Propaganda / Political Marketing
Advertising, marketing and product placement techniques have become more and more refined and effective, and of course are being used to sell politics. As viewers tune out TV advertising more and more, marketers are turning to product placement.
Product Placement of political candidates is well understood, which is why broadcasters have a policy of pulling TV shows and movies which feature a candidate. Examples are Fred Thompson and Law & Order episodes, and Ronald Reagan and his movies.
And of course there is Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California thanks to his media savvy.
Television and movies are not the only source of propaganda, but since Americans spend over 4 hours in front of the TV every day, it is the largest source. It is also the most effective source of propaganda, since TV puts the mind into a passive, receptive, brainwave state. See See Brainwaves & TV
In his controversial new book, Nick Davies argues that shadowy intelligence agencies are pumping out black propaganda to manipulate public opinion – and that the media simply swallow it wholesale
Path to 9/11
Charlie Wilson's War -- James's Take
Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed
Fake News and other reasons not to watch TV news
"Advertisers' messages are infiltrating small-market television newscasts at about the same percentage that owners of digital video recorders are skipping the commercials, say researchers at the University of Oregon."
Bush administration pays actors to pose as TV journalists
Propaganda - Wikipedia
Iran's TV adds entertainment to propaganda
How telegenic a candidate is, has become more important than his/her policies. During one of the first televised debates, John Kennedy was considered to have won because he looked better during the debate.
"Whether people are making financial decisions in the stock market or worrying about terrorism, they are likely to be influenced by what others think. And, according to a new study in this month's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA), repeated exposure to one person's viewpoint can have almost as much influence as exposure to shared opinions from multiple people. This finding shows that hearing an opinion multiple times increases the recipient's sense of familiarity and in some cases gives a listener a false sense that an opinion is more widespread then it actually is." - ScienceDaily (May 2007)
"However, there is one film from the 1980s that conservatives can legitimately claim promotes their political worldview and values... Red Dawn" - Alternet (Jan 2009)
""V" - The right's new favorite TV show, or inadvertent proof of the ubiquity of the right's fables?" - Open Left (Dec 2009)
The Pentagon, Movies & TV
Review of: "Operation Hollywood: How the Pentagon Shapes and Censors the Movies" - The Boston Globe (July 2004)
Review of: "Operation Hollywood: How the Pentagon Shapes and Censors the Movies" - USA Today (March 2005)
"The research also suggested that a fifth of viewers consider fictional TV programmes just as believable and reliable as news programmes as sources of information." - Telegraph (Sept 2009) and Deccan Chronicle (Sept 2009)
 "Over the past dozen or so years, television and movie-makers have managed to blur the border between fact and fiction to an unprecedented degree. They pretend increasingly that their film is based on a true story. Every device possible, from computer-generated imagery to place names and dates thrown onto the screen seek to suspend the disbelief of historically illiterate audiences. Alarmingly, the new technology has coincided with a dramatic growth in conspiracy theories. " - Times Online (Jan 2009)
The Century of the Self - "The business and, increasingly, the political world uses psychological techniques to read and fulfill our desires, to make their products or speeches as pleasing as possible to us. Curtis raises the question of the intentions and roots of this fact. Where once the political process was about engaging people's rational, conscious minds, as well as facilitating their needs as a society, the documentary shows how by employing the tactics of psychoanalysis, politicians appeal to irrational, primitive impulses that have little apparent bearing on issues outside of the narrow self-interest of a consumer population. He cites Paul Mazer, a Wall Street banker working for Lehman Brothers in the 1930s: "We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man's desires must overshadow his needs.""
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