How Does Media And Propaganda Manipulate Culture?

12:00 Class
          
Persuasion is a powerful technique to get a person to do what you want. Media and Propaganda go hand in hand in persuading people to get them to believe something. Culture is the idea and beliefs of a society but some of these ideas and beliefs come from both media and propaganda. The clothes we wear to the way we do things, it’s all manipulated by the media.
           Commercials are used to advertise foods, clothing and other products for people. The media makes it all seem so tasty if it is food or so useful if it is some other type of product. Fast foods are advertised as being delicious however the audience is not told that most fast food places aren’t healthy for you. Propaganda makes style a big deal in society. The public is forced to think that certain brands of clothing and accessories would make you look and feel better of yourselves when it isn’t true. There are many people who are perfectly content buying any clothing and not the expensive brands. Celebrities on television also affect the decisions of people by making them want to look like a celebrity. The public tries to look their best by copying a celebrity’s hairstyle or their wardrobe which is sometimes a bad thing because they are trying to be someone they are not.
            Both violence in television and some genres of music talk about drugs, alcohol, and weapons which make young kids, who watch and listen to this, think that its okay to be violent and to us drugs or that they’ll be accepted and ‘cool’ if they did these things. Apart from media and propaganda influencing the entertainment department it also affects political issues such as when the time comes to vote for a new president.
            In the video the Science of Manipulation, an ad for the re-election of the President at the time, Ronald Reagan, was shown. It spoke about how America was a stronger, prouder and better under the presidency of Ronald Reagan. The video also gave examples on how people’s lives were better and that they now looked at the future with hope and confidence. It ended asking the audience why would we go back to the way things were before. This video is a good example of propaganda that says things the public wants to here. If the people watching wanted to continue living great they would vote for Ronald Reagan. So you see, media and propaganda both are used to influence our lives. This has been going on for a long time and probably won’t stop anytime soon.