The art of propaganda has been in existence for many years. Before the 19th century, propaganda held a neutral meaning, but now it has become something recognized as dirty word. Most people use propaganda to benefit self at the expense of others. Propaganda is usually used to distort and exaggerate truths and facts in both moving and still images.

Soules (1) asserts that images have the ability to convey information quickly and in a manner that tends to evoke deep emotions to the target audience. The power that images have with this respect is based on how they can convey messages all-at-once. The ancient sense of images that people embody helps in this quest as images can etch themselves onto people’s consciousness hence giving them the iconic weight.

It is easy for people to view and get moved by an image that they have not even thought about. When images are used with political objectives and then spread through mass media, their ability to convince people increases dramatically (Soules 1). Good examples of images that have been used as a way of propagating propaganda include “What did you do?” by Savile Lumley and “Be careful what you say”.

What did you do was a poster created by Savile Lumley who was a British illustrator. This poster was used during World War I to help in compelling men with families to enlist. The poster was used with the objective of striking their pride in the desired direction. The image showed that in future their children would judge them for their contribution during the war period. Their children would not appreciate nor consider their decision to support the family back home. Be careful what you say on the other hand was a poster meant for World War II. This was meant to scare civilians for the Allied Powers on how Hitler could listen to their communications.

When it comes to moving images, there are films that have also been used as a way of distorting facts and truths by use of propaganda. A good example is the “Angry Birds” animation. This animation carries a stereotypical message that all immigrants tend to be terrorists in disguise, and there is a need to bomb their countries as a result. The film uses birds and pigs to showcase this aspect where the pigs take the role of the immigrant terrorists. The pigs attack the birds after being accepted into their territory, and the birds are forced to reiterate. This is a clear illumination of an anti-immigration message.

“Birth of a Nation” would also serve as another favorable example. The film portrays the Ku Klux Klan as noble defenders of the society who were fighting the good fight against the “blacks”. The Blacks were being regarded as evil in this case as they had marred the South. Sadly, despite the film seeming awful due to its propaganda proponents, it was a hit in the box office upon its release (Herman and Chomsky 46).

In conclusion, propaganda is usually used to distort and exaggerate truths and facts in both moving and still images. The use of mass media now makes it easy to spread propaganda to a large target audience. Propaganda has become a very powerful tool since everyone is susceptible to it in one way or another.

Works Cited

Soules, Marshall. “Images And Propaganda.” Media-Studies.Ca, 2017, https://www.media-studies.ca/articles/images_propaganda.htm.

Herman, Edward S, and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy Of The Mass Media. New York, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2011,.

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