Propaganda

Propaganda shows up everywhere, especially on television. Propaganda can be seen on television in comic light on the cartoon show South Park, informatively on politician proposition commercials, and on serious notes with the military recruitment commericials. During the most recent presidential election, South Park creators aired an episode mocking the two candidates, John Kerry and George Bush. John Kerry and George bush were characterized as Douche and Turd. The creators wanted to show that both presidential candidates were bad, and that neither should be elected. Like South Park, politicians use propaganda in their proposition commercials to sway the public to elect them and not their opponents. Typically, politicians use propaganda in a negative way. Politicians feed their audience with exaggerated facts about opponents, putting opponents in bad light. In military recruitment commercials, soldiers are shown to be brave, courageous, and honorable. The soldiers in the commercials are proud to do their job and seem never to hesitate during danger. The commercials imply that if you join the military, you will become as brave, courageous, and honorable as the soldiers in the commercials. Recently, I saw a billboard for the Navy that said, "To be honorable, to be brave, join the Navy." Other propaganda I have seen are the ones used for movies. The recent movies, Gridiron Gang, The Guardian, The Black Dahlia, and The Covenant have all been advertised as the number one blockbuster hit of the moment. All the movies used this information to get people to watch them, even though the information is false (all the movies can't be the number one blockbuster hit at the same time). Propaganda is used all the time in the media, and will continue to be used because it is an effective way to sway opinions and sell products.

Propaganda techniques