Propaganda is a force which has changed the minds of many people throughout history by appealing to their emotions to make them think differently than they normally would about things. Animal Farm contains many examples of propaganda, most of which people compare with that of Soviet Russia, but what people don’t realize is that many examples of propaganda found in Animal Farm can be found in modern American Society.

First, one must define propaganda and since many have done so already, I shall use the Sheryl Ross model. Her model defines propaganda as “an epistemically defective message designed with the intention to persuade a socially significant group of people on behalf of a political institution, organization, or cause.”

"Public relations is the management of communication between an organization and its publics." (Grunig & Hunt's, 1984)