Download Propaganda

Propaganda
The 1939
Nuremberg
Rally was to
be the "Party
Rally of
Peace," but it
was canceled
when World
War II began.
The caption:
"The Jew: The
inciter of war,
the prolonger
of war."
Cherish the
title of
worker,
`comrade!, c.
1966
Propaganda
• When first analyzed, propaganda was thought to
have powerful effects (magic bullet)
• Reviewer of Lasswell’s book on propaganda wrote
that the book should be destroyed
• However, later research from this field would
include attitude change and effects research
• Definition: “No-holds-barred” use of
communication to propagate specific beliefs and
expectations”
Historical context in the Church
• Congregatio de propaganda fide, or Congregation
for the Propagation of Faith, 1622, Catholic
church
• During this period many groups were leaving the
Church (Reformation) and this propagation of the
faith was its response
• Galileo was convicted of heresy at this time
because he suggested that earth rotated around the
sun…negative reaction to this affected the term
propaganda
http://www.snowbirds.dnd.ca/index_e.asp
Fritz Hippler
• Head of Nazis Germany’s film propaganda
division said that the secret to effective
propaganda was to
– Simplify a complex issue
– Repeat that simplification over and over again
– Created the propaganda film “The Eternal Jew”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8_eFDuaiUk
• Disinformation: false information spread
about the opposition to discredit it
• Used in contemporary political campaigns
• Hippler did this, but we have done it too
• Germany was more organized in WWII
than US for propaganda
• They had a propaganda ministry, Joseph
Goebells.
Fritz Hippler
Paul Joseph Goebbels
Adolph Hitler
Use of huge rallies in Nuremberg
Banned/burned books
In Mein Kampf, Hitler traced the problems of
post-WWI Germany (unemployment,
hunger) to the Jewish people and other
ethnic or racial minorties
Edward Bernays
• Engineering of consent: official us of communication
campaigns to reach “good” ends
• Propagandists had a mass society viewpoint
• They believed that people were so irrational and inattentive
to that what was important, that it was necessary to coerce,
seduce, or trick them into learning bits of informtion.
• Bernays, who coined the “engineering of consent” said he
wanted to expand the freedom of the press to include the
government’s freedom to persuade…Only by mastering
the techniques of communication can leadership be
exercised fruitfully in the vast complex that is modern
democracy…”
Walter Lippmann
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The world outside and the picture in our heads
Lippmann believed that propaganda posed such a severe challenge that drastic
changes in our political system were needed
Lippmann believed that information gathering and distribution should be put
in the hands of a benevolent technocracy…a scientific elite… who could use
trusted scientific methods to sort fact from fiction and make good decisions
about who should receive messages
He even wanted a quasi-governmental intelligence agency that would carefully
evaluate information and supply it to other elites
John Dewey criticized Lippmann over this and suggested that “ a class of
experts is inevitably too removed from common interests as to become a class
of private interests and private knowledge…” i.e. out of touch
Pragmatism: school of philosophy (like Dewey) suggesting a practical function
of knowledge as an instrument for adapting to reality and controlling it
Propaganda
• During WWI, both sides used stories of
atrocities…often made up, of women and children
being tortured or killed
• 4 minute stories at movie theaters
• 1930’s Hitler, etc…
• Hadley Cantril…Yale prof…starts the Institute for
Propaganda Analysis…examine propaganda …fear of
potential Hitler type in US
• Father Couglin..Detroit…radio show ..47 stations
..30million listeners gave Nazi propaganda..later
reprimanded by the Church
Fine Art of Propaganda
• This book (fine art of…) came out of
Cantril’s institute…
• Gave seven propaganda devices
• The book used Father Couglin’s radio
speeches for examples of these techniques
• 1. Name calling…giving an idea a bad
label… is used to make us reject and
condemn the idea without examining the
evidence
• “terrorist”…. Begin (Israel), Arafat, George
Washington?
• “freedom fighter”
• “martyr,”
Glittering Generality
• Some ‘virtue word’ used to make us accept and
approve the thing without examining the evidence
• Product names…Gold Medal Flour, Wonder
Bread, Super Shell
• The word “credit” was used over the word “debt”
when companies advanced the concept
• Gaming rather than gambling
Transfer
• Transfer carries the authority, sanction and
prestige of something respected and revered over
to something else in order to make the latter more
acceptable
• Transfer of “ethos”
• Use of September 11 to enhance credibility of
companies and products in ads and commercials
• Bob Dole speaking about his problem
Card Stacking
• The selection and use of facts or falsehoods,
illustrations or distractions, in order to give the
best or worst possible case for an idea, program
person or product
• It is was general semanticists call “slanting”
• Very typical in film reviews in ads…e.g. a
reviewer’s comments in an ad read,,,,,The
Rainmaker is Mr. Coppola’s best and sharpist film
(in years)…the last words were left out in ad
Testimonial
• Consists of having some respected or hated
person say that a given idea or program or
product or person is good or bad
• Another type of transfer of ethos…
• Sometimes weird and ineffective…football
quarterback Joe Namath used in commerical
to sell panty hose..
Plain Folks
• Speaker tries to persuade audience that
his/her ideas are good because they’re “of
the people,’ “just plain folks’
• Bill Clinton and Al Gore dressed in jeans
and sitting on bales of hay
• George W in his coffee shop in his Texas
town
Bandwagon
• Bandwagon…the theme is since everybody
is doing it, we should all jump on the
bandwagon
• Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee
• Pepsi generation
Effectiveness of propaganda
• Hovland and others… (slanting)…one side
versus two sided messages
• Credibility studies (testimonials)… high
credibility aids persuasion, but not for most
audiences
• Bandwagon…group experiments…when
one person is ganged up on in terms of and
idea..they will change their view
Nazi propaganda not effective in
US
• The research by Cantril and others led to the
conclusion that Nazi propaganda could not
create a Hitler type because in Germany
there was little diversity of media and the
military were a great part of the country
Kendrick
& Fullerton,
Advertising as Public Diplomacy:
Attitude Change Among International Audiences
• In October 2002, the U.S. Department of State
launched a first-ever public diplomacy campaign
featuring television spots promoting the happy
lives of American Muslims.
• The “Shared Values Initiative” advertising
campaign ran on a limited schedule throughout the
Middle East and Asia through January 2003. This
Devanti Faridz is a
journalism student of the
University of Missouri who
works as a reporter on a
local newscast
When not working,
American Muslim
bakery shop owner
enjoys time with
his family at home.
American Muslim family stops to pray
while enjoying an evening at the
amusement park in Toledo, Ohio.
Rawai Ismail teaches in the American
public schools and also teaches her own
children in Islamic school
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/obs/vid/40872.htm
http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/index.cfm