The 7 Most Unintentionally Hilarious Propaganda Campaigns
Propaganda is what happens when a marketing campaign is run by the most transparently manipulative people in the world, namely politicians. We sort of expect propaganda to be a little stupid to begin with, but there are some examples that go beyond all our expectations and into the land of the hilarious. Like ...
#7. China Pays Army of Internet Article Commenters
In the mid-'00s the government of China faced a great challenge: They knew they couldn't block every single website or censor every single dissenting opinion on the Internet (as much as they'd like to) but they were also not crazy about people having the chance to say things like, "You know what? This whole communism thing kinda blows." Their solution: convince everyone that everything's fine by hiring masses of fake Internet commenters to tell them so.
Why didn't we think of this sooner?
This massive Internet army is colloquially known as the 50 Cent Party, since they are purportedly paid 50 Chinese cents (about $US 0.07) for each comment made in support of the government. They mostly stick to news, city and college campus websites -- basically, their job consists of trolling dissenters into oblivion. The Guardian claims there are around 300,000 people working for the 50 Cent Party, at least a few of which had signed up under the wrong impression.
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"I'm advancing the party line of a communist nation like it's my birthday."
Sometimes the 50 Centers are given specific missions or targets. For example, when a man in the city of Jiaozuo posted an "unfavorable comment" about the police on a local website, more than 120 fake commenters were sent to contain and change the direction of the debate. And it worked: within 20 minutes, most users were condemning the original poster. That's 20 minutes since the comment was first posted (at which point an alarm probably went off in their headquarters and they went into emergency mode).
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"Quick! Something insignificant has happened to a single disgruntled citizen!"
Commenters also trained in classrooms and are given directives on how to deal with current situations. When two high ranking Chinese officials were accused of corruption in 2009, the commenters were instructed to focus on how great the government is at fighting corruption (rather than how corrupt these guys were in the first place).
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"If all else fails, bringing up Hitler or 9/11 will almost always derail the conversation."
Oh, and they're also encouraged to take shots at America as often as possible, like in this post:
"If we are democratized, there will be bunch of groups. America would support one, Russia another and Japan another...haha. ... I am satisfied with the way things are. Does America have no dark side? ... Not everyone gets along in America, either: why do you think there's so much crime there?"
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"BoobGuurl69 really stuck it to the Imperialist Pig-Dogs."
#6. Operation Christmas
The FARC rebels are a violent separatist group in Colombia who are really keen on bringing communism to the country, which they hope to accomplish by kidnapping people and blowing shit up. Obviously they're a very serious problem for Colombia, so in December 2010 the government finally came up with a cunning plan to force the rebels to surrender: by showing them Christmas trees.
Not booby-trapped Christmas trees. Regular Christmas trees.
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Fancy regular Christmas trees.
This was an official military operation, by the way. It consisted on infiltrating FARC held territories, locating large trees in strategically positioned walking routes and then dressing said trees with Christmas lights. Again: regular, non-electrocuting Christmas lights. The area around the trees (there were 10 in total, all across the country) was rigged with motion sensors that would cause the lights to turn themselves on whenever a FARC rebel wandered by at night, thereby overwhelming them with Christmas cheer (assuming they didn't immediately shoot the trees to shit).
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"Colombian Santa Claus" isn't a euphemism for "coke dealer." Huh.
Oh, and just in case the message wasn't clear enough, they also left signs with phrases like "At Christmas everything is possible" and "If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home." Apparently they hoped the FARCs would be so baffled by the fact that someone put a Christmas tree in the middle of the jungle that they would be confused into surrendering, kind of like an anti-terrorist version of the Chewbacca defense.
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The FARC responded with a statement asking where the fuck were the presents.
What's even more ridiculous is that Operation Christmas took almost 200 Special Forces Operatives, at least two Blackhawk Helicopters, and the motion sensor technology and intelligence work we already mentioned. You couldn't think of a more efficient way to use all those resources against a terrorist group, Colombia? Seriously? They probably realized this the moment after they were done hanging the lights.
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"Shut up, just shut up. You're ruining Christmas!"
Still, as silly as this whole thing seems, apparently it worked: according to the government, 331 guerrillas surrendered that Christmas, plus an undisclosed number of wandering jungle bears.
#5. Operation Cornflakes (Has Nothing to Do With Cereal)
During World War II, U.S. intelligence officers devised an ingenious plan to trick the German post office to deliver anti-Nazi propaganda for them. Since the goal was to "place American propaganda on the German breakfast table each morning," the plan was codenamed Operation Cornflakes. That's not the most ridiculous thing about it.
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"We'll swoop in, destroy things and then act innocent. We're calling it Operation Puppy."
Every single step of the plan was carefully planned and executed. The OSS (the CIA's predecessor) produced mail bags and envelopes that looked exactly like proper Nazi-made ones, addressed them properly to real German and Austrian homes, and air-dropped them near mail trains that were bombed specifically for this plan. The idea was that during the clean-up, the German post office workers would mistake the fake mail for real Nazi correspondence and deliver the propaganda.
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Or just toss it all in the river.
Also, these weren't just leaflets with the words "HITLER SUCKS" in giant bold letters accompanied by gratuitous drawings of dongs (which is totally what we would have done) -- these were made to look like real German newspapers, complete with sports news, puzzles, columns and such. The jabs at the Nazis were all very sneaky, since the propaganda was meant to demoralize them rather than insult them. This was actually a pretty clever and well thought out plan.
Except for one small detail.
The whole plan hinged on the mail looking authentic, and that's why they also created fake Nazi stamps:
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Worth good money now to the Reich bidder.
Just like the real stamps, the falsified ones depicted Hitler with the words "DEUTSCHES REICH" ("GERMAN EMPIRE") and ... wait, what's wrong with the third one?
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Some stamps are made from paper. This one is pure metal.
Huh. So let's get this straight: the OSS goes through all the trouble of putting together this whole operation ... only to risk everything by making Hitler look like Skeletor outside the envelopes? If we were Nazi postmen, we'd dump these in the trash. Also, this doesn't even make sense because why would Hitler still have his mustache if his skin is gone? Did he always have another one under there? Nice going, OSS.
#4. China Feels the Need ... the Need For Speed
A big part of propaganda is periodically reminding other countries that you have weapons and know how to use them. It's the only reason we have military parades, air shows and all that crap. Some countries, however, take the ongoing pissing match to bizarre levels, even in this day and age. At this point it should be obvious that we're talking about China again.
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"Our main square has way more suppressed history than your main square!"
In January 2011, China's state television (CCTV) revealed footage of the J10 fighter jet, one of the country's most advanced aircrafts in service. The drilling exercise included impressive images of the jet shooting and destroying another aircraft.
Here's the full video. If for some reason those images make you think of cheesy guitar solos and Kenny Loggins, you're not the only one: once the footage was released, it didn't take long for the Internet to realize that parts of it looked strangely familiar ... because they were stolen from Top Gun.
There's a rich irony in China, the largest bastion of communism in the modern world, trying to imitate a movie that's basically one hour and 50 minutes of condensed America. You can practically feel the capitalism oozing out of those pictures. Check it out:
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Above: the Danger Zone.
That's the movie on the left and the "drilling exercise" on the right. If you think that's just a coincidence, here's that breathtaking explosion again:
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Metal something something, ba-da-da-da touch and goooo ...
As soon bloggers and YouTube users started pointing out the obvious similarities, CCTV quickly censored the story without explanation. The government made no more references to the supposedly important exercise they were hyping a few days ago, although some of the same pilots were later shown in a strangely homoerotic game of beach volleyball.
Wow, Chinese people sure are looking more white and Tom Cruisey these days.
So 50 Cent Party isn't about spreading the word of rapper 50 Cent? Too bad.
ReplyThe story about Aleksei Stakhanov reminds me of Dwarf Fortress for some reason, especially the "You're supposed to work around the bodies" part.
ReplyCouldn't they find a better source for the Stahknovite debunking than a crazy guy who calls his blog "view from the bunker"? I'd believe the story was true before I'd believe someone who calls himself that.
ReplyIsn't judging people by their name so nice
The Chinese J-10 is just a lousy copy of the F-117A Nighthawk, which is so outdated already!
ReplyWrong...
@ArtisLeeroy The Chinese managed to get hold of a crashed F-117A from the Yugoslavians at the end of the Yugoslav Civil War, and then reverse-engineered the s**t out of it in Beijing.
Operation Christmas FARC was a success, 331 guerrillas were demobilized and left the guns, now they celebrate Christmas with their families. In the process, the operation coordinator Juan Manuel Valdez died in combat, this campaign achieved a 30% increase in the demobilization of guerrillas, I think it is not serious to make fun of something as delicate for my country because it was a successful, you should edit the article, respecting the situation in Colombia, today this is a much safer country, but apparently when you want to end a conflict peacefully many people scoff.
Replyjust because it worked doesn't mean it wasn't ridiculous.
"Fatherland" is a German term whereas the Russians assigned a female gender to their country and call Mother Russia the "Motherland".
ReplyActually, the Germans had invented the radar and the British only improved slightly on the design. So there is no question of the Germans finding out about the radar.
ReplyIt was specifically *airborne* radar that the British were trying to keep secret. Both sides had land and sea-based radar, but the British were the first to successfully use it in aircraft.
and they was the first to use it military in bigger scale.
The main aim of the "Captain Carrot" meme was to get the British to eat what was available. She, before the war most of the tastiest foods in Britain were imported by ship. With submarines blocking shipping, meat, fruit, and such were in short supply. Carrots and potatoes could easily grown in Britain. (There was a Potato Pete meme as well). And given the food shortages, many people probably did have vitamin deficiencies. If the Germans were fooled as well, that was just gravy. Well, not gravy, but some other healthy extra benefit. To this day, the Britsh have a Minister of offul, whose job is to encourage the consumption of liver, kidneys, pigs heads, and other "variety meats'.
Reply"..Since the whole thing was Stalin's baby, though, as soon as the guy died all of it was officially declared bullshit."
ReplyBut ... the Chinese perfected the art by creating Lei Feng.
And Chun-Li.
Cracked should have a neat little corner tucked away dedicated to everything North Korea related. They are, despite being genuinely terrifying, a source for endless comedy.
ReplyAhhhh! Damn you England! So many carrots I had to eat because of you. so many carrots
ReplyI won't complain about eating carrot, it's quite tasty when properly cooked. However, my mother force me to drink carrot juice every morning after I have to wear glasses. Ewgh!
I get it now. North Korea is actually the "Orwelland" amusement park, funded by our overlords to show us what would happen if communism wins. Isn't that more sane than the truth?
Reply"Let's Trim Our Hair in Accordance With the Socialist Lifestyle" is now my catchphrase.
ReplyI find nothing hilarious about #7. That s**t is scary.
ReplyIt's even scarier to think about how much of it is going on in America, too. Good thing we can forget our troubles with an ice cold Bud Light. Go America!
There should be nothing scary about our great nation embracing the Internet community. All we want is for you capitalist pigs to recognise that us glorious Chinese can use the Internet to spread our message of goodwill and prosperity as well. Also, handbags. Prada Gucci Vinci LV you can appreciate.
Operation Puppy? Moar like Operation Israel amirite?
ReplyYou said a funny thing that I agree with. Also, America is a nation of pigdogs who sex their automobiles with great vigor.
So they PAY YOU to troll in China!?
ReplyI wonder if they have a "Communism is awesome" meme.
If they paid 50c american for posts I'd probably sign up...
This reminds me of the Floating Chinese Government Officials meme. Funny stuff.
ReplyInterestingly enough, I always thought Top Gun was a hilarious propaganda movie, and probably unintentional.
Reply Hide All See All 6 RepliesI'm not surprised about this at all. My brother in law, a PRC Chinese nationalist who's in the position to know these things, tells me that all of it is lies.
He said, his country, China, never, ever, ever put a single human in space. The capsule has a fatal flaw Chinese engineers cannot overcome or fix, so all three launches were fabrications. Using transmissions concealed in telemetry relays, simulated 'real-time' voice and video.
The so-called stealth fighter cannot even propel itself, let alone fly. The whole world outside of China has only seen a model mockup; apparently the guys in China cannot design airplanes.
The anti-ship missile that made the news a while back is a complete fabrication, he said no such missile exists in China, its just a hoax to deceive the West. All Chinese-made missiles explode on launch, becase we all know everything ever made in China is crap that breaks instantaneously.
The 'aircraft carrier' that's causing a stir, well, he said it is so poorly put together if you look at it the wrong way it's gonna sink. And the other's they are building, he tells me the plans have so many design flaws, the Ford Pinto looks like a work of perfection.
Basically, he confirms what everyone in America knows, the Chinese military is total hype, and if America ever went to war, we would easily conquer the entire country effortlessly within a couple of days and only take a few casualties, while China would lose hundreds of millions of men.
This is... I'm not sure what to make of this.
This is an ironic example of propaganda, right? He can't possibly believe this.
He's a loyal patriot, why should he say this about his own country unless it was 100% true? His family is in high governmental positions who would order these things.
Also he is an acquaintance of a rich Nigerian prince !!
That's just what they want us to think!
What? I'm serious.
"a PRC Chinese nationalist who's in the position to know these things, tells me that all of it is lies."
This is confusing. How would a nationalist in the PRC know about sensitive weapons technology? This would be hard to find out from prison.
PRC = Communist ; ROC = Nationalist ; ROC aka Taiwan
Great article! But as long as you were talking about North Korean propaganda, you should have mentioned the prophecy their government made up regarding the birth of Kim Jong Il. According to his official biography, his coming was foretold by a swallow (always the most trustworthy of small insectivorous birds) and that a "double rainbow" appeared over his birthplace at Baekdu mountain. Seriously North Korea...if the whole brutal dictatorship thing doesn't work out, you could get a steady job writing a reboot of Monty Python's Flying Circus. I'd watch it.
Reply Hide All See All 5 RepliesI'm fairly certain that was covered in an older Cracked article...they never repeat list entries.
Wait, did this double rainbow go all the way across the sky? That's it, I'm moving to North Korea.
Isn't that the one saying he literally walked out of his mother's vagina, or something?
Walked out? Like, he was standing up? Poor Miss Kim...
Why? He's only 2 inch tall by then.
"We'll swoop in, destroy things and then act innocent. Were calling it Operation Puppy."
ReplyOMG that was effing hilarious. Best line of the article! Now I really want there to be an "Operation Puppy"!!! Damn you Cracked for putting ideas into my head!