Popular Things in the Media That Are Actually Propaganda

These pieces of media might have alternative goals.

By figgyPudding

Published 2 years ago in Creepy

As more and more media is owned by fewer and fewer groups, it makes sense that a lot of it might be serving an alternative service. From AskReddit, here are 26 things in the media that are also propaganda.

1
The entire "cop show" genre. It goes back to the radio drama days and spans drama, comedy, infotainment, documentary, and multiple other genres, but it almost always presents the police as being the white-hatted Good Guys out to stop the Bad Guys.

2
Drug ads. Our advertisements pushing drugs for every single ailment are just propaganda for big pharma.

3
The Wizard (1989).
4
Forced recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance for US public school kids.

5
American Sniper. I’m still mad that I got tricked into thinking it was a movie about PTSD.
6
I love Top Gun. It's a huge guilty pleasure of mine and I can't wait to see Maverick in theaters. That being said, it is 1000% propaganda for the Navy, to the point where the Navy had a lot of say in the script and they set up recruitment booths outside the theater.
7
The Internship (2013). Just Wedding Crashers but taken over by our Google overlords. Praise be.

8
Any news targeting stock owners. Not the big companies, but the private people who have a few thousand dollars worth or less. The way it works is that a scandal comes out and is designed to make people panic and sell, swinging the price down by a lot, sometimes half the price. Then big companies buy up billions of dollars worth and this swings the price back up. Then they sell it again making a fortune.
9
Walmart radio. I worked at Walmart for 3 months and I realized that it seems to be designed to be tuned out by shoppers. It’s real purpose is to brainwash employees and get into their heads so they believe all of the “we’re a family” crap.
10
I love the show Law and Order, but I have to wonder how much damage it's done to our public view of police officers. On the show, if someone takes the 5th, they're guilty. If a cop beats up a suspect, they were guilty. Heck, if they shoot them, interrogate them hard, frame them, lie to them, hack their personal computers, etc... it's all okay, because they're guilty.

11
The movie, Reefer Madness. Terrible movie, but hilarious today.
12
Any modern war movie featuring real military equipment. To get access to the equipment, they need to work with the Department of Defense. For them to allow it, they need to approve the script. For them to approve the script, the movie needs to give a positive portrayal of the military.
13
I love Top Gun. It's a huge guilty pleasure of mine and I can't wait to see Maverick in theaters. That being said, it is 1000% propaganda for the Navy, to the point where the Navy had a lot of say in the script and they set up recruitment booths outside the theater.

14
Superhero movies are endorsements of extrajudicial punishment.
15
Business articles on LinkedIn that talk about how people should stop seeking work/life balance and start embracing work/life integration.
16
America’s Got Talent. It promotes the idea that talent goes hand in hand with struggle, so much so that genuinely awful acts make it through on the strength of their sob story.People have a hard enough time accepting the work that goes into being a creative without having to attach a tragic backstory to it.

17
Feel good stories, like “8 year old kid saves up $3000 by working to help sister afford her surgery.”
18
Undercover Boss. At this point, any worker should know if they see a middle aged white guy or woman with a bad wig, make up, and a camera crew behind them should be able to figure out they're on Undercover Boss.