I bet you think you know what propaganda is? Certainly you can point to some example from the past. Or maybe there is something that you don’t agree with in the present? Perhaps it’s a thing which a group has labelled distasteful, distrustful, or disapproved? And no doubt, there is some authoritative voice available to provide the necessary claim of provenance as a base of evidence that the “thing”, whatever it is, is propaganda. And you would be right. 100%. No question about it, whatever it is. Your example is propaganda.
But here’s the rub… that doesn’t mean you know what propaganda is.
The definition has not been static
Looking at how the definition of propaganda has ‘propagated’ over time is a good place to begin. Unfortunately, simply looking up the definition isn’t much help because the definitions are inconsistent between authoritative sources and sometimes even within a single source itself. Take for example, Merriam-Webster.com’s “Kids Definition of propaganda”, which changed quite drastically in late 2022.
The following definition which previously had their blessing of acceptance for years, which also contains a negative connotation, was present in September[1]:
: an organized spreading of often false ideas or the ideas spread in such a way
It was replaced with more of a neutral definition in November[2]:
: an organized spreading of certain ideas
also : the ideas spread in this way
This updated definition is more in line with the parent, Merriam-Webster.com’s, definition of propaganda[3], and does not only focus on the negative:
1 : capitalized : a congregation of the Roman curia having jurisdiction over missionary territories and related institutions
2 : the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person
3 : ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause also : a public action having such an effect
Notice the balance with the sense 2 definition: “helping OR injuring”. And sense 3: “further one’s cause OR damage[s]”. This is a fair framing of propaganda because it is not just the negative: the injuring OR the damaged cause. Propaganda can be positive and used for the helping AND the furthered cause, too.
There is propaganda in politics, but not all propaganda is political
The definition provided by Google.com[4] insists on defining propaganda as a political tool with malice:
1 : information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
2 : a committee of cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church responsible for foreign missions, founded in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV.
It is these types of definitions that attempt to give propaganda a bad name and is biased towards only a specific type of propaganda. Change the word “political” to something like “consumer cause or point of view”, “marketing cause or point of view”, “advertising…”, “corporations…”, “public relations…”. Those are all plausible replacements for the word “political”, yet this definition avoids them completely.
A “particular religious cause or point of view” is also an acceptable replacement, as the aforementioned sense 2 definition indicates.
The Congregation de Propaganda Fide was established on June 22, 1622, and
“may be accepted as the completion of the formative stage of the Counter-Reformation… It resembled the other Congregations in its organization, but it differed entirely from them in the range of authority. From the beginning of its existence, the object of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide was definitely understood: it was to regain the faithful in all those parts of the world where Protestantism had been established, and to bring to light of the true faith to heathen lands.”[5, 479-480]
“[T]he Congregation may indeed be proud of its success in the United States. For two hundred and eighty-years (1622-1908), Propaganda was the supreme court of administration and appeal.”[5, 482] On June 29, 1908, “the United States and several other countries were withdrawn from the regimen.”[5, 481]
With the Catholic church in a new stage, and the authority of their missionaries no longer regimented in the United States , the term propaganda was available to new suitors and began to have a reformation of its own.
If there is selling, there is propaganda
The 1898 edition of the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary[6] has a simple yet straightforward approach at defining propaganda:
Prop’a-gan’da, n. [Abbrev. fr. L. de propaganda fide. See PROPAGATE]
1 : (R. C. Ch.) (a) A congregation of cardinals charged with the management of missions. (b) The college of the Propaganda to educate priests for missions.
2 : Hence, any organization or plan for spreading particular doctrines or principles.
Prop’a-gate, v. t. & i.
1. To continue or multiply by generation, or successive production. 2. To spread or extend into space. 3. To spread from person to person; to extend the knowledge of. 4. To generate; to produce.
Now that propaganda was no longer limited to the parlance of selling religious products, people, and ideas, it was free to be used for all the wilds of American business. And business has been good.
Selling is at the core of the intersections where marketing campaigns, advertising agents, and information brokers peddle products, people, and ideas to the public. Propaganda is what marketers, advertisers, and information brokers use to sell their products, people, and ideas to the public. Propagandists employ symbols, repetition, and various appeals in an effort to persuade the public in favor of their goals. This is perfectly acceptable because it does not employ physical coercion.
So what is propaganda? Propaganda is the use of symbols, repetition, and various appeals by marketers, advertisers and information brokers to sell products, people, and ideas to the public without the use of physical coercion.
Essentially, every media input that is consumed through the senses is propaganda. Whether it is a sale on bananas, a message from a politician, or an event to introduce buyers to electric cars.
So everyone in marketing, advertising, and information brokering is a propagandist?
Actually, YES. Returning to the 1898 Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary:
Prop’a-gan’dist, n. One who devotes himself to the spread of any system or principles.
It’s really that simple, but unfortunately this simple fact is obscured. Propaganda and Public Relations are synonymous terms actually. It is the job of public relations to find ways of persuading public opinion. And persuasion itself is given a ‘free pass’ because it is able to hide behind western languages coveted “rhetorical argument”. Persuasive writing is part of every writers training, so persuasion is baked in from the factory.
Much of the perceived manipulation in a propaganda is the result of using a persuasive rhetorical argument aimed at achieving the propaganda’s predetermined outcome.
That’s next.
NOTES:
[1] “Propaganda.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propaganda. Accessed 25 Sep. 2022.
[2] “Propaganda.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propaganda. Accessed 2 Nov. 2022.
[3] “Propaganda.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/propaganda. Accessed 2 Nov. 2022.
[4] “Propaganda.” Google’s English dictionary provided by Oxford Languages, Oxford Languages and Google, https://www.google.com/search?q=propaganda. Accessed 2 Nov. 2022.
[5] The Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide (1622-1922)
Author(s): Peter Guilday
Source: The Catholic Historical Review , Jan., 1921, Vol. 6, No. 4 (Jan., 1921), pp. 478-494
Published by: Catholic University of America Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/25011717
[6] G. & C. Merriam, Co. (1898). Propaganda. Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (1st Edition, p. 651). The Riverside Press, Cambridge, MA.