We explain what propaganda is, its characteristics and what types exist. In addition, we tell you how it differs from advertising.
What is propaganda?
The propaganda It is a set of communication techniques whose objective is to decisively influence the mood or opinion of a social group or population, normally through the dissemination of content designed to produce an emotional reaction. Such content can consist of objective information, rumors, half-truths, arguments and even lies, and its ultimate goal is to promote or harm some type of cause, ideology or movement.
The word “propaganda” comes from the Latin verb I will propagate (“propagate” or “spread”), which is composed of the voices pro- (“forward” or “in favor”) and pay (“town” or “village”). The creation of this term is attributed to the Catholic Church, specifically to an institution dedicated to spreading the word of Jesus Christ and the Gospel, called the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Latin: ““Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide”), created by Pope Gregory in the 17th century. In a strict sense, the propaganda (“things to be propagated”) is information that is distributed or distributed for the express purpose of influencing public opinion.
Nowadays, however, the term “propaganda” It has negative connotations, which refer to the information management practiced by different totalitarian regimes or dictatorial forces of the 20th century (such as Nazism, for example, or Stalinist communism), as a strategy to promote chauvinistic patriotism, if not racism and xenophobia. This is why accusing a message of “being propaganda” is equivalent to affirming that its content is biased, manipulative and malicious.
The truth, in any case, is that the propaganda It has always existed, associated with political, religious, social and even artistic movements and has been issued from State institutions or from private initiatives. Its purpose, since ancient times, has always been the same: to influence the habits, beliefs, opinions and behaviors of the population in a certain sense.
Origin of propaganda
The origins of propaganda date back to Antiquity, especially to the first empires whose territories were vast and whose subjects were numerous, making it impossible to announce the decisions of the State through a simple assembly. Different information systems were devised at that time to inform the people: messages engraved in rock, painted on the surface of special monoliths, read by traveling spokesmen, among many others.
These messages were not necessarily objective information, but rather more or less veiled forms of propaganda which moved people to love the king, to obey his orders, or to hate the foreigner and take up arms against him. Since power consists of making others follow your orders, propaganda was always a manipulation mechanism to achieve this.
The first records of propaganda date back to the 3rd century BC. C., and consist of a series of edicts (the Edicts of Ashoka) that were published in columns and natural rocks in important urban sites in the north of the Indian subcontinent. They contain moral, political and religious precepts.
Features of propaganda
In general, propaganda is characterized by the following:
- It is made up of text, images or multimedia combinations arranged in such a way as to provoke a quick and emotional effect on the viewer.
- Its purpose is to encourage support or rejection of a cause of some kind, as occurs, for example, in electoral propaganda (which seeks to generate support for a candidate) or in ecological propaganda (which seeks to raise awareness about saving resources).
- It is issued by some organization, institution or organized community but the author is not always identified by a signature or logo. Morally questionable propaganda is usually anonymous.
- These are informative and/or argumentative texts whose content may be more or less truthful and, therefore, more or less legal. It can have romantic and revolutionary purposes, or be part of censorship and discrimination campaigns.
- Use different manipulation techniques which can range from emotional argumentation to subliminal messages and other forms of psychological influence.
There are legal and accepted forms of propaganda, and others that are illegal and prohibited. Depending on this criterion, we can speak of three forms of propaganda:
- white propaganda when the sender is clearly identified and the content and intention of his message are evident.
- gray propaganda when the sender of the message remains hidden, but the content and intention of the message are evident.
- black propaganda when the sender of the message remains hidden and neither the content nor the intention of the message is evident, so it may be a case of one side posing as its rivals to discredit them.
Propaganda and advertising
The terms “propaganda” and “advertising” may be more or less equivalent in certain contexts, but in general they are used in a very different way. “Propaganda” is used to refer to messages aimed at changing behavior and beliefs in a political, religious or social sense, and it is a term that has very specific, sometimes negative, connotations.
Instead, “advertising” is used to refer to messages whose purpose is to increase commercial demand for a product or specific service, that is, to compete commercially. Although they also seek to convince and influence the consumer public, they do so with an exclusively commercial objective.
Thus, for example, a message issued by the government convincing people to rationalize their energy consumption can be considered a form of government propaganda, while a message issued by the Coca-Cola Company encouraging people to buy its new brand of soft drinks is an advertisement.
Types of propaganda
Propaganda can be classified according to the context in which it appears and the specific purposes it serves, as follows:
- Electoral propaganda. That which appears during times of popular consultation, referendums, elections or any other type of elections, to promote certain parties, ideas or candidates among voters.
- war propaganda. That which is used during times of war conflict, that is, military confrontations, and that has the purpose of inflaming courage among one's own soldiers and/or fear in those of others, in order to tip the balance of the conflict in their favor.
- political propaganda. That which is part of the regular methods of government and opposition in a democratic nation, and that seeks to improve the image of some political sector, disseminate its ideas and projects, call for demonstrations, etc.
- religious propaganda. That which is issued by a specific religious group or church, to invite the population to join its congregation or to take part in its rites.
- social propaganda. That which is part of the fighting strategies of some social or community group, to change the social reality of its nation. Such is the case of social movements, environmental groups, among others.
Examples of propaganda
Some examples of promotional ads are the following:
- “I want you for US Army”. One of the most famous pieces of American war propaganda, it shows Uncle Sam, a popular American icon, inviting passersby to join the army as the United States entered World War I.
- “With your help we can reduce the use of plastic bags”. Propaganda piece from the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, from 2017, encouraging the use of alternatives to plastic bags, in order to reduce them to a minimum for ecological reasons.
- “Come on!”. Spanish electoral propaganda corresponding to the 2019 general elections, in this case belonging to the Ciudadanos party.
- “Stop violence against women”. Propaganda from the Miraflores government to call for reflection on sexist violence and feminicide in the Hispanic world.
- Propaganda mural between North and South Korea. Mural showing two portraits of Korean children, one representing each country, with a pro-reunification message. It is located in the demilitarized zone that divides the territory into both republics.
- “I want to vote, my wife won't let me”. Anti-suffragist propaganda, that is, contrary to the feminist movement that fought for the female vote, spread at the beginning of the 20th century.
References
- “Propaganda” on Wikipedia.
- “Etymology of Propaganda” in the Online Spanish Etymological Dictionary.
- “Propaganda and advertising” by Leticia Bárcena Díaz at the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo (Mexico).
- “Propaganda” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.