Week 1 Response to Matt Panicali

Matt's Response:
I would have to say the main difference between marketing, advertising and propoganda is the purpose of each of the terms. In all three instances, the goal is to convince the audience of something. The difference, however, is what exactly your are trying to convince the audience of.
I think the goal of marketing is an attempt to sell something to your audience. Whether it be a product, a service, or something else, the goal of marketing is to convince the audience that your product or service is better than anyone else in your specific market. For example, if you were trying to sell a car you would "market" the car on t.v., magazines, etc.and tell the audience all the positive aspects of the car and why it is the best choice for anyone currently in the market for a new car.
The term advertising on the other hand is similar to marketing, however it is not necessarily an attempt to profit financially from selling a good or service. Advertising can simply be means of making an audience more aware of something that they may not have been aware of before they saw your advertisement. For example, the "Above the Influence" advertisements that encourage kids to say "no" to drugs are not an attempt to sell anything to its audience but rather to convince them of the dangers of drugs.
Finally, while advertising and marketing attempt to convince an audience that what they have to say is right, the goal of propaganda is to convince the audience that what the opponent or enemy has to say is wrong. Propaganda, is often false and an attempt to bring a negative image of an enemy or opponent to the audience. For example, the Nazi regime used propaganda to convince the public that the Jewish community was the enemy and needed to be destroyed.
While the goals of all three terms is to convince an audience of something, the difference comes in what the audience is being convinced of.
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I agree with your view on Propaganda. Often it is false and the information is presented in a way that plays on fears and is aimed to confuse and scare a group of people into a particular way of thinking. However, I think it is helpful to not always think of propaganda as a "good vs. evil" scenario. Often I feel propaganda is a slow moving form of marketing that is reliant on creating a subconscious anchor. Propaganda has a negative connotation but it can be used in positive ways. unfortunately this is not always the case. I think propaganda is most effective on the weaker minded, more easily influenced crowd. this could explain why many of the implementations of propaganda have been by "bad guys" in order to control their subordinates.

I also understand your point of the difference between the three terms being the end product, service, and/or idea that the consumer is being marketed towards. I also think that the degree of specificity of what product, service or idea plays into which of these terms is being used.