Today, while surfing through the internet I came across the book “1984” by George Orwell which I’ve read years ago. I recalled the book dealing heavily with politics, freedom, and propaganda. At that moment, something struck me. Most people connotate propaganda with tyranny, evil, or negative things in general. However, is modern day marketing really that much different from propaganda? Can we argue that propaganda and marketing is essentially the same thing?
The more I think about it, the closer the two terms seem to coincide. As dictionary.com describes it, Propagnda is “information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc”. Reading this definition, I can’t seem to figure out the difference between modern day marketing and the propaganda used in the past. Modern day marketing involves using techniques in order to send a message to consumer base to influence their thinking. When I put the two definitions together, they seem awfully familiar. So why do people treat the two terms so differently? For example, if someone were to ask me on the spot to name things I associate with propaganda I would probably mention things such as communism, dictatorship, or conscription. On the other hand, I would associate shopping, commercials, or radio ads with marketing.
I guess this is just another case of people associating things to a word. Propaganda can be good or bad, depending on its uses. In a sense it’s like a gun. It can save lives or break families depending on its users intentions. Propagnda can be a good guy afterall!