The 5 Differences Between Advertising And Propaganda
We live in a society in which we are constantly bombarded by advertising and propaganda messages, which aim to alter our behavior and make us seek to approach products, services or ideas.
But despite being surrounded and immersed in them, the truth is that sometimes we do not grasp the nuances between the different information that they try to sell us. For example, we often consider the concepts advertising and propaganda as synonyms, which, despite being related, are not identical. Knowing how to distinguish them is essential to understanding the persuasive communication used by companies and organizations in general.
What are the differences between advertising and propaganda? Let’s look at some of the most common throughout this article.
In order to establish potential differences between advertising and propaganda, first of all it is necessary to be clear about what each of these concepts refers to, often deeply related and confused with each other.
We understand advertising as the set of strategies used in order to disseminate or generate acceptance or attraction of a product or service through the use of persuasive communications that are usually aimed at generating needs and drawing attention to some type of stimulus, product, entity or reality.
Advertising is subjective in nature and is primarily used in the commercial field, seeking to make a profit. Despite this, there is also a more social type of advertising, which aims to educate or raise awareness about a worrying or little-known reality.
With regard to propaganda, this can be defined as the set of strategies used in order to generate a substantial change in a person’s ideology and behavior through persuasive communications, generally not having a profit motive and seeking to generate modifications through the manipulation of information.
Propaganda tends to have dogmatic connotations, trying to get the recipient of the information to subscribe to the ideology or modify their attitudes regarding a specific topic. Despite this, sometimes it seeks to be educational, without having to have a perverse intention behind it.
In both cases we are dealing with strategies that seek to generate modifications in the subject’s behavior, using messages that aim to persuade of the need to follow the message they offer.
Both often use emotionality to achieve their goals, and can distort the truth in order to satisfy their goals. In fact, both advertising and propaganda often use elements of the other concept to promote the achievement of their objectives. The distinction between the two is very fine and it is often difficult to find elements that separate them.
Main differences between advertising and propaganda
Although, as we have seen, the concepts of advertising and propaganda share various similarities, deep down They are different concepts that have characteristics that differentiate them from each other Among these differences we can find the following.
1. The objective of persuasive communication
The main and most notable difference between propaganda and advertising can be found in its objective: Advertising is mainly oriented towards commercial purposes (to achieve sales or increase consumption), while propaganda aims to modify the ideology or thinking of the target subject, in a dogmatic way.
Advertising seeks to extract economic benefit directly or raise awareness about a social reality without attempting to change the beliefs of others, while propaganda, despite not having a profit motive, does seek to modify the subject’s cognitions and beliefs to align them with the ideology it proposes.
2. Topics they work on
Advertising and propaganda also differ in the type of areas or themes on which they usually work. Ultimately, the objective of each of these forms of communication is reflected in their tendency to appeal more or less to a series of values ​​and images.
As a general rule, advertising refers to services or consumer goods, although they may also seek to promote institutions, companies, ideas or general social realities. Propaganda, on the other hand, usually deals with topics such as beliefs or areas like politics and religion.
Therefore, while advertising usually tries to generate pleasant sensations to associate them with what is being promoted, it is more common for propaganda to appeal to negative feelings, such as fear or anger, to awaken the interest of the target and mobilize those people by talking. about issues such as citizen security, global crises, social inequality, etc.
3. Guidance regarding content
Another differential aspect can be found in the type of relationship that the message establishes with respect to the content, or in the relationship between the content and the objective of the communication.
As a general rule, advertising is consistent with the material or message it has and seeks acceptance and attraction towards its message, so that whoever generates the advertising communication presents information that seeks to increase the approach to what it sells
However, propaganda can either seek acceptance or affiliation towards an ideology or thought or try to reject it and generate a distancing towards a way of thinking contrary to one’s own.
4. Level of inclusivity
Another possible difference between propaganda and advertising has to do with who it is directed at.
As a general rule, propaganda is aimed at reaching a very particular group, having a very defined target with an ideology similar to that of the issuer Although advertising often attempts to generate strategies to attract specific sectors of the population, it generally aims to act universally, seeking a much more social and community effect.
5. Level of deepening in the psyche
Another big difference between both concepts can be found in the fact that while advertising only seeks to attract attention to a certain product or idea and perhaps generate awareness of its need (sometimes incorporating emotional elements), propaganda is aimed at awakening, using and even modify emotions, expectations, thoughts, beliefs and perspectives.
In this sense, propaganda seeks to delve much deeper into the subject’s psyche in order to convince him to alter his ideology, while advertising interacts with the subject at a more superficial level
