PROPAGANDA, OBJECTIVES, DEVICES

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda, in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda. Propaganda can be used as a form of political warfare. 

The work of the Institute for Propaganda Analysis led to what we can consider a primi¬tive theory of attitude change. Several of the propaganda devices the institute identified are quite similar to techniques later studied more carefully in scientific research on persuasion. Scientific research shows that these devices have some ability to change attitudes but that they don't work on everyone.

As defined by both Lasswell and Brown, propaganda would include much of advertising (where the aim is not the good of the receiver but greater sales for the advertiser), much of political campaigning (where the aim is not the good of the receiver but the candidate's election), and much of public relations (where the aim is often not the good of the receiver but the most favorable image of a corporation).

Lasswell also discussed four major objectives of propaganda:

 To mobilize hatred against the enemy

 To preserve the friendship of allies

 To preserve the friendship and, if possible, to procure the cooperation of neutrals

 To demoralize the enemy

THE PROPAGANDA DEVICES:

The seven propaganda devices are name calling, glittering generality, transfer, testimonial, plain folks, card stacking, and band wagon. Each will be defined and discussed with exam¬ples from contemporary society.

  Name Calling

  Glittering Generality

  Transfer

  Testimonial

  Plain Folks

  Card Stacking

  Band Wagon

Name Calling: Name calling occurs often in politics and wartime scenarios, but very seldom in advertising. It is another of the seven main techniques designated by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis. It is the use of derogatory language or words that carry a negative connotation when describing an enemy. The propaganda attempts to arouse prejudice among the public by labeling the target something that the public dislikes. Often, name calling is employed using sarcasm and ridicule, and shows up often in political cartoons or writings. When examining name calling propaganda, we should attempt to separate our feelings about the name and our feelings about the actual idea or proposal.

"Name calling—giving an idea a bad label—is used to make us reject and condemn the idea without examining the evidence" (Lee & Lee, 1939). Name calling doesn't appear much in advertising, probably because there is a reluctance to mention a competing product, even by calling it a name. Its use in politics and other areas of public discourse is more common, however. During the 1988 presidential campaign Michael Dukakis was called a card-carrying member of the ACLU, a bleeding heart, a wild-eyed liberal, a far-left liberal, and an ultra liberal. The then vice president, George Bush, was called a wimp, and during the Reagan presidency, "Reaganomics" was called voodoo economics.

President George Bush, replying to a question concerning his China policy, said, "there's some politics involved . . . when you hear name calling . .. when you hear people saying 'kowtow' " (January 24, 1990, press conference).

Terrorism: Two current examples of name calling are terrorist and terrorism. As the old maxim goes, "One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter." General semanticists point out that what we call a person will depend upon our purposes, our projections, and our evaluations, yet the person does not change when we change the label. Hitchens cites two associates of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in Washington, D.C., in their book, Terrorism as State-Sponsored Warfare, as saying:

There is no universal agreement about who is a terrorist because the political and strategic goals affect different states differently. There is no value-free definition.

Hitchens  then cites the introduction of a Rand Corporation publication:

“What do we mean by terrorism? The term, unfortunately, has no precise or widely ac¬cepted definition. The problem of definition is compounded by the fact that terrorism has become a fad word that is applied to all sorts of violence”.

“A "freedom fighter" to one person may be a "terrorist" to another. At the end of World War II, when Great Britain still held a mandate over Palestine, many of Israel's leaders of today were conducting guerrilla warfare against the British. Yitzhak Shamir, later to be¬come Israel's prime minister, had been a member of lrgun and then became one of the three top commanders of Lehi (or LHY, Lohamei Herut Yisrael, or Fighters for the Freedom of Israel), also known as the Stern Gang, after its first leader.”

Glittering Generality: Glittering generalities was one of the seven main propaganda techniques identified by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis in 1938. It also occurs very often in politics and political propaganda. Glittering generalities are words that have different positive meaning for individual subjects, but are linked to highly valued concepts. When these words are used, they demand approval without thinking, simply because such an important concept is involved. For example, when a person is asked to do something in "defense of democracy" they are more likely to agree. The concept of democracy has a positive connotation to them because it is linked to a concept that they value. Words often used as glittering generalities are honor, glory, love of country, and especially in the United States, freedom. When coming across with glittering generalities, we should especially consider the merits of the idea itself when separated from specific words.

Product Names and Promotion: One of the common uses of virtue words is in the very names of products, such as Gold Medal flour, Imperial margarine, Wonder bread, South-ern Comfort, Super Shell, and Superior Dairy. Some cereals are given names that will particularly appeal to children—Cheerios, Cap'n Crunch, Froot Loops. A new cigarette that was going to be made from lettuce and therefore nicotine free was to be called Long Life.

Or the glittering generality can appear in a statement about the product. Commercials for Kellogg's cereals say they bring "the best to you each morning"—quite a glowing phrase for a bowl of cold cereal. Commercials for United Airlines invite people to "fly the friendly skies" of United, but they don't offer any evidence that the skies of United are any more friendly than the skies of any other airline. Another claim of the same type is the statement "Coke adds life." It sounds as if they've found the fountain of youth and started bottling it.

Politics and Business: The glittering generality device shows up in areas other than ad-vertising, such as politics. Calling a proposed law a "right to work" law might be an effec¬tive way to get the law passed; who would oppose the right to work? In a similar use, the members of Congress who toured the United States to speak against the Panama Canal treaty called themselves a "truth squad." Franklin D. Roosevelt's decision to call his pro¬gram the New Deal was an effective choice of a glittering generality; it sounded good, and it suggested that he was correcting a misdeal.

Economist Daniel Bell (1976) has brought out what a tricky public relations job it was to introduce installment buying in the United States, where the Protestant ethic, with its emphasis on saving and abstinence, prevailed. The key to the campaign was to avoid the word debt and emphasize the word credit.

The lexicon of the business world is full of glittering generalities. For example, busi¬nesses that incur annual losses now show negative income. Public relations releases are now sometimes called directed communications. After a nationwide survey of 1,200 persons indicated that they consider capitalism to be associated with certain negative aspects of big business, a business research institute rec¬ommended that the term private enterprise be substituted by candidates for public office. The researchers found the latter term tends to be associated in most people's minds with small businesses, particularly the "mom and pop stores" of which they hold an over-whelmingly favorable impression (Tindol, 1988)

A glittering generality was used to persuade the citizens of Wilsonville, Illinois, to allow in their town a waste disposal center for PCB-contaminated sludge and other poisons. They were told only that "industrial residues" would be kept there.

International Relations: The U.S. government invaded Panama in December 1989 under the name "Operation Just Cause ." After General Manuel Antonio Noriega was brought to the United States, several legal scholars said the apprehension was basically a blunt political act with only after-the-fact legal rationale. A senior lawyer at the World Court said the closest parallel may lie in ancient Rome when defeated leaders were taken to the circus and displayed (Lewis, 1990).

Transfer: Transfer is another of the seven main propaganda terms first used by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis in 1938. Transfer is often used in politics and during wartime. It is an attempt to make the subject view a certain item in the same way as they view another item, to link the two in the subjects mind. Although this technique is often used to transfer negative feelings for one object to another, it can also be used in positive ways. By linking an item to something the subject respects or enjoys, positive feelings can be generated for it. However, in politics, transfer is most often used to transfer blame or bad feelings from one politician to another of his friends or party members, or even to the party itself. When confronted with propaganda using the transfer technique, we should question the merits or problems of the proposal or idea independently of convictions about other objects or proposals.

"Transfer carries the authority, sanction, and prestige of something respected and re¬vered over to something else in order to make the latter more acceptable" (Lee & Lee, 1939).

Transfer works through a process of association, but instead of guilt by association it's usually something more like "admiration by association." The communicator's goal is to link an idea of product or cause with something that people like or have favorable attitudes toward.

In the 1988 vice presidential debate Dan Quayle compared himself with former presi¬dent John Kennedy, calling him by the more familiar "Jack,'-' although there is no evi¬dence that he ever knew him. Transfer can take place through the use of symbolic objects. Ku Klux Klan rallies fea¬ture the burning of a cross, a Christian symbol. A minor presidential candidate from Chi-cago named Lar Daley used to campaign in an Uncle Sam suit.

Commercial Uses: During the celebration marking the centennial of the Statue of Lib¬erty in 1986, it was common to link the statue with all kinds of products, from plastic knickknacks to boxer shorts and G-strings. Often the association is designed to be longer lasting than a fleeting commercial. 

One report commenting on commercial ties with Lady Liberty observed, "It gives Cor¬porate America a chance to use the festivities to do some image polishing of its own—and maybe to make a little money, too" (Henriques, 1986). Another writer noted, "Lee lacocca, the head of the fund-raising effort to restore the statue, sold it as a marketing symbol to bring in millions of dollars from big U.S. corporations" (Maclean, 1986).

Music: Sometimes the transfer takes place through the use of music. Father Coughlin used to begin his Sunday radio broadcasts with churchlike music from an organ, thus transferring to himself and his message the prestige of the church. 

Sometimes the transfer can take place just through two people appearing together. This kind of transfer can reach a large number of people through a news photograph, film clip, or videotape of the event showing the two people together.

Advertising: Many advertisements and commercials are built primarily around the transfer device. The Marlboro cigarette campaign, thought by some experts to be the most successful advertising campaign in 40 years, was designed to transfer the ruggedness and virility of the cowboys in the ads to the cigarette and to the people who smoke Marlboros. In a Vantage cigarette commercial a skier races down a slope, associating the cigarette with health, fitness, ruggedness, and fun. Many liquor ads around Christmas are designed to build strong associations between Christmas and the use of liquor. 

Testimonial: Testimonials are another of the seven main forms of propaganda identified by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis. Testimonials are  quotations or endorsements, in or out of context, which attempt to connect a famous or respectable person with a product or item. Testimonials are very closely connected to the transfer technique, in that an attempt is made to connect an agreeable person to another item. Testimonials are often used in advertising and political campaigns. When coming across testimonials, the subject should consider the merits of the item or proposal independently of the person of organization giving the testimonial. As shown in picture is called testimonial because they are using a popular athlete to sell their shoes.

"Testimonial consists in having some respected or hated person say that a given idea or program or product or person is good or bad" (Lee & Lee, 1939). Testimonial is a common technique in advertising and political campaigning. The national investment company E. F. Hutton hired the popular comedian Bill Cosby for $3 million to act as its spokesman on television. Cosby, who did an outstanding job for Jell-O, Texas Instruments. Ford Motor Company, and Coca-Cola, did not have the public image of a financial wizard. But, Button hired Cosby with the hope that he could improve the company's image, which was badly tarnished by its guilty plea in 1985 to charges of mail and wire fraud (Scott, 1986).

Plain Folks: The plain folks propaganda technique was another of the seven main techniques identified by the IPA, or Institute for Propaganda Analysis. The plain folks device is an attempt by the propagandist to convince the public that his views reflect those of the common person and that they are also working for the benefit of the common person. The propagandist will often attempt to use the accent of a specific audience as well as using specific idioms or jokes. Also, the propagandist, especially during speeches, may attempt to increase the illusion through imperfect pronunciation, stuttering, and a more limited vocabulary. Errors such as these help add to the impression of sincerity and spontaneity. This technique is usually most effective when used with glittering generalities, in an attempt to convince the public that the propagandist views about highly valued ideas are similar to their own and therefore more valid. When confronted by this type of propaganda, the subject should consider the proposals and ideas separately from the personality of the presenter.

Politicians usually use "plain folk" as a form of propaganda during voting season. They do anything they can to portray themselves as regular human beings. They do this in order for voters to know that these politicians are able to empathize with them, and as a result will make the right decisions for them; "the people".

Advertising: The "plain folks" device used to be more common in politics than it was in advertising, although such campaigns for commercial products have increased in recent years. A model in a television commercial promoting beauty aids says, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. First thing in the morning, I look just like you." Commercials for a regional brand of baked goods feature "down-home" scenes and a jingle about a "land of gingham blue," while a series for a regional brand of ice cream depicts cows that think a small town is heaven, and rural individuals give testimonials for the ice cream.

Politics: During a vice presidential debate in 1988, Dan Quayle invoked "plain folks" when he said of ordinary voters, "I know them and they know me." In other debates Mi¬chael Dukakis repeatedly referred to himself as the "son of immigrants." During the 1988 campaign, then vice president George Bush appeared in oilfields wearing a hard hat and rolled-up sleeves. While campaigning in Iowa, Bush said he was a farmer, just like those in his audience. Vice presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen was shown tossing a football, George Bush was shown jogging with citizens, and Michael Dukakis was shown moving his own lawn, all plain folks.

Note the "plain folks" identifications with the woman raking and man fishing, the em¬phasis on being a family man, and the implied hand wagon, in the statement "He's our next governor!" But the "plain folks" approach wasn't enough—he wasn't the next gover¬nor. .

Card Stacking: Card stacking, or selective omission, is one of the seven techniques identified by the IPA, or Institute for Propaganda Analysis. It involves only presenting information that is positive to an idea or proposal and omitting information contrary to it. Card stacking is used in almost all forms of propaganda, and is extremely effective in convincing the public. Although the majority of information presented by the card stacking approach is true, it is dangerous because it omits important information. The best way to deal with card stacking is to get more information.

Card stacking is basically identical to the general semantics technique of slanting. It is a selecting of the arguments or evidence that support a position and ignor¬ing the arguments or evidence that do not support the position. The arguments that are selected can be true or false. The device probably operates most effectively when the argu¬ments are true, but other equally true arguments are ignored, because then it is hardest to detect.

Some of the clearest examples of card stacking can be found in movie ads that present quotations from movie reviews. These quotations are carefully selected to be only the most favorable. The critics no doubt said the things used in the ads, but they probably said some negative or less positive things also, and these were not brought out.

Television Commercials: Many television commercials that show interviews with ordi¬nary citizens are also using card stacking. This is the type of commercial in which a televi¬sion interviewer comes across a woman in a shopping center and asks if she would like a free cup of coffee. After she tastes it, she is asked, "Would you say it tastes as rich as it looks?" The person then says "It tastes as rich as it looks," or perhaps something even more favorable. These commercials show the people who were interviewed who praised the product, but they don't show or even report the number of interviews in which people did not praise the product. One interviewer for this kind of commercial has said, "The bulk of the answers in those things is indifference. People will say, 'Oh, it's all right'" (Grant,1978).

International Affairs: A use of card stacking in wartime communication occurred during an Israeli attack on Palestine guerrilla bases in Lebanon in 1978. Dr. Fathi Arafat, the brother of PLO com¬mander Yasir Arafat, showed an Associated Press reporter sacks containing the bodies of two children killed in rocket attacks by the Israelis. There was undoubtedly a lot of infor¬mation Arafat could have made available to the reporter; he selected the information that would make the Israelis look bad in the eyes of the world. This incident was strikingly similar to the use of atrocity stories in World War I, although in this case the information was probably true.

Band Wagon: Bandwagon is one of the most common techniques in both wartime and peacetime and plays an important part in modern advertising.  Bandwagon is an appeal to the subject to follow the crowd, to join in because others are doing so as well. Bandwagon propaganda is, essentially, trying to convince the subject that one side is the winning side, because more people have joined it. The subject is meant to believe that since so many people have joined, that victory is inevitable and defeat impossible. Since the average person always wants to be on the winning side, he or she is compelled to join in. However, in modern propaganda, bandwagon has taken a new twist. The subject is to be convinced by the propaganda that since everyone else is doing it, they will be left out if they do not. This is, effectively, the opposite of the other type of bandwagon, but usually provokes the same results. Subjects of bandwagon are compelled to join in because everyone else is doing so as well. When confronted with bandwagon propaganda, we should weigh the pros and cons of joining in independently from the amount of people who have already joined, and, as with most types of propaganda, we should seek more information.

Advertising: Many examples of band wagon appeals appear in advertising. A deodorant is described as "the people's choice." A recruitment ad for the U.S. Army shows a group of smiling young people in uniform and says, "Join the people who've joined the Army." A jingle for Sara Lee baked goods states, "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee." McDonald's brags about the billions of hamburgers sold. A soft drink refers to "the Pepsi generation," suggesting that a whole generation is drinking the product.

Wartime Use: The band wagon is often used in wartime to convince people that every-body is making sacrifices for the war effort, even to the extent of sacrificing their lives. Nations involved in combat need heroes to build morale. If they do not yet have a hero, they can pick a likely candidate and exaggerate his deeds.

The United States was badly in need of a propaganda shot in the arm in the dark days following Pearl Harbor. It was announced that Army Air Force Captain Colin Kelly had sunk the Japanese battleship Haruna when, on December 10,1941, he gave his own life by dropping a bomb down the ship's smokestack, thereby sinking the ship only three days after Pearl Harbor. He became the first American hero of the war, and a song using his name became a national hit in 1942. In truth, no Japanese warship of the Haruna's size was in that area, and the Haruna survived until it was sunk in Kure Harbor, near Hiroshima, more than three years later (Scott, 1982).

Government Propaganda: On the home front, governments often need models of pro-duction for others to emulate. In China, Chairman Mao touted the Tachai (Dazhai) Pro¬duction Brigade as a model of self-reliance, saying in 1964, "In agriculture, learn from Tachai." It was then copied on wails across China. The brigade was reputed to have increased its grain yield eightfold from 1949 to 1971, despite its being located in an area of rocky soil, erosion, and poor agriculture.