Propaganda

         In this age people see more propaganda on a day to day basis than they have ever seen, but its presence generally goes unnoticed. However, it isn’t the kind of upfront and explicit nationalist propaganda that was so popular in the last century. Most propaganda we see today is of a subtler and more insidious form, and because of this it is more dangerous. The reason why it is less obvious today is that it deals with and enforces political and social subjects that the vast majority of people never question.
          Take for example two different advertisements for a line of deodorant. One of the commercials is for a deodorant “for women”. In this commercial the deodorant is pink and fruit scented, and the actresses in it go shopping and clean their houses. In the other commercial a deodorant “for men” is advertised. The deodorant is blue and more musky smelling, and the actors in the commercial play football and go to sports bars. Most people wouldn’t think anything is strange about these two commercials. But why is their two different types of deodorant at all? What makes the pink one inherently more “feminine“? How has gender preference been decided? And by who? Are men genetically inclined to the color blue? Are women genetically inclined to fruit scented deodorant? The obvious answer is that they are not, and that gender is an artificial binary.
           Reinforcement of the gender binary is in my view the most harmful side effect of propagandist advertisement. A few commercials like this are probably not harmful, but thousands and thousands of them in print, on TV, online, and on public display eventually ends up parceling almost everything in our culture into “male” and “female” boxes.
            Propaganda created by the current regime or social order will always be in struggle with dissenting propaganda that directly challenges it. This type of propaganda has been called Agitational-Propaganda, or agitprop. Some examples of this would be spray painting a slogan like “bash back” over a anti-gay religious billboard or handing out anti-capitalist fliers in the middle of a city’s financial district.
           I support this kind of subversive propaganda because it is created through the direct actions of individuals. I hate the propaganda of the government and corporations because they claim the authority over what people see on a day to day basis. Why does Axe deodorant have the right to cover an entire billboard with their advertisement? What gives them the right to subject me to their blatant sexism and consumerism but condemns the graffiti writer who wants to make that billboard into a mural just for the sake of making something beautiful?