Publicity derives from publicus that means “to make public” and propaganda of propagare that means “spread a message”; the French lenguage usually use the word rèclame as the English lenguage use the word Advertising that maintains the meaning “to call to atention”. Thus although they have different shades, share a same one: To propagate to the public a message. Nevertheless these terms do not mean simply “to spread a message” but have other connotations that this affluent definition illustrates:
Propaganda (or publicity) defines as one persuasiòn of intentional and systematic character of nature ideology, commercial or politic, that it has the objective to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions and actions of the specific groups with the controlled transmission of partial information (that it can be based on facts or not) through means of comunicación.
- Richard Alan Nelson, To Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States, 1996
Like we have seen in I previous article ( What is the power? ) meme is units of trasmissible information between two minds (words, sounds, images)
This definition, therefore, combines two concepts that often are taken separately: publicity (like commercial message) and propaganda (like political-ideological of the message). So we are going to use both terms indifferently, publicity and propaganda like synonymous of massive diffusion of mensaje that has between its main characteristics to be a message vertical that the people recive passively espectador, público has recived .
2 essential characteristics
In general terms, we can overcome the origin of propaganda to the same origin of the language, since the language is the means by which the people communicate, transmitting messages. Nevertheless, publicity and propaganda do not mean simply difusión of mensaje. They have two essential characteristic that differentiate these concepts from other types of communication:
- They are vertical, monodirecionals: The public receives these messages passively, incapable to reply them with objections and opinions: is not a dialogue.
- Are massive: They are messages that arrive at a great number of people. Throughout history the massive communication have followed different methods, but what is common to all it is its aristocratic caratheristic: that is to say that the power to use massive mass media is limited to few social agents (emperors, kings, political class, corporations,…) and not to any member of the public.
Brief History
From the development of the first civilizations we find the use of massive communication to spread the acceptance of certain ideologies, expressions of the dominant classes, in the community. These ideologies can be religious, and indirectly political, moral or more simply political; We found examples of this propaganda in monuments, paintings, written, and even musical compositions.
some examples:
- Egyptian pyramids
- Greek myths
- Roman monuments
- Religious Scriptures (Testaments, Corano, Chinese Canon ,…)
- Schools
In the Occident, with the decline of the Average Age (and the slow declivity of the Christianity), the modern publicity, naturally, assumes the characteristics of the modern society, leaving of side the religious publicity and concentrating in political and commercial publicity. This goes of the hand with the practical and political changes of the time: the increasing development of the technology (see the Industrial Revolution) and the displacement of the political power into the hands of the capitalist power to expenses of the nobility. From the technological point of view the invention of stamp is la the point of flexion of the massive communication since it allows the exponential growth of the vehicles that could transmit a message. To the press follow later the arrival of the radio, the cinema, the television and the new systems of communication of masses where Internet is including only partly: there are some well-known sites that can be considered massive (motor search, the well-known newspapers sites…), but Internet is more like a square, metaphorically, where different actors (some greater and others smaller) express themselves and they are related.
Truth and propaganda
Of course, not all mass messages represent the truth and not all mass messages are pure propaganda, that is intentional messages volundades representing individual without any kind of objectivity. In fact, most mass messages are tones of gray, with a part of truth and a part of lies. We analize 3 fundamental things that we need to considerate for forming an opinion on the intentions of a massive message:
- Who is the author of the message?
- Who economically supports the author of the message?
- Which relation exist between the content of the message and the interests of the author or the supporter of the author?
If a Seller of hamburger assures to you that its hamburgers are more genuine than fruit and vegetals, what do you think?
If a politician related (directly or indirectly) with the nuclear energy assures to you that the nuclear energy is clean and sure, what do you think?
If a news channel of property of an owner of private clinics says you that the public system sanitary is a disaster and that it is better to pass to private one, what do you think?
Patrick the Lay, general former-director of TF1 (French television) has asserted “What we sell to Coca-Cola, is part of the time of the human brain available”…
Too much often we we think that these ascertainments are obvious, however in the daily life the persons are keep many influence from the propaganda and (in various measures) part of their ideas and of their conscience are the fruit of messages and arguments from the mass media… for aware it. you can just go out and observe the people…
the Contradictions of the concept
The publicity, very far from forming part of the public culture, understanded like collective patrimony of the citizens (of the world), is rather the expression than will and fine it characterizes them that, if in the best cases is not counter-productive for the public, it they are not however useful. The publicity need you, but you don’t need it . More than “render public a message” publicity “induce and manipulate” the persons to act against the own interests thinking that they act for the own interests, and therefore the same use of the word publicity seems misleading. To who it serves to think that a deodorant will make you beautifulr, or more powerful machine make you more powerful or a freer racial law make you free? Of sure not to you, than although that you often end to be convinced of it. Two words on the comercial publicity : if you have the need of something, your body or your mind will make you feel the need. So why the publicity want replace you, taking the place of your sensibility of feeling needs? but above all, because you allow it?
Over to the explicit publicity (spot, postings,…) exists the implicit publicity, that is publicity masked from information.We shortly bring back the skeleton of the theory of the philosopher and linguist Noam Chomsky who has concentrated its studies on the analysis of the role of the massive mass media in the western societies:
In the book Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Massmedia, the theory sees the media are that sell a product (readers and public rather than news) to other enterprises (who put the advertising). The theory postulates five “filters” that determine the type of news that comes to the fine ones published:
- the property: if a news can turn out negative for the owner’s equities of the media it is natural that it does not have to be published or to be relegated to flat second.
Practical example: if a new scentific study demostrate the negativity of Nuclear them and the property of the media possesses one Nuclear center, that media will omit or remove importance to that news.
the Chomsky says to care: “The idea second which these persons (owners) allow that the own instruments make something that it could turn out contrary to the interests of the own corporative community is without sense”. - funding: The newspapers in general terms receive in average 70% of their returns from the publicity, the television 95%: the idea that a newspaper publishes contrary news to the interests of its advertisers is without sense.
- sourcing: the incessant news flow that a media needs to work demands large economic resources and only the financial fields and of the government can pay it. Between the media and the financial parts or the government born a “simbiotic relation” rises one, supported from economic necessities and reciprocity of interests. It’s diffucult to say “liar” to who gives you money, even if he is a liar.
- the negative reaction (flak): efforts aimed to you to discredit organizations and individuals that are in discord (or raise doubts) with the prevailing, favorable assumptions to the power costituito.
- ideology (that first then antiterrorist anti-communist and in the event of the American Media).
the aware reflection demands a mental effort to which the persons often they prefer to keep out, but doing that, “leaving it to others”, is delegating to others decisions on the own life and the own human existence. In fact one whichever dominant force, in order to guarantee its position in a social hierarchy (like that contemporary), must otherwise rest on the rest of the social scale : and the better way for makes sure it is maintain the others in one be of drowsiness and alienation of the conscience that renders them more similar to an animal or a robot. Naturally exist publicity-propagande for all the intelletti, but this is an other issue… like general rule: Use your brain or other will use it!
Below you find some examples of Advertising-propaganda and some antipublicity advertising.
This Post is related with others Posts of Philosophy and Societies:
New section: Symbol Denoted
Public and Private
