From ancient Greece to corporate boardrooms: A brief history of propaganda
Many people think of Soviet Russia or Communist China when they hear the word ‘propaganda’ — but it dates back much farther and is still alive and well today.
The leaders of ancient Greece and Rome didn’t know the term ‘propaganda’, but they were masters at it. They excelled at shaping the minds of their imperial subjects through carefully crafted messages, rhetoric and oratory, drama and theater, and even monuments and architecture. With vast and diverse lands to administer, these techniques were finely honed because they were essential to maintain control and reinforce the values of the empire.
The Greeks were skilled at emotional manipulation through drama, with playwrights such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides weaving into their work moral, political, and societal messages meant to shape beliefs and behaviors.
The Romans understood the persuasive power of grandeur and symbolism, building monumental structures like the Colosseum, aqueducts, and triumphal arches not just for practical purposes but also to broadcast their might, ability, and dominance over their subjects. Roman coins carried the images of emperors and their achievements to subtly remind citizens of imperial power with each transaction they made.
Centuries later, the growing Catholic church embarked on its own form of imperialism. The term ‘propaganda’ in fact originated from the Latin Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, or the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. This department of the Vatican was established in the 17th century to institutionalize the dissemination of the Catholic faith globally.
Modern masterminds of persuasion
The most iconic era of propaganda came during the Second World War, when governments on both sides of the conflict recognized the power of agitprop to rally their populations. The godfather of Nazi propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, artfully manipulated the media to indoctrinate and manipulate the German populace. On the other side of the Atlantic, Allied forces used posters, films, and radio broadcasts to boost morale and enlist popular support for the war effort.
The fact that, to modern minds, the word propaganda quickly brings Nazi and Soviet imagery to mind is in fact itself a form of subtle persuasion. Post-war, propaganda didn’t disappear; it was simply rebranded and given a more nuanced appearance. For that, we can thank a man named Edward Bernays.
Born in Vienna in 1891, Bernays was the son of a successful grain merchant and the nephew of the renowned psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Bernays' family emigrated to the United States when he was still a child, and he grew up in New York City later attending Cornell University, the University of Paris, and Harvard University to study agriculture and journalism.
Bernays is often credited with transforming propaganda into the more palatable and sophisticated field of ‘public relations.’ He drew inspiration from his uncle’s theories on human psychology and believed the unconscious desires and fears of the masses could be harnessed to manipulate public opinion. He coined the term "engineering consent" to describe this process and became a master of it.
Bernays’ notable achievements included campaigns to market cigarettes to women (dubbed the ‘Torches of Freedom’ campaign) and to convince the American public to embrace bacon and eggs as a nutritious start to the day. His methods laid the foundation for modern advertising and spin doctoring by demonstrating how easily public opinion could be shaped and manipulated.
His work marked the dawn of a new era, where corporations began to sway consumer behavior through subtle, manipulative techniques.
Pharma: the frontline in the propaganda war
Bernays would no doubt be proud of the propaganda still very much alive and well in corporate boardrooms across this continent. With extensive centralization and regulatory capture, it is often hard to detect and even harder to counteract. The pharmaceutical industry is perhaps the pinnacle, with insidious techniques that have drastic impacts on human health.
Did you know the United States and New Zealand are the only two countries where it is completely legal for pharmaceutical companies to engage in marketing campaigns directly targeting consumers through television, print media, and online platforms? According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Big Pharma spends around $6 billion each year to advertise drugs directly to you. These ad campaigns are often incredibly manipulative, employing emotional appeals, patient testimonials, and vivid imagery to create favorable images of their drugs and encourage patients to request specific medications from their doctors.
Pharmaceutical companies selectively publish or highlight research that portrays their products in a positive light while downplaying or omitting unfavorable findings. This creates a skewed perception of a drug's safety and effectiveness, essentially shaping public opinion through biased reporting. In other cases, companies may design clinical trials in ways that are more likely to produce favorable (or unfavorable) results. This can include using inadequate control groups or endpoints.
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and for more gory details on the pharma playbook.Ghostwriting is another common propaganda technique employed by Big Pharma, involving the hiring of professional writers to draft scientific articles or clinical trial reports to give the impression that these documents were written by independent researchers or academics. Remember Vioxx, the painkiller withdrawn from the market due to concerns about an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes? Merck had several articles ghostwritten about the drug's safety and efficacy, which were published in medical journals. The true authors, employees of the company, were not disclosed. The approval, marketing, and sales of the toxic drug were based largely on those ghostwritten articles.
When researchers or whistleblowers raise concerns about unethical and possible criminal practices, they face backlash, legal action, and worse from pharmaceutical companies.
It’s one thing for a shoe or software company to use aggressive marketing to sell a product. It’s quite another for some of the largest corporations in our economies, with products that have direct impacts on our health and well-being, to use propaganda to influence public perception and regulatory decisions. The impact on healthcare choices and policies can literally mean life or death.
All of this underscores the importance of transparency, independent research, and robust regulatory oversight to ensure that corporate interests do not compromise public health and safety. And, it might leave you wondering: "How do I know if I'm being played?"
To outsmart propaganda, you need to be media-savvy and keep your emotions in check. Beware if you feel your heartstrings being tugged. Don't take everything at face value. Check multiple sources. Question the narrative. Ask, ‘Who benefits?’ And in the age of the internet, get out there, break free of your echo chamber, and start sleuthing.
By staying informed and sharpening your critical thinking skills, you can navigate hidden agendas like a pro!
"How do I know if I'm being played?" Great question. Lovely article.