Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Break Down The Most Successful Propaganda Efforts Of All Time

People Break Down The Most Successful Propaganda Efforts Of All Time
Image by Javier Rodriguez from Pixabay

Thanks to the deterioration of our democracy and political landscape the line between fact and fiction has officially evaporated. It's all a blur and anything goes.

We've all been taken in and mislead by major campaigns of marketing and propaganda.

But any historian will tell you that the feeling seems new, but it has long been a successful practice since the dawn of time.

We live in a world of lies. Politics, entertainment, food, fitness, education... there is no end to the amount purposefully mishandled or manipulated information.

Redditor u/AdEducational7137 wanted to hear about the marketing efforts that surprisingly, got us, by asking:

What is the most successful propaganda effort in history?

I for one am tired of heading about how fitness releases endorphins, therefore I'll super happy and thrilled once I'm on a treadmill. I have never enjoyed one second on a treadmill. So Beach Body... you can shove it!

Avoidance

Friends Moving GIFGiphy

"That fat is the thing to avoid in foods taking away the spotlight from sugar."

- Fit-Scallion-6526

Not so rare...

"De Beers diamond campaign. Idk if propaganda, but was the best advertising campaign of all time."

- HuntStag

"Diamonds can actually burn with enough oxygen and heat. They also degrade back to graphite on their own (over a billion years, but still) or much more rapidly if the proper energy source is used (say a high energy laser). The real propaganda is that diamonds are very rare. They are not, just highly controlled by De Beers, who are known to buy any competing mines. Of all the precious stones, diamonds are the most common."

- dataninja_of_alchemy

Fused...

"The McDonald's coffee lawsuit. The lawyers made it out to be frivolous but the lady just wanted her medical bills payed after the coffee was so hot (they overheated it so people would go for less free refills) that she burned her lap and had her labia fused to her thighs."

- calvanus

An Error

"Not wartime propaganda. A notational error. "As the story goes, in 1870, a German chemist named Erich von Wolf was researching the nutritional benefits of spinach. In his notes, he accidentally printed the decimal point in the vegetable's iron content in the wrong spot. Wolf accidentally increased the vegetable's iron level to 10 times the actual amount — 3.5 grams of iron suddenly became 35 grams, an extremely high amount of iron."

- skiddelybop

Just for Bugs...

bugs bunny wtf GIF by Looney TunesGiphy

"Myth of carrots being good for eyesight coming from WW2 to hide RAF victories against the german flyers coming from the use of radar."

- aging_geek

"It's a myth but it's still true. Carrots are high in lutein and beta carotene which are both good for eye health…"

- Fit-ish_Mom

I've always loved carrots just because I love them. My eyesight is good but I think that's thanks to God. And I have always found McDonald's coffee to be lukewarm at best. So no lawsuit for me.

Worry Now!

Climate Change Earth GIF by GIPHY Studios OriginalsGiphy

"Small personal changes will prevent climate change. Until things change at the industrial and corporate level the planet is screwed."

- Liberal_irony

The War

"Vietnam was probably one of the most successful ones."

- Melodic_Ad_3959

"I remember reading this comment once, that really pointed out how weird the Vietnam War was handled post-war by the U.S. I don't remember it exactly, but it went something along the lines of:"

"It's strange that we invaded Vietnam and decades later we now make movies about how sad soldiers were while invading and killing the Vietnamese. It's the equivalent of a burglar making a film about how sad they are breaking into someone's home and beating them up."

- RiceAlicorn

Reuse...

"Recycling plastics. Something like only 9-10% of recycled plastic is actually… recycled. Plastics that we all recycle are sent to a recycling center where they are melded/smashed into big cubes. Plastic using companies, say Coca Cola, have to then buy these cubes to use for their bottling."

"It typically is more labor intensive and expensive to use these recycled cubes than to just use new plastic. Therefore, after some time, these cubes are discarded by recycling companies just like normal trash is. Big oil pushed recycling propaganda HARD to make people feel better about using plastics when they switched over from glass."

- purpelpeepleeater

Anne & Jane

"Pretty much anything about Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour. All historical evidence shows Anne as a sweet, kind, generous woman who genuinely loved Henry (they were together for around a decade), whilst all contemporary accounts show Jane to be nasty, conniving and abusive to her maids."

"Anne's reputation was initially smeared because Henry's advisors disliked how much money (that they wanted spent on them/their projects) she gave to charity. They started a mass smear campaign, and executed her based on trumped up charges that most historians agree were utterly false. The propaganda continued after her execution to ensure that Henry didn't look bad."

"Jane Seymour only has a positive reputation because she was paraded around as a sort of angelic type, in large part to justify Henry's relationship with her to the public (who contrary to popular fiction, were fond of Anne due to her charity and advocacy work) so as to prevent unrest. This reputation continued after her death and was intentionally emphasised to further enhance/legitimise Edward's claim over Mary and Elizabeth's."

- BandNervous

The Best 'Actually, You're Speaking To The Boss' Experience | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Being a Bruncher

Gay Want GIFGiphy

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Nice little marketing campaign by major breakfast food manufacturers to increase sales."

- llcucf80

The Real Succubus...

"I'm gonna pick out a much less recent one than a lot of people... hey, turns out Cleopatra was actually pretty average-looking! What she WAS was a really intelligent and sharp political operator who terrified the Romans. They ran a very good smear campaign, painting her as a succubus to disguise that."

- NotAnotherBookworm

Not so Rare

"Diamonds are forever. super successful commercial, made it the go-to engagement stone. Die ewige Juden - spreading anti jewish propaganda for maybe a decade has inflamed hatred/violence in he mid east to this day. It wasn't a picnic before, but it's gotten a lot worse."

- StabbyPants

"Diamonds also are not even rare, the whole industry is just manufactured scarcity."

- EquinoxOV

Sunny No!

Saturday Night Live Nbc GIF by HULUGiphy

"Sunny delight was healthy."

- mada54321

"Healthy for the soul."

- _Mymyamo_

Beautiful...

"Keep America beautiful" still has people believing that it's the job of the end consumer to clean up "littered waste" instead of forcing companies to stop high waste practices for higher profits."

- tamtamdanseren

"Recycling of plastic was devised as a way to take the burden of the environment impact of the plastic industry and put in on the consumer. When in reality, we should just not be using single-use plastic for most things."

- TrevorPace

"bankrupt"

"Installing universal healthcare in America will "bankrupt" the country. Several countries have, successfully, had some form of a universal healthcare system for over a century and their economies aren't hurting b/c of it."

- TokenBlackman7

Lost Cause...

"Lost Cause mythology convinced 5 generations that the dirty traitors fighting to enslave children were the GOOD GUYS."

- Sphinxofblackkwarts

"The worst part of Lost Cause revisionism is that the Confederate leaders thoroughly documented why they seceded. It was so overwhelmingly about slavery that they couldn't shut up about how much it was about slavery."

- CHIM_Jim

Shot Up

President Biden Politics GIF by NowThisGiphy

"That vaccines cause autism and other harm. Not everyone believes, but those that do will die (literally) on that hill."

- scooterpdx42

We really will believe anything. Won't we? Or maybe that's what we're manipulated to believe? Who knows.

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Ne-Yo shoved a stage-crashing fan during a Japan concert.
@CelebRapInsider/Twitter

Ne-Yo Attacked by Fan

Ne-Yo is “So Sick” of anyone disrespecting his stage.

During a performance in Kobe, Japan, on Saturday, Sept. 27, the R&B superstar shoved a fan off stage after they tried to get "Closer” mid-performance at the Glion Arena.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tom Holland and Zendaya
James Devaney/GC Images

Tom Holland Swiftly Corrects Reporter Who Called Zendaya His 'Girlfriend'—And Fans Are Obsessed

Some love is quiet and unassuming, known mostly to those in love and few else.

Actors Tom Holland and Zendaya have been largely quiet about their engagement, but when the Spider-Man actor appeared recently at a press event, he was more forthcoming about his relationship status.

Keep ReadingShow less
Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel on each other's shows
@jimmykimmel/Threads

Jimmy Kimmel And Stephen Colbert Unload On Trump In Rare Crossover Event As Guests On Each Other's Shows

Late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert were each other's guests in a special crossover event on Tuesday and took the opportunity to call out "son of a b*tch" President Donald Trump, who has used his influence in attempts to silence them for criticizing him and his MAGA movement on the air.

Last week, ABC announced it would end its suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! just a week after Trump pushed to get host Jimmy Kimmel off the air following comments Kimmel made about the assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk. ABC had had internal discussions with Disney, which saw a wave of subscriber cancellations in the wake of Kimmel's suspension.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tina Turner
Christian Charisius/picture alliance via Getty Images

A Massive Sculpture Of Tina Turner Was Just Unveiled—And It's Going Viral For All The Wrong Reasons

When it comes to entertainment legends, the late singer Tina Turner is right at the top of the pantheon.

And fittingly, the songstress' hometown of Brownsville, Tennessee, wanted to pay tribute to her legacy with giant statue of the icon.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ted Cruz; Marjorie Taylor Greene
(L-R) Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Ted Cruz Clashes With 'Crazy' MTG Over Her Cryptic Post Alluding That 'The Jews' Are Trying To Kill Her

Texas MAGA Republican Senator Rafael "Ted" Cruz raised eyebrows when he attacked Georgia QAnon/MAGA Republican Representative and conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) for being antisemitic.

MTG has promoted some antisemitic conspiracy theories in the past, like Jewish space lasers that control the weather or start wildfires, but this time people are calling Cruz out for reaching in an attempt to discredit the Georgia Republican and protect Trump from what's being concealed in FBI, Department of Justice, and court records relating to the indictment of Jeffrey Epstein on charges of sex trafficking of minors.

Keep ReadingShow less