Page 127 - The Social Animal

Mass Communication, Propaganda, and Persuasion 109

quite as certain as she had been that the government shouldn’t inter-
vene in matters of health. What does she do? If she is anything like
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the participants in Lance Canon’s experiment, she would most
likely reach for her remote control and switch channels to a rerun of
Wheel of Fortune. Canon found that, as one’s confidence is weakened,
a person becomes less prone to listen to arguments against his or her
beliefs. Thus, the very people you most want to convince, and whose
opinions might be the most susceptible to change, are the ones least
likely to continue to expose themselves to a communication designed
for that purpose.
Must you resign yourself to broadcasting your message to an au-
dience composed of viewers who already support national health in-
surance? That may be so—if you insist on airing a serious documentary
devoted to the issue. After considering your alternatives, however, you
might decide to take another approach. You decide to take advantage
of the social principle (discussed above) that people are most suscepti-
ble to influence when unaware of the fact that someone is attempting
to influence them. You call a meeting of your network executives. The
programming director is instructed to commission a couple of scripts
dramatizing the plight of families facing financial ruin because of the
costs associated with serious illness. You order the news department to
do several stories touting the success of national health insurance in
other countries.Finally,you provide the late-night talk-show host with
a couple of jokes he might tell about his inept but affluent doctor. Al-
though none of these communications would match the documentary
in terms of the amount information provided, I would argue that their
cumulative impact would be greater. Embedded in dramas or news
segments, they would not be labeled as arguments supporting national
health insurance; they seem innocuous, but their message is clear. Not
appearing to be explicit attempts at persuasion, they would arouse lit-
tle resistance, avoiding an inoculation effect and inhibiting the forma-
tion of counterarguments by distracting the audience.Most important,
people will probably see them; they would not switch channels. Al-
though this might be an effective way to promote policies that are
clearly in the public interest, we must pause to consider whether some
of the tactics are ethical. After all, such tactics can allow anyone—the
advertiser or the demagogue—to fly beneath the radar of our defenses;
they can be used to market unhealthy products, unwise social poli-
cies—even wars.