Do we really have agency over our own lives? Or has propaganda become too effective and undetectable that every choice we make has been influenced by an outside force? Think about it. We have been cooperative in carrying out life-altering changes in our everyday lives, and not because we were forced to do so. We did so willingly thanks to the suggestions made by propaganda. We welcomed changes like the draft, cutting down on our daily intake of sugar, and closing down factories on certain days of the week. The subtle suggestions of carefully selected information make us develop a general “point of view” that is in favor of what the propagandist wants.
There are three phases of non-rational influencing of others: suggestion, action, and motivation. To begin, an idea or belief that is already in the mind of the audience will be presented, and this leads the audience to associate the mentioned idea with something not mentioned. Have you ever caught yourself venting to your partner about an annoying coworker, and without you mentioning them by name, your partner already knows who you’re talking about? Or you overhear conservation about the best restaurant in your hometown and you automatically think of what you would deem to be the best restaurant?
Next, after the initial suggestion is made, an action that is familiar and desirable is thought of by the audience once it’s mentioned. For example, the United States remained neutral for three years after the start of World War I, but as Americans watched what was happening overseas, most people were in favor of building up the country’s military. For three years, propaganda was used to sell the war to the American public. Once the president declared war against Germany, Americans were eager and ready to support the war effort.
The third phase, motivation, is when a person is led to do something they wouldn’t do if it weren’t mentioned. This motivation involves a strong desire and the presentation of an action that appears to express the desire. This motivation involves associating an idea with an emotion, and we can see this in commercials for the American Red Cross, where images of the aftermath of natural disasters are followed by ways to donate money to the organization.
The most effective propaganda doesn’t try to change your mind, instead, it takes what you already know or believe and creates connections to its own agenda. Manipulative techniques like simplification, exaggeration, exploitation, and division are used to keep the viewer from asking questions that would allow them to make an informed decision. We can find ourselves wasting our money on products that don’t work, and we see this often with “natural” alternatives to traditional medicine. Multi-level marketing companies are notorious for promoting products that claim unfounded health “benefits,” when in reality, they’re preying on vulnerable populations to buy and sell snake oil. Bandwagon propaganda is often used to sell products to the masses, as seen in the Maybelline mascara advertisement below.
By stating a tube of mascara is sold every 1.7 seconds and it’s America’s favorite mascara, it’s making the viewer think it must be the best if it’s so popular. It makes the viewer reconsider the mascara they’ve already purchased because if this is everyone’s favorite choice, it must be better than what they’re currently using. This will send people out to the stores to spend their money on a product they already have, just so they can see for themselves if the excitement around this product is real.
In the political realm, propaganda often only amplifies the views of the far left or far right. There’s little room for compromise after each group of people sees repeated messages, regardless of how “out-there” the ideas may be, from whatever side they subscribe to. Our perception is our reality and if we perceive the claims made by one side of the spectrum of the other to be true, that will be our reality and any opposing viewpoints will appear unacceptable.
It’s hard to believe we’re truly in control of our own decisions when so many forms of propaganda exist, usually undetected. We believe we’re doing what we want, purchasing products we actually like, and making decisions that are best for us. We value our ability to make our own choices and our independence. I think it’s this mindset, though, that makes us vulnerable to this kind of propaganda. We’ve likely all heard about it, we know that it exists, but we aren’t gullible enough to fall for it.. right?
Persuasion & Propaganda 
I like and think what is said about both motivation and emotion in this write up are perhaps the most important part of the entire piece. Without motivation, there is no propaganda. Someone needs to make the propaganda, and someone needs to be motivated for it to influence and impact them. In order to do that, they need to have some emotion usually hit for them to act. However, aren’t the best decisions usually made using logic and data?
Many of times, advertisements will show usage, but this is a way to influence our emotion. We do not ask for the effectiveness and do not always in every circumstance look at the price. We almost become robotic or become too quick to believe what we say is how something is to a tee or will work to a tee. An overwhelming amount of the time, that is not the case.
Our perception is something that is changed because we were motivated or told for it to be changed. We do not do our own research, and instead, we often times let others in commercials show us or people online show us or tell us about what it is they want us to do or how they want people to think.
With all this said, it is easy to see that although we have the ability to be in control of our own lives in more circumstances, we are complacent and content. We are okay with others showing us and telling us what to do. It can be a fine thing sometimes, but there are other times where people are too quick to believe something as true, when they could have done a little more research to make a better buy or form a more educated or more thought out opinion.
So, I do think we are in charge of our own lives, but there are some people who are okay with being told what to do. A lot of the time, it is about how much time and effort people put in as to how much control they want over themselves. For me personally, I want a lot of control and prefer to think about things thoroughly and use a variety of sources and experiences to form the best decision.
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Hi Angela,
In propaganda, marketing, and advertising they aim to persuade the consumer into buying or buying into their product or service. Most people are aware of their tactics at this point in the world of propaganda and often we are sometimes a little too analytical. In fact the idea of “Fake News” made popular by infamous past president, Donald Trump, has become something people live by religiously. Although I am not aware of any studies showing whether or not people in the year of 2021 fall for propaganda easily or challenge it more during modern times, I feel the public has become more aware of these persuasion tactics. That being said, there are still individuals who would see the Maybelline Mascara advertisement and think that it is the best Mascara product available in the United States. Their reasoning would be that if that many people are buying the product, it has to be a good product, but they did not research the product or fact check the advertisement.
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