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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA - General (theory, practice and history)
Promoting Fear - America and Today's Propaganda by S Ligetfalvy 
Promoting Fear - America and Today's Propaganda posted by Sandor Ligetfalvy on Wednesday March 31 2004 @ 11:21AM PST The Ad Council of America (ACA) takes responsibility for "delivering crucial messages to the American people." They marshal volunteer media agencies to produce their materials for them. This took the form of motivational posters in the Second World War, such as Rosie the Riveter and Loose Lips Sink Ships. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, the Ad Council tackled important social causes. In the 1950s, they took polio head-on and through repeated efforts were able to encourage 80% of the at-risk population to be immunized in only two years. Further campaigns included fighting forest fires with their Smokey the Bear mascot, and the Crash Dummies mascoted their Seat Belts Save Lives campaign. As briefly described in my expository essay, Ad Council & American Society, I highlighted the history of the ACA since its inception in 1942. Sixty years later, the council has come full circle, and again is producing wartime motivational material for the new millennium. The war(s) America is now engaged in require a great deal of convincing, to be sure. At the time of the campaigns initiative, in July 2002, the Pentagon and Whitehouse policy advisors had already decided that full-scale war to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was imperative (Source: L.A Weekly, Feb. 20, 2004) and the ACA was there to promote the cause. Their campaign is called Remember Freedom, first aired on July 1, 2002 on major networks including CNN. The commercial series was produced, says the Remember Freedom website, by Devito/Verdi, Ogilvy & Mather, TBWA/Chiat/Day, Sitario and Corbis. Unlike all previous Ad Council campaigns, the sponsoring funders are uncredited for their support. Oddly, AdCouncil.org does not list Remember Freedom as one of their campaigns, yet the Remember Freedom website does attribute itself as a creation of the ACA. The campaign includes TV, radio and print formats, and each should be deconstructed individually to full grasp the coercive mechanisms at work. The focus of this essay is on the TV commercials aired in 2002. The descriptive literature on RememberFreedom.org says, "The campaign seeks to inform, involve, and inspire all Americans to celebrate their freedoms." They have achieved this goal, so the literature says, in "mini-documentary-style interviews, the television and radio spots feature immigrants to the United States sharing their unique perspectives on freedom through personal stories." Dictionary.com defines "documentary" as, "A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration." A deconstructive description of the Remember Freedom commercials reveal a methodology far from a factual and informative manner, and devoid of actual news footage. "Mini-documentary-style" is a candyfloss way of saying, "coercive subliminal messaging." At this point, it may be premature to characterize the commercials as subliminal because I have yet to make the case for that assertion. The Remember Freedom campaign includes three commercials that are "mini-documentary-style interviews." They are each a story of immigrating to America. We meet: Tom, from Cambodia; Eugenia, from Ukraine; and Yuri, from Soviet Armenia. The narrative is edited together with split-second images and the sound of jet engines soaring. The following is a deconstruction of the first of the three "documentaries", the story of Tom. If you haven't seen the commercial before, I suggest you watch it to get a feel for the following description. To watch Tom's commercial, click here. To read the deconstructive transcript I prepared, click here. Upon seeing the TV spot for the first time, the viewer may not know what to make of what they've just seen. But if the viewer does not allow the series of frantic images and soaring jet engine sounds to stifle their analysis, it is clear that the presentation is more manipulative than an earnest "documentary" - miniature or otherwise - and the implicit message is one of propagating fear. The juxtapositions, or contrasting comparisons, between the mental images conjured by the speaker's narrative, and the multiple split-second images, have a startling affect on the viewer. What is the intended affect as Tom says, "You have to dress a certain way," referring to the oppression in his own country, yet the image we are given, by a split-second, is that of a white male in a blue-collar-shirt, with a small American flag stitched into the area of his heart. As he continues, "you have to look a certain way," we see three distinct pictures, each at a fraction of a second, of white Americans in "cowboy" hats. They have the look of being neighbours of President Bush's Texas ranch. It is also clear that the Tom's sentences have been spliced together, most obviously when he began to describe his home being entered. "Communists," he said before a video-editing jolt, "came into my house," the sentence continues. Those who would rationalize the tactic of this "mini-documentary" could say that such edits had the purpose of affording time allotment. If Tom had paused for a second before he continued, than that needless gap may have been eliminated to save on time. Conversely, his testimony could be spliced together because it is convenient and memorable to re-call the old nemesis of communism. But even so, that does not qualify the purpose of a machine-gun assault of imagery spliced into his narrative. When Tom says "my mother," we are assailed with two very quick images. The first is a picture of a white woman serving plates of food to two children, with a male father figured in the background standing and looking out the window. Then immediately following, there is a picture of a black woman being assisted with food preparation, in a home of less affluence than the white family. It may or may not be happenstance that the males are in the background, and the white male is standing and looking out a window, while the black male is sitting and doing essentially nothing. As the images flash on the screen, a variety of sounds interrupt Tom's narrative. To be descriptive, it sounds like eagles chirping, jets soaring, crowds clamouring, and hooves stampeding, all at once. Tom says, somewhat inexplicably, "My father died because of us," and we hear all these sounds and are presented with two images of the American flag, one curious image of a colonial scene, and at least two images of the statue of liberty. Tom asks himself, "Why did I come here?" and 10 images appear in quick succession of various American landmarks, including three more pictures of the statue of liberty. "Freedom," Tom answers, with a roll of his eyes and a sly smile, and then we are appresented with the sounds of clomping feet, soaring jet engines, the flapping of bird's wings, and a manic procession of images that include at least five images of an American bald eagle, four more statue of liberty photos, and various other symbols of American history, all underneath the slogan of the campaign: "Freedom. Appreciate it. Cherish it. Protect it." Each of the images are indiscernible when watching the TV spot without pausing. The brain is able to receive the vocal words of Tom's testimony, yet while the ears perceive the message Tom delivers, the eyes receive a whole other account. American symbols of freedom, liberty, and politics, have been commodified and turned against its citizens. To malleable minds, the dynamic presentation of a story about oppressive communists, a young man's family murdered, and images deposited in split-second bursts may appear to simply be a creative and vibrant way of presenting the idea. "Like a music video," one could say. With that said, it appears that the target recipients of the message of "protecting" freedom are next-generation young males whom would perceive this coercive message as if it were nothing more than a lively message from the government. The ACA's mandate is to "deliver critical messages to the American people," and to quote from their mission statement, "Our mission is to identify a select number of significant public issues and stimulate action on those issues through communications programs that make a measurable difference in our society. To that end, the Ad Council marshals volunteer talent from advertising and communications industries, and facilities of the media, and the resources of the business and non-profit communities to create awareness, foster understanding and motivate action." Unlike previous campaigns, which all had a credited funder, this message comes directly from the Ad Council itself, an organization that produces "public service messages" (PSAs). PSAs are defined as "advertising that serves the public interest." Despite "normal operations," this campaign was not sponsored by any business or non-profit community; the money for the campaign came from literally nowhere, according to the Remember Freedom website. At the conclusion of the commercial, a barrage of at least 25 images strike the viewer, and a dozen clamourous sounds chirp and clomp, and the message is delivered: "Freedom. Appreciate it. Cherish it. Protect it." What the viewer is left feeling is stirred, agitated and unsettled. The commercial has an affect of producing - not only fear - but capitalizing on the sense of insecurity following Sept. 11, 2001, to produce undirected anger. The government of America manipulated this undirected anger as they attempted to convince Americans that the war in Iraq was about security, freedom, and weapons of mass destruction. This sort of fear-mongering tactic has stupefied the people. In 1942, when Rosie the Riveter encouraged women to join the workforce, which helped to supply two million supplementary workers to industry, the cause was clear, the need was there, and the tactic was not an attack on the citizens' unconscious minds. Sixty years later, it appears that simply placing a poster on a wall and personifying the need, or the enemy, is not enough. We are far too media-spoiled, and the Ad Council has produced material that caters to our weaknesses as a culture. Not everyone will take the ten hours it has taken me to deconstruct the commercial, and write a lengthy article about it. Frankly, not everyone will take the ten minutes to even read about it. Freedom is worth appreciation, it is something that we all need to cherish, and it does require protection, but there are many doubts as to the war in Iraq has increased anyone's freedoms. The threat of terrorism is not reduced by a modicum, so how is that this war has protected anything but the revenues of oil barons? Freedom. Learn about it. Experience it. Exercise it. * * * Transcript of Remember Freedom TV spot featuring "Tom" TEXT, white on black, "ESCAPED KILLING FIELDS" "If I had stayed in Cambodia I would be dead by now" Images, in quick succession: Image: Monument for Declaration of Independence Image: Brooklyn Bridge Image: Lincoln Memorial Image: Lincoln Memorial again, close-up "It was dictated by..Communists" "You have to dress a certain way" Image: White male with blue collar and US Flag on left chest "You have to look a Certain Way" Image: One male, three females, child behind. All white, all wearing cowboy hats. Image: Child in cowboy outfit standing on tree trunk, blue sky behind "If you know how to read and write, you're dead" Image: Leather-bound books on shelf, Image: Blackboard with writing: Intelligence, Knowledge, Thinking, and Belief Image: Close-up of one child, male, white, on tire-swing. Image: Portrait of George Washington "You speak your mind, you're dead" Image: Statue of Thomas Paine Image: Sepia-colour picture of European mother and son, possibly Jewish refugees Image: Desk, with paper, ink & feather-pen, candle, red cover book & gold cover book Image: Statue of Liberty, gray sky Image: Statue of Liberty, blue sky Image: Lincoln Monument "Communists&" Obvious edit "&kicked down-" Image: Mid sized American home with green well-trimmed hedge, clear blue sky "-our door, and there was four children&" Images in quick succession: Children playing by pool, all white and semiblonde, all with goggles and smiles Image: Two boys in pool Image: Group of children on pool deck Image: Girl under water smiling "... in the house&and my mother..." Image: White mother serving a plate to two children across long counter, male father figure standing in background, looking out window Image: Black mother preparing food with daughter, male father figure sitting in background, looking at the table "And..my dad..basically asked us to go..hide under the basement.." Cut. "My father died because of us." Image: Billowing Star-Spangled Banner Image: Same image of flag, further back Image: Black and white, Colonial apparel, Revolutionary America Image: Statue of Liberty with sunset background Image: Statue of Liberty close up of face "Why did I come here?" Image: Bald Eagle, wings spread, mouth open Image: Bald Eagle, another angle Image: The Congress building Image: The Golden Gate Bridge Image: Bald Eagle, another angle Image: Bald Eagle, same picture as first in series Image: Statue of Liberty, center frame, blue sky Image: Statue of Liberty, Manhattan in background Image: Statue of Liberty, from below with pigeons in mid-flight Image: Mount Rushmore TEXT, white on black: "FREEDOM" "Freedom." OVERLAY "APPRECIATE IT" Image: Bald Eagle soaring Image: War Monument of soldiers raising U.S Flag Image: Lincoln Monument with a column in foreground Image: Old-style profile photograph of a woman's head Image: Liberty Bell Image: Bald Eagle Soaring, closer Image: Statue of Liberty Island Image: Golden gate Bridge at dusk Image: War memorial OVERLAY "CHERISH IT" Image: Bald Eagle Soaring, even closer Image: Whitehouse Image: War Memorial Image: Statue of Liberty Image: Golden gate Bridge Image: Washington Memorial Image: Old guy (Alexander Hamilton?) Image: Flowing U.S Flag Image: Golden gate Bridge from far away, tree in foreground OVERLAY: "PROTECT IT" Image: Statue of Liberty, bust up, grayscale Image: Bald Eagle perched with mouth open Image: Statue of Liberty, toes up, blue background Image: Bald Eagle swooping with claws out, Image: Congress building, at night Image: Bald Eagle swooping with claws out, slight flap of wings Image: Thomas Paine statue TEXT, white on black, "FREEDOM" FADES, white on black "REMEMBERFREEDOM.ORG" |