Fear, Guilt, and single use plastic water bottles

an analysis of modern day propaganda creation

Whenever I think about propaganda I often only think about wartime propaganda. Figures like Rosie the Riveter trying to rally people to contribute to the war effort. Or like most people, I think of Natzi propaganda before and during WWII. The term was actually coined ages before either of the world wars with ties back to the Catholic church back in the 17th century. Even back then however and throughout history propaganda has simultaneously changed greatly and also not at all. I say this greatly because propaganda has to change in order to be useful. If you try to make a poster encouraging Gen Zers to join the military and you use an old propaganda tactic such as Uncle Sam your actions will fall short. However, the base ideas of using tactics and using different mediums to push or persuade people into certain ideas or actions remain the same. We still see propaganda everywhere in the United States such as our ads and in our politics.

I chose to contribute to all of this modern-day propaganda by choosing an issue I believe in. The Pacific garbage patch has reached a size of about 600,000 square kilometers (620,000 sq mi). Climate change has become an immensely large issue today with people now feeling the impact of it in every corner of the world. When I looked at the different causes to choose from on the Do Something website I saw one that highlighted the importance of picking up and properly disposing of our trash before it ever reaches our oceans. We have so much plastic and other various forms of waste there already the last thing our marine life needs is any more of it. I decided to make two posters. The first one I chose to target the older generations. The movie Jaws came out in 1975 and was a massive hit. It quickly became a cult classic and led many people to have a massive fear of the ocean and marine life. I chose to use aspects from this movie due to its popularity. Even people such as myself who may not have been alive when the movie was released can still identify all its classic aspects. “We’re gonna need a bigger boat”, the classic “Dun un dun un” music, and the iconic movie poster depicting a woman swimming with a massive shark coming from underneath, and some of its most identifiable aspects. I chose the aspect of the poster to use in my propaganda poster because I found the font and color scheme to be very recognizable. I replaced the shark with a plastic water bottle and kept the same red font. This tied the ideas of fear and danger into my propaganda work.

I didn’t however want to just target the older generations so I enlisted the help of a quote from one of the most trusted scientists of my generation: Bill Nye (The science guy). Bill Nye is not just a TV show host but also a very well-established scientist who graduated from Cornell University. I knew the importance of having a public figure people trust in my argument and that this was a good way to tie in a notable figure that most Americans understand and one that directly targets the younger generation. He has also in more recent years stated his position as a climate activist who understands the immediate actions needed to be taken. In this specific poster, I tried to use facts and images to promote the ideas of accuracy and fear, Jaws is regarded as one of the best horror movies, and animals like sharks and Orcas are two of the most feared predators in the ocean and I aimed to use these preconceived notions to paint humans and our waste as the true monster.

For my second poster, I wanted to emphasize the emotion of sadness and guilt rather than fear. I decided to keep the same font and general setup as the Jaws poster to keep it recognizable still to the public and for attention attracting however I chose different symbolism. Instead of a plastic water bottle, I went with just a simple paper bag.I used ideas from other forms of propaganda I have seen in the USA. In advertisements a lot of brands will use guilt as a main tactic. A very recognizable form of this was when the ASPCA released a commercial in opposition to animal endangerment. They used a Sarah McLachlan song and emphasized the idea of Only you can help these poor defenseless animals and you should feel bad for not doing so. I decided to use guilt as an emotional tactic by shaming people who choose the convenience of utilizing single waste plastic over the lives of marine animals. Obviously, the truth of the matter is not so clean cut and there are so many contributions to our climate crisis. I decided to hone in on just one that is often overlooked because the ease of the internet nowadays has made many people turn into what I like to call Headline warriors. According to a Columbia University study, 59% of links shared on social media have never been clicked. This means far too many people just read headlines before clicking the share button. I wanted to create short concise propaganda with not many words for people to read so that way people will be more likely to actually read it. In addition to that Climate change is one of the most talked about issues in current politics. Most Americans are aware it’s an issue but need to have some kind of a call to action and that was my aim with my posters. To make people feel bad enough or scared enough to be moved to A. Be more conscious of where their waste is going and to B. maybe scare them enough to do some research beyond just a headline about climate change.

My combination of rhetorical techniques is what I really tried to emphasize in order to sway people to take action. I found the Institute for Propaganda Analysis’s 7 techniques was the most helpful aspect to learn about for this assignment but also where I learned the most about propaganda for this assignment .I have learned about the seven techniques before in other classes but this was the first time I’ve had to do an in-depth analysis that didn’t just look at propaganda through the lens of politics and war. I found this aspect to be most enjoyable as now I can watch ads and commercials with a different lens.I liked making the posters too as I may not be the most artistic but I enjoyed finding different symbolism and ways to subtly persuade people in such a creative way.