(243)S11E4/1: Propaganda and Corporatism
Welcome back to the Fourth Way podcast. So far in this season, we have broken propaganda down into two subsections, abuse and racism. We took a look at how oppressors use propaganda in each of those areas. Today, we are beginning a new section focused on the propaganda of corporations. In order to prepare for this episode, I read, listened to, and watched a lot of material which dealt with various propaganda tactics and conspiracies specific to the corporate world.
Derek:What struck me about my research on corporate propaganda is how powerful it really is. I mean, when you buy a soda, a light bulb, or any other product, you feel a sense of gratitude for living in a time where we have so many wonderful goods and conveniences. It's hard to imagine that the people you're supporting with your purchases are power hungry or malicious because they sell you such nice things. And it's exactly this shock factor that indicates to me how powerful corporate propaganda really is. See, if I can look at something and identify propaganda, it isn't doing too good of a job.
Derek:The most effective propaganda goes unnoticed because it is disguised as common knowledge, common sense, or factual education, and it's often viewed as beneficent. In that sense, as I read more about corporate propaganda and corporate conspiracies, it becomes more clear to me that this area of propaganda may actually be the most powerful. In this episode, I want to explore some of the methodology behind corporate propaganda using the framework that we've derived from Elul all the way back in episode two. Then we'll go on to explain why corporate propaganda holds so much power in our society. So So let's jump right in.
Derek:If I had to summarize the persuasive power of corporate propaganda in one word, I think that word would be ubiquity. Elul was very clear that ubiquity is an aspect of effective propaganda, as he related the poison of propaganda to Mithridatism, or this process by which individuals become immune to poison over time. Propaganda, to be effective, has to weave its way into every nook and cranny in order to keep the masses as sedated as possible. Because over time, masses build up an immunity to propaganda. If propaganda doesn't approach being ubiquitous, the sedation it once produced will eventually wear off.
Derek:And as far as ubiquity goes, nobody can achieve that better than corporations. They own the news stations. They effectively lobby governments to pass legislation which fosters social norms. They have their brand on everything we buy, and they slather web pages and programming with their advertisements. Everywhere you look, there's corporate propaganda.
Derek:Having just recently talked about Hitler's portrayal of propaganda in Mein Kampf, we can see that Hitler aligns a lot with Alul on this aspect of propaganda's ubiquity. Hitler says that propaganda must say very little, but it must say it a lot. But here, Hitler hits on a secondary aspect vital to propaganda besides ubiquity. Not only must propaganda be ubiquitous, it must also be simple, digestible. The corporate world certainly spews out propaganda a lot, but they also do keep it quite simple.
Derek:From the simplicity of logo design to the simplicity and catchiness of slogans, the propaganda of corporations is simple. With the advent and rise of memes and sound bites, we live in a world where we are not only constantly propagandized, but we are propagandized with messages we can't forget, even if we want to, in part because the propaganda is so simple. Corporate propaganda is like the YMCA song. I absolutely detest that song, but I can't get it out of my head. Like, I know it, and it just pops in there.
Derek:But my hatred for that song has no impact on whether or not I recall it. We may not think that we're influenced by propaganda, but it insidiously works away within us whether we know it or not. A part of the reason we think we're immune to corporate propaganda is because we think the propaganda we can recognize and brush aside proves that we aren't influenced by it. Yet the corporate propaganda machine embraces yet another tool in its propaganda arsenal here to ensure that they aren't so easily dismissed. Corporate propaganda embraces the idea of wielding propaganda through a multitude of resources.
Derek:They use catchy phrases, attractive symbols, government legislation, litigation, written advertisement, visual advertisement, celebrity endorsements, and a plethora of other strategies to administer propaganda. While some of this may be more overt and easy to dismiss on the surface, the cumulative impact of both the amount of propaganda and the variety of it means that it works its way into our subconscious in ways that we can't even tell. That's not only because psychologically, we're not great at self evaluation. Our minds are easily self deceived, and we don't have a good monitor over how our subconscious functions. But it's also because propaganda is meant to feel natural.
Derek:You're not supposed to know that it's happening. Propaganda is disguised more and more in the subconscious. Often, the propaganda lies in a very particular word which carries the propaganda, not in the idea conveyed through the definition of the word. The propaganda lies in the subtleties of words connotation in our culture. Propaganda is like a virus that hijacks a living cell and uses it for its dissemination.
Derek:Propaganda is carried along and disguised in subtle connotations and subconscious associations, making it difficult to monitor, only seeing the effects once the virulent ideas have reached a critical mass. Corporate propaganda is also particularly powerful because of the number of people that it has access to. Not only does corporate propaganda have ideological access to nearly everyone on the planet through stores and airwaves, but it also has practical access to people. We know that at least in The United States, legislation corresponds much, much more to corporate interest than popular interest. This means that corporations are largely the entities influencing laws through lobbying.
Derek:When they influence the laws, they influence which companies have prominence through the giving or restricting of subsidies, how defamation and libel are defined, how the courts function in regard to litigation, education, and much, much more. Corporate power is one reason that corporations have been viewed and treated as persons in US law for over a hundred years, at least. While most associate corporate personhood with Citizens United versus the FEC, strong arguments are made that the Citizens United case just brought this concept into the spotlight with its significant implications. But, you know, Citizens United, it laid bare the power that corporations have, and have been exercising for a long, long time. Through all their power, corporations are able to insulate themselves from bad press, from negative economic consequences, ensuring that their presence is positive in society's mind.
Derek:Or they may influence public health and school health campaigns, like the Got Milk campaign many my age are probably familiar with. Corporate power is not only ideological, it's it's practical. It works through the government and impacts our lives. Finally, corporate propaganda also garners a lot of power because of the way that it portrays the idea of self selection. If you remember, self selection is one aspect that Alul talks about in, I think it's the technological society, but it might be propaganda.
Derek:And he talks about how a technological society leads to polarization through self selection. Rather than being forced to live in a community where we all have differences, I can go to church and find a Sunday school class for my specific demographic. I can go on Facebook and find groups that fit only my interests and block friends who don't say things I like. That self selection creates echo chambers and amplifies the power of propaganda. In regard to corporations, let's say you have moral qualms with smoking, and you don't wanna support that company, so you refuse to buy their cigarettes.
Derek:At the same time, the parent company which owns and runs the cigarette company is selling you cheese, dish soap, toothpaste, or something else. But because the parent company breaks its subsidiaries into a hundred different brands, it's often unclear who truly owns what you're buying unless you really research it. So you may feel self righteous for not supporting big tobacco, yet you really are every time you brush your teeth with their toothpaste. In the end, whatever product you want or message you want to hear, you're likely to find it in any corporation. Another way we see this concept is in the advertising itself.
Derek:Corporations advertise themselves as being geared towards every group under the sun, the introvert, the extrovert, the artsy person, the practical person, working mom, frugal person, hipster, and the list goes on. You can find an iteration of many products which market themselves being geared towards you. You feel that when the company made their product, they had you in mind. Thus, everyone can find their own master within the corporate sphere of influence by self selecting which propaganda they listen to. So far in this episode, we have focused on how corporations use some of the specific tactics we know make for effective propaganda.
Derek:In the next part, I wanna transition to discussing more of the questions of why corporate propaganda works and what some of the implications are for this. Let's start off with, taking a look at why first. Max Weber is famous for his book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber basically argues that the Protestant Reformation ended up producing the well known Protestant work ethic, in part because an uncertainty of one's salvation brought on by the Calvinistic doctrines leads one to look for evidence of faith in their works. Wealth and success began to be associated more with godliness because they were indicative of frugality and or hard work.
Derek:And from this, brings up not only the Protestant work ethic, but also individualism, meritocracy, etcetera. The point for our discussion, however, is that if ever is right, then at least in the West, we have long trusted business and businessmen, especially successful ones, out of a religious subconscious. Of course, that explanation wouldn't stand as much in the East, though I know in some eastern cultures, there's a heavy emphasis placed on success as a form of honor, honor for family. So they might have a different path towards valuing meritocracy in other places. Defice it to say that, historically, we seem to have elevated businessmen and women as credible.
Derek:They have been forms of authority in our minds and in our cultures. While that might be changing today a little bit, maybe, corporations have a deep foothold in our culture already because of our history with trusting them. The power that they've garnered already and the places that they've in infiltrated with their influence means that a growing distrust of them may do little to help us identify where all their tendrils really reach. As just a minor example to try to put a little flesh on this idea, let me talk about my current church denomination. Our leadership is primarily composed of businessmen.
Derek:And that's not necessarily surprising, given my particular church's demographics. But as my wife and I started itinerating and visiting more churches in a variety of states and circumstances, it was amazing to find that everywhere we went, without exception, the leadership was composed of mostly, if not exclusively, businessmen. And I know that there are churches in our denomination where this isn't the case, and there are a lot of people pushing back against that. But after talking with a number of people from various churches in our denomination and visiting many myself, I know that we equate businessmen with leadership skills. And that's partly because because we run churches like businesses, but I I think it's also because of what Max Weber identified in his book.
Derek:So part of the psychology behind businesses, and their effective propaganda is ingrained in us as the myth of meritocracy. If you are successful in business, if you make money, then you must be a good, honest leader. But there's another psychological factor important to understanding corporate propaganda, and that is this idea of community. There's an old documentary from back in 02/2004, almost two decades old already. The documentary is entitled The Persuaders, and it takes a deep look into how corporations and advertising agencies are seeking to persuade the populace.
Derek:And does a great job at delving into the propaganda dilemma in less than an hour. It's it's a good watch. You should definitely go and do it. It's free on YouTube. Not only is this documentary applicable today, but I imagine it's even more so as the manipulation of corporate America and politicians has only gotten worse, I would imagine.
Derek:One of the most illuminating portions of the film for me was when an advertiser was talking about a breakthrough for them. They had a ton of different focus groups trying to figure out how to connect with people when they realized something profound. People wanted a sense of belonging. To be an Apple guy was to connect with other Apple people, or to be a Sony gamer is to be a Sony gamer. There's a connection you have with others who've chosen the same brand as you.
Derek:Rather than the brand trying to sell you on the details, you end up selling the brand to others as an opportunity for unique community. The ad man said that once they realized this breakthrough, they realized that to be effective, they needed to start studying cults because that was the best experience to identify what consumers were actually being like. A part of the reason consumers are so susceptible to business propaganda is because businesses have gotten so good at something called narrowcasting. In the documentary of The Persuaders, narrowcasting was used in a portion where they were dealing with politicians, but businesses do the exact same thing. And in fact, it's largely the business world which is collecting the data used for narrowcasting.
Derek:So what is narrowcasting? That's exactly what it sounds like. It's casting a particular message narrowly to a particular audience. In the presp in the persuaders, they, they put it like this, at the fifty minute mark if you're you're watching the video. Quote, the thing about narrowcasting is that it gives politicians a chance to say things to some people they might not want others to hear, end quote.
Derek:The cult leader or the corporation, same thing, make sure a tailor made message for you exists to make sure that the message that they send to your opposite doesn't overlap when they disseminate it. In this way, you feel like your cult leader hears you and knows you and you belong. Now I know you probably feel like this sort of propaganda in doesn't impact you. You may think that you are impervious to this kind of attack as you always x out of those tailored ads on the Internet. But first, recognize that this works on a lot of people.
Derek:Second, recognize that you are probably impacted where you don't see it and probably subconsciously. And three, recognize that the extreme implications all this data collection has for your privacy. We may touch on some of this more when we get to conspiracies, particularly in relation to the government. But until then, you might wanna read up on Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, and Julian Assange, and WikiLeaks. And that's just the stuff that's gone down in the past decade or two.
Derek:You could add to that the Pentagon Papers and COINTELPRO, and I'm sure others that are slipping my mind right now. But the amount of information collected on the public legally and illegally is absolutely astounding. Right now, that is used as soft propaganda intended to get you willingly to buy or vote a particular way of your own volition. That's how the information is used at the moment. However, there are significant implications as to how this could all be used aggressively and coercively in the future.
Derek:But rather than discuss future hypotheticals at this point, let's talk about two major implications corporate propaganda has on us right now, this very moment. And these are just two that stand out to me right now. They are by no means the only two, and not necessarily even the most important two. They're just two implications that are rolling around in my head right now that that I think are important. First, democracy and capitalism rely on being informed and being informed rightly.
Derek:If you don't know what you're buying, then you don't know the appropriate price to pay. If you and others are tricked into paying a higher price for something because of faulty information, then your purchase validates that price and elevates it for others. Enron is a perfect example of this, where misinformed, lied to buyers, bought a bunch of stock at unfair prices. And when the truth about Enron's business came out, the stock price plunged, and many people lost a ton of money. Now when we think about the type of advertising advocated by agencies and the persuaders and the type of advertising that we know goes on today, which isn't directed at product information or truth, but rather a sense of belonging and emotions and subjective ideas not even intrinsic to a product, like sexiness in a beer can as represented by models trying to sell you beer.
Derek:When we think about this type of advertising, it isn't at all directed at truth, but rather obfuscation. Then you might be asking, but, Derek, isn't my desire for belonging or to be popular or sexy a valid desire that I can pay money for even if they aren't really tangible things that I'm buying? Yeah. But propaganda often works by fabricating those things rather than genuinely producing or identifying them in their products. When a beer commercial places sex symbols in its advertisement, it's creating an image that it does not itself produce, but only in one's mind.
Derek:This type of propaganda often leaves one unfulfilled, requiring them requiring them to seek more product or other products. Now maybe you're okay with being used in that regard. You may have the mindset that business propaganda is a little like art. It's subjective. To each his own.
Derek:Right? If it creates a temporary sense of beauty or fulfillment in you, then perhaps it's worth your purchase. But there's really a fine line between fulfilling you and manipulating you. Let's remember from our episode on Hitler's Mein Kampf that he recognized the importance of elevating the subjective over the objective. He declares that numerous times throughout the book.
Derek:He knew that by catering to the emotions and sentiments of the masses that he could get them to follow through on his campaign. Getting people who adhere to an idea based on reason to abandon that idea is easy, Hitler said. Now getting them to break with a view that they hold based on emotions, that's difficult. So as companies seek to make you feel fulfilled and cater to your emotions, you are free to take the view that they are fulfilling a felt need in you. But knowing what we know about corporate power, it is just as likely that they're getting you into the palm of their hand to move as they desire.
Derek:Now this is where the water gets really murky as differentiating your desires from a propagandist's desires is tough. You may be doing what you want to do, but why do you want to do that which you want to do? Is it you who wants to do it, or have you been conditioned to want what you want by the propagandist? And that right there is the huge danger inherent to propaganda. It zombifies us to be an extension of the propagandist, to do what the propagandist wants us to do or to act how he wants us to act.
Derek:And we can see that in other propagandized groups like Hitler's Nazis. We recognize that they were socialized zombies under Hitler's control. Yet when we are under the spell of the propagandist, we somehow think that we have maintained our individuality. Politically, the same thing holds true in a democracy in regard to the truth that we've just discussed with economics. If I am electing a representative, I'm wanting them to represent me on issues.
Derek:If I am not correctly informed about the issues or the person representing me, then my will is not being carried out, and the people are not appropriately represented. If I am misinformed because the wealthy are trying to manipulate power, then this democracy is rather a plutocracy, a government governed by the rich. If I am misinformed because a bunch of technical experts are misinforming me so that they can run the show, then we're not in a democracy. We're in a technocracy. You get the point.
Derek:Being duped doesn't mean I just wasted $5 on a bad product, and oh, well. Being duped economically on a societal scale means the valuation of goods is all askew for the nation or even the world, and being duped on a political scale may mean that we don't truly live in a democracy no matter how often the media and our history books tell us that we're living in one. Now you should definitely check out the links in the show notes and specifically look at the, the represent us link in their video entitled corruption is legal in America. That video and study are going to show you exactly how this process we've been talking about works in regard to businesses, legislation, and propaganda. The moral of all this is without an informed consumer and an informed and represented voter, you don't have true capitalism.
Derek:You don't have true democracy. So the first implication of corporate propaganda is that it undermines the free market and democracy. It undermines, essentially, consumer choice, the economic consumer and the political consumer. Even worse than detracting from choice, though, is the fact that corporate propaganda manipulates and guides these choices. This provides corporate propaganda with significant power.
Derek:But the other main implication I want to draw out is that corporate propaganda placates population. Alex Carey in his book, taking the risk out of democracy, talks about how there was a huge shift in business and worker relations in the early nineteen hundreds in The United States. Prior to World War one, worker strikes were common and often ended in violence, sometimes significant violence. But after the huge propaganda success in World War one, businesses started to implement propaganda more with their workers and with the population. Rather than react to strikes with violence, propaganda was used as a means to appropriately educate the workers as the companies saw fit to preventatively ensure that workers wouldn't strike.
Derek:As corporations got better at propaganda, they did a number of things that we've already talked about. They worked on getting pro business legislation passed, attempted to weaken unions through legislation, and got consumers to crave more and more goods. Propaganda began to foster materialism. This need that welled up within the populace that only the corporations could fulfill. They became our sugar daddy, and who's gonna push back against the one who provides for you?
Derek:While the populace was being sedated and the pro worker forces emasculated, workers were being sedated. Company propaganda sought to assimilate workers who were often immigrants into the nation. But by focusing on the attributes that would be beneficial to the businesses. The educational system was influenced by corporate propaganda to make schooling an event which formed children to be good workers. With all the laws being passed and creating norms, the population's desire for more and more goods that only corporations could provide, and workers being assimilated into company values and norms, everyone was being sedated into the new normal.
Derek:This is the way that the world should be. Could it be any other way? It can be. But you need to understand how propaganda works in order to counter it. If you've taken the red pill in this episode, then check out the rest of the season to explore the matrix that you've been living in, so that you can demolish it from the inside out.
Derek:That's all for now. So peace, and because I'm a pacifist, when I say it, I mean it. This podcast is a part of the Kingdom Outpost Network. Please check out the links below to find other great podcasts and content related to nonviolence and Kingdom Living.
