Propaganda Piece

Propaganda is generally defined as the communication of ideas, information, and rumors for the purpose of influencing opinions in support for or against a particular cause through emotional appeals; Propaganda Pieces (or just 'propaganda') are works produced through this method and commonly employed for this purpose.

In short, it's that thing you're not immune to.

The Propaganda Piece can be thought of as a deliberate Author Tract, which naturally means a lot of overlap between the tropes. Author Tracts are distinct in that they tend to be more personal to the creator in question, and can often be an unintended result of their choice in themes and/or their ability (or inability) to effectively communicate those themes and ideas, though it can also be very much intentional if said ideas are close to or part of their beliefs. Conversely, the Propaganda Piece is usually far less ambiguous (if at all) about its purpose as such, and is often the result of an effort to garner support for an organization or institution; those that create and/or commission the propaganda themselves are often Propaganda Machines.

The concept of propaganda is Older Than Feudalism, with examples dating as far back as around 515 BCE; the term itself is Older Than Steam, and was derived in 1622 from a then-new administrative body of the Catholic Church called the "Congregatio de Propaganda Fide" (Congregation for Propagating the Faith), which was focused on "propagating" the Catholic faith in non-Catcholic countries. The negative connotations surfaced once it entered political lexicons in the mid-19th century.

Despite the unsavory and manipulative connotations associated with the term in modern times, "propaganda" is considered a historically neutral term, and there's quite a difference between a regular persuasive 'argument' designed to reinforce its proponents' own beliefs and an entire work dedicated to the same; likewise, there is also a difference between works that nakedly serve the purpose of propaganda at the expense of all else and those that are 'merely' poorly written - and both may still give off airs of "Do Not Do This Cool Thing".

Put simply, it's easy to finger a work as propaganda over nothing, especially for simply challenging your beliefs, and those who make actual propaganda will naturally not be that open about their purposes. Except when they are.

In terms of serving essential functions, many religions are naturally inclined towards spreading news of their faith. There is also some overlap with Public Service Announcements, which are designed to increase public attention towards matters of health and safety - as with many a form of Anvilicious media, Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped.

Subtropes include:
 * Attack of the Political Ad
 * Counterproductive Propaganda
 * "Join the Army," They Said
 * Scare Campaign
 * Wartime Cartoon

Compare:


 * War Is Glorious and War Is Hell, often employed by pro/anti-war propaganda.
 * The War on Straw, where the opposing position more "manufactured".

Contrast:


 * Samizdat in the original sense.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Political? and What Do You Mean It's Not Didactic?: these can occur when a work is thought to be propaganda.

Compare and contrast Anvilicious. Often used to Scare 'Em Straight. May be a sign that Big Brother Is Watching or Employing You. See also Canned Orders Over Loudspeaker, Patriotic Fervor, and Propaganda Machine.

Comic Books

 * Block 109 has Der Ritter, a series of movies and comic books designed to promote Nazi German "hero" Ritter Germania by portraying him as a patriotic Super Soldier.

Literature

 * In The Hunger Games, the rebels employ these to turn people against the Capitol.

Music

 * Doctor Steel has various Public Service Announcements that focus heavily upon the power of imagination and of improving your general life. He is not only quite open about calling the propaganda he produces propaganda, he's skilled enough to get away with it, too; it helps that he's an Anti-Villain out to build a Utopian Playland where creativity and originality can thrive.

Advertising

 * The "Daisy" advertisement - it ran once in 1964, and its use of propaganda techniques is credited with costing Goldwater the presidency and giving Johnson a landslide victory.

Comic Books

 * The biggest names in the modern comics industry largely got their start through their contributions to the American effort for World War II, which is touched on briefly here.
 * Captain America originated as a comic intended to rally support against the Nazis from a non-intervening America; the famous Issue #1 cover shows Cap in his iconic red-white-and-blue costume punching Adolf Hitler, and post-WWII he would be seen fighting Communists.
 * Superman himself is no stranger to this as well; some of the oldest well-known examples include Superman #18, World's Finest #8 and the infamous Action Comics #58. Note that all three of these covers double as advertising for war bonds and stamps to "fight" the Japanese with (though only the thread actually features a racist caricature of them). The Comics Detective site author Ken Quattro offers his take on Superman and his presence in America's political image here, and promotional booklets and signs are among some of the rarest Superman collectibles.
 * Jack Chick's infamous Chick Tracts, free comics intended to disseminate the author's radical Christian views.
 * Is This Tomorrow: America Under Communism was released in 1947 to warn about communism.

Film

 * Don't Be a Sucker has a Hungarian immigrant, who's a professor, speaks to an American man who was watching a gathering. The film was designed to warn viewers of the dangers of prejudice against ethnic and religious minorities and immigrants. The professor describes his experience living in Nazi Germany as an example of what happens if one too many fall for the propaganda.
 * The short film Red Nightmare has a man named Jerry experience what the United States would be like under the Communist system. The film explains the dangers of communism, including the stripping of one's freedom.
 * Both the original Sparkling Red Star (created in 1974) and its animated remake (2007) focuses on a young man named Pan Dongzi, who seeks to join the Red Army after witnessing the tyrannical landlord and his henchmen attack his village, killing Pan's mother in the process; the work is centered around painting communism in a positive light.
 * Disney's Education for Death is a Wartime Cartoon that focuses on a young German boy named Hans and his upbringing in Nazi Germany. The film goes into details on Hans' "education", which is really indoctrination into the Nazi party and eventually life as a soldier.

Literature

 * Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in order to further abolitionism through showing the evils of slavery.

New Media

 * The page image originated from a Tumblr post made in 2018. Created by Mark Vomit, it has undergone a Memetic Mutation and spawned many variants.

Video Games

 * Ethnic Cleansing is a notorious example of white supremacist propaganda. As one guessed, a player can choose a neo-Nazi, a Skinhead, or a Klansman to travel and kill non-whites such as Blacks, before going on to the Jews.

Other Media

 * The iconic 1917 poster of Uncle Sam, a personification of the U.S. government. The poster was created by James Montgomery Flagg during World War I, with the text "I WANT YOU; the image was inspired by a British recruitment poster showing Lord Kitchener in a similar pose, and was used to recruit for both World Wars. This poster would codify the modern appearance of Uncle Sam himself.