What is the difference between marketing, advertising and propaganda?
When I first thought about this question, I thought the answer was easy. Propaganda is something that tries to influence you, usually politically, while marketing and advertising seek to sell you things.
However, modern marketing and advertising have started to sell less tangible things, such as experiences and feelings. Instead of just purchasing an item, you are purchasing the social acceptance that comes with it. Today, marketing and advertising are just as, if not more, persuasive than propaganda. While propaganda has a political and negative connotation, marketing and advertising do not; therefore, they are more abundant in every day life.
Without noticing it, we see hundreds of different brands everyday. Each one is associated with a group of people, a feeling or an experience. No longer are companies showcasing what their product can physically do; instead, they are showcasing what you can do in your life with the product. After all, if you brush your teeth with this whitening toothpaste, then your radiant smile will attract a random man/woman on the street, and cause them to instantly be drawn to you. We are being taught by that ad to believe that toothpaste leads to love, not just clean, cavity free teeth.
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| If you brush like this... |
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| you'll end your night like this. |
This is just a more subtle form of propaganda. Instead of believing that you should grow a Victory Garden or buy bonds to support the troops, you are being told you believe that a product will change your life style.
Has marketing and advertising just become a more socially acceptable form of propaganda? Or are they completely different?
Source: Crest 2011 Toothpast commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3-rINpiza4&feature=related
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