Hidden persuasion: from advertising to politics

A critical set of anxieties centres upon hidden persuasion. During the Second World War and the Cold War, there is concern about its use in extreme and coercive situations. This includes entire populations in thrall to a dictator or party with control over their lives.

The subject of hidden persuasion inspires all kinds of movies in the post-war period. Prisoner of War, which features Ronald Reagan, is about brainwashing in Korea. There is a similar film named The Rack, which stars Paul Newman.

The most famous movie of this kind is The Manchurian Candidate. Based on the novel, the 1960s film is about a group of American POWs who are brainwashed in captivity and then released back to the United States. Among them is a programmed assassin who has been instructed to assassinate the president.

Following its success, The Manchurian Candidate gets caught in the flood of conspiracy theories about the assassination of JFK. As such, it becomes intertwined with the reputation of Lee Harvey Oswald, who allegedly saw the movie. Nevertheless, The Manchurian Candidate anticipated the notion of a person acting under the behest of a hidden agency that controls them.

To me, the most critical developments of persuasion and influence do not come from the totalitarian world, but from the West. More specifically, advertising as a field of persuasion has experienced tremendous growth in the region. This is despite the belief that Western societies are part of the so-called “free world”, where citizens live freely. Yet, in advertising, we see underhand influences pressing democratic subjects and shaping the way they behave.

Indeed, this is a significant development that represents an exploration of psychological techniques by the advertising industry on Madison Avenue and elsewhere. Yet, how are advertisers accomplishing their goals? In short, they’re focusing on expanding markets. The expansion of production that occurred during the war is generating a cornucopia of consumer goods. As such, advertisers are tasked with developing demand to meet this expansion and further growth moving forward.

However, Packard is not only concerned with the power of corporate bosses to mobilise psychological techniques to persuade the public. He also focuses on political parties. Packard sees them harvesting the data being generated by focus groups and similar techniques to craft politicians that appeal to the unconscious wishes of electorates. Their focus shifts from choreographing the masses to fit an agenda to grooming leaders to fulfil the fantasy required by the voters.

Hitler and Mussolini also explored this notion of appealing to the unconscious of an electorate. In the 1930s, they studied image manipulation and the choreography of festivals and films to accomplish their agendas. However, the practice gets taken to another level by political campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s.

Television starts to be critical to the political process during the Eisenhower presidency. The trend continues with the debates between JFK and Nixon in 1960. These debates result in the victory of Kennedy over Nixon.

Nevertheless, the growing influence of television is anticipated by Packard. Through his writing, he explains how the medium will play a pivotal role in politics and electioneering. This is especially true concerning image management and what eventually comes to be known as spin-doctoring.