Advertising proliferates throughout the media. It funds the media (Source D). It controls the media. The media needs money to operate, just like everything else. We don’t pay for websites, TV channels, or radio stations. We certainly don’t want our taxes going to the likes of Playboy, Vogue, or MAD Magazine. So how does the media make money? The answer is through companies that pay to have their products shown to the masses via that media. Advertising is also “information” (Source C). What is more informative than the fact that if you buy now, you get a second one free; or that you have just been “randomly” selected to win a free* PS3; or that you should apply directly to the forehead? Sure sounds like information. So, advertising has met the first two criteria: it is “information distributed throughout the media.”

Advertising certainly affects you (Source E). For one, it’ll put that brand in your brain. By making memorable advertisements, companies also make their products memorable. I’m sure you would agree that you will never forget about Sprite after seeing one of their “Limon” commercials. They don’t even have to be good advertisements. I remember the name of Sketcher’s Cali Gear because of how unintentionally hilarious its commercial is, and the name of 5 gum simply because of how atrociously bad its commercials are. By having consumers remember your name, it will pop to the forefront of their mind when the need or urge for what you are selling arises. Advertising can also create needs and urges (Source F). They portray their products as being the source of happiness, which can lure those unwise to their schemes into believing it (Source B). While you have never had any qualms before, all of a sudden you “need” chocolate. Why? Because rich, beautiful, happy people eat chocolate. If you eat chocolate, you will be rich, beautiful, and happy, too. At least, that is what the advertising would have you believe. So, advertising affects your goals and opinions in both a conscious and subconscious manner, just like propaganda.

What has all this been leading up to? Why do advertisers pay media to contain their information? Why do they create advertisements that consciously and subconsciously affect your goals and opinions? What is the point? The point is simple, and obvious to anyone who has been paying attention: to support a cause. But what is this cause? It is to get you, the consumer, to buy their product. Obviously, this must happen, or else they would not spend so much money on advertising, would they?

We’ve just discovered that advertising bears similarities to propaganda. In fact, it meets all of the prerequisites put forth by our definition of propaganda. Based on this, advertising must be propaganda.







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