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Propaganda or Persuasion: Designing Social Control

By

Joel Burden, 2013

‘It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old

social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.’

- Bernays, Edward. 1928.

Today, in the western civilized world, we are bombarded with endless reels

of advertisements and messages. It is now believed an average mind can be

exposed to as many as 5,000 adverts per day. We, as people involved in

modern mass consumer society are subtly (or sometimes not so) affected on

an unconscious level to buy, vote, visit, watch, listen or fight for ideals and

products the men in power wanted them to. How this is achieved has

become a topic of much debate and contemplation, one that has birthed the

question, is that propaganda or persuasion? The notion itself has become an

ethical conundrum faced by the PR, marketing, advertising and creative

industries. ‘We might, for example, not wish to participate in creating desires

for things that people don’t really want or need. Alternatively, we may see

constant demand as a prerequisite to a successful capitalist society and

argue that this is broadly for the good’ (Roberts, pg.92, 2006). To gain a

better understanding this paper will look into not only what these terms

embody and the arguments for both sides; but also how we as designers are

affected by this and are becoming increasingly entangled in a web of

socialist and capitalist ideals.

It is difficult to approach or discuss the topic without the mention of a man

named Edward Bernay(1891–1995). By 1928 he has pioneered, practiced

and planted ‘new’ propaganda firmly into the minds of ‘mass’ culture. During

WWI Bernays worked with the American Committee on Public

Communication, his influence here against Nazi propaganda earned him an

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invite to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. It was there that he first

realized the potential of propaganda in terms of its ability to provide a means

of social control in this, a new era of peace. He began to see the inter-linking

relationships between those in power, the mass population and an invaluable

communication tool, the media. To genuinely understand this premise and

it’s ever evolving connotations we must first look at a principle understanding

of ‘mass’ culture. Psychoanalysts are primarily perceived to be concerned

with the psyche and isolated mind of the individual; this is not the case. Many

have attempted to understand the mental workings and intricacies of a

crowd; including Sigmund Freud (who coincidently is Bernays Uncle). Freud

critiques an earlier theory of crowd psychology by French social

psychoanalyst Gustave Le Bon in his paper ‘Mass Psychology and Analysis

of the ‘I’’. Le Bon (1895) writes ‘Whoever be the individuals that compose it,

however like or unlike their mode of life (…) the fact that they have been

transformed into a crowd puts them in possession of a sort of collective mind

which makes them feel, think and act in a manner quite different from that

(…) were he in a state of isolation.’ He speaks of a collective mind, and how

we as people are affected when we merge into a mass congregation. He

goes onto say ‘under the influence of suggestion, he will undertake the

accomplishment of certain acts with irresistible impetuosity (…) the

suggestion being the same for all the individuals of the crowd, it gains

strength by reciprocity’. As he theorizes here, under the influence of

suggestion (in relation to this paper we will call this ‘suggestion’ the media), a

crowd or collective mind will share said suggestion; and the more individual

minds that reciprocate with this suggestion; the more momentum this

suggestion will accumulate. Freud applauded Le Bon’s theories into the

psychology of crowds but felt this subject needed further investigation and

deliberation; his biggest gripe was how Le Bon spoke of a bond between

individuals in a crowd yet he never explained what exactly this bond

consisted of; he responded by saying ‘there must presumably be something

binding them together, and that binding medium might be precisely what

characterizes the mass’ (Freud, 1921). Freud’s own views of the ‘masses’

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lend themselves well to key principles of propaganda. ‘The mass is

impulsive, inconstant and excitable (…) at all events they are so imperious

that no personal interest, not even that of self-preservation, is able to assert

itself’ (Freud, 1921). This notion of a crowd being almost frantic and void of

any personal reservations when presumably presented with an idea or

suggestion means with the correct approach they would no doubt ably be

malleable to the desires of the communicator. Bernay was about to introduce

the corporate machine to these theories; it was by doing so that he was to

make his fortune and change our world forever.

‘In theory, every citizen makes up his mind on public questions and matters

of private conduct. In practice, if all men had to study for themselves the

abstruse economic, political, and ethical data involved in every question, they

would find it impossible to come to a conclusion about anything’ (Bernays,

1928). Crowd and social control; these things are elements of that which can

now be called ‘new propaganda’ or more acceptably known as ‘Public

Relations’. PR became Bernays trade; and one he became particularly skilled

at. It is difficult to imagine a world without ‘spin’ doctors or PR men now.

They have become an invaluable necessity to any corporation or politician

wishing to present them or their product well to the mass consumer. Before

people like Bernays ideas and goods were marketed in a far more direct

fashion; it was promoted for its qualities and functionality. Today they have

directly tapped into our inner selves creating a ‘need’ for things on an

emotional and psychological level that we as people primarily do not need. Is

this wrong? It is hard to say. Creating a demand for what you are supplying is

in the very heart of Capitalist society, if we are to protest too much against

these methods then we are surely protesting against the structure we in the

western world abide by. When speaking of the necessity of propaganda in

his book ‘Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes’, French

philosopher Jacques Ellul says ‘propaganda fills a need of modern man, a

need that creates him in unconscious desire for propaganda. He is in the

position of needing outside help to be able to face his condition. And that is

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the aid of propaganda. Naturally he does not say “I want propaganda.” On

the contrary, in line with preconceived notions, he abhors propaganda and

considers himself a “free and mature” person. But in reality he calls and

desires propaganda that will help him ward off certain attacks and reduce

certain tensions (…) no propaganda can have any affect unless it is needed,

though the need may not be expressed as such but remain unconscious’

(Ellul, pg. 138 - 39, 1965). This could be seen as an argument for capitalist

propaganda and shares common views with Bernays practice; for example

the view that people need this direction from others to live an effective life,

even if they consider that they themselves are free-minded. This pro

propaganda mentality relies on an unconscious emotional attachment,

‘although the objects material form remains constant as it undergoes the

work of mass consumption, its social nature is radically altered’ (Miller,

pg.192, 1987). It aims to play on the mass psychology where groups of

individuals attach a social significance on objects, almost like banners they

can all stand behind or a shared mentality they can all agree on. Marcuse

describes it as ‘false’ needs, ‘we may distinguish both true and false needs.

"False" are those which are superimposed upon the individual by particular

social interests in his repression (…) most of the prevailing needs to relax, to

have fun, to behave and consume in accordance with the advertisements, to

love and hate what others love and hate’ (Marcuse, 1964). The propagandist

may play on matters a group finds pivotal to their moral fibre and use this in

order to sell them a desired product, regardless of if they personally agree or

disagree with the moral fibre in question. Again an emphasis is placed on

revenue, it is a capitalist product that resides comfortably in the structure it

has been conceived from, ‘the globally distributed media presence is largely

founded on the supposition that ubiquity is the key to achieving not only

instant celebrity, but perhaps more importantly, instant wealth’ (Helfand,

2001). Money is an essential consideration and presence for anyone involved

in the marketing or goods or ideals; but where propaganda (as we have

began to define it) is concerned, it begins to overshadow any concerns of the

people it is involved with.

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Persuasion on the other hand holds ideals that could be said to be

increasingly socialist. The Oxford dictionary defines the verb to ‘persuade’ as

being an act of inducing (someone) to do something through reasoning or

argument; for example the way a democratic government is run (in theory),

candidates are required to persuade the public into casting their vote with

him/her. In short persuasion requires by nature an amount of power resting in

the hands of the receiver, not power which is to be manipulated into the

givers will but power that lies in the hands of the educated free-willed mind,

‘The communication of a point of view with the ultimate goal of having the

recipient of the appeal come to “voluntarily” accept this position as if it were

his or her own’ (A.R.P and E.A, 1991). Whereas propaganda lives in the

realms of the unconscious buyer, persuasion requires a much more

conscious effort from it’s subjects, ‘in an age of propaganda, the best thing

for the survival of a democracy is the existence of communicators who know

how to present their message clearly and fairly’ (A.R.P and E.A, 1991). Clearly

and fairly are surely binding principles of anyone intending to persuade in an

open and democratic fashion, an exact contrast to the theory earlier

proposed by Ellul, that of subconscious ‘need’ to be directed in order to help

‘face his condition’. Here we can begin to see more defined barriers between

propaganda and persuasion and what distinguishes two things so similar in

premise from one another. Both desire the same end result but differ in the

ways they will accept to reach it. It boils down to a question of ethics, and

we, as Graphic Designers will sooner or later be thrown into the same pan,

‘Graphic design is a rhetorical art; it is there to persuade. To be critical of it

for being persuasive is like criticizing a fisherman for catching fish’ (Roberts,

pg. 92, 2006). We will be required to make products or people desirable by

transmitting our ideas and concepts through media channels to a ‘crowd’ or

target audience; this is inevitable. Therefore are we in turn propagandists? Or

do we choose a life of persuasion.

This of course subjective to the individual and can be taken lightly or to the

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extreme. I would like to borrow a few examples from Lucienne Roberts book

‘Good: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design’ as a starting point. He

asks us ‘should you act as an advocate for opinions that are not your own

and that you therefore believe to be ‘wrong’?’ (Roberts, pg.90, 2006), an

interesting dilemma no doubt, an advocate of moral fibre as we spoke of

earlier in the paper. The propagandist would perhaps not face this dilemma

as they would not bring their own personal opinions to the forefront, if the

capital was there then it would be a job worth doing, and this is not to say

there is anything wrong with that, this is an un-bias comparison. This is not to

say someone concerned with persuasion would not do a job if they didn’t

agree with the policies (again, this is subjective) but they would most

definitely approach it from the standpoint of fair argument, presenting the

clients case of product in a fair and earnest way. As a direct result of this that

may (depending on the ethics of the company or individual) lose them the job

‘if a designer is working with a client without empathy for the issue, then I

would imagine that could impede their ability to communicate effectively and

creatively’ (Roberts, 2006), but they might keep their own moral dignity.

To conclude, we are and have been surrounded by ‘suggestion’ for longer

than anyone still living can account. The methods this suggestion is

presented to us can be varied and have in the past attempted to play on all

realms of human emotion. And we as designers of this new age have an

important decision to make… propaganda or persuasion? Personally I do

believe we should strive to present messages clearly and fairly, perhaps we

have become too susceptible to blatant consumerism fueled through an

aggressive advertising regime, I am as guilty as any other to it’s charms and

have as a direct result bought many things which I had no need for, then or

now. Capitalism of course needs this level of unnecessary transactions to

function but then maybe we should question how well capitalism works for

us. ‘Can one really distinguish between the mass media as instruments of

information and entertainment, and as agents of manipulation and

indoctrination?’ (Marcuse, 1964).

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Bibliography:

- Roberts, Lucienne (2006) Good: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic

Design: Switzerland, AVA Publishing SA.

- Le Bon, Gustave (1895) La Psychologie des Foules: Paris, Presses

Universitaires de France.

- Freud, Sigmund (1921) Mass Psychology and Other Writings: London,

Penguin Group.

- Bernays, L. Edward (1928) Propaganda: Brooklyn, IG Publishing. - Ellul, Jacques (1965) Propaganda The Formation of Men’s Attitudes: New

York, Random House/Vintage 1973.

- Miller, David (1987) Mass Culture and Mass Consumption: Oxford, Basil

Blackwell Ltd.

- Helfand, Jessica (2001) Screen: Essays on Graphic Design, New Media,

and Visual Culture: New York, Princeton Architectural Press.

- Pratkanis, R. Anthony and Aronson, Elliot (1991) Age of Propaganda: The

Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion: New York, W.H Freeman.

- Marcuse, Herbert (1964) One-dimensional Man: Boston, Beacon.