The Big Lie is a propaganda technique defined by Adolf Hitler in his 1925 autobiography "Mein Kampf." It is a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously".
Today, as on most days I read the paper both online and off. There is a Chevy ad that says: "We share a planet. Why not share a dialogue."
Here's why we can't share a dialogue with Chevy. Their big lie is that they care--that they care about the environment because they build a couple vehicles that get half-way decent gas mileage. The big lie is GM's multi-million-dollar lobbying efforts against higher higher fleet mileage averages. The big lie is GM's investment in brands like Hummer, GMC, and gargantuan SUV's like the suburban. The big lie is that they give a damn about anything except profit.
More big lies come from Exxon Mobil. Where their ads show smile people and happy faces looking for crude in all the right places. Not the Valdez. Not environmental disaster. Not having half of Arabia and half of the government on their payroll. Exxon Mobil's ad depicts a photo of a molecular structure--implying that they are scientists not extractivists.
It seems that more and more of our world is assaulted by big lies. As a society we have become believers of these lies. We don't question. We accept. (Remember covering our windows with duct tape? Remember Viet Nam and our impending victory there if we only mined Haiphong harbor? It goes on and on.)
Big lies. They're out there. More are coming everyday. From Obama. From McCain. And from nearly all else. Watch out.
when it comes to big or small lies in advertising we simply don't care.
ReplyDeletewhich is why advertising is a profession perceived worse than horse thievery.
when it comes to politics we're getting used to big lies and believe less and less in them.
however, we tend to believe in really big lies about those we fear. Or when it's convenient, when it seems to be good for us. that's what the most dangerous politicians engage in.