Use Sophia to knock out your gen-ed requirements quickly and affordably. Learn more
×

Propaganda

Author: Sophia

what's covered
In this lesson, you'll learn about propaganda, and look at a few examples of it in practice. Specifically, this lesson will cover:

Table of Contents

1. Propaganda Overview

Propaganda is the controlled dissemination and proliferation of symbolic messages in order to influence an audience's attitude.

It's a form of communication aimed towards influencing the attitude of the viewer or community in favor of a particular cause or position. It's usually done by presenting only one side of the story, idea, or argument.

term to know
Propaganda
The controlled dissemination and proliferation of symbolic messages in order to influence an audience’s attitude.


2. Design and Propaganda

Design's connection to propaganda is best known for its war campaign posters, like the U.S. propaganda poster depicting Uncle Sam below.

Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam is supposed to be a personification of the U.S. government or power and the country itself. So the poster is suggesting that you join him by joining the U.S. military and fighting with the country.

Illustrations on war campaign posters were also often used to stereotype the enemy, like in this next poster below.

Stereotypes

You can see that this image is meant to influence the viewer's attitude towards a specific group of people in a very negative and offensive fashion.

Design employs propaganda by repeating the symbol or slogan ad nauseam, which is another way of saying that the message continues to be shown over and over. It gets repeated regardless of whether the statement is true.

A symbol or slogan becomes credible in the eyes of viewers simply by the amount of exposure it has received. A really great example of this is Shepard Fairey's Obey posters.

Obey

Shepard Fairey is a contemporary American graphic designer who came to be known for his Obey posters depicting Andre the Giant. These images have no message, statement, or idea that they're trying to convey or convince you of.

In fact, Fairey has said, "The real message behind most of my work is to question everything." He's also said, "The sticker has no meaning, but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate, and to search for meaning in the sticker."

Stickers

Again, the mere reputation of the image was enough of a statement, as it became credible simply by the amount of exposure. Shepard Fairey is also responsible for the Hope poster that has received mass exposure as well.

Hope

summary
In this lesson, you received an overview of propaganda, and how it is employed. You also got to see the connection between design and propaganda through some common examples.

Keep up the learning and have a great day!

Source: THIS WORK IS ADAPTED FROM SOPHIA AUTHOR MARIO E. HERNANDEZ

Terms to Know
Propaganda

The controlled dissemination and proliferation of symbolic messages in order to influence an audience’s attitude.