LEAP 1

Propaganda is everywhere in today's world whether we notice it consciously or not. It is there to further a belief, change a belief, or to just further the author's agenda. Propaganda can be beneficial or harmful in terms of the audience or to whom or whatever it is targeting. It is a powerful, but sometimes misused tool as social media is a huge platform with many different people with many different views. Depending on how it is used, it can relay a powerful, uplifting, strong message for the world to see.

Last semester I took a class on women in communication. While the class had a great concept, my teacher had her own agenda. She decided to use this class as her platform to push her feminist propaganda. By no means am I bashing the class or women for that matter, I was upset that I barely learned anything of importance. She decided to play lots of videos of men downplaying women's pay and roles in society. Yes, that is wrong of those men to say, but it is a small sample of the population that feel this way and many generalizations were made about men by this teacher. She wasn't explaining women of importance in the field or strong women that overcame obstacles, which I had expected to learn about. She wanted to push her message onto her young student's minds which I thought was harmful to us as well as her because many of the students saw right passed it.

Another form of propaganda I see all the time is the advertisement on my twitter for Barstool Sports. The ad is the "Saturday's are for the Boys" message they have. While it may be seen as annoying or obnoxious, it is a beneficial form of propaganda. They know their main demographic of listeners and readers, college age men, and they all love that message. It is there way of saying the Saturdays are for guys to hang out, watch sports, or do whatever else they want. Just getting people to talk about this ad is beneficial in their eyes. This company basically started out as a very small blogging company that spread mainly through word of mouth and they haven't really strayed from that idea after blowing up and becoming a huge organization. They have even created merchandise for this "SAFTB" campaign which is yet another way they push their propaganda. They even have very attractive young women donning their flag or their merchandise, as well as members of the United States military showing that they can cater to all audiences.

Another form of propaganda I saw recently was in an article on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/18/north-korea-releases-aggressive-propaganda-posters-boasting/ written by Nicola Smith about North Korea releasing propaganda boasting that they have nuclear power of the United States. This is actually quite hysterical yet horrifying for the people and government of North Korea. It is hysterical because the drapes that have been pulled over the citizens of North Korea's eyes have been down and black for so long, they are truly clueless to what is happening around the world. I talked with another professor about this just last week. Kim Jong-Un, the dictator of North Korea, told his people that his athletes won every gold medal last Olympics, everyone believed him and those athletes are seen as heroes. This follows Holiday's writings from Trust Me, I'm Lying when he says a form of propaganda is telling the people what they want to hear, and that is exactly what Kim Jong-Un is doing because his people don't know any better. He is furthering his agenda of staying in power because he is a "good ruler" when the rest of the world knows he's not, but they are fearful of him because he can snap at any moment. That is why it is also horrifying. He can actually launch those nuclear missiles and hit them at any time for whatever reason, but his people don't know the power the rest of the world has to retaliate. This is just Un trying to step up to the plate in a dangerous game by using propaganda to show his people he is still almighty and powerful.

There is another political form of propaganda which was shown on CNN and written about in the Washington Post by Aaron Blake. There is a video of what was said by Kayleigh McEnany here https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/07/trump-tvs-real-news-sounds-more-like-real-propaganda/?utm_term=.c6664cd23e77. In the video she talks about the July job report which was "better than expected", that Trump has created more than 1 million jobs since coming into office, and how the Dow Jones continues to break records. It is beneficial propaganda for Trump to tell because they are good stories for him to tell to the people they might still not believe in him as our president. Now he may be bending the truth when he says this because he inherited a strong upward trend in job creation from Obama's last 6 months as president. One of Holiday's ways to manipulate the media is to trick the readers and that's what CNN is doing. Whether it is by leaving just enough out of the header to make them want to click or watch, or a slight bend of the truth just enough to make them believe even more.

Audi took a stab at showing a piece of their propaganda during the previous super bowl in 2017 with their commercial "Daughter". https://youtu.be/G6u10YPk_34 The commercial was all about a dad narrating for his daughter, asking questions like, "How do I tell her her grandfather is worth more than her grandmother?" or "Do I tell her that despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence, she will automatically be valued as less than every man she ever meets?” Audi is trying to show the gender pay gap in America, and while this may be the truth, Audi is a huge offender of paying men more than women. I believe this ad is harmful to them as a company, but beneficial to the audience as it raises awareness for the issue. With all the technology and devices we have, it was easy to look up Audi's top paid employees and board of directors. Audi has no women on its 6 person executive team and only 16% of their supervisory board are women.

n an article I recently read from the New York Times, Thomas Erdbrink explains Iran's new form of propaganda against America. As their chants of "Death to America" recently died down, there are emerging Iranian rap artists rapping about Iranian pride and how they are better than America. Under their current regime, rap was seen as the devil's work and was shunned, but now they seem to have no problem with it as "gangster rapper" Amir Tataloo turned into a national hero seemingly overnight. He rapped about being proud of the Persian Gulf area and saying that Iran is always correct. His video, https://youtu.be/koN9ARqkuFU shows flags waving and soldiers stomping, marching, and singing along. This piece of propaganda is beneficial to Iran as it brings a form of patriotism to their country, and it shows they can change in the times as well.

APA Citation

Blake, Aaron. (2017, August 7). Trump TV's 'Real News' Sounds More Like Real Propaganda. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/07/trump-tvs-real-news-sounds-more-like-real-propaganda/?utm_term=.c6664cd23e77

Erdbrink, Thomas. (2017, August 26). As 'Death to America' Chants Lose Power, Iran Retools Propaganda with Rap Videos. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/26/world/middleeast/iran-propaganda-persian-gulf.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FPropaganda&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

Holiday, Ryan. (2012). Trust Me, I'm Lying. Penguin Group.

Kauflin, Jeff. (2017, February 6). Why Audi's Super Bowl Ad Failed. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2017/02/06/why-audis-super-bowl-ad-failed/#1aaa6c9b1786

Smith, Nicola. (2017, August 17). North Korea Releases Aggressive Propaganda Posters Boasting of Nuclear Power Over US. Retrieved http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/18/north-korea-releases-aggressive-propaganda-posters-boasting/