Propaganda Have The Propaganda Techniques Evolved

STV003
2006-01-09
Tutor: Mikael Sundström
Department of Political Science
Propaganda
Have the Propaganda Techniques Evolved?
Florian Hanel
Susanne Puskaric
Abstract
The following thesis is an attempt to test a hypothesis which states that the
techniques of propaganda barely have changed over time. It also claims that the
few adjustments that can be distinguished have occurred as a result of the fact that
propaganda is considered dependent upon the medium in which it is conveyed,
and changes in accordance to this and not because of a development of the
techniques. We believe that the hypothesis is the result of an old and outdated
propaganda framework, and consequently seek to construct a new and
contemporary one. In order to do so we combine the techniques of propaganda
along with the ones within the advertising domain. The relevance and
applicability of the framework is then tested on the propaganda techniques of the
US Army, and an additional question is hence if the propaganda techniques used
by the empirical source have changed over time.
Our results conclude that the techniques of propaganda have not changed
significantly over time, and we also discover that our attempt to modify the
propagandistic framework is somewhat problematic, and hence require further
efforts. Another conclusion is that the US Army’s use of propaganda has changed,
mainly in order to comply with shifting circumstances.
Key words: propaganda, advertising, techniques, propaganda framework, US

Army
Table of contents
1 Introduction .............................................................................................................1
1.1 Hypothesis and Focal Points...............................................................................1
2 Methodology ............................................................................................................3
2.1 Propaganda .........................................................................................................3

2.2 Advertising .........................................................................................................4
2.3 Modified Propaganda Framework and Questionnaire......................................4
2.4 Empirical Material ..............................................................................................5
3 Propaganda..............................................................................................................8
3.1 What is Propaganda ............................................................................................8

3.2 Techniques of Propaganda................................................................................10
3.2.1 Reaffirming...............................................................................................10
3.2.2 Credibility and Authority..........................................................................11
3.2.3 Facts and Science......................................................................................11
3.2.4 Groups and Norms....................................................................................11
3.2.5 Language ..................................................................................................12
3.2.6 Emotions...................................................................................................13
4 Advertising.............................................................................................................14
4.1 What is Advertising ..........................................................................................14

4.2 Techniques of Advertising................................................................................15
4.2.1 Identification and Participation ................................................................15
4.2.2 Rationality and/or Emotionality ...............................................................16
4.2.3 Recognition and Repetition ......................................................................17
4.2.4 Differentiation ..........................................................................................17
4.2.5 Credibility.................................................................................................18
4.2.6 Clarity and Decoding................................................................................18
4.2.7 Testing and Demonstrating.......................................................................18
5 Modified Propaganda Framework ......................................................................19
5.1 Comparing Persuasive Techniques...................................................................19

5.1.1 Reaffirming and Identification .................................................................20
5.1.2 Credibility and Authority..........................................................................20
5.1.3 Language ..................................................................................................21
5.1.4 Emotions...................................................................................................21
5.1.5 Recognition...............................................................................................22
5.1.6 Differentiation ..........................................................................................22
5.1.7 Repetition..................................................................................................22
5.1.8 Testing and Demonstrating.......................................................................23
6 Empirical Research...............................................................................................24
6.1 Recruiting Poster 138 .......................................................................................24

6.4 Recruiting Poster 73 .........................................................................................26
6.5 GoArmy.com: Home ........................................................................................26
6.6 GoArmy.com: About the Army........................................................................27
6.7 GoArmy.com: Careers & Jobs..........................................................................28
6.8 GoArmy.com: Benefits.....................................................................................29
6.9 GoArmy.com: Soldier Life...............................................................................30
6.10 GoArmy.com: For Parents............................................................................30
7 Discussion...............................................................................................................32
8 References ..............................................................................................................35
Appendix Varieties of Propaganda..................................................................................37
1 Introduction
Each of us lives and works on a small part of the earth’s surface, moves in a
small circle, and of these acquaintances knows only a few intimately. Of any
public event that has wide effects we see at best only a phase and an aspect
[…]. Inevitably our opinions cover a bigger space, a longer reach of time, a
greater number of things, than we can directly observe. They have, therefore,
to be pieced together out of what others have reported and what we can
imagine (Walter Lippman in Zaller 1992:6).
As Lippman so correctly observed more than half a decade ago, man is dependent
on that information he can observe in addition to that which others expose him to.
There is a relentless flow of new, more or less true, information that is conveyed,
and the citizens that are exposed to these flows must constantly be aware of how
to differ between information that is true and such that is not, between facts that
are fabricated and facts that are not. Upon these, among other, premises the
citizens structure their beliefs and their outlook on the surrounding society.
Yet another consequence of this vast stream of information is that those who
wish to portray certain ideas, information or opinions must try to do so within
realms that are constantly threatening to drown them in information excess.
Subsequently, in order to make their ideas those that are not sorted away they
must develop and employ different techniques. Among those who wish to portray
ideas and information, there are some who desires to do so in a more or less subtle
and/or persuasive way, in order to make the recipients take in the information
without actually being aware of it, understanding the real message that is being
communicated, or straightforwardly persuading the recipients. In other words,
there are propagandistic efforts that can be difficult to distinguish and decipher for
those exposed to it.
We will identify these propagandistic techniques in our empirical material, in
order to see if the propaganda of today has changed in conjunction with the times.
1.1 Hypothesis and Focal Points
In Propaganda and Persuasion Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell state that
“[…] contemporary propaganda techniques differ from past techniques mainly in
the use of new media. New technologies must be taken into account, for the forms
of media and how they are used have always been significant in propaganda”
(Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:280). We wish to test this hypothesis, and one motive
for this is that propaganda is vital and “[…] a necessary instrument in an atomistic
society which from time to time needs to mobilize around specific issues” (Harold
D. Lasswell quoted by Sundström 2005-10-06). Considering the importance of
1
propaganda it should have evolved, if nothing else then to meet the requirements
and desires of those trying to convince and persuade through it. Of course the
mediums that are used to convey propaganda should have had considerable
impact on the propaganda and the methods used within the specific realm, but
even without the technical evolvements one could believe that propaganda should
have progressed in order to meet new demands in new surroundings.
In our effort to test the hypothesis of Jowett and O’Donnell we will initially try
to comprise the necessary definitions, explanations and techniques used within the
sphere of propaganda and then do the same vis-à-vis advertising. Our reason for
using both propaganda and advertising techniques is that the methods of
propaganda found in the vast literature on the subject is somewhat old and
presumably not up to date; and this might be one reason to why the techniques,
according to Jowett and O’Donnell, have not changed – the framework might be
too old fashioned. In order to examine the propaganda of today, we think that one
has to broaden the propagandistic framework, and a good way to do this is by
adding the techniques used within the advertising sphere. Our motive for
employing the advertising methods in this merge is that advertising can be seen as
a sub category of persuasion, and thus share the over all aim of
persuading/convincing, and also several techniques with propaganda (Jowett –
O’Donnell 1999:149f).
Our aim is thus to test Jowett and O’Donnell’s hypothesis, and examine if
contemporary propaganda has evolved with regards to the techniques used by the
propagandists. We recognize the hopelessness of embracing and comprising all
vital elements and components within such an extensive realm, and hence we
have concluded that we will focus our empirical efforts on the recruiting
propaganda used by the US Army. We intend to examine if the US Army’s
propaganda techniques for recruiting have changed since World War I.
2
2 Methodology
As we stated earlier we will examine and then compare the propaganda and
advertising sphere, and then combine the techniques found there in a modified
propaganda framework. Subsequently we will try to make a sort of questionnaire
that enfolds both new and old in order to examine the empirical material. The
material itself will consist of recruiting posters from WWI1 and the US Army’s
present-day web site `Goarmy.com`. The empirical examination will be followed
by a discussion of our findings in relation to Jowett and O’Donnell’s hypothesis.
2.1 Propaganda
To fully comprehend propaganda we initially discuss what propaganda is, and

furthermore illustrate the numerous and occasionally diverse definitions and
explanations one can find regarding propaganda. Then we describe the different
techniques one can find within the propagandistic realm. These techniques are all
accounted for in the literature, but we have to emphasize that our choice of
literature might have had a limiting effect on which methods we have found.
Subsequently there might be propaganda techniques that are not to be found in our
thesis, for the reason that we have not come across them in our study of relevant
literature.
Seeing as we aspire to examine the techniques of propaganda we have
knowingly left out certain features and vital aspects found in the discussion of
propaganda, that in other circumstances are to be considered central to this field.
For example we do not account for or discuss any of the psychological theories or
predispositions that, according to some, are vital for the success of propaganda
(for a synopsis of these and several other theories see Jowett O’Donnell 1999:161-
202). Furthermore we do not mention any of the communication theories that are
available, and could be applicable to propaganda. Of course we are fully aware of
the importance of that mentioned, and we also presume that several of the
techniques have been developed with regards to cognitive, psychological,
communicational and/or other relevant theories, but regardless of this we have
decided not to include any of these in the thesis, primarily because of the limited
space.
1
All of the posters can be found at Firstworldwar.com.
3
In addition to the above mentioned, we do not discuss nor study the potential
effects of the propaganda techniques that we examine. Since we do not observe
any long-term effects we cannot conclude if the propaganda techniques that we
describe are successful or not. Other predicaments vis-à-vis the effects of
propaganda is that these “[a]re highly conditional, depending on individual
differences, the context in which propaganda take place, and a variety of
contingent third variables” (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:161). Under these
circumstances we cannot include such an extensive study into our thesis in order
to examine the effects of the propaganda techniques.
2.2 Advertising
To get a satisfactory illustration of advertising we have examined the literature on

the subject, and tried to extract all that is important regarding the techniques that
are applied. The major discrepancy between the literature on propaganda and the
one on advertising is that the authors in the first domain are discussing concrete
techniques. This is to be contrasted to the advertising literature where the
techniques are not often named or even labeled `techniques`, and thus they can be
found under a number of diverse headlines. Consequently we have tried to
uncover and bring to light all that is to be considered techniques, and marked
them as we have found appropriate.
Another predicament regarding the literature, and this should also be applied
to the propaganda literature, is that we employ second hand information, and as
such we cannot guarantee the trustworthiness of the material. With the intention
of reducing the probability of faulty or less objective information we have thus
tried to remain critical towards the literature, and aspired to find similar
information in several books in an effort to enhance the credibility of the stated
information (Gustavsson 2005-02-07).
Concerning the advertising components in our thesis, the predicaments are
similar to the ones relating to propaganda. We have been concerned about the
techniques found in the domain of advertising, and therefore we have not paid
much attention to the predispositions for accepting advertising that some authors
present as central regarding the success, or failure, of advertising (see for example
Barnard - Ehrenberg).
2.3 Modified Propaganda Framework and

Questionnaire
The section called `Modified Propaganda Framework` has its origin in our
aspiration to construct a propaganda framework that can be considered
contemporary. In the literature on propaganda one finds that most of the
4
techniques are based on findings from the middle of the 20th century. In order to
modify these techniques, we will try to combine the existing ideas and techniques
of propaganda with those in the field of advertising. On first sight this connection
might seem suspicious to some, but we believe that advertising contains analogue
patterns with propaganda (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:149f), and thus the merger of
the two will substitute the foundation for our framework and empirical efforts.
The chief component of the modified framework will consist of a
questionnaire, which includes the mélange of both advertising and propaganda
techniques. The method of creating and using a questionnaire may perhaps be
tentative, in particular as we have not found literature that can support and guide
us in our efforts; the literature on questionnaires concerns questions made with
regard to persons and not written material or pictures (see for example
Samhällsvetenskaplig forskning by Tim May, or Metodpraktikan by Esaiasson et
al). Regardless of this we have decided to employ such an inquisitive tool and to
help us construct it we have studied questions composed to analyze propaganda
and propaganda techniques – we have found such material on
propagandacritic.com and at the Milner Library. We will not exclusively draw on
the features of these questions because our framework and questionnaire will be
based on that which we have found in the literature, but we will certainly seek to
apply some of them to our questionnaire.
The major incentive for constructing a modified framework, which fits more
into today’s propagandistic efforts, is that hopefully our framework can substitute
a sort of elementary questionnaire for all that are interested in propaganda and the
analysis of the same. Of course we are not claiming to be the new Lasswells of
propaganda, but we hope that our framework can be helpful to others in the future.
The central quandary regarding the framework is that it is solely applicable to
propagandistic techniques, and thus the normative discussion is missing, as well
as other central elements.
2.4 Empirical Material
Using our questionnaire we will compare recruiting posters that the US Army
utilized during the First World War with the US Army’s current recruiting website
Goarmy.com. One of our motives for comparing only army material is that this
should enhance the similarities between the objects and consequently the
credibility of the study. A predicament with this though, is that one can perhaps
believe that the propaganda of the Army is specific to one realm – that of war –
and thus our results cannot be applied to the propaganda in general, or the
hypothesis of Jowett and O’Donnell in specific.
Our central motive for choosing posters from WWI is that a majority of the
authors within the field claim that the propaganda, as we know it today, had a sort
of initiating period during the WWI (see for example Jowett – O’Donnell
1999:161f, Cunningham 2002:177). Therefore we believe that the posters we have
chosen are typical for early propaganda, and that they are necessary when
5
comparing old propaganda with contemporary – such as can be found on the
official recruiting webpage of the US Army. Hence we believe that our choice of
material should reflect the development of propaganda techniques, and that if it
does not then the same results should be found within other empirical material.
One must also keep in mind that we are not using the flash version of the web
pages, and therefore the comparison with the posters should be more consistent. In
order to emphasize the already mentioned compatibility between the objects we
have also chosen to use a poster regarding a summer camp for teenagers (aiming
at soldiery) with the web page `For Parents` because the intention and audience of
these seem somewhat similar.
Our aim is to examine the propaganda and advertising techniques used, and
consequently we will try to disregard the medium and those components that are
typical for the medium at hand. Regardless of this we still wish to emphasize
some of the main difficulties concerning the chosen mediums, and this because of
the fact that it can sometimes be problematic to separate the medium from the
message and vice versa. Some even go so far as to state that the medium is the
message, and thus the content and the subject cannot be understood without
examining the medium and the opportunities this contains, both at present and in
the future (Burgess 1998).
Goarmy.com is a web site containing text and pictures as well as movies and
games, and as such it encloses some specific components that are distinct for this
medium. Initially, one has to consider the explicit intertextuality found within the
borders of the World Wide Web – via the links the text becomes intertextual, but
this also means that the reader, when choosing links to follow, becomes a sort of
author him/herself. A web text is also characterized by the lack of linearity one is
used to in other categories of texts. Another distinguishing feature of the Web and
the texts found in it is the transient and temporary character of the contents
(Wakeford 2000:33, Elmfeldt 2003-11-23). All these components contribute to
make the examining of a web site somewhat harder and certainly more wide
spread than that the examining of posters. Once again we have to emphasize that
we are not using the flash version of the web pages, so the games and downloads
are not relevant to our modified framework. Another important aspect is to
mention that we are only examining the contents of the web pages and the offered
links are not so relevant to our focus on techniques.
Although the medium is of less importance to us, we wish to underline that the
use of a web text found on the Internet might make our aim to combine elderly
propaganda techniques with methods found within advertising within our
framework more fruitful. The interactivity that is the base for the milieu found on
the Internet and the World Wide Web means “[…] giving up more information to
advertisers so that they can then better understand the user and what motivates
him or her. In search engines, controlling your own environment also means your
environment having a stronger commercial impact on you…” (Miller 2000:116).
With this in mind it is likely that we will find evidence that our new framework
with components of both propaganda and advertising is fertile.
An additional advantage as a result of using a website when examining
propaganda is that “[…] the Internet, as noted previously, offers a unique
6
opportunity to all propagandists. Although access to the World Wide Web is still
severely restricted globally […], the ability to disseminate information, seemingly
without a concern for accuracy or the potential for damage, provides the ideal
means in the `deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate
cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired
intent of the propagandist`” (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:159).
We have chosen the comparative approach, when studying elderly posters and
a modern website. This method has certain advantages, and one of these is that
this approach typically results in a situation with fewer objects that the researcher
has to focus on. Thus the researcher can study the objects more meticulously and
detailed, and hopefully this will increase the reliability of the study. It is also a
common approach when one aspires to test a theory or a hypothesis, as in this case
(Gustavsson 2005-01-25, Esaiasson et al 2004:111). Of course one can never find
research objects that are completely similar and homogeneous, but we believe that
our choice is sufficient for our examination of propaganda techniques. We think
that the central differing aspect between the objects, apart from the different
mediums, is the time of their creation, and thus we should be able to see if the
propaganda techniques have changed over time.
7
3 Propaganda
In the literature on the subject there are several definitions that you can find on the
word propaganda and all that this contains. However, very few of these are to be
considered neutral, or somewhat more objective than subjective. The most neutral
definition at hand suggests that propaganda is to “disseminate or promote
particular ideas” (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:2).
Apart from this the diverse definitions and explanations on propaganda can be
categorized into three main groups: that of positive, negative and neutral
propaganda. With this said, we wish to emphasize that the terms negative and
positive more or less seems to portray the normative grounds of those writing the
definitions and explanations, and not always portrays the propaganda itself – or
more specifically a bias towards or against the goals of the propaganda. This is
our impression after reading the literature on propaganda.
3.1 What is Propaganda
The accentuation of the deliberative aspect of propaganda is a matter of

disagreement in the literature. The deliberative feature is part of some definitions,
which assume that all propaganda is intentional and thus deliberate (Jowett &
O’Donnell 1999:6ff). The core of the debate regards the intentionality and
deliberativeness of propaganda, or if it is the opposite: unintentional and
undeliberate. Henderson claims that “every propaganda process is at its source
deliberate and intentional […] there is no unintentional propagandist”
(Cunningham 2002:64). Another approach assumes that people want propaganda,
on the basis that this is natural to them. Thomson claims that “[t]he human species
is a natural propagandist with the basic instinct to propagandize” (ibid p 65). In
contrary to that earlier mentioned exists an approach, which defines propaganda
exclusively as a communication tool, and thus neglecting the deliberative aspect
(Thomson 1999:5).
Besides these common attitudes Cunningham tries to tackle the phenomenon
propaganda from a philosophical angle in The idea of propaganda – A
reconstruction. He criticizes all the hitherto definitions, because of their lack of
complexity, nevertheless he is not able to deliver a satisfactory definition of his
own. As an alternative he argues that the concept of propaganda covers so many
aspects that it is not possible to offer a clear and broad definition, and instead of a
definition he offers a description of propaganda (see Cunningham 2002:176ff).
Others agree with Cunningham, claiming that a clear definition of propaganda
is almost impossible, and Dobb points out that “[…] a clear-cut definition of
8
propaganda is neither possible nor desirable” (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:4).
Qualter says that we need to look upon propaganda “in the neutral sense of a
general description of an activity which can be directed to good or bad ends”
(Cunningham 2002:64).
Tom Bryder describes propaganda in a more positive way than many of his
fellow writers within the area. Bryder emphasizes that propaganda often is to be
regarded as an essential part of the policy-making processes that surrounds the
citizens. He thinks that the use of propaganda as a mean to promote certain
matters and objectives within the political sphere is to be regarded as standard
procedure, and thus under those circumstances it should not be regarded as a tool
to deceive (Bryder 2004:i). Instead one should view propaganda as a means to
emphasize, explain and promote those ideas one thinks are of use, and when this
is done the receivers of the propaganda should “read their own private meanings
into the messages conveyed by the propaganda content that is disseminated”
(ibid). With this Bryder indicates that propaganda is not to be confused with
“other forms of more or less forced compliance”, and he emphasizes the basal
component of voluntarism (experienced by the recipient) within propaganda.
Combs and Nimmo highlight that propaganda is an essential component of
communication and as such it is to be regarded as a “major form of public
discourse” (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:5). However, they are differing from Bryder
in one main area; they focus on the difficulties of distinguishing propaganda from
other forms of communication. They appear to believe that the main explanations
for this impediment is that the immense amount and the complicated levels of
propaganda that surrounds the citizens in their every day life causes the
propaganda to be perceived as natural, and thus somewhat problematical to
distinguish (ibid).
As we earlier stated several authors within the field of propaganda have a
more or less negative view of propaganda; be it towards the techniques, the goals
or the normative grounds of propaganda and that it is to be considered unethical
(ibid p 3). Sproule is one of the authors who consider propaganda to be a form of
persuasive communication, which contains components of secrecy and above all a
severe lack of logic and suitably founded argumentation. He continues to express
the opinion that the main goal of the propagandist is to make less appealing goals,
which are mostly based on the self-interest of large organizations/groups, seem
alluring to, and thus attract, the greater masses (ibid). In addition to this, Leonard
W. Dobb describes propaganda as “the attempt to effect the personalities and to
control the behaviour of individuals towards ends considered unscientific or of
doubtful value in a society at a particular time” (ibid p 4). Source Watch (a project
of The Center for Media and Democracy) continues to emphasise the components
of deception and confusion that seems to guide the propagandists. In other words
the element of persuasion and understanding are suppressed.
Harold D. Lasswell, one of the more prominent writers within the field,
defined propaganda as “[…] the technique of influencing human action by the
manipulation of representation” (Lasswell 1934:13), and he points out that
propaganda can be found in every society (ibid p 14f). Lasswell claims that the
main task for the propagandist is to intensify attitudes favourable to his purposes,
9
to persuade the undecided – and therefore a central goal is needed as a catalyst for
the propagandist (ibid p 18). Lasswell identifies one crucial predicament though,
and this regards the lack of propaganda control and he states that “[t]he
propagandist in fact operates on a jury without a judge and frequently without the
cognizance of the jury” (ibid p 21).
The Institute of Propaganda defines propaganda as “the expression of opinion
or actions by the individuals or groups deliberately designed to influence the
opinions or actions of other individuals or groups with reference to determined
ends” (propagandacritic.com). They accentuate the meaning of ‘deliberate’, and
this is also done by Jowett and O’Donnell; they define propaganda as “[…] the
deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and
direct behaviour to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the
propagandist” (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:6). It is this final definition that we will
be guided by in our work with propaganda, and a reason for this is that we believe
that when testing Jowett and O’Donnell’s hypothesis we should apply the same
definition as they do.
Apart from definitions and explanations the literature also describes different
varieties of propaganda, and those interested can find a summary of these in the
Appendix.
3.2 Techniques of Propaganda
To be an effective and successful propagandist several methods and techniques

are available, and of course an effective propagandist should know how to use
them to be successful. The main reason for using these methods is to influence the
behavior and the thoughts of people. In this chapter we want to explain and
demonstrate how these methods and techniques work.
3.2.1 Reaffirming
There are certain means to seek to emphasize the impact and outcome of the
propaganda. A fundamental method is to arrange the propagandistic information
according to the information the receivers already believe to be accurate and
factual and perceive as true. In other words “[m]essages have greater impact when
they are in line with existing opinions, beliefs, and dispositions” (Jowett –
O’Donnell 1999:290). For this purpose the propagandist must recognize and
understand the receiver’s principals, viewpoints and feelings, and subsequently
employ these.
The technique can be illustrated with the propagandist identifying the
receiver’s values, beliefs and attitudes, and then either relate these to the new
information, or, in a far more undemanding and fluent approach, reinforce the old
beliefs via the propaganda. “Rather than try to change political loyalties, racial
and religious attitudes, and other deeply held beliefs, the propagandist voices the
10
propagandee`s feelings about these things. Messages appear to be resonant, for
they seem to be coming from within the audience rather than from without” (ibid).
3.2.2 Credibility and Authority
The credibility of the source is of the utmost importance concerning the

prospective success of the propaganda. Taking this into account the propagandist
must give the impression that the propagandistic information originates from a
credible and respected source.
Consequently, the propagandist aspires to depict authorities, expert opinions
or sometimes statistics as references and sources. The central motive for this is
that “[p]eople have a tendency to look up to authority figures for knowledge and
direction. Expert opinion is effective in establishing the legitimacy of change and
is tied to information control. Once a source is accepted on one issue, another
issue may be established as well on the basis of prior acceptance of the source”
(Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:291) (see also Bryder 2004:184, Anderson 1999 about
sources, as well as propagandacritic.com for testimonials).
A further approach is to portray already existing or upcoming leaders as
knowledgeable and competent, with the necessary ability to eliminate whatever
problems or threats they are confronted with. By means of this they tend to take
the role of authorities (Bryder 2004:177).
Transfers are too frequently utilized within this sphere; by transferring
positive feelings and respect aimed at a subject/person on to another
subject/person, the propagandist attempts to generate approval and/or an image of
authority and credibility (Sundström 2005-10-06, propagandacritic.com).
3.2.3 Facts and Science
Every so often the propagandist turns to the constructing of factoids to further an

objective. A factoid can be explained as some sort of information that is stated as
accurate and factual, but in truth there are no appropriate arguments or verification
for that which is stated. Generally one can claim that this technique is employed
when the so-called fact is false or there is no evidence for it (Bryder 2004:178).
Within the realm of this technique we also wish to incorporate the use of
pseudo-science. It is similar to the construction of factoids, and the pseudo-
science can be described as the propagandist referring to non-existent or very
questionable science in order to strengthen certain statements. The propagandists
often refer to pseudo-science that in reality is fictional or to be considered
unproven, and thus not credible as a source (Möijer 1994:48f).
3.2.4 Groups and Norms
11
People have a tendency to conform to other citizens’ thoughts and behavior, and
this operates somewhat like a foundation for the propagandist in his/her efforts to
persuade. The propagandist often make use of the actuality that people “[w]ill go
along with the group even when the group makes a decision contrary to privately
held beliefs and values” (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:292f). The, potential or actual,
membership in a certain group contributes to create and/or uphold certain values
and attitudes that constitute the group norms (ibid) (see also propagandacritic.com
for bandwagon).
Although these groups can be cultural, professional or social, they are at times
to be considered as rather ad hoc. Such a group is referred to as a grandfalloon.
This is composed of strangers which are considered to be a group through the
propagandists’ efforts. The propagandist uses stereotypes or insignificant labels to
associate the citizens into a group or associate other persons into a group
considered negative, and this “[c]an be achieved by diabolizing the enemy. […]
When we can picture the enemy subhuman, or as resembling animals, we can
label him or her with a pejorative label. [...] Abstract categories of human beings
make it easier for us to abuse them, both symbolically and in actual behavior”
(Bryder 2004:177f) (see also propagandacritic.com for war propaganda).
We also wish to mention the `plain folks-technique` under the section of
groups and norms. This method allows the propagandist to portray a person or an
issue as someone/something originated from the people for the people (Sundström
2005-10-06, propagandacritic.com).
The technique of polarization includes the method of grouping with one of
two attitudes/ideas/persons. The propagandist creates a situation where the world
is divided in black or white, left or right et cetera, and the receivers only have
these two choices. The polarization creates or establishes a situation where the
subtleties and nuances are covered by the two combatant flanks, and the
propagandists constantly opposes these two to enhance the extreme situation and
limit people’s choices (Möijer 1994:31).
3.2.5 Language and Image
There are different manners in which a propagandist can make use of the language
to further his/her objectives. One of these techniques is to attempt to produce the
impression of power, and this can be accomplished through using language that
can be related to the vocabulary or specific words that different authorities use.
When the receivers acknowledge the terminology as the same as teachers, gods or
other authorities use, they subsequently ascribe the same authority to whatever
subject or person that the expressions portrays.
12
Exaggerations, vagueness, oversimplification, slogans and the use of innuendo
are often found as fundamental tools for the propagandist2 (Jowett – O’Donnell
1999:294ff, Sourcewatch.com). In addition to these euphemisms can be utilized as
a technique whereas the propagandist manipulates language to further his/her
agenda. This method helps the propagandist to cover unpleasantness behind a
verbal veil of, in a best-case scenario, synonyms (Sundström 2005-10-06,
propagandacritic.com).
Within the propagandistic sphere it is also common to use the language in
order to portray the opponents in a less appealing manner – the method of name-
calling. This technique encloses a wide scope of different, more or less, negative
labels and terms; all from direct heckling on to words that might not be so plainly
negative, but their connotations are (ibid). Through this the propagandist can
associate a person or an idea to something negative, and thus try to make the
audience focus on the connotations of the name-calling instead of other, relevant,
information (ibid). Furthermore the propagandist can employ the name-calling for
quite the opposite purpose – that is to create positive connotations and attitudes
towards the person/issue/idea at hand. These glittering generalities are often not
aimed directly at a person or an idea; instead the propagandist tries to frame the
person or issue with whatever connotations that are sought (ibid).
3.2.6 Emotions
By using the technique of producing or generating fear in the population the

propagandist can “hope to redirect attention away from the merits of a particular
proposal and toward steps that can be taken to reduce the fear”
(propagandacritic.com). We assume that other emotions should be included under
this passage, but the literature does not mention it.
2
The propagandist can also make use of: allegory, alliteration, allusion, antithesis, emphasis, heaping, hyperbole,
irony, metaphor, paradox, personification, pleonasm, rhetorical question, rhetoric threesome, intensification and
understatement, among others (Möijer 1994:41-44).
13
4 Advertising
Advertising is considered an instrument of marketing (Fill 2002:6, 11), and as

such it is included in the following quote: “[m]arketing has a good deal in
common with propaganda. Propaganda is a form of communication. It’s the
widespread promotion of ideas. More specifically, it’s a well-organized, well-
planned attempt to influence the attitudes, perceptions, and actions of a targeted
audience. Sounds a little like marketing” (Anderson, Chris 1999). Anderson very
clearly identifies the most obvious associations between propaganda and
marketing/advertising. Source Watch takes it a step further and claims that: “[…]
advertising and PR can be said to be propaganda promoting a commercial
product” (Sourcewatch.com).
Jowett and O’Donnell also emphasize the relation. They claim that “[t]here is
little doubt that under any definition of propaganda, the practice of advertising
would have to be included. Advertising is a series of appeals. Symbols and
statements deliberatively designed to influence the receiver of the message toward
the point of view desired by the communicator and to act in some specific way as
a result of receiving the message, whether it is to purchase, vote, hold positive or
negative views, or merely maintain a memory. Also, advertising is not always in
the best interest of the receiver of the message” (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:149).
Unfortunately they stop at the acknowledgement.
4.1 What is Advertising
According to Jowett and O’Donnell advertising is a sort of institutionalized

propaganda. The character of advertising is obvious, but that does not make it any
less influential when trying to change or influence behavior or thoughts (ibid
p150). Both the propagandist and the advertiser/marketer must have knowledge
about the social and cultural background of the target audience: gender, ages,
income levels, social class and lifestyles (McKee 1993:10). The main aim of
advertising is to sell the idea or product through persuasion.
Advertising is essentially about effectiveness and success, or as Campbell and
Jamieson argue in their description of the actual situation “[i]n other words, we
live in a world filled with advertised products; often the presence of one of these
products rather than another in our lives is determined by the effectiveness of the
campaign for competing products” (Campbell – Jamieson 2001:190). They go one
step further in asserting the issue that an advert is a catalyst for our actions “[a]n
ad asks us to go somewhere, do something, try something, buy something, accept
some single idea, add a new word – generally a product’s trade name – to our
14
vocabulary and associate positive images with that word” (ibid p 191). And thus
we cannot escape from the influence of advertising (ibid p 192).
The base of an ad is always persuading on the part of the producer. The
producer assigns the advertiser to utilize this persuading in an ad. Therefore he
has to pay for space and time, where his message can be spread to the audience.
After this act the message is transformed into an ad. “When the people selling the
product pay for time or space to enable them to bring the message in a specific
unalterable form to that audience, however, we call the message advertising”
(ibid p 193). The advertiser has to guarantee that the message of the product will
be shown correctly. But he cannot make sure that the message will be received in
a correct way.
To be successful advertising depends on a good-working, effective
communication. To be effective the communicated message has to be easy and
understandable (ibid p 192). For Fill the main task of advertising is “to
communicate with a specific audience” (Fill 2002:486). Jamieson and Campbell
stress the task of advertising as follows: “[…] we need to get information about
available goods and services, their location, price, and comparative advantages.
Making that information known is advertising’s central function” (Campbell –
Jamieson 2001:157). Fill ascertains that advertising’s main aim is to change the
attitudes and perceptions of the audience, just as with propaganda. He emphasizes
the importance of building awareness, inducing a dialogue, and finally positioning
brands (Fill 2002:487). He also defines advertising as a tool for marketing
communication, and he claims that advertising is “a non-personal form of mass
communication and offers a high degree of control for those responsible for the
design and delivery of the advertising message” (ibid p 15).
4.2 Techniques of Advertising
Fill claims that the main task of marketing is communication, and thus advertising,
is “[t]o generate and transmit messages which present the organization and its
offerings to their various target audiences, encouraging them to enter into a
dialogue and relationship” (ibid p 23). Now the question emerges how the
advertisement will attract the target audience, and for this the advertisers employ
several different techniques.
4.2.1 Identification and Participation
When the advertisers generate an image to the audience/receivers, this image

should be as approachable and wide as possible, in order to attract each and
everyone. When this is not possible or desired the advertisement should be
addressed to a specific focal group, for example children, adults, men or women.
“The advertisers single out their market by customers preference for certain sorts
of activities” (Campbell – Jamieson 2001:208). This explains why special
15
advertising is showing on special programs, for example advertisements for sports
wear during a soccer match (ibid p 209).
Another main technique is the employment of stereotypes in advertising;
given that it is unachievable to present a detailed character in a 30 second spot the
advertisers use stereotypes as a substitute. Undoubtedly these stereotypes should
be constructed with great care; otherwise the audience would never identify them
in the sought manner, and thus not accept them or the product/message.
“Stereotypes are powerful means of reinforcing societal attitudes about groups of
people because the process of stereotyping involves the receiver in creating the
message” (ibid p 211).
Yet a further technique to persuade a person is through participation. One of
the main approaches in this realm is the integration of celebrities in advertising.
As a base for this method one can identify the motto that the customer wants to be
like celebrity XY, and thus use the same product and so forth. A second approach
to the central participation factor is the use of important moments of lives in
advertising, e.g. the first shave of a boy is used in advertising for shavers, or the
imagination of how your wedding could look like. The last aspect of participation
focuses on the role of the audience. The advertisers seek to make the audience a
partner to help spread the message. To accomplish that, the advertiser has to
utilize techniques like rhetorical questions, visual images and almost certainly
wrong claims (ibid p 223ff).
4.2.2 Rationality and/or Emotionality
If the advertiser wishes to persuade the audience through information, this is done
using hard facts and logical/rational arguments. Such persuasion can be realized
through a demonstration of a solution or through a comparative approach (Fill
2002:517f). When the advertiser, on the contrary, wishes to convince the audience
through the employment of emotions, such a strategy can enclose several different
possibilities: for instance the use of fear, humor, animation, sex, music and
fantasy (ibid p 519ff).
The vital aspect to consider and apply is that good/efficient advertising must
contain a fusion of both. Fill asserts that “[i]ndeed, most advertisements contain a
measure of rational and emotional arguments” (ibid p 523). However, the
advertising tactics are shaped by this differentiation between information and
emotions. Consequently, advertising should hold the right balance between
information and entertainment, or rationality and emotions (ibid p 509). If
advertising is entertaining, funny and enjoyable, more people will distinguish it in
the jungle of commercials and ads. The willingness to change purchase behavior
depends on if the receiver likes the merchandise a lot, and therefore the
advertising has to be amusing, as well as new, identifiable and provide some
information about the merchandise (ibid p 510).
When Rossister and Percy formulate such a technique of advertising, which is
based upon rationality and emotions, they distinguish between high and low
16
involvement. The highly involved audience calls for plentiful of information,
whereas the low involved audience is shaped by emotions (ibid p 526f).
4.2.3 Recognition and Repetition
Since persuasion is one of the main motives of advertising the advertisers have
acquired and developed several ways to persuade people, and one of these is
product recognition. The recognition is stressed through the use of three
approaches: trademarks, packaging and slogans. The use of trademarks helps
identifying the producer, and occasionally the name of a trademark replaces the
name of the product, e.g. aspirin (Campbell – Jamieson 2001:216f). The second
aspect focuses on the packaging of the product, for example the product can be
identified through the special packaging, e.g. the Coca Cola bottle. As a final point
the employment of slogans is an important technique when the aim is recognition;
the main task for slogans is to summarize the content of the product in a short
message that everyone can remember. Although most slogans are fearless, there
are still some that play with fear (ibid p 218f).
Another aspect regarding recognition and repetition is that the redundancy of
ads stresses the fact that advertising is only successful when it is repeated often
enough. The more often you hear or/and see a message the better you will
remember it. Hence advertising seldom limits itself to merely one medium, and
thus it is generally spread in several different types of media (ibid p 229). Andrew
Ehrenberg states that the main undertaking of advertising is ensuring that the
customer will not forget to buy your brand (Ehrenberg 1997:1).
4.2.4 Differentiation
A central technique is the differentiation of the product from other already existing
products, and convincing the audience of the product’s quality (Fill 2002:500f).
Thus the main tactic is to show that a product is better than a comparable one (ibid
p 491), and this differentiation consists of two main aspects. The first is the,
already mentioned, fact that a special advertising should differ from another. In
favor of this the advertiser is even allowed to adopt advertising from a similar
product and use the same approach (Campbell - Jamieson 2001:221). The second
aspect, association, emphasizes the positive or desirable experiences one can have
consuming a special product “[t]hat experience must be one we would like to
share, and the experience portrayed must be different from and better than that
promised by competitors” (ibid p 222). When it is a matter of a new brand, the
persuasion has to act on a very personal level (Fill 2002:500f).
17
4.2.5 Credibility
Credibility is one of the main foundations for good and effective advertising; it is
absolute vital that the message is credible for the audience (Fill 2002:514ff). The
advertiser, as a source, has to show his neutrality and trustworthiness, as well as
his objectivity towards the target audience (ibid p 20).
This also indicates that the source in the ad has to fulfill the standard of
credibility. Therefore advertisers often use spokesmen representing the quality of
the product, and these are ideally experts (ibid p 31ff). The constant danger lies in
the problem whether or not the chosen person is the right one for the advertising
strategy (ibid p 517). The credibility also implies that the source should try to
change attitudes and behavior through logical and coherent reasons (ibid p 35ff).
4.2.6 Clarity and Decoding
The advertiser has to ensure that the intension of the message is clear and
understandable. The decoding aspect implies the right understanding of the
symbols as well as the message behind them. This feature also links with the role
of the receiver. The decoding depends on the experiences, values and norms of the
target audience, and “[t]he more the receiver understands about the source and the
greater his or her experience in decoding the source’s messages, the more able the
receiver will be to decode the message successfully” (Fill 2002:34).
4.2.7 Testing and Demonstrating
There are some techniques within the advertising sphere that embrace a somewhat
hands-on approach. One of these is the technique of free sampling. The customer
can sample and evaluate the merchandise, and hereafter decide if they want to buy
it. As a good example one can look at the `try and buy`-stands in the supermarket
where customers can test new products (Campbell – Jamieson 2001:198).
Another manner within this realm is the infomercial, also known as
‘Homeshopping’ broadcasting. This practice gives the impression of being a
show, but in reality it is essentially a long ad, in which people will be persuaded to
buy something (ibid p 203).
18
5 Modified Propaganda Framework
In this section we will combine the old propaganda techniques mentioned in the
propaganda chapter with those techniques we have found as central for the
advertising realm. Our raison d'être for this is essentially that advertising is
considered a sub category of propaganda (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:149f), and
thus we think that the methods for advertising also should be included within the
propaganda techniques. Evidently a number of the techniques found under each
type are, roughly, the same. Nevertheless, despite this there are some new
techniques, or old ones that have been further developed, found within the
advertising realm that are not mentioned in the literature on propaganda, which
according to us should be integrated as propaganda techniques in order to get a
propaganda framework appropriate to contemporary propaganda. The modified
framework will include both the new advertising and the old propaganda
techniques. Seeing that we want to construct a somewhat new framework, the
incorporation of the old techniques is essential as well. Another reason is that
some of the techniques are mentioned in the literature of propaganda, but are
revised in the advertising literature.
To make the framework comprehensible we will initially discuss what,
regarding the advertising, is to be considered old (equivalent to the propaganda)
and new (differing from the propaganda). After this we will transform the
techniques into questions that we will apply on the empirical material.
Subsequently we will construct a sort of questionnaire that we can utilize on the
chosen empirical items.
5.1 Comparing Persuasive Techniques
As earlier stated there are several similarities between the techniques of

advertising and propaganda. In the following sub sections we will try to identify
these along with the differences we have discovered. We will also state the
questions that will be submitted to our questionnaire, and our reason for doing so
is that we want to be as explicit as possible regarding our motives for the
questions, and thus relate them to the different techniques. Those questions that
we find to be new in regards to the old propaganda techniques will be written in
italics.
19
5.1.1 Reaffirming and Identification
Both the propagandist and the advertiser strive to identify what the predispositions
of the receiver or the audience are, and the main purpose is to use this information
in order to manipulate the new information to suite the old, and thus make the
propaganda/advertisement more successful (see sections 3.2.1 and 4.2.1). The
literature on both propaganda and advertisement mentions the importance of
knowing the audiences predispositions to enhance the possibilities of successful
propaganda/advertisement. There does seem to be a difference though; the
literature on propaganda does not mention the decoding as a reason for knowing
the predispositions. The advertising literature emphasizes that knowing the
predispositions are vital in order to make the decoding of the message correct and
easy for the receivers (compare sections 3.2.4 and 4.2.6). One can thus assume
that the old propaganda techniques were essentially trying to veil the true
message, as oppose to the advertisement techniques that want to portray the right
message in order to avoid misunderstandings (at least according to the
literature).The utilization of stereotypes appear to be common in both spheres (see
3.2.4 and 4.2.1)
Questions to ask in relation to reaffirming and identification:
1. Is anything mentioned/showing that reaffirms the receiver’s already existing

beliefs, opinions and dispositions?
2. If so, does it seem as if this information is easily comprehensible, and aimed at
supporting a better understanding on the part of the receivers?
3. Is there anything showing/mentioned that can be interpreted as an effort to
make the receivers identify with that at hand, or with a specific group?
4. Are stereotypes employed?
5. Is anything mentioned/showing about a certain group, portraying them as
enemies that can help persuade the receiver?
6. Is there anything mentioned/showing that is referring a `from the people to the
people` component, and thus creating an in-group?
7. Is there anything mentioned/showing that is evident of polarization?
5.1.2 Credibility and Authority
Both credibility and authority are of utmost importance to the propagandist and
the advertiser. The literature on both propaganda and advertising mentions the
significance of a seemingly credible source. The difference seems to be in the
word seemingly; the propagandist can make use of false authorities, twisted
statistics, factoids and pseudo-science to enhance his/her objectives. The literature
on advertisement, on the other hand, emphasizes a sort of credibility that is aimed
towards the neutrality and trustworthiness of the advertiser (see sections 3.2.2,
3.2.3 and 4.2.5). On the other hand the same literature also confesses to the
advertising spheres usage of wrong claims (see section 4.2.1).
20
Questions to ask in relation to credibility and authority:
8. Is anything mentioned/showing that claims that the information is from a

credible/respected source (experts and such)?
9. Showing leaders as knowledgeable/competent?
10. Transferring positive feelings and respect from one thing to another?
11. Is anything mentioned/showing about facts that are not/cannot be confirmed
by evidence?
12. Is anything referring to non-existent or very questionable science?
13. Are hard facts/logical arguments being used?
14. Is anything underlining the credibility and/or trustworthiness of the creator of
the examined object?
5.1.3 Language
The literature on propaganda mentions several ways that the propagandist can
make use of the language in their efforts, for example euphemisms, slogans,
name-calling et cetera. The advertising literature also mentions some techniques
regarding the usage of language, for example slogans and rhetorical questions (see
sections 3.2.5, 4.2.3 and 4.2.1). But once again the advertising literature
emphasizes the importance of the receivers’ ability to decode the messages (see
section 4.2.6), and thus we assume that the language techniques used by the
advertisers should differ with regard to how easily they can be decoded.
Questions to ask in relation to the language usage:
15. Is anything showing/mentioned that indicates a tendency to use the language

of authorities?
16. Are the propagandists using exaggerations, vagueness, oversimplification,
slogans, innuendo, euphemisms, name-calling, glittering generalities,
allegories, alliterations, allusions, antithesis, emphasis, heaping, hyperbole,
irony, metaphors, paradoxes, personifications, pleonasms, rhetorical questions,
rhetoric threesomes, intensifications or understatements?
17. Are the used rhetorical techniques constructed as to be easily decoded?
5.1.4 Emotions
Both the propaganda and the advertising spheres make use of emotions to
persuade. The literature on propaganda mainly refers to the producing or
generating of fear, while the advertising literature mentions fear, humor,
animation, sex, music and fantasy (see sections 3.2.6 and 4.2.2.). We assume that
the same applies to propaganda. There seems to be other more important
differences; the literature on advertising emphasizes the importance of a balance
between emotionality and rationality (see section 4.2.2). It also mentions
entertainment in relation to advertising (see section 4.2.2).
21
Questions to ask in relation to those emotions that are portrayed:
18. Is there anything showing/mentioned that can generate fear or other emotions
with the receiver?
19. Is it entertaining?
20. Does there seem to be a balance between the emotions generated and
rationality?
5.1.5 Recognition
Both the propaganda and the advertising literature mention slogans as a method,
but the advertising sphere uses slogans along with trademarks and packaging to
enhance the recognition (see sections 3.2.5 and 4.2.3).
Questions to ask in relation to recognition:
21. Are there any trademarks visible?

22. Is there a special packaging used?
5.1.6 Differentiation
Advertising seems to emphasize the differentiation as vital, but this appears to be

unheard of in the literature of propaganda – at least in the same manner (see
section 4.2.4).
Questions to ask in relation to differentiation:
23. Is the object portrayed as differing from others in the same domain?
24. Are the propagandists comparing the object to others in order to show the
superiority?
25. Are the propagandists trying to associate the object with desirable
experiences?
5.1.7 Repetition
The repetition factor that is mentioned in the literature of advertising is not

stressed in the propagandistic sphere (see section 4.2.3). Despite this we assume
that the propagandist is aware of the positive effects of repetition.
Questions to ask in relation to repetition:
26. Is the message/image being repeated?
22
5.1.8 Testing and Demonstrating
Some techniques that seem unheard of in the propagandistic sphere are the testing
(for example samplings) and the use of the so-called infomercials. The
infomercials are depended on the broadcasting medium and will therefore not be
included in our modified framework, since we want to compare techniques that
are not bound by the medium. The testing, in contrast, is something that one can
apply to different mediums – that is that one can offer the possibility of testing in
every medium. The difference would then be that in the new medium, such as web
pages, the testing could occur immediately; whereas in for example a poster one
would perhaps be offered a time and place for testing (see section 4.2.7).
Questions to ask in relation to testing:
27. Are there any offers of testing something?

28. Are there any offers of free samplings?
23
6 Empirical Research
When examining the posters and the web pages in relation to the questionnaire
described in the former chapter, we only attempt to discuss the questions that
seem appropriate in the setting of the poster or the web page at hand. The numbers
by the posters are indicating under what numbers they can be found at
Firstworldwar.com.
6.1 Recruiting Poster 138
When studying the poster we are under the

impression that the propagandist strives to change
the existing belief – that the combination of a
soldier and a worker are contradicting – and thus
a soldier and a worker are pictured. The aim of
the poster is to convince people that a new kind of
soldier is possible – a soldier and worker
combined in one. To be effective the two main
figures are shown as stereotypes – only their
profession is represented.
By using the stars and stripes and the eagle the
creator of the poster wants to generate a certain
feeling of patriotism/nationalism. And also the
use of the stars and stripes underlines the
credibility of the source – with the use of the flag the Army gives the impression
of representing the USA.
Besides this the poster contains a rhetorical question – a component of the
propaganda framework. The rhetorical question in the first line of the poster
alleviates the understanding of the message; especially seeing as the answer of
this question follows directly.
A striking point with this poster is the relatively balanced allocation of
emotions and rationality/information. The emotions are showed in the surrounding
background (pictures), whereas the rational part lies within the text.
24
This picture is an obvious recruiting poster for

the U.S. army. The only task and intention is to
convince people of the advantages of being a
member of the U.S. Armed Forces. The central
message is shown on the bottom of the poster,
and is very clear and understandable. It is a
request to “Join the Army-Navy-Marines”.
In light of our framework, the poster fulfils some
of the aspects. Initially the use of personal
pronouns and the employment of the stars and
stripes indicate an attempt to create a broad
identity among the audience. The slogan is very
clear and is directed at the receiver’s sense of
honour. The slogan – Fight for US – also
includes the polarization element by indirectly
asking “us or the others – whom do you belong
to?”.
The poster also refers to various positive connotations, and these seem to be
shaped through the utilization of the stars and stripes, the word honor (sic.) and
the young woman.
The used language includes commanding, and perhaps authoritarian tones
(uphold, fight, and join). Besides the language style some other rhetorical
techniques can be found; for example the pun with the small slogan `Fight for
US` – do the propagandist refer to ùs` or the ÙS`?
This picture shows the famous Uncle Sam, a

central character in recruiting soldiers for the
U.S. Army, as a baseball player. It is underlined
with the slogan “Get in the Game with Uncle
Sam”. The slogan is short and clear, and thus
easy to understand/decode for the receivers.
This poster also contains some other aspects
worth mentioning. A striking technique used on
the poster is the employment of sports in
combination with a known recruiting figure –
reaffirming the interest in sports. This merge
can be located in both the slogan and the
picture. The slogan also enhances the
25
polarization factor, and it implies a “we or them”-attitude.
The use of Uncle Sam as a spokesman might be in order to enhance the
credibility of the message. Uncle Sam can also be regarded as personification of
leadership. The integration of the sport factor also highlights the aspect of
entertainment.
This poster is about a military summer camp for

teenagers, and in the front of the picture a young
uniformed boy with a gun is shown. Behind him
the banner of stars and stripes is blowing in the
wind. In the background the skyline of New York
with the Statue of Liberty can be seen. The pure
information about time, place and wanted
participants are given in smaller letters than the
message.
This poster entails some techniques worth
mentioning. Initially, the identification technique
is utilized through the employment of the stars
and stripes, the boy (directed towards young
teenagers, or parents), as well as the skyline (providing a sense of home).
The propagandist also uses the polarization factor through making the boy
seemingly stare at a not shown enemy, and this contains a “we or them”-attitude.
The credibility of the source appears to be covered with the notion of a
general.
The text in the poster, except for the title, is solely informational, and hence
the argumentation within the text can be regarded as logical and rational.
Opposite to this the emotional factors are shown in the title. Besides the
mentioning of the word “defense” (sic.), the fact that a boy has to act as a soldier
can cause fear within the audience. The receivers are expected to give their best
to defend their country, even their children. The message entails a possibility to
participate at a summer camp. Within this summer camp the boys are able to get
to know the life of a soldier, and as a result perhaps desire to become soldiers
themselves; somehow the summer camp also includes an element of testing.
6.5 GoArmy.com: Home
The first webpage at goarmy.com is an introduction, which offers the whole range
of possibilities on the website. On the right side of the page (it is shown on every
26
page we examine) you can find several options to contact the army or the
recruiters.
Viewing the webpage, we can conclude that it contains several interesting
aspects. The first striking component is the exploitation of sports as well as some
experience reports (`Becoming a soldier` et cetera). Through these aspects the
homepage tries to enhance the audience’s identification with the army.
The language found on this webpage contains a non aggressive tone, and
instead of authority the webpage is depended on the power of visual images.
The propagandist makes use of the pictures, in order to show a downplayed view
of the army. A sociable view on the soldier’s life is offered by means of only
stressing the positive aspects. Joining the army becomes part of a good and safe
life; it guarantees a job and a good accommodation. The webpage `Home` on
goarmy.com offers the
opportunity to download
games – and thus the
element of testing is
utilized. Once again we
have to emphasise that
the games are dependent
upon the medium, and
thus this element of
testing will not be
included in our
comparison to the posters
or in the conclusions.
6.6 GoArmy.com: About the Army
This page on the website

is intended to give a
short overview of the
army and its tasks and
efforts. The message is
based on just existing
beliefs and opinions
about the army; the page
contains elements that
illustrate that the creator
wishes to make the
receiver identify easily
with that at hand; the
27
pictures that are showing reaffirms the views the receivers might have of soldiers
(shows soldiers in action, training etcetera). The soldiers portrayed represent
several groups: Asian and women, as well as young and old men – we believe that
this is an effort to make receivers from several groups identify with the soldiers.
Through the pictures of the soldier they try to generate a positive feeling, a feeling
of honour and pride. The pictures can also be applied to the stereotype element;
the page contains a large picture that seems to be taken from a movie – soldiers
and helicopters in a dessert – but in order to make sure that the stereotypes are not
the only image directed at the receivers the creators have also made sure to show
other aspects.
The text, otherwise, provides information about the structure, the options and
the life in the army. Within the text you can also find some rhetorical techniques
like the play with the words in the slogan “Future Force – Ready Now”. In general
the webpage can be divided into a more emotional part (pictures) and a more
informative component (the text). Regarding these elements the page does not
give an impression of containing facts or science that cannot be confirmed.
Regarding question 9 – Showing leaders as knowledgeable/competent? – one
can interpret the answer differently. If we replace `leader` with `soldier` the
answer is yes: this is done with words as well as pictures.
The credibility and trustworthiness of the Army is not mentioned in an explicit
manner, but the impression of the same is created when the designer of the page
writes that the Army “is a key component of the U.S. Armed Forces, providing
expeditionary land forces wherever – and whenever – they are required”. It is also
stated that “the U.S. Army is made of committed Enlisted Soldiers and Officers”.
We also wish to emphasize that the page seems to give the impression of
trying to make the life of a soldier appear very desirable; this is made obvious
when the information repeatedly mentions the career opportunities, creating
leaders etcetera. This is also one of the objects when utilizing glittering
generalities such as `freedom` as well as `peace`.
6.7 GoArmy.com: Careers & Jobs
On this webpage the

techniques seems
somewhat similar to the
ones found on Àbout
the Army`. The page
contains pictures that
underline presumably
earlier views on soldiers,
and so does the main
slogan `there are many
ways to be a soldier`. It
appears to be based on
28
existing beliefs and opinions about the army/military. The propagandist intends to
change the old view of the army by presenting several unexpected career choices
available; this is done textually by providing information about the ranks and
possibilities in the army. The picture, on the other hand, portrays a soldier as one
would expect.
One of the techniques to enhance the identification level, is the continuous use of
the personal pronoun `you`. Also the fact that the picture is illustrating an African
American soldier seems to enhance the likelihood for identification.
Apart from slogans and personal pronouns as earlier mentioned, the
propagandists also utilize the easily decoded rhetorical question `Want an extra
400$ a month? `
6.8 GoArmy.com: Benefits
Just as in the earlier

studied pages the
creators have used
pictures to reaffirm the
images that most
people have of soldiers,
but the new element is
that they have also
done the opposite; the
page is furthermore
showing pictures of
education and a soldier
and his family. Perhaps
this is done in an effort
to show the diversity of the Army, and thus attract others as well. In another
attempt to make the receivers identify the use of personal pronouns is generous.
An additional reason for using pictures of sports and education is probably in
order to transfer some of the positive feelings towards these elements on to the
Army. Another way to enhance the trustworthiness of the Army is the element of
underlining the Army’s friendliness towards families – this is done throughout
picture and text. The most commonly used argument/fact on the page is money.
This is used as an argument for joining the Army, and `money, salary, pay,
allowances, bonuses, extra money` are mentioned in several places. In order to
avoid the overload of information the propagandists have made an effort to make
the page exciting trough the pictures used, and thus a sort of balance between
information/rationality and emotion is sustained.
One aspect that appears to be new so far is the attempt to represent the Army
different as well as better than others in the same domain. This is done through
underlining the unique partnership between the Army and the American business
community, and how this will benefit soldiers.
29
Regarding the rhetorical techniques one can assume that the slogan ‘The
benefits of being in the army last a lifetime’ is exaggerated. The accent on lifetime
can also be regarded as an effort to show the superiority against other employers.
All in all this section is more focused on emotions than on pure information,
or rather rationality. The main aim of this webpage is to show the advantages of
being a member of the army at its best.
6.9 GoArmy.com: Soldier Life
This webpage includes

the presentation of the
routine life of a soldier.
Once again the pictures
reaffirm earlier views
and images of soldiers.
And another reappearing
trait is the use of
glittering generalities
such as `freedom` as
well as rhetorical
questions. Also the use
of personal pronouns is
evident.
What seems to be differing with this page is the tendency to underline that the
Army is: “the world’s best fighting force”, and thus trying to compare the Army
with others, as well as stating facts that cannot be confirmed by evidence.
Another general idea on the page seems to be that of trying to associate the
soldier occupation with desirable experiences such as: “as you follow your
interests and develop your skills, new opportunities open up. When Soldiers aren’t
training or working, they’re taking advantage of the benefits of living on an Army
Post”.
6.10 GoArmy.com: For Parents
The last webpage in our analysis of the website is aimed towards the parents of
the soldiers or the kids who wants to become soldiers. This part provides
information for parents of forthcoming soldiers and comments of soldier parents.
On this page the text, including the comments of the parents, is not rationale, but
emotional and attempts to create identification.
Through the use of parents as an authority the Army tries to convince the
audience. Also, the parents portrayed on the page emphasize the positive
30
influence the army can have on their children. The Army is depicted as an
institutionalized guarantee for a good life. At the end of this page one can find an
advisor for the parents, giving instructions on how to deal with their children and
a possible future career in the Army. By this the testing and free sampling aspect
is fulfilled again (but because of the downloading element we do not include it in
the final discussion).
31
7 Discussion
With reference to the empirical material we initially wish to assert that the
recruiting posters from the First World War are very similar to each other. For
example the majority of them aspire to emphasize and reaffirm the patriotic and
national feelings of the audience through portraying the stars and stripes, or by
using the language. A further factor vis-à-vis the language usage is that nearly all
of the posters use a more or less commanding language.
The balance between emotions and rationality/information can be identified in
the material. Other than this we have to declare that the features of the framework
that are shaped by advertising techniques occur only sporadic. The aspects of
trademarks, packaging and differentiation as well as the question about pseudo
science emerge nowhere. The entertaining and the testing elements emerge in one
poster each; poster 219 illustrates attempts to entertain by integrating the sport
factor as well as a humorous image of Uncle Sam, whereas the testing factor is
integrated in poster 73 by the possibility to gain experience as soldier in a
summer camp.
After examining the website goarmy.com and all the included web pages, we
can conclude that the different pages, except ‘Home’ and ‘Parents’, have a similar
structure. A balance between emotions and hard facts can be outlined; the
emotions are mostly mediated through the use of pictures, whereas the hard facts
or rather the information is presented in written form. The used language differs
from the tone found within the posters – instead of being commanding it is more
informational and understated. One of the new features is the attempt to
differentiate the US Army as the best fighting force in the world, and another
aspect is that the Army tries to portray itself as a unique employer within the
USA.
Considering our framework this website covers most of our developed
propaganda techniques/aspects, but still some of them are not used: the aspects of
trademarks, packaging, and pseudo science are not used within our empirical
material, and neither is the credibility and trustworthiness of the Army underlined.
Finally we believe that the possibility of testing is available on the website, but
this technique depends on the medium (one has to have access to a flash version).
Now the time has come to discuss the quality of our framework, as regards to
its relevance and the possibilities of applying it. As earlier stated, the propaganda
literature does not mention the entertaining element/technique, whereas this is
done explicitly in the advertising literature, and given this we have included the
element of entertaining as a new technique in the modified propaganda
framework. Regardless of our vigilant reading of the propaganda literature where
we found no trace of the entertaining element, our research shows that this
technique was employed in one of the earlier propaganda posters (no. 219).
32
Therefore it seems as the empirical study demonstrates that this, despite the
absence of it in the literature, was however used earlier. The difference, however,
appears to lie in the focus on entertainment (it is used in various places on the web
pages), as well as in the balance between entertainment and information. This
discovery is certainly not revolutionary, and Aldous Huxley states that the modern
propaganda need not be divided into more or less true, but if it is more or less
entertaining and distracting. He argues that:
In regard to propaganda the early advocates of universal literacy and a free

press envisaged only two possibilities: the propaganda might be true, or it
might be false. They did not foresee what in fact has happened, above all in
our Western capitalist democracies – the development of a vast
communication industry, concerned in the main neither with the true nor the
false, but with the unreal, the more or less totally irrelevant. In a word, they
failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions
(Huxley).
The difference seems to be the element of distracting; on the web pages the
entertaining pictures/images appear to enhance the information, as well as idealize
it. The website focused much more on the entertainment factor than the posters,
and hence we presume that this technique is not new but much more commonly
employed in the propaganda of today.
A further predicament regarding the modified framework appears to be that
some of the added advertising techniques, more precisely trademarks and
packaging, do not occur in any of the empirical material at hand. Hence we
believe that our empirical focus on the Army might have had a limiting effect on
the tryout of the framework; although we are inclined to admit that a further
explanation could be that the framework covers aspects of advertising that is not
applicable to propaganda. Perhaps an additional empirical study, by means of
different material, can help us determine what the hindrances and difficulties of
the framework are. This could very well be an excellent way of investigating what
elements of advertising to keep and which to eliminate.
Regarding our testing of Jowett and O’Donnell’s hypothesis “[…]
contemporary propaganda techniques differ from past techniques mainly in the
use of new media. New technologies must be taken into account, for the forms of
media and how they are used have always been significant in propaganda”
(1999:280), we are to some extent surprised by the results. We assumed that a
central explanation for their claim, was that the propagandistic framework
regarding techniques were too old and hence could not be applied to
contemporary propaganda. For this reason we tried to modify the framework in
order to test their hypothesis. Considering the fact that Jowett and O’Donnell
insisted on the word mainly in their hypothesis, this implies that they were aware
of the chance of some alterations regarding the techniques of propaganda, but
were not expecting a complete overthrow. Considering this we must admit that
their hypothesis is correct; the propaganda techniques are mainly the same.
As a final point we wish to discuss if, and how, the US Army’s employment of
propaganda techniques have changed since WWI. Our first realization when
studying the empirical material was that the obvious polarization used in the
33
posters, referring to ùs` and `we` and thus implying a we or them-attitude
diminished severely over time. A possible reason for this might be that the posters
from WWI were published during actual wartime, and thus the implicit and
explicit references towards an enemy were appropriate under the circumstances.
The techniques used within the website imply a new accentuation on the
differentiation technique. That is that the US Army at times try to portray itself as
better or unique, and this was not the case with the posters. Subsequently
perchance the differentiation technique can be labeled as a `new` technique, one
of the few imported from the advertising sphere.
The second technique initially launched in the advertising domain is the
method of entertaining. In our study of the empirical material we found that this
technique has been used once (see picture 219) in the material representing WWI,
but it is often employed on the website. We wish to emphasize that the
entertainment factor not only refers to a sort of slap stick humor, but also includes
excitement. Thus we believe that the US Army has modified its outlook on the
importance of entertainment as a persuasive tool.
Finally we wish to conclude that the language usage has changed and been
revised. With this we refer not to the rhetorical techniques used, but the tone of
the conveyed messages. The commanding and authoritative tone found in the
WWI material has been substituted by a more informative and less compelling
attitude. Perchance this is merely a result of the fact that the posters consist
mostly of slogans, whereas the web pages can offer much more information.
Conclusively we want to express our surprise regarding both the framework
and the test of the hypothesis. We assumed that our framework would lead to
more coherent and tangible results, as well as proving the need for a new
propagandistic framework with regards to the hypothesis. Despite the not so
fruitful outcomes of our initial assumptions, our efforts show that regarding the
US Army’s propaganda there has been changes. But these changes are more
relevant to the accentuation of the techniques and attitudes, rather than on the
purely technical focal point of our framework.
34
8 References
Anderson, Chris, 1999. “On Propaganda and Marketing”, Brandweek, 18th of

January 1999, vol. 40 issue 3, p. 24-25
Barnard, Neil – Ehrenberg, Andrew, 1997. “Advertising: Strongly Persuasive or
Nudging?” in Journal of Advertising Research January/February 1997
Bryder, Tom, 2004. Essays on the Policy Sciences and the Psychology of Politics
and Propaganda. Acta Wexionensia, No 43/2004, Political Science. Växjö:
Växjö University Press
Burgess, Michael Charles, 1998. “Internetism” – the Print Cultures Conception
of the Internet. BA (Hons) Journalism. London: The London Institute (can be
found at: http://byronik.com/diss01.html)
Burkitt, Brian - Mullen, Andy, 2005. “Spinning Europe: Pro-European Union
Propaganda Campaigns in Britain, 1962-1975” in The Political Quarterly.
Vol. 76, Issue 1, p. 100-113
Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs – Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, 2001. The Interplay of
Influence. News, Advertising, Politics, and the Mass Media. London:Thomson
Learning
Cunningham, Stanley B., 2002. The Idea of Propaganda: A
Reconstruction.Westport: Praeger Publishers
Elmfeldt, Johan, 2003. Lecture. 2003-11-23 Malmö Högskola
Esaiasson, Peter – Gilljam, Mikael – Oscarsson, Henrik – Wängnerud, Lena,
2004, Metodpraktikan. Konsten att studera samhälle, individ och marknad.
Stockholm: Norstedts Juridik. 2:a upplagan
Fill, Chris, 2001. Marketing Communications: Contexts, Strategies and
Applications. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. 3rd edition
Gauntlett, David, (ed.), 2000. Web. Studies: Rewiring Media Studies for the
Digital Age. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press Inc.
Gustavsson, Jakob, 2005. Lecture 2005-01-25 University of Lund
Gustavsson, Jakob, 2005. Lecture 2005-02-07 University of Lund
Huxley, Aldous. “Propaganda in a Democratic Society”
http://www.libr.org/rory/propaganda.html 2005-10-21
Jowett, Garth S. – O’Donnell, Victoria, 1999. Propaganda and Persuasion.
London: Sage Publications, Inc. (3:d ed)
Lasswell, Harold D., 1934. “Propaganda” in Jackall, Robert, 1995. Propaganda.
London:MacMillan Press Ltd.
May, Tim, 1997, Samhällsvetenskaplig forskning. Lund: Studentlitteratur
McKee, Neill, 1993. Social Mobilization and Social Marketing in Developing
Communities: Lessons for Communicators. Penang, Malaysia: Southbound.
35
Miller, Vincent, 2000. “Search Engines, Portals and Global Capitalism” in
Digital Age. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Pages 113-121
Möijer, Kjell, 1994. Propaganda: språk och påverkan. Solna: Ekelunds Förlag.
Sundström, Mikael, 2005. Lecture. 2005-10-06. University of Lund
Sundström, Mikael, 2005. Lecture. 2005-10-13. University of Lund
Thomson, Oliver, 1999. Easily lead: a History of Propaganda. Gloucestershire:
Sutton Publishing
Wakeford, Nina, 2000. “New Media, New Methodologies: Studying the Web” in
Digital Age. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Pages 31-41
Zaller, John R., 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Internet Sources
Firstworldwar.com
Poster 73: http://www.firstworldwar.com/posters/images/pp_us_73.jpg
GoArmy.com
Home: http://www.goarmy.com/nfindex.jsp
About the Army: http://www.goarmy.com/about/index.jsp?hmref=tn?bl=
Career&Jobs:
http://www.goarmy.com/JobCatList.do?fw=careerindex&bl=About%20the%2
0Army
Benefits: http://www.goarmy.com/benefits/index.jsp?bl=Careers
Soldier Life: http://www.goarmy.com/life/index.jsp?bl=Benefits
For Parents: http://www.goarmy.com/for_parents/index.jsp?bl=Soldier%20Life
http://www.propagandacritic.com/
Milner Library, http://www.mlb.ilstu.edu/ressubj/subject/intrnt/evaluate.html
Source Watch, http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=propaganda
36
Appendix: Varieties of Propaganda
When the propaganda is to be considered agitative, its main purpose is to stir an
audience to a certain behavior, and thus render some sort of change. Agitation
propaganda is characterized by the destructive aspects like destabilization and
change of the social order in the public (Cunningham 2002:66). At the opposite of
the scope is the integrative propaganda, and this includes the effort of leaving an
audience submissive, and thus compliant and non-challenging (Jowett –
O’Donnell 1999:11f). The main aim of integrative propaganda is to unite,
integrate and harmonize a society. According to Ellul this can be found in most of
societies, and he calls this “the propaganda of developed nations and characteristic
of our civilization” (Cunningham 2002:66).
There is also the so called bureaucratic prop, and David Altheide offers a
definition of this “[a]ny report produced by an organization for evaluation and
other practical purposes that is targeted or individuals, committees, or publics who
are unaware of its promotive character and the editing process that shaped the
report.” (Cunningham 2002:68) Thus, this form of propaganda influences the
influential persons or groups. Elsewhere is a distinction between tree-tops and
grassroots propaganda; the latter includes the propaganda for the man on the street
via persuasion and advertising (Cunningham 2002:69, Burkitt – Mullen
2005:101).
The counterpropaganda is a form of propaganda that embodies one essential
fact within propaganda theories; to recognize and then act against any forms of
propaganda you have to use the same techniques. Cunningham summarizes this
fact in one sentence “[p]ropaganda begets propaganda” (Cunningham 2002:69).
Propaganda can also be divided according to what credibility the source
contains and thus how one is to consider it truthful or not; in relation to this it can
be divided into white, gray, or black propaganda (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:12f).
Under the banner of the so-called white propaganda one can find national
celebrations and patriotism, and it is considered to be accurate (most of the time)
and the source is identified. When naming information as black propaganda one
refers to the source as false and the information as “lies, fabrications and
deceptions” (Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:13). Joseph Goebbels, a master of this
propaganda form, stresses the importance of a veiled source. He points out that
“propaganda becomes ineffective the moment we are aware of it” (Cunningham
2002:67). Disinformation can be considered as a sub form of black propaganda,
and the misleading aspect is emphasized. It is not false information; it is explicit
misleading information, because in this case the propagandist pretends to know
something. Neil Postman underlines that most of the advertising and most of what
is shown on television can be regarded as disinformation (Cunningham 2002:68).
In the center of the scale one finds the gray propaganda; this means that one
cannot be certain of the sources identity or the truthfulness of the information
(Jowett – O’Donnell 1999:15).
37
38
39

Propaganda Have The Propaganda Techniques Evolved

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Propaganda Have The Propaganda Techniques Evolved

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

STV003

Tutor: Mikael Sundström

Department of Political Science

Have the Propaganda Techniques Evolved?

Key words: propaganda, advertising, techniques, propaganda framework, US

1.1 Hypothesis and Focal Points...............................................................................1

2.1 Propaganda .........................................................................................................3

3.1 What is Propaganda ............................................................................................8

4.1 What is Advertising ..........................................................................................14

5 Modified Propaganda Framework ......................................................................19

5.1 Comparing Persuasive Techniques...................................................................19

6.1 Recruiting Poster 138 .......................................................................................24

1.1 Hypothesis and Focal Points

To fully comprehend propaganda we initially discuss what propaganda is, and

To get a satisfactory illustration of advertising we have examined the literature on

2.3 Modified Propaganda Framework and

2.4 Empirical Material

3.1 What is Propaganda

The accentuation of the deliberative aspect of propaganda is a matter of

3.2 Techniques of Propaganda

To be an effective and successful propagandist several methods and techniques

3.2.2 Credibility and Authority

The credibility of the source is of the utmost importance concerning the

3.2.3 Facts and Science

Every so often the propagandist turns to the constructing of factoids to further an

3.2.4 Groups and Norms

3.2.5 Language and Image

By using the technique of producing or generating fear in the population the

Advertising is considered an instrument of marketing (Fill 2002:6, 11), and as

4.1 What is Advertising

According to Jowett and O’Donnell advertising is a sort of institutionalized

4.2 Techniques of Advertising

4.2.1 Identification and Participation

When the advertisers generate an image to the audience/receivers, this image

4.2.2 Rationality and/or Emotionality

4.2.3 Recognition and Repetition

4.2.6 Clarity and Decoding

4.2.7 Testing and Demonstrating

5.1 Comparing Persuasive Techniques

As earlier stated there are several similarities between the techniques of

1. Is anything mentioned/showing that reaffirms the receiver’s already existing

5.1.2 Credibility and Authority

8. Is anything mentioned/showing that claims that the information is from a

15. Is anything showing/mentioned that indicates a tendency to use the language

21. Are there any trademarks visible?

Advertising seems to emphasize the differentiation as vital, but this appears to be

The repetition factor that is mentioned in the literature of advertising is not

26. Is the message/image being repeated?

27. Are there any offers of testing something?

6.1 Recruiting Poster 138

When studying the poster we are under the

This picture is an obvious recruiting poster for

6.3 Recruiting Poster 219

This picture shows the famous Uncle Sam, a

6.4 Recruiting Poster 73

This poster is about a military summer camp for

6.5 GoArmy.com: Home

6.6 GoArmy.com: About the Army

This page on the website

6.7 GoArmy.com: Careers & Jobs

On this webpage the

6.8 GoArmy.com: Benefits