{"id":53134,"date":"2020-05-10T09:31:10","date_gmt":"2020-05-10T14:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=53134"},"modified":"2020-05-10T09:31:15","modified_gmt":"2020-05-10T14:31:15","slug":"covid-19-propaganda-the-art-of-exploiting-a-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=53134","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19: Propaganda & the Art of Exploiting a Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COVID-19: Propaganda & the Art of Exploiting a Pandemic<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the U.S., institutions that have no real interest in public health are exploiting our sense of vulnerability to benefit their public images and their bottom lines, says Dr. Mike Pappas. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

W<\/strong>e have all likely seen or heard the commercials. They typically start with slow music and maybe a nice sunrise. The ads then give lip service to the \u201cstrange and uncertain\u201d times in which we\u2019re living. But never fear, your savior is here: some large corporation wants to let you know that they are \u201chere for us.\u201d Do not worry, even after the pandemic is over, they will still be \u201chere for us.\u201d This touching treacle would be incomplete without a nod to the \u201chealthcare heroes\u201d continuing to fight during this pandemic. It just touches your heart, doesn\u2019t it? But the eerie similar<\/a>ity of many of the commercials is a bit off putting\u2026 It is almost as if there is a propaganda campaign designed to exploit our worry and vulnerability during the global pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Field of Public Relations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploring the field of public relations is helpful when examining the recent flood of sentimental adverts. Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud\u2019s nephew, is universally known as the \u201cfather of public relations.\u201d In the 1920s he pioneered the technique of shaping and manipulating public opinion, which he called \u201cengineering consent.\u201d In his influential 1928 book \u201cPropaganda,\u201dBernays highlights the need to utilize people\u2019s emotions to steer public opinion. He states:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in the democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of the country.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COVID-19: Propaganda & the Art of Exploiting a Pandemic Throughout the U.S., institutions that have no real interest in public health are exploiting our sense of vulnerability to benefit their public images and their bottom lines, says Dr. Mike Pappas.  We have all likely seen or heard the commercials. They typically start with slow music and maybe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[28817,2851,1224,29665,655,1161,855],"class_list":["post-53134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-liberty","tag-coronavirus","tag-emotions","tag-exploitation","tag-mike-pappas","tag-propaganda","tag-public-relations","tag-viral-pandemic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53135,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53134\/revisions\/53135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}