Is Propaganda an Effective Way to Influence a Society?

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What is propaganda? “Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view” (Oxford Dictionaries). Propaganda is a tool commonly used by corporations and societies to try to improve their self image. It is common to find it in the media, and can range from different topics, like drugs, political views, and even the products consumers buy. Even more common is the way these messages reach you, whether it is printed out on a poster, or tabloid, or viewed through different forms of media such as public service announcements, and television advertising. With how much people are exposed to media, it is very common to see these groups trying to sell their ideas, and products to the onlooking masses. This brings up the question, is propaganda an effective way to influence a society's people? Propaganda is an effective way to influence a society, due to careful planning, and an understanding of the audience, despite the flaws it may have.

Propaganda can have many ways to affect the target audience, as the main purpose of propaganda is trying to make a certain issue public, or try to get support for a certain cause. To do this the creators of the propaganda have to get the audience invested in the message or cause, and may do this in a number of ways. The creators may try to sympathize with the audience, by being relatable, have the audience emotionally affected by an issue, or try to sway the audience away from one side of an argument ...

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