Spin doctoring is a popular technology that has been widely used by public relations specialists during the last decades. According to the Mariam-Webster dictionary, a spin doctor is “a person (such as a political aide) responsible for ensuring that others interpret an event from a particular point of view” (“Spin doctor,” n.d.). Although being a strong political instrument, spin-doctoring is applied internationally in diverse spheres of social life. The concept of spin-doctoring is frequently disclosed in such terms as persuasion, impression management, and propaganda. The current paper discusses the use of spin-doctoring for influencing society in such global issues as global warming, the functioning of the tobacco industry, and discussions about the weapons of mass destruction.
Persuasion in the Global Warming Case
Persuasion is a power that, similarly to other powers, can be both beneficial and bring harm to humanity (Myers & Twenge, 2016). However, persuasion frequently becomes a tool of deceiving people. Beadle (as cited in Ball, 2013, para. 1) claims that “Half the work done in the world is to make things appear what they are not,” and persuasion is an instrument in this process. Making people believe something that is not true is easier in a sphere in which the majority of the population is not competent. The debate over the environment, weather, and climate change recently became the place for manipulation.
In the case of the global warming debate, persuasion can be accomplished via both central and peripheral routes (Myers & Twenge, 2016). The central route is applicable to the problem of global warming due to the improvement of people’s knowledge and consciousness about the issues of planet safety and environmental sustainability. Humanity has broader access to information and is more concerned about ways to protect the planet, such as to reduce carbon emissions that are considered a primary cause of global warming.
In this debate, the hydrocarbon producers are not considered to be trustworthy sources of information, while organizations such as Greenpeace, the Suzuki Foundation, or Al Gore are believed to be more credible. Thus, these organizations provide strong and compelling arguments to attract attention to the issue of climate change, thus following the central persuasion route.
At the same time, peripheral route persuasion is used to distract the audience from the arguments. Hydrocarbon producers follow this route to assure the community that they are applying advanced technology to reduce emissions by producing fuels that are safer and “green.” Environmentalists also apply peripheral route persuasion. For example, it becomes a tool in advertising campaigns that appeal not to logics through arguments but to emotions through the depiction of scaring pictures of the possible negative outcomes for the planet. On the whole, the combination of both routes provides the necessary effect.
Impression Management on the Example of the Tobacco Industry
Impression management is, probably, one of the most efficient tools of the tobacco industry. Smoking, in particular, and the tobacco industry, on the whole, has been in the center of the health debate for a long time. After all, the case of the tobacco industry is a perfect example of impression management or spin-doctoring as its form. Thus, despite the proven harm that smoking has and the diseases such as lung cancer that it provokes, the tobacco producers are still making a profit. Moreover, the representatives of the tobacco industry are taking steps to neutralize the evident damage they bring to society and apply impression management to achieve their goals.
For example, one of the biggest tobacco producers in the United States, Philip Morris International, define designing a smoke-free future as one of their primary goals. Thus, they appeal to the community that is bothered by smoke from cigarettes that is a part of daily life even is a person is not smoking. Another aspect that the company pays attention to its sustainability. It is a clever stem in impression management because environmental sustainability is one of the primary concerns of humanity.
Thus, the company claims it uses sustainable farming, struggles for better livelihoods for farmers, and make efforts to eliminate child labor that is frequent in tobacco growing countries (“Sustainability,” 2018). Also, the company focuses on another priority that is minimizing the impact on the environment and reducing the footprint (“Sustainability,” 2018). Such steps positively influence the general image of the company and make a good example of impression management.
Spin Doctoring or Propaganda: The Case of the Weapons of Mass Destruction
To compare spin-doctoring and propaganda, it is useful to study the definitions. Thus, according to Mariam-Webster dictionary, propaganda is defined as “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person” and “ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause; also a public action having such an effect” (“Propaganda,” n.d.). Spin doctor, as it was already stated earlier, is “a person responsible for ensuring that others interpret an event from a particular point of view” (“Spin doctor,” n.d.). Lumsden et al. (as cited in Myers & Twenge, 2016, p. 189) claim that while persuasion is not good or bad, propaganda usually presupposes something inherently bad.
Although both concepts have similar ideas in their definitions, I believe that propaganda and spin doctoring are different. To my mind, spin doctoring is a technology used in public relations that is aimed at revealing the best possible aspects of some issue and hiding some that are not positive and can harm the general impression. At the same time, propaganda deliberately makes people believe something that is necessary for this or that situation, frequently providing deceiving information.
In the case of weapons of mass destruction, the use of propaganda is evident. In this case, the major role of propaganda was to create an effect of arousing fear. The US was spreading information about the fact that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and thus was dangerous. Being still scarred by the events of the 9/11 attacks, society was ready to believe the information and find the responsible for the attack. Thus, the idea to eliminate Saddam Hussein’s regime and provide safety to the country found support. The media was also spreading patriotic ideas, thus stimulating the governmental propaganda.
Conclusion
On the whole, diverse techniques and tools can be used to influence humanity. For example, persuasion, spin doctoring, propaganda, or impression management are broadly applied in social, political, and other important spheres. Although they can be used for positive influence, all these tools are often used to deceive people and distract their attention from important problems. However, at present, deceiving techniques can be less efficient due to broader access to information.
References
Ball, T. (2013). Public relations (spin doctors) deliberately deceiving the public about global warming and climate change. Web.
Myers, D., & Twenge, J. (2016). Social psychology (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Propaganda. (n.d.). Web.
Spin doctor. (n.d.). Web.
Sustainability. (2018). Web.