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Corporate Propaganda

Introduction

Corporate propaganda is as old as other forms of propagandas discussed in class. The concept behind this form of propaganda is that businesses need to find ways of surviving the very changing business landscape. The volatility of the market forces the corporate venture to devise mechanisms of remaining ahead of the pack as far are business affairs are concerned. The application of corporate propaganda is also meant at countering the fierce competition that businesses have to contend with their daily operations. The pressure to practice corporate propaganda also emanate from increased pressure for the market to deliver products that meet the needs of the customer. However, the application of propaganda in doing business does not do any good for the accomplishment of this vital demand. For example, when companies realize their quality is not at par with other key competitors, it may apply propaganda to tarnish the name of the well-performing business by applying the same to influence buyers' decision.

Corporate propaganda, according to Peter, implies the efforts by businesses to manipulate the decisions of a market with an aim to benefit itself. It is a way of sharing information that can potentially affect how consumers and other business stakeholders make decisions regarding purchases or investments. For example, when a business notices it is low on capital, it may manipulate share prices, and highly publicize such information to attract many investors. When this happens, propaganda is applied because investors are influenced to hurriedly stake their hard-earned money into an investment that will, most likely not give them the promised rewards. Referring to how fast propaganda information is dispersed, Peter, indicated that “the circulation of some of these publications is astonishing” (Peter 15). Peter associated the impact of propaganda with the inability of people to ascertain the accuracy of the information, mainly when the audience of such information is not highly informed.

Increase in propaganda, however, could plunge customers into falling into the temptation of buying products that they do not need or ending up substandard buying of products. This is mainly the case with marketing, a channel that is envisioned at proving customer with the information required to make purchase decisions (Edward). When communication going towards customers is manipulated, things may wrong. First, the customer will lose trust in the corporation, mainly when the information shared is untruthful and does not support the needs of customers. A business that tends to share information that not match the needs of customers is likely to fail due to lack of trust. Secondly, the propaganda-driven business will suffer the destruction of brand-image.

In a capitalism world, the theory of consumerism plays a key role in...