preview

Color In Propaganda

Decent Essays

Use of Colors in Propaganda: Red Provokes, Blue Calms Insurgencies are a lot like businesses in that they both must expand or else they will die. In order for both to grow, they need to get their message out to their potential recruits or customers. To do this, businesses use marketing to convince people to buy stuff; insurgent groups use propaganda to gain recruits. There is a difference, though, in the associations made with the colors used in their messaging. Changing insurgent propaganda to incorporate the color blue has the potential to reduce the likelihood of people joining insurgent movements because of the associations made to different colors by the human mind. Most businesses, especially banks, use blue in their color schemes …show more content…

There may not be a causal relationship between the installation of blue lights and the decrease in crime rates or suicides, but there is merit to the correlation when the same results happen in different countries at different times. Interestingly, the kinds of people who commit suicide and a sizeable number of the ones who become foreign fighters for insurgent groups, like ISIS, have something in common. They both feel disconnected from their community and lack meaning in their lives.4 They are seeking out a stronger sense of social cohesion and purpose derived from that social cohesion. By changing the color scheme of insurgent propaganda, it is likely that the message will cause a cognitive dissonance in the audience. An angry message against a blue background does not have the same impact on the targeted audience as the same message on a red or black background. Instead of provoking an individual to aggression and joining an insurgent group, a predominantly blue propaganda piece would have a calming effect on the subconscious levels of the mind. Action requires motivation and energy, things not usually found in subdued individuals. If the disconnected individual does not feel anger or

Get Access