PROPAGANDA AND MARKETING

In the past, wars and conflicts would be reported and commented on. The news reels would be shown in the cinemas and shots used to educate the soldiers. Directors like Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein rose to the social and political challenge with Battleship Potemkin (1925), October (1928), Ivan the Terrible (1944 and 1958), and Strike (1925). The masses became the hero in his portrayals. Art, social and political factors converged on the screens and radio. Movies, documentaries and songs e.g Lord Laro’s Tell Guatemala (1982) were made. The relationship between what was media and politics developed as the medium developed. It was maintained throughout, and brought cameras into the parliaments. But there was a turning point after 9/11.

      

War is usually played out in traditional media but this time the media was used as a strategy in war. After 9/11 the American government met with studios. The movie studios stopped and films in progress were adjusted. They started new productions to build a public outcry against terrorists. 

At the time, it was unusual practice for the American government to make a request from the studios (and it still is). The portrayal was mostly America is under attack and the phrase, weapons of mass destruction was heard many times. The narrative was simple:

• the reminder of 9/11 (image, words, text)

• the fact that there are terrorist organisations (story line)

• terrorism has reached America (the conflict)

The strategy took advantage of the hold America had on film distribution to provoke other nations to support America in its fight. Since it was a narrative using the fictional form it could qualify as propaganda. It was not a citizen or firm producing the movies as a left wing statement but a government requesting the private firm to persuade the masses. Some would call this manipulation and an abuse of authority. But it was based on a truthful occurrence. 

Was America spreading propaganda? Merriam-Webster dictionary defines propaganda as an organised spreading of often false ideas or the ideas spread in such a way. To further understand it I want to compare it to lies and deceptions. Using the same dictionary, a lie is to make a blunt statement of untruth. To deceive is defined as, to cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid. The deceit takes more than just a lie, it takes effort, planning and time. Same as propaganda. Additionally, all three have a cost and have to be maintained.

A lie is just a statement of untruth. A deception can use a statement of truth, a half-truth, or an allusion of an already accepted truth. It can take a fact and change the context. A truth phrased differently or communicated in a particular way can give an opposite impression. Propaganda is similar but it involves ‘spreading’ to the masses and ‘organisation’. Propaganda usually occurs with censorship. Only the message that is desired is supported. 

In his speech to the Reichstag in Berlin on January 1939, Adolf Hitler said, In starting and waging a war it is not right that matters, but victory. I was surprised to find that Hitler's strategies for propaganda were used to this day. In examining how propaganda can be spread in present day with a driving force of digital transformation, I have to compare it to marketing.

The main drive of marketing in the digital spaces is in building relationship and connecting with consumers. The public has placed a demand on it for genuine care, authenticity, and personal contact. In this way the public has affected the form of marketing. 

Brands are not important to the consumer unless they can stand up to the test and build trust. This is in the arena of business and it is the same in politics. The public expects that they can trust that the truth is told to them. A breach of that trust has wide repercussions. The incidences of 2020 in America are a good example. Additionally, Generation Z demands that there is ethics in how corporate and government operate. Business and government are expected to serve the needs of the public. 

Propaganda uses the tools of marketing e.g. video, blogs, tweets etc. Marketing involves a strategy similar to propaganda which is to spread the message and tell a story to masses. But because of the demand for truth and ethics, marketing is different to propaganda. Further examination into how far reaching propaganda is from past to present can be clearly seen in a case study that I present. I will demonstrate the strategy of carrying out a deceit using the Israel and Palestine conflict and exemplify where the ‘lie’ is in relation to the ‘deceit/ propaganda’.

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