LEAP Project 1

Often when people hear the word propaganda they think of the role it played in the past, but not the role it plays in our current society. In everyday life, we are surrounded by various forms of propaganda and we receive it through all the different channels of media in our lives. Whether that be social media like Facebook and Instagram or more traditional forms of media like TV, radio and print they all feed us propaganda. After learning more about propaganda, I easily found six examples of it in my life and I’ll show you why I think it’s propaganda. The examples come in forms where propaganda is easily found; news and information, advertising, entertainment, education, government and activism.

The first example I will be discussing is in the form of news and information which is this National Geographic magazine cover for this month that I saw while shopping the

other day. The cover is referencing the surveillance and tracking done through technology like satellites by our government. The text reads, “The new Big Brother” and is meant to draw readers in, but it also activates emotion within the viewer. (mindovermedia.tv) The emotion the picture activates is what makes the image an example of propaganda. For me the emotion was fear which is most likely the emotion all viewers will fell after seeing an image of a satellite pointed at the world with the

caption “The new Big Brother”. The label “Big Brother” helps to intensify the emotion which makes this a successful use of propaganda.

Another example of propaganda I found in my life was in advertising specifically

this Sprint ad. The ad shows an image of the United States colored in yellow with the words, “Faster than Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.” This ad uses the propaganda technique of attacking opponents to influence the viewer and illicit a reaction. (mindovermedia.tv) The ad doesn’t use any factual justifications to support that they are indeed faster than their opponents, but justification is not necessary when creating propaganda. They blatant attack on their competitors will draw attention to their company which is exactly what is intended with propaganda like this. This is a deliberate use of misleading information, also known as disinformation, by Sprint. (Jack, p. 3) They claim they are the fastest mobile network, but according to the article “Another Wireless Network Grabs Fastest Crown” (2017) in Fortune magazine testing showed that Verizon was actually the fastest mobile network.

A great example of propaganda in the form of entertainment is the film Get Out by Jordan Peele. The film tells the story of a young black man named Chris who goes home with his girlfriend and the weekend of meeting the parents becomes increasingly disturbing. The film’s narrative is making a commentary on society’s treatment of black people in an exaggerated manner. The film shows the older members of the community using young black people’s bodies to live forever. This commentary on racism in our society is one specific view which makes it propaganda. It also uses the technique of activating strong emotions to affect the audience. (mindovermedia.tv) The film activates fear in the audience which helps to influence you to value the perspective they are sharing over others you may see.

When it comes to propaganda in education an important one I remember from when I was in school happened in high school. In health class, they required us to learn in depth about domestic violence and the signs of abuse. The curriculum materials were provided by the Lindsay Ann Burke Memorial Fund. This form of propaganda uses the technique of responding to the audiences needs and values because the fund and the curriculum was created after a Rhode Island woman was killed by her boyfriend in an incident of domestic violence. (mindovermedia.tv) The group and the state education system believed that this subject was of the utmost importance to be taught in high school health classes and took precedent over other subject often covered like sex education.

A very recent example of propaganda in government is the sponsored ad created by the Polish government defending their recent Holocaust law. The ad which you can view here is meant to defend the law created that criminalizes mentioning Poland in conjunction with crimes of the Holocaust. This form of propaganda is a form of white propaganda because it selectively uses historical information to further their perspective of the Holocaust. (Jack, p.7) By only showing images of Polish people who helped Jews during the Holocaust they are erasing the all the ones who did not. The message in this ad is also very oversimplified and glosses over the complexities of the Holocaust and the role of Poland in the war in an effort to make this law more accepted by the general public. (mindovermedia.tv)

In the past few years there has been many examples of propaganda for the use of advocacy and activism popping up. An example that stood out my mind was this Budweiser commercial that played during the 2017 Superbowl which came just days after President Trump’s immigration ban. This ad uses the propaganda technique of activating strong emotions by making the viewer feel compassion for the founder of Budweiser and his struggle as an immigrant trying to achieve his dreams in America. (mindovermedia.tv) By creating this ad Budweiser showed where they stand on the issue of immigration and along with many others used it as means to influence public opinion in hopes of them joining the effort to enact change.

By taking a closer look at the media in my life I discovered many examples of propaganda in areas of my life. They are easily identifiable if you can recognize the various propaganda techniques. Not only that, but if you are able to discover disinformation within these forms of media you can be sure that it is a form of possibly harmful propaganda. This project made me realize now more than ever that propaganda is not a thing of the past, but is a prevalent entity in all of our lives today.

Works Cited

B. (2017, January 31). Retrieved February 13, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtBZvl7dIu4

Donadio, R. (2018, February 08). The Dark Consequences of Poland's New Holocaust Law. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/poland-holocaust-law/552842/

Jack, Caroline. “Lexicon of Lies: Terms for Problematic Information .” Data Society ,

datasociety.net/pubs/oh/DataAndSociety_LexiconofLies.pdf.

K. (2018, February 08). Retrieved February 13, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrkQ20SjHoU&feature=youtu.be

Pressman, A. (2017, August 2). Which Mobile Network Is Really Fastest? Retrieved February 13, 2018, from http://fortune.com/2017/08/02/rootmetrics-verizon-opensignal/

User-Generated Website Explores Contemporary Propaganda. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2018, from http://propaganda.mediaeducationlab.com/