The Use of Propaganda in Political Campaigns

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The idea of political propaganda
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The issue of propaganda is of current importance because we hear such words we can face propaganda in every sphere of human life: political campaigns, propaganda of healthy way of life, propaganda in the sphere of sociology and sex equality. People try to harmonize their life and try to use any instrument for this.

The work is focused on the issue of propaganda in political campaigns. Actually propaganda is an integral part of policy of any state. Any type of political regime requires the presence of propaganda in order to regulate the attitude of people towards their country.

Nowadays the world society is becoming more and more informative and that is why the using of propaganda instruments becomes more and more easier and that is determined with the developing of modern technologies in the world. There role of propaganda is increasing with every day. This is connected with the fact that the volume of political information is constantly increasing, people need more information in order to understand all the processes which surround them. Nevertheless it is very difficult to cope with the great amount of information people get from TV, magazines, newspapers, and radio programs. Moreover people should formulate the analyses of the problems but not just gain the information. They should give their own interpretation to it. It is very difficult to avoid the intrusion of the interpretation of the events by other people.

The use of propaganda is closely connected with the mass consciousness. Sometimes propaganda is deeply hidden under the bright advertising and PR-actions. In additions many people associate the word ‘propaganda’ as the number of actions used for keeping old regimes. There is a widespread opinion that democratic countries never use propaganda because its instruments oppose to the free development of personality and individuality, and because this can give a pressure on people.

The idea of political propaganda

Speaking about the idea of propaganda in political campaigns it would be appropriate to give the definition of the concept ‘political propaganda’:

“Propaganda is the more or less systematic effort to manipulate other people’s beliefs, attitudes, or actions by means of symbols (words, gestures, banners, monuments, music, clothing, insignia, hairstyles, designs on coins and postage stamps, and so forth). Deliberateness and a relatively heavy emphasis on manipulation distinguish propaganda from casual conversation or the free and easy exchange of ideas. The propagandist has a specified goal or set of goals. To achieve these he deliberately selects facts, arguments, and displays of symbols and presents them in ways he thinks will have the most effect. To maximize effect, he may omit pertinent facts or distort them, and he may try to divert the attention of the reactors (the people whom he is trying to sway) from everything but his own propaganda”. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

The most important features of propaganda are systematic approach, aims, addressing to society, aggressive ways of influence, but nevertheless propaganda should be differentiated from such conceptions as PR, and advertising.

It should be admitted that the psychological features of propaganda were present in pre-historic society. The word-combination ‘political propaganda’ can be used while speaking about the first forms of state. Then there appeared the mass ways of replication, increasing mass consciousness, importance of the opinion of society in the life of any country.

In my opinion, for the understanding the phenomenon of propaganda it is not enough to concentrate on the theory of information because the changes in social, political, and economical conditions caused serious changes in this process.

According to Uudelepp, it is possible to speak about three levels of manipulation (UUdelepp, 2008, p10):

social-cultural context;
social level;
technological.

So, the first level is focused on different types of symbols and stereotypes, which are very important in every political campaign. The second level is based on the examples of behavior of famous people. For example, if a famous people support the process of political campaign. It can have a great influence on the psychology of people. Third level “is technological. It is based on either censorship or on manipulating with facts and with their interpretations. Between the two world wars it was agreed that successful propaganda is impossible without effective censorship” (UUdelepp, 2008, p10).

It is possible to divide propaganda into white, black and gray (Encyclopedia).

White propaganda gives true information that is taken from real sources; it operates with fact that had place in real life. In general, it is a kind of propaganda that is focused on truth. The next type of propaganda is black propaganda. Actually, it is focused on giving the false facts in order to disport the opinion of society. The third type is pretending to be neutral and it gives the facts that can not be confirmed, usually it is something which is like gossips. All these types of propaganda aimed to differentiate between the attitudes of people towards some political events and to formulate their own interpretation of them.

The instruments of propaganda in political campaigns

The government tries to use any instrument for the propaganda process. According to Philip Taylor “the Second World War witnessed the greatest propaganda battle in the history of warfare” (Taylor, 2003, p209). And it is really so, for example for Hitler this instrument was radio. The messages from the battle places were the most important. Usually these messages stopped all the programs and it was a sign that war was the most important event. In addition music played a great role there.

TV is one of the strongest instruments of political propaganda. An important place is occupied by the propaganda of the government’s work. It is very often when this information is connected with the work of the leaders of the government.

The essence and specific features of political propaganda is well reflected in its core functions. For example, its communicative purpose is that it seeks to establish contact between the government and society. Political propaganda, reflecting the essence of the political platforms of certain political forces adjusts the voters for their support, creates and implements the mass consciousness, creating the desired psychological installation of the vote. “Advertising, by its nature, takes positions. Commercials suggest that the advertiser’s product is better than a competitor’s or is important to the viewer’s well-being. Such a claim may or may not be true, and the question is not always so easy for the reader, viewer, or listener to evaluate. While the results of a bad choice about which brand of soap to buy may be inconsequential, a wrong decision about whom to elect to a position of public trust can have far-reaching consequences”. (Gottlieb)

Thus, it is some way relationship between them, using an accessible and adequate perception of the general population landmark system. Therefore, political propaganda has become a conduit for ideas, relay the images, symbols, myths, living and operating in the mass consciousness of society. But apart from the communicative functions of political propaganda also serves as an information function, as one of the challenges facing it, is to acquaint the mass audience with political parties and political movements operating in the political life of any society.

Political propaganda also presents various candidates to the electorate, their views, political actions and suggestions, their advantage over competitors, thereby complying informational function personified. It should be noted the implementation of its socio-focus, ideological functions, as political propaganda exists in the context of political competition and is designed in such circumstances to provide own communicative activities of others.

Propaganda in political campaigns includes the impact of the organization and conducting the activities within public relations, which will play a significant role in creation and dissemination of advertising. The program impact means the impact of program development of any candidate, means and methods of its organization and implementation: the preparation of the calendar, the creation of support groups, develop profiles of leadership, organizing rallies, choose the language of the pre-political propaganda, making political posters, leaflets and other promotional advertising products. Personal effects imply the creation of the candidate and his nomination.

It is a well-known fact that in addition to the expensive types of political advertising (radio and TV, newspaper and magazine publishing) various types of printing products are traditionally used. It is effective through the prompt delivery of the electorate and relatively inexpensive, compared with the cost of air time or newspaper space, and can be spread in several ways, notably through the streetsi, physical distribution, and mailing.

In the printing products of political propaganda it is possible to define one of the most popular and effective genres – political poster. It is an advertising product of large-format, the main impact of which are visual elements (photos candidate, icons, drawing, cartoon), and contains a minimum of verbal information in the form of slogan or appeal. This genre is aimed primarily at the emotional impact, and therefore must meet a number of requirements, which focused on the provision that the poster should amaze, intrigue, causing curiosity. Any political poster has the socio-cultural context (it was mentioned above).

There are different visual components of the poster to achieve the proper effect all. These include the requirement for achieving a clear, clear schematic of the political poster. One of the important conditions for the effectiveness of the poster is the dynamism of its design performance, which manifests itself in shifting the view from one element to another poster. It is also necessary to remember about keeping the balance in its composition, and the construction of meaning. For example, some posters can cause negative reaction of people (Lebanon bans political posters in bid to defuse sectarian tension).

Among the most mobile genres of political propaganda there is a political leaflet. Traditionally, political leaflet is a unilateral or bilateral printing, where as the main tool used text containing information on the events (the rally, political action), calls to action, or present to voters the main provisions of the program documents of political parties or their candidates. Characteristic features of the leaflets are relevance and accessibility of its content, democratic themes, compositional simplicity and style.

Potential impacts of printed products on voters in various political campaigns are not limited because of the rapid development of information technology. The specifics of communicative impact of political propaganda, including its printing, is primarily in terms of its subject matter and objectives clearly defined and outlined: in the short term in the strategy of an election campaign with maximum efficiency affect the specific target audience, addressing its specific political appeal.

Political propaganda, especially, has an active, strong influence and belongs to tactical instrument, since it is the most effectively and has the strategic ideas and develops a political campaign. But in order to impact the political mechanism of communication to work well, it is necessary to use the knowledge of the effects of many other factors that are objective and subjective.

Among the objective factors that determine the political choices of some voters are their ethnic and religious backgrounds and their political traditions, as well as local and political environment of a voter. Therefore, when planning political campaign they must take into account all those stereotypes, particularly the behavior, symbols, myths and traditions that define ethnic identity as a separate, distinct and sometimes opposing communities.

Ethnic factors influence the behavior of voters, coupled with socio-demographic and economic circumstances and religious traditions. At the behavior of voters greatly affect the presentation of most people in the place where he lives. But it would be better to take into account that “not all political propaganda is international and not all propaganda is political. Within the political field propaganda is practiced by parties and pressure groups of all kinds, each of them trying to persuade the public to support its cause” (Fraser, 1957, p4).

As an independent subjective factor it is possible to identify the factor of interest in politics. There is no need to prove that the electoral behavior directly depends on the extent to which the voter is included in the political life of society.

Interest in politics defines a number of other features, such as the level of political awareness among people, their perceptions of the status quo in the political life of society, the degree of voter confidence to the different political structures and a few others that make the very notion of “political culture “. Thus, a number of important and long-term operating factors influencing political choice, one of the major places are ideological positions and political culture. Interpretation of any political event or issue, an assessment of any policy document or a political leader of the voter relates primarily to a set of political values.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is worth saying that the psychological impact plays a great role in propaganda in political campaigns. To my mind, the greatest attention should be paid to the use of different approaches to various age-groups: “The new propaganda is a product of the more egalitarian, participant forces that emerged in the post-World War II period. Unlike members of mass cultures, who were almost wholly dependent on their leaders for propaganda, members of the popular culture have gained the ability to initiate messages as well as respond to them… Through music, writing, and performance, they have been creating means to permit their participation in the popular culture” (Edelstein, 1997, p20).

Election campaigns are the most intense periods of political propaganda on TV. They are intensified by all the ways of a symbolic struggle. Changing the overall thrust of the programs of the campaign many acquiring entertainment publicist and transmission appear special election blocs.

With the advent of television campaigns have become an important component of the external characteristics of conduct. Changing and oratorical style: it was not required to initiate the mass of people gathered to hear the live speech, and remotely located viewers sit in their armchairs at home. Politician becomes even stronger actor who can make the audience laugh, and to convince voters that he can solve all their problems.

Actually, we even do not notice that our brain is occupied with the information the origin of which is unfamiliar to us. The greatest part of people do not actually know what is right and what is not, but they are governed by the information they get from TV channels, radio, newspapers, and magazines. Even movies can be the sources of the propaganda we do not want to get, but the modern ways of psychological impact are so highly developed that we do not feel when we get the information.

References

Encyclopedia Britannica. Web.

Encyclopedia: propaganda – types of propaganda. Web.

Edelstein Alex S., Total Propaganda: From Mass Culture to Popular Culture. Contributors: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ. Publication Year, 1997. Web.

Fraser Lindle, Propaganda. Contributors: Oxford University Press, 1957. Page Number. Web.

Gottlieb Stephen S., The Media’s Role in Political Campaigns ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication Digest #74.

Lebanon bans political posters in bid to defuse sectarian tension. Web.

Taylor Philip M. Munitions of the Mind: A History of Propaganda from the Ancient World to the Present Era, Manchester University Press, 2003. Web.

Uudelepp Agu, PROPAGANDA INSTRUMENTS IN POLITICAL TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENTS AND MODERN TELEVISION COMMERCIALS, TALLINN UNIVERSITY, 2008. Web.

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