# Examples of propaganda backfiring **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485 "2014-04-06T16:59:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/21 "2014-04-07T13:52:53Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If you consider Abstinence-Only Education to be propaganda, that tends to backfire in for the form of more unwanted pregnancies and more STDs. > > For the record, Abstinence-Only Education doesn’t just teach people that they should abstain from sex until married, it goes further than that. They don’t even discuss sex in education. So when a kid asks how to use a condom, the answer is “Doesn’t matter, you’re not going to need one any time soon” or when a kid asks about STDs or how to get tested the teacher tells them it doesn’t matter because they won’t be having sex until they get married anyways. So, suddenly you have all these 17 and 18 and 19 year old kids who are full of hormones, ready to have sex, want to have sex, are having sex and have no idea what they’re doing. They don’t know how to protect themselves and end up pregnant or with an STD. This is not true. The best designed [study](http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/family_support/abstinence.asp)showed that while Abstinence based education was not effective in changing behaviors amoung adolescents, “youth in the program group were no more likely to have unprotected sex than youth in the control group”. This is similar to the [results](http://www.bmj.com/content/324/7351/1426) found in other types of programs. “Conclusions: Primary prevention strategies evaluated to date do not delay the initiation of sexual intercourse, improve use of birth control among young men and women, or reduce the number of pregnancies in young women.” ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/22 "2014-04-07T14:37:41Z")
Education of children about “Stranger Danger” has been criticized as leading to either children being afraid of some caricatured “stranger”, or just being paranoid about all adults in general. There is a case of some [kid](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8331335/#.U0K3cleTLqg) who got lost in Utah and actively avoided potential rescuers because he wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/23 "2014-04-07T17:34:09Z")
How about Michael Dukakis popping up out of a tank like Whack-A-Mole? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/24 "2014-04-07T17:46:40Z")
WWI Allied (British) propaganda was very effective, but after the Great War, us Yank realized we had been duped. This caused a huge backlash in American isolationism, and if “JAPS BOMB PEARL HARBOR” hadn’t occurred along with Hitler’s idiotic declaration of war vs the USA, the Americans would have delayed and dragged their feet as much as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/25 "2014-04-07T19:45:52Z")
I’ve read that Arab propaganda over Deir Yassin backfired, as the primary impact was to create panic among their own people. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/26 "2014-04-08T01:31:02Z")
While it’s more of a case of things going more overboard than actually backfiring, the Chinese propaganda against Japan’s war crimes has lead its citizens to get out of control at times, and is causing the communist government headaches at times. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/27 "2014-04-08T02:10:08Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [This is practically a book-length webpage on psyops (psychological operations) mistakes going back to WWI, including some real howlers from as recently as our most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.](http://www.psywarrior.com/PSYOPMistakes.html) For example, don’t put the Saudi Arabian flag on a soccer ball for Afghani kids. Why not? Click the spoiler button: > > The Saudi Arabian flag contains the shahada, which is the Islamic declaration of faith (“There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his prophet.”) and the people in the region consider feet to be _massively_ unclean and insulting, so putting the shahada on something you kick is just a bit worse than greeting your Southern Baptist neighbor with a picture of Jesus in booty shorts and a tight shirt in the colors of the pride flag. > > Also, the VC and the NVA don’t really give a damn about the ace of spades. Just putting that out there. That’s a cool link, thanks for posting it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/28 "2014-04-08T02:32:14Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > While it’s more of a case of things going more overboard than actually backfiring, the Chinese propaganda against Japan’s war crimes has lead its citizens to get out of control at times, and is causing the communist government headaches at times. How could the propaganda be worse than the truth? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/29 "2014-04-08T03:07:40Z")
I don’t think propaganda has to be false. It _may_ be false, or biassed, or misleading, or true, or some blend of all the above. What characterises it as propaganda, I think, is that it is disseminated with the intention of affecting people’s beliefs, particularly with respect to a political cause or movement. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/30 "2014-04-08T05:13:15Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > I don’t think propaganda has to be false. It _may_ be false, or biassed, or misleading, or true, or some blend of all the above. What characterises it as propaganda, I think, is that it is disseminated with the intention of affecting people’s beliefs, particularly with respect to a political cause or movement. That is the words denotation but the connotation includes either lies or exaggerations. The War Crimes by the Japanese were so horrible that the biggest lies would be less shocking that the truth. They are almost beyond human comprehension. Oddly as with Nazi war crimes there are also deniers. Even tho Japanese soldiers themselves confirmed the Rape of Nanking, some deny it occurred. Mind you, estimates of the toll vary widely even by unbiased sources. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/31 "2014-04-08T12:36:04Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [This is practically a book-length webpage on psyops (psychological operations) mistakes going back to WWI, including some real howlers from as recently as our most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.](http://www.psywarrior.com/PSYOPMistakes.html) For example, don’t put the Saudi Arabian flag on a soccer ball for Afghani kids. Talk about winning your hearts and minds, thanks for the link. > [@DrDeth](#): > > WWI Allied (British) propaganda was very effective, but after the Great War, us Yank realized we had been duped. This caused a huge backlash in American isolationism, and if “JAPS BOMB PEARL HARBOR” hadn’t occurred along with Hitler’s idiotic declaration of war vs the USA, the Americans would have delayed and dragged their feet as much as possible. Speaking of WW1, and related to **TokyoBayer** ’s point about exaggeration, I’ve heard that WW1 propaganda returned to bite us in the arse later on. Namely that the lurid details about German atrocities like them having factories behind the lines to make soap out of people were found to have an alarming bullshit to truth ratio. In WW2, when true horror stories began emerging about the activities of the Einsatzgruppen and other murderous shitheads the reception was less justified outrage and more ‘fool me once, shame on you…’ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/32 "2014-04-08T14:15:21Z")
This MAY well be just an urban legend, but it’s a great and time-honored story, so I’ll pretend it’s true. The legend has it that, in the Communist Bloc nations, the movie \*\*\*The Grapes of Wrath \*\*\* was widely distributed to show the people how awful life was for American farmers… but the people who saw the movies came out raving about how wonderful it was that even the poorest Americans had CARS! ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/33 "2014-04-08T17:50:57Z")
In 1900, when speaking at the sendoff of the German expeditionary force to suppress the Boxer Rebellion in China, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm gave free reign to his notoriously bad instincts in a speech now know as the “[Hun speech](http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=755).” [QUOTE=one translation from germanhistorydocs] Should you encounter the enemy, he will be defeated! No quarter will be given! Prisoners will not be taken! Whoever falls into your hands is forfeited. Just as a thousand years ago the Huns under their King Attila made a name for themselves, one that even today makes them seem mighty in history and legend, may the name German be affirmed by you in such a way in China that no Chinese will ever again dare to look cross-eyed at a German. [/QUOTE] This wasn’t a one-time thing, either: [QUOTE=Wikipedia] The theme of Hunnic savagery was then developed in a speech of August Bebel in the Reichstag in which he recounted details of the cruelty of the German expedition which were taken from soldiers’ letters home, styled the Hunnenbriefe (letters from the Huns). [/QUOTE] The world watched Germany celebrating cruelty under its openly bullying Kaiser, and during the Great War a decade and a half later, called the Germans “Huns.” The Entente countries did exaggerate (all-too-real) [German atrocities in Belgium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_belgium) and elsewhere for propaganda value, but the image of the Germans as savage Huns had been willingly self-inflicted – the Germans felt that fear would be a useful weapon to control conquered populations. In case it’s not obvious, this backfired by playing into the hands of the propagandists of their enemies. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/34 "2014-04-08T21:13:00Z")
I’m sure when Hitler organized the ceremony for [France’s surrender](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Armistice_at_Compi%C3%A8gne), with every detail choreographed (ahem) to humiliate France, he didn’t think the newsreel footage would be turned into [Hitler’s silly dance](http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/hitlers_silly_dance). :smack:😛 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/35 "2014-04-08T22:22:26Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > I’m sure when Hitler organized the ceremony for [France’s surrender](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Armistice_at_Compi%C3%A8gne), with every detail choreographed (ahem) to humiliate France, he didn’t think the newsreel footage would be turned into [Hitler’s silly dance](http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/hitlers_silly_dance). :smack:😛 Well, but hitter didn’t really do that. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/36 "2014-04-08T22:34:35Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Well, but hitter didn’t really do that. It still backfired: the ceremony was so clearly designed by the Nazis to rub the French people’s noses in their surrender that the newsreel audience likely believed that Hitler would dance with glee. Even if lots of viewers got that it was a parody, people like seeing bullies mocked, and the surrender ceremony was Bullying with a capital B. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/37 "2014-04-08T22:57:23Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Remember when Palin pardoned a Thanksgiving turkey while turkeys were being slaughtered in the background? Good times. Yes, what a clueless idiot. Moral here: media setup in service of posts/pieces/false memories like this to help bond people who think they are smarter than Palin/Republicans. Palin was just at a campaign stop, I believe, not a pardoning, which is a conceit practiced by a president of course. The camera was set-up precisely to catch the weird (for most of us non-flyover hipsters) scene going on behind her, which she was unaware of. For the president I’d wager they would suggest a different vantage. So would they for you if for some reason you needed to be filmed for broadcast. But see how it all works? You remember this, in the image of how stupid she is and anyone else besides the depths of cluelessness like Palin–even in a “presidential” actin–can handle it. And put in it in a thread where it’s inappropriate, but can show that he’s “one of us” and smart. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/38 "2014-04-08T23:36:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Palin was just at a campaign stop, I believe, not a pardoning, which is a conceit practiced by a president of course. Pardoning a turkey is done both by the President and by governors, as evidenced by the fact that Palin did in fact do it. > [@](#): > > The camera was set-up precisely to catch the weird (for most of us non-flyover hipsters) scene going on behind her, which she was unaware of. And it was clumsy of her to be unaware of it. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/39 "2014-04-08T23:46:56Z")
During the First World War when America was still neutral, a group of American volunteers flew airplanes in the Escadrille d’American- American squadron. Germany protested to the Wilson administration that this implied America was not neutral. The Wilson administration asked the French to change the name. After mulling over a few names like Volunteer Squadron, someone remember how the Marquis de Lafayette had volunteered to fight for American independence in the 18th century-let’s call it the Lafayette Squadron. So instead of being seen as a group of mercenaries looking for a fight (several were from wealthy families and Ivy League schools), now they were seen as idealistic young men, repaying a debt to fight for freedom. There was a Democratic newspaper that ridiculed Whig candidate William Henry Harrison as a man who wanted to sit in a log cabin and drink hard cidar. Whigs used this to position Harrison, who was from a wealthy family, as a common workingman. > **[1840 United States presidential election | Campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_cabin_campaign#Campaign)** > > In the wake of the Panic of 1837, Van Buren was widely unpopular, and Harrison, following Andrew Jackson's strategy, ran as a war hero and man of the people while presenting Van Buren as a wealthy snob living in luxury at the public expense. Although Harrison was comfortably wealthy and well educated, his "log cabin" image caught fire, sweeping all sections of the country. > Harrison avoided campaigning on the issues, with his Whig Party attracting a broad coalition with few common ideals. The Whi... ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485/40 "2014-04-08T23:50:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Pardoning a turkey is done both by the President and by governors, as evidenced by the fact that Palin did in fact do it… At this event? I ask merely for the record given the post. Then we can drop this. 🙂 > [@](#): > > …And it was clumsy of her to be unaware of it. You surely don’t think that other candidates, Presidents, etc., have never been in compromising or downright unattractive photos or set-ups, and that editors and producers never make decisions which to show or steer the subject into? But you are right, she was clumsy and a rube about the game. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/examples-of-propaganda-backfiring/685485.md?page=3)