Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Marketing, Advertising and Propaganda

What is the difference, in your opinion between marketing, advertising, and propaganda?

From my perspective, marketing, advertising and propaganda all branch from the same concept but each more specific than the other.  I think marketing consists of both advertising and propaganda where as advertising consists of just propaganda. Every company has a marketing plan that definitely consists of advertising but not all companies may include propaganda in their plan as it is an amplification of the information versus marketing being strictly factual. 

Marketing, I believe, is a business concept used by most if not all companies in multiples aspects of their work. It is the direct link of communication to the public and it is usually "spot on" and completely factual information in order to better themselves as a company. 
Advertising is a little more specific, it is a message delivered to the public by either TV, radio or billboards in order to persuade the viewer into purchasing what they are trying to sell. Sometimes it could be an exaggeration but most often because it is in relation to a marketing plan, it is factual and accurate.
Propaganda is the most extreme of the three, it is a hyperbole of information sent to the public by different forms of media (like advertising) but definitely more exaggerated. This type of advertising would be used in desperate measures or to receive attention from audiences and get the point across quickly! Some companies may intend for this to be a specific part of their marketing plan while others might stick to the facts!

In my opinion, within any company there needs to be a focus on marketing and advertising, propaganda is not a necessity in order to thrive, sometimes it may even be the down fall. What are some examples of marketing, advertising and propaganda schemes we see daily?