There is a difference between propaganda and public relations because propaganda is mostly used by institutions who want to improve their public image by indoctrinating the masses. Public relations are also used to take care of the public image of a certain institution and it is done by communication’s specialists. The difference between propaganda and public relations lies in the fact that propaganda is used to persuade people about certain political effects, while public relations are used to promote the significance of a company or a person in the public in order to increase their popularity.
Everybody uses the means of mass communication to express their opinions about a certain issue and to persuade the public into believing that something is true. “The goal of most media messages is to persuade the audience to believe or do something. Hollywood movies use expensive special effects to make us believe that we’re seeing is real” (Michigan.gov). Propaganda works the same as Hollywood scenography, because people involved in this work create something artificial and introduce it as real. People are supposed to believe in everything stated by the communications experts, which is why it is dangerous. They need to have basic media literacy in order to understand the manipulations produces with the help of media infrastructure.
The techniques both propaganda and public relations use involve persuasion. “Identifying the persuasion techniques in public discourse is important because the consequences of that discourse are so significant – war and peace, justice and injustice, freedom and oppression, and the future of our planet” (Michigan.gov). The world order depends on the success of the media specialists who can work for their selfish causes or for the benefit of the mankind. The masses are easy to persuade because the mentality of the masses include the wish for a leader who will tell them what to do. People become dependent on having leaders and they no longer rely on their common sense. Individuals who have the power shape the affairs in the world and try to persuade the public that what they are doing is for the best. However this can have disastrous effect as it was in Nazi Germany for example. Hitler wrote about this “in his book Mein Kampf (1926), in which he first advocated the use of propaganda to spread the ideals of National Socialism—among them racism, antisemitism, and anti-Bolshevism” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). This was a very successful campaign because he misled the masses to follow him and support his politics which made him very powerful. Hitler managed to impose himself as the savior of the Aryan people and Jews were represented as the invaders and parasites. “Films in particular played an important role in disseminating racial antisemitism, the superiority of German military power, and the intrinsic evil of the enemies as defined by Nazi ideology” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). This kind of propaganda made it normal for people to give one person immense power and allow him to execute people in the name of ideology which was racist and genocidal.
During the Nazi propaganda even children were indoctrinated about antisemitism and were encouraged to support the Nazis. “The Nazi regime employed propaganda to impress upon German civilians and soldiers that the Jews were not only subhuman, but also dangerous enemies of the German Reich” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). The Aryan classes were supporting Hitler and the rise of the Nazi Germany which was the result of the propaganda. The majority of common people were not even aware of the fact that Jews were savagely murdered in concentration camps. Everything that was accomplished had success because of the propaganda and the indoctrination of people. Jews were systematically removed from Germany and millions got killed because Hitler had the support of the masses who were unaware of the atrocities which he committed. Propaganda was the only way for such an ideology to become established in the society. Nobody would support the genocide and the horrors which were aimed at the extinction of the Jewish race. Hitler was successful because his politics had the help of the means of mass communication, which included films, newspapers and there was also the Ministry which dealt with propaganda.
The rhetoric directed to influence the masses through the means of mass communication distorts truth and is used to manipulate people’s behavior and reactions. Propaganda “is distinct from language which stimulates curiosity, reveals its assumptions, causes us to ask questions, invites us to seek further examination and to search for error” (Postman 130). People become less critical of what they see and they become passionate and emotional because they cannot think freely. They accept what they are served as the truth which means that they are not capable of making their own decisions.
On the other hand public relations are aimed at advertising certain companies and their products or services. “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics” (PRSA). It is a completely different process than propaganda because people have a choice whether to support a certain company or to choose another one. There is more rationality involved in public relations than in propaganda. Logic is involved in this process whereas people do not have their free will in the cases of propaganda. Moreover, it involves the unconscious giving of consent to the false authority which gains infinite power. This enables monstrous acts to be committed in the name of the higher cause. Everything is justified in this case and it should be prevented from happening by educating people in the domain of critical thinking.
There is much difference between propaganda and public relations because public relations do not involve brainwashing techniques and only serve as the tool of promotion of certain products and services. Propaganda is dangerous for the human race and its success reveals a lot about human nature because it makes it clear that people are prone to be manipulated, and only those who are capable of thinking for themselves may be immune to this system.
Works Cited
Postman, Neil. "PROPAGANDA." ETC: A Review of General Semantics 36.2 (1979): 128-33. Print.
"Nazi Propaganda." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2016. <https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005202>.
"Language Persuasion." Michigan.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2016. <http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdch/Language_of_Persuasion_--_Creating_Advocacy_Messages_456276_7.pdf>.
The Poisonous Mushroom. 1938. Stadtarchiv Nürnberg, Nuremberg. Web. 1 May 2016. <https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005202>.
"About Public Relations." PRSA. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 May 2016. <https://www.prsa.org/aboutprsa/publicrelationsdefined/#.VyYDtXpTLEM>.
