COP3 - Final Disseration

Name: Sam Lane Degree Program: BA (Hons) Graphic Design 2013/2014

An Investigation into the branding techniques, marketing strategies and business structure of Nazi Germany in comparison to the McDonalds Corporation. ! ! !

Table of Contents

List of Images…………………………………………………………………….. 02 Introduction………………………………………………………………………. 04 Chapter 1 – Psychoanalysis and the History of Persuasion…………………….... 06 Chapter 2 – The Nazi’s – Branding and Marketing Persuasion………………...... 11 Chapter 3 – McDonald’s – Branding and Marketing Persuasion. Globally.………17 Chapter 4 – Propaganda – Targeting our Hidden Needs…………………………. 24 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………... 29 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………… 31 Images…………………………………………………………………………….. 35 Appendix 1………………………………………………………………………... 39

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List of Images

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Introduction

The following body of work will be investigating the Branding techniques, Marketing Strategies and general business structure of global institutions and exploring various techniques that are used to infiltrate the subconscious, to trigger conformist behaviour and to capture the loyalty of a particular malleable demographic. The work will be focussing on and comparing two of the most well known, and most successful institutions to ever exist. Nazi Germany and the McDonalds Corporation.

It might seem frankly ridiculous that a fast food chain would even be mentioned in the same breath as one of the most destructive totalitarian, anti-semetic movements ever to exist, but if you observe them both from a visual language or corporate and even capitalistic perspective, it might not come as such a surprise how some similarities start to emerge.

"The design and marketing methods used to inculcate doctrine and guarantee consumption are fundamentally similar...public awareness and brand loyalty can be measured in sales - or votes." (Heller, S, 2012 : Page 8)

Any corporation wants to capture the attention of the public and gain their loyalty in order to maintain control over a captive audience, and corporations that thrive on power are not afraid to use multiple techniques to achieve this. Critical Theories will be investigated and discussed throughout this body of work as well as an in depth look into existing past and present pieces of branding and advertising with a final resolution of helping to gain a greater understanding of how branding and advertising can be used to control the masses in different systems, be that political or corporate.

The body of work will be split into four key chapters which will focus on different stages of the investigation linked to the history of persuasion, branding, design, advertising and public relations as well general structures that build up a campaign, business or institution.

Chapter one will focus on the history of Persuasion by concentrating on Freudian theories on Psychoanalysis. Further investigation of how these theories have been

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previously directly used to control masses subconsciously, by targeting the deepest inner desires of human beings will be analysed. Throughout this chapter, the investigation will look at how these theories are put into practice within the capitalist world that is controlled by corporations as well as a totalitarian world that is solely controlled by politics. I’ll be constantly referring to the views and findings of Adam Curtis in his Documentary entitled ‘Century of the Self’ (2002) as well building on these views with Vance Packards’ basic structure of ‘Marketing 8 Hidden Needs’ (2007) to an audience.

Chapter two will start to look closer in detail at the branding and advertising techniques used throughout the reign of the National Socialist Party (Nazi’s) in Germany. This chapter will focus heavily on the implementation and thoughts of Josef Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany as well as the infamous totalitarian leader, Adolf Hitler. I will frequently be referring to the views of Stephen Heller (2010) in regard to the branding of Nazi Germany and will also be looking into Semiotics within Branding, and how this also plays on the subconscious mind to manipulate and dictate, with the help of the writings of Arthur A Berger (2010).

Chapter three will take the same format as the second, whilst focusing entirely on the McDonalds Corporations’ branding, advertising and public relations techniques, in which some people argue are carefully crafted to help keep their brand deep within the unconscious and in turn keep the masses returning on a daily basis. Again, I will be referring to the writings and findings of Arthur Berger (2010) and Robert Heath (2012). This will be compared and contrasted with the views and opinions of George Ritzer, mainly taken from his book “The McDonaldization of Society” as well as various other theorists.

Chapter Four will be a deeper understanding and analysis of key pieces of advertising that are used within both of the compared Institutions. This will be done with constant reference to the views and opinions collated in Chapter 1, 2 and 3, whilst using Vance Packard’s (2001) theories to help dissect some famous pieces of advertising and propaganda from both parties.

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Chapter 1 Psychoanalysis and the History of Persuasion

Chapter one will focus on the history of Persuasion by concentrating on Freudian theories on Psychoanalysis and looking into how Edward Bernays started to apply these theories in corporate America.

In the nineteenth century Sigmund Freud suggested that human beings had deep forces hidden within the subconscious of their minds, which were sexual and aggressive and if left untreated, could lead to chaos and destruction. The first person to take Freud’s theories was his nephew Edward Bernays. He used them in a way, which would teach corporations to be able to tap into the subconscious of humans in order to sell to them what they “desire” and not what they actually need to live.“Out of this would come a new political idea of how to control the masses - by satisfying peoples inner selfish desires to make them happy and docile.“ (Curtis, A, 2002)

Tim O’Shea (2013) writes about how it was wrong of Bernays to use the theories to control the masses by explaining that the only difference “was that instead of using these principles to uncover hidden themes in the human unconscious, the way Freudian psychology does, Bernays studied these same ideas in order to learn how to mask agendas and to create illusions that deceive and misrepresent, for marketing purposes.” (O’Shea, T, 2013) Some people label Bernays as “The Father of Spin” (O’Shea, T, 2013) and it would be difficult to disagree with this statement in one sense. He single handedly brought to the table many of the mass consumer persuasion techniques that are still in use today, many corporations. As an example, he was the first person to begin the practice of product placement within film and also the first person to tell car companies they can sell their products based on male sexuality. He also paid employees to issue reports that stated that his clients products were beneficial for you in order to trick the “docile” public in to believing this was factual information. !

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A new democracy emerged; “At it’s heart was the consuming self, which not only made the economy work, but was happy and docile and so created a stable economy.”

(Curtis, A, 2002) Bernays believed that the public on mass could not be trusted because of these dark inner desires and suggested that the way to solve this was by keeping them docile and happy through consumerism in order for the leadership to get to work without being disrupted, as Stuart Ewen (1998) states; “In Bernays mind it was necessary that if you can keep stimulating the irrational self, then leadership can basically go on doing what it wants to.” (Ewen, S, 1998 : Page 64)

These techniques that Bernays’ put into practice of using visual language to symbolically represent feelings and desires on an unconscious level have been analyzed and categorized by various different theorists and writers. The techniques often draw on life and death instincts to sell products. Libido is the life instinct, which can be broken down into levels such as love, sex, creativity, life and completeness.

Where as theanatos, which is the death instinct can include fear, isolation, embarrassment and feelings of inadequacy. In his book, ‘The Hidden Persuaders’, Vance Packard extends on these theories and breaks them down into clear advertising templates that are used to play on certain hidden needs in particular. Taking emotional security as one example, Packard goes on to explain how “The home freezer becomes a frozen island of security” (Packard, V, 2007 : Page 86) in order to bring people warmth and a sense of security through having more food stocked up than they actually need. Talking about a report taken out on Fridge Freezers Packard states that; "In many cases it found that economically the freezers didn't make sense when you added up all the initial costs, the monthly cost added on the electric bill and the amount of frozen leftovers in the box that eventually would be thrown out."

(Packard, V, 2007 : Page 86)

The emotional security of knowing you have food lying around means that it doesn't matter if you don't use it, because it’s the subconscious that is satisfied. This shows that although Fridge Freezers are an unnecessary product, almost every home across the world has one, because of this manipulation of our subconscious.

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This is just one example of how advertisers can target our emotional and irrational selves. Robinson (1998) agrees with Packard and picks up on some of the things he talks about in his book. He describes these techniques as the advertising industry ‘casting spells’ on us; “(They are) parceling intellect and emotion together. Finding one thing on the surface and something else beneath it. Targeting our hopes. Remolding our ambitions. Allaying our fears... Selling us back ourselves." (Robinson, J, 1998 : Page 1)

As advertising was growing and becoming more effective using these techniques, it started to dramatically change the way we lived. The industry had become masters of manipulating our purchasing decision and pre-ordaining the way we went about our lives, what products determined our lifestyles and even who we voted for. They understood that they could sell us back our own insecurities by transforming products or ideas into ‘communicators of meaning’. Looking back on Packard’s writings, it’s quite scary to see how some of these novelties that he deplored have become fundamentally accepted in today’s society.

What is interesting about Robinson’s views on Packard is that he states that the advertisers are “selling us back ourselves." (Robinson, J, 1998 : Page 1). This is done through connecting with any of our life and death instincts that are previously discussed in this chapter. One of which, is fear. The way in which this works is that the Propagandist uses a system that instills fear into us, and then provides a resolution. An appropriate example for this investigation would be how Hitler used this technique throughout Nazi Germany by making the Jews appear to be harmful to their race. The book ‘The Age of Propagada’ explains how this technique works; “The recipient's attention is first focused on the painful fear. In such a frightened state it is difficult to think about anything other than getting rid of that fear. Next, the propagandist offers a way to get rid of that fear -- a simple doable response that just happens to be what the propagandist wanted you to do all along." (Pratkanis, A & Aronson, E, 2001 : Page 214)

There are other specific examples that are listed in Packard’s book, ‘The Hidden !

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Persuaders’, which are integral to this investigation in order to create a detailed comparison of political propaganda and corporate advertising. 6 particular examples have been selected which are most relevant to this investigation. These are Selling us the following things; Reassurance of worth, Ego-gratification, Creative outlets, Sense of power, Sense of roots and finally, Immortality (see. Appendix 1) Although these particular examples seen in (Appendix 1) don’t relate to Nazi Germany or the McDonalds Corporation directly, the principles of selling an idea or a product to your subconscious is still the same and has been used by both, in slightly different ways and very different contexts.

“In their attempts to manipulate consumers through association, advertisers employ all kinds of marketing, psychological and survey research techniques.” (Phillips, M, 1997 : Page 27) Michael Phillips also talks about how some products involve appealing to feelings of guilt, which has previously been discussed, as well as products that are linked to nationalism and familial ties, much like Packard’s ‘sense of roots’ technique. One “frequently used ploy is to play upon guilt feelings that the product supposedly will alleviate…another involves appeals to particularistic drives such as patriotism, nationalism, the desire for community, and familial ties.” (Phillips, M, 1997 : Page 27) Mark grief, a journalist for the New York Times argues that we have learnt a lot more since the release of Packard’s book however, that as long advertisers target our hidden desires, there is no need for ‘depth’.

“Learn basic consumer desires and you don’t need to re-engineer the subconscious. You just need to send those unspoken desires a huge amount of spam. Spam, like direct mail, billboard advertising and the repetition of names, slogans and logos, became the real future of advertising: overwhelming volume combined with clever placement.” (Grief, M, 2007)

Grief also goes on to talk about how we are all starting to become wise to this form of

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advertising and we feel better because we are consciously taking part. “We know we buy irrationally; we just don’t care. “ (Grief, M, 2007) We imagine that it’s the desperate consumers who are not as ‘conscious’ as us who are getting the wool pulled over their eyes by the industry but Packard acknowledges this too, stating that “when irrational acts are committed knowingly they become a sort of delicious luxury.”

(Packard, V, 2007 : Page 240) Another good Example of Subconscious marketing at work would be an advertising technique discussed by theorist Aldous Huxley (1958) entitled “Subliminal Projection”. He notes that this experiment specifically targets the subconscious and describes the experiment to be “specially designed tachistoscopes, words or images” that are “flashed for a millisecond or less upon the screens of television sets and motion picture theaters during (not before or after) the program. "Drink Coca-Cola" or "Light up a Camel" would be superimposed upon the lovers' em-brace, the tears of the broken-hearted mother.” (Huxley, A, 1958) When put into this experiment, the subject would record these messages subconciously without consciously knowing it through the use of their optic nerves. This would make them, in due course, feel a craving for and purchase a soft drink or tobacco. During the piece of writing, Huxley proceeds to state that during this experiment, images of popcorn was “repeated at regular intervals during the showing of a picture in a movie theater and the command to buy more popcorn was said to have resulted in a 50 percent increase in popcorn sales during the intermission." (Huxley, A, 1958) Although these are specific, single experiments, it’s hard not to believe that specifically targeting the subconscious is a way to make people conform to an idea or purchase a product without even realizing why they’ve done so.

This chapter has looked into the background of Psychoanalysis and how it has been used previously to infiltrate the subconscious of masses of people, in order to make them spend money on items they desire rather than need, as well as discussed various theorists views on specific techniques that target our hidden needs and desires. The next chapter will go on to look at how the National Socialist Party (The Nazi’s) used specific branding, advertising and marketing techniques to infiltrate the subconscious of the German Masses and how this links back to some previously explored techniques.

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Chapter 2 The Nazi’s - Branding and Marketing Persuasion

During the twentieth century, totalitarian states began to realize the success of these techniques that was already in existence by global corporations and businesses, and that had all stemmed from Edward Bernays. Totalitarian States did this by studying, researching and targeting peoples subconscious on mass, in an almost exact repetition of the modern industries but in a completely new context.

“Despots and businessmen alike strove to establish branding techniques, supported by visual images - logos and trademarks - that were used to trigger instantaneous recognition of their ideas and products. The goal was to ensure ‘brand loyalty’, the ultimate objective of every branding strategy." (Heller, S, 2008 : Page 8)

This ‘brand loyalty’ that Heller (2008) talks about seems to be a key element of any brand working in any sector of society and at this time during the twentieth century, the totalitarian world and the business world worked in the same way in trying to engage this.

In the late 1920’s, Freud began to write about the dangers in the “frightening irrationality inside human beings could emerge in such groups” (Curtis, A, 2002). The deep, ‘libidinal forces of desire’ as he explained were given in to the leader, while outside the group are where the aggressive instincts are directed.

Freud Wrote this as a warning, but after they were elected to power in March 1933, the Nazis started to deliberately encourage these forces because they believed that they could master and control them, and ultimately harness them into purposes of destruction. They set out to create a society that would control human beings using similar techniques to Bernays, and going against the fears of Freud. The leader of the Nazi’s, Adolf Hitler set himself the task of controlling the German masses. He wrote, “To be a leader is to be able to move the masses” (Hitler, A. in Huxley, A, 1958).

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Speaking about his thoughts of Adolf Hitler, Huxley looks at what Hitler thought of the masses and in particular how he valued and judged them. Hitler himself viewed the masses as “utterly contemptible”, (Hitler, A in Huxley, A, 1958) and saw this as his opportunity to mould this malleable demographic. Hitler employed and thrived upon a thing that Huxley describes as “Herd Poison” (Huxley, A, 1958) which he eloquently explains;

"Assembled in a crowd, people lose their powers of reasoning and their capacity for moral choice. They are subject to sudden accesses of rage, enthusiasm and panic. The crowd-intoxicated individual escapes from responsibility, intelligence and morality into a kind of frantic, animal mindlessness." (Huxley, A, 1958)

People in crowds can access temporary insanity that could never be achieved speaking to an individual person one-on-one. Hitler studied this ‘Herd Poison’ according to Huxley and he used it cleverly and for his own devices as an orator.

While the crowd was in this state, Hitler could do and say pretty much anything he wanted to, but he still had to be rehearsed, clever and play on the irrational feelings hidden inside the unconscious of the masses. Heller, builds on what Huxley is saying; "Hitler was systematically exploring and exploiting the secret fears and hopes, the cravings, anxieties and frustrations of the German masses." (Heller, S, 2008 : Page 8) and he did this with the help of a strong brand campaign behind him. The minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels was at the heart of putting the Nazi plan into practice and he happened to be quite a fan of Edward Bernays. He was also creative in the way in which he used it. Along with his team, he created new brand strategies that helped sell the political message of the Nazi’s through visual narratives to the German population in a seductive manner.

At the heart of this movement was the Swastika, which was, if you like, the ‘logo’ of the Nazi brand. A logo is a major segment of all brand strategies and Hitler knew this even before he came to power. He stated that "all those who busy themselves with the tastes of the public will recognize and appreciate the great importance of these !

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apparently petty matters. In hundreds of thousands of cases a really striking emblem may be the first cause of awakening interest in a movement". (Hitler, A, 2007 : Page 33)

Hitler understood the importance of visual communication in engaging with the public and immediately called for an intensive and defined brand and identity system that would help distinguish his party from the opposition, in the way that Bernays created brands and advertisements that helped a branded product stand out from the rest.

Frederick Spotts builds on the fact that Hitler “had an instinctive understanding in the emotive power of symbols… and applied this in designing the party’s iconography,” (Spotts, S, 2003 : Page 63) and Heller delves deeper into Hitler’s reasoning for choosing the final design and layout of the Swastika Flag (see fig. 1). “He explained that the red expressed the social thought underlying the movement; white, the national thought; and the swastika signified the struggle for the victory of ‘Aryan' mankind."

(Heller, S, 2008 : Page 19) Before selecting this final combination of colours and design, Hitler had already rejected certain core colours such as pure white and pure black saying that they were ‘too insignificant’. In the end he settled on a more striking red for the dominant colour.

It is argued that the colour red was also used to implicate fear and to represent the hunger of the nation and the blood of the Aryan men. This is something which was encouraged by Alfred Rosenburg, who was a racist theorist, and avid follower of the Nazi’s. The swastika when taken on by the Nazi’s was a symbol of race, and religion.

They had created a cult following which was determined only by the Aryan race, and the swastika, if you like, was the religious emblem and the equivalent of the Christian cross. This Nordic myth replaced the Christian bible as the new religion in Germany and Rosenberg wrote “ A new mythos is dawning, the mythos of the blood” (Rosenburg, A in The New Religion, 2011). Although the Swastika was originally used in a lot of other religions; Traditionally in China and Japan as a symbol of good luck, Hitler understood that the symbol was un-Christian in an overt way and for the western world, he let the symbol take on a completely new meaning. He concreted

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Rosenberg’s initial ideas by writing “We will wash off the Christian veneer and bring out a religion peculiar to our race.” (Hitler, A, in The New Religion, 2011). From here on in, the Swastika was an important symbol to Nazi Germany.

Semiotician Arthur Berger makes a great point about how a brand icon such as the swastika is a signifier to help brands establish their identity. “Brands generate ideas and notions we have, generally provided by advertising but also by word of mouth.

The essence of branding lies in the claims a product has to being distinctive and having special attributes not found in competing products.” (Berger, A, 2010 : Page 79). Obviously, Berger is directing this theory to a product that you would buy of a shelf, but the same theory applies here. The Nazi ideology still needs to be a product essentially, and the Nazi’s wanted their ‘product’ to stand out from any competing political parties. This is why their brand and image was so important to them. They created a product which was so magnificent to look at, that in a way, it deflected away from the political messages being put forth.

The Swastika brand icon was stamped into the daily lives of the German masses, and was a symbol that helped get the message of the Nazi brand across. The more the emblem was seen, the more it became a part of peoples lives. Everything right down to the most mundane of material was branded with the Swastika and colour scheme to help reinforce the ‘brand experience’. "These elaborate uniforms, impressive badges, and other branded regalia were available in abundance, as were events to which to wear them including spectacles that subsumed individuals into a branded mass" (Heller, Iron Fists, Page 10). This ‘branded mass’ that Heller writes about is solidifying the initial points raised about using a spectacular visual campaign in order to mask the political ideologies behind the party. Huge rallies would take place in Nazi Germany on a regular basis, and at the heart of this were the visuals of the Swastika and the red, black and white colour scheme. It would be on plaques that were marched through the streets, on flags hanging from windows and waved by the crowd. It would be on the uniforms of the soldiers and workforce, as well as on a collection of other branded components that could be bought and worn by the masses of people (see fig. 2). It was multi-product branding and brand extension being applied in the most effective way.

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It is also theorized that Hitler sold himself to the nation in the same way that the corporations and businesses who employed Bernays sold their products to the public.

A lot of the current and successful corperations invest a lot of money in creating what Heller calls ‘trade characters’. He writes that these trade characters are “the common (and often comic) metaphoric or anthropomorphic personifications seen on television commercials and in print advertisements, like Mr. Clean, Joe Camel, and Ronald Mcdonald. By imbuing products with fanciful-indeed likeable-human characteristics, the trade character puts on a friendly face on an otherwise inanimate (or sometimes inhumane) product." (Heller, 2010 : Page 9).

Hitler was, if you like, the ‘trade character’ of Nazi Germany. Everything about his visage was considered and manipulated in such a way that his personal image became just as ubiquitous as the Swastika symbol itself. Every piece of his character and persona was considered to give of this friendly gelastic look, whilst also delivering the serious messages of the party.

“Hitler’s identity was carefully crafted and skillfully managed to represent both the omnipresent leader and the protector of the nation. He was at once the proverbial 'Big Brother' and the 'Saviour of the German Race'." (Heller, S, 2010 : Page 24) When you look more closely at elements of his visage, such as his toothbrush moustache that is reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin, you can start to see how this compelling leader purposely emphasized certain personal characteristics with the ultimate goal of turning himself into an icon. Heller says that the previous “commercial examples are benign compared to the ways totalitarian regimes create mesmerizing auras around the stern visages of their leaders, but the principal is the same"(Heller, S, 2010 : Page 10). The Nazi’s carefully controlled the image of Hitler being sent out to the German masses, which is personified by Walter Langer in his Psychological study of the Fuhrer. ”When we try to formulate a conception of Adolph Hitler as the German people know him, we must not forget that their knowledge of him is limited by a controlled press.” (Langer, W, 1930 : Page 20) The Nazi’s carefully propagated this sensitive, sympathetic view of Hitler. They wanted to almost gloss over the fact that they was trying to create a dominant race by

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showing Hitler in this sympathetic light.

“Images of the Fuhrer patting dogs, pinching the cheeks of young boys, and accepting flowers from young maidens were widely propagated. "the whole nation loves him, feels safe with him at the relm" the images said...."Our Hitler" as some posters stated." (Heller, 2010 : Page 26)

Langer, who was studying Hitler at the time of his reign picks up on this propagated image of him and compares it to his real life appearance. He writes at the time that Hitler’s visage “has been greatly tempered by millions of posters, pasted in every conceivable place, which show the Fuehrer as a fairly good-looking individual with a very determined attitude.” (Langer, W, 1930 : Page 20) He says that any real-life, possibly unfavorable conceptions of Hitler were all well and truly demolished by the “carefully prepared photographs showing Hitler at his very best.” (Langer, W, 1930 : Page 20) Langer goes on to explain that in person Hitler was at best, below average.

Short and fat, which he covered up with a padded uniform. Hitler “scrutinized every picture of himself, allowing only images he approved to be released…Specifically, Hitler prevented pictures of him wearing reading glasses from being distributed.”

(German Propaganda Archive, 2007) Any representation that could have taken away from his perfect image was suggesting weakness and therefore wasn’t acceptable for release. Instead, Hitler’s strengths were accentuated further through widely spread and heavily manipulated artistic representations of him. Highly accentuated symbolic and physical representations of Hitler came together in solidifying him as the saviour of Germany. Because of this, the German population became attached to a leader that was charismatic, and in turn were happy to carry out his plans and listen to his ideas.

This chapter has explored some of the branding and marketing techniques that Nazi Germany applied in order to subconsciously control the masses and related them back to some of the initial techniques that Bernays put into place while working in America. The next chapter will now turn the attention on McDonalds, and compare and contrast some of their branding and marketing techniques with the ones we have just discussed.

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Chapter 3 McDonalds - Branding and Marketing Persuasion. Globally.

The McDonalds brand is already integrated into our everyday society and is one of the most influential developments in contemporary society. It’s one of the biggest corporations in the world and has year on year continued success and growth. “It's reverberations extend far beyond its point of origin in the United States and in the fast-food business. It has influenced a wide range of undertakings, indeed the way of life, of a significant portion of the world. " (Ritzer, G, 2001 : Page 1) Like Nazi Germany was, McDonalds is a brand, and people recognize it as a brand in the most literal sense because it sells us products. This next part of the investigation will look at some of the branding and marketing techniques McDonalds employ in order to gain repeated success.

Unlike Nazi Germany and the system it was run on, the McDonalds system is still going strong today. The Nazi’s branding and marketing system didn’t last forever for obvious reasons, but the unbelievable global reach of McDonalds, along with the massive increase in population and general pace of life, means that we’re a long way from returning back to fresh cooked meals and a life without corporate monopolisation. Although the branding and marketing systems of the two compared institutions are fundamentally similar and arguably both harmful to individuals, McDonalds is much more successful. Somehow, during a current recessive financial climate, McDonalds ensure that they continue to grow and many people put this down to globalization.

“The brand, a medium of exchange between company and consumer, has become one of the key cultural forces of our time and one of the most important vehicles of globalization." (Berger, A, 2010 : Page 80)

The McDonalds brand is globally ubiquitous, and one that the younger generations have grown up with. According to Arthur Berger, who is writing about brands from a

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strictly semiotic point of view, Codes are important to the culture that we grow up in.

"What we call culture can be seen as a collection of codes that tell us what to eat, how to dress, and how to relate to others... most of these codes are imprinted on children as they grow up in a family in a region of some country." (Berger, A, 2010 : Page 23). If we grow up with and continue to see a particular symbol throughout our lifetime, this leaves us with an important historical and cultural meaning that stays with us forever.

The symbols we see help us make sense of the world around us and have dramatic effects upon our behavior. For example, when we see a cross, we automatically think of Christianity, and when we see a swastika, we associate it with negative connotations such as Racism and Nazism. However, when we think about the McDonalds logo, we don’t really attach it to anything specifically on a conscious level. Consciously we know what the business it represents, but we don’t know how it makes us feel subconsciously.

When a person walks into a McDonalds restaurant, or any other fast food chain for that matter, they are greeted with a stream of red and yellow and sometimes blue colours (see fig. 3). These colours are not only bold and used to generally grab attention, but they are all also Primary colours too. As well as causing instant feelings of hunger, which is expected from an establishment that serves food, they are colours that we all start to come into contact with from a very early age. For example, you can take some brands that are obviously aimed at and made for children as an example of how they use these primary colours. Brands like Lego and Fisher Price, as well as most other baby toys use similar colours of red, yellow and blue, and this helps show that there is a conscious decision by McDonalds to target young children through the use of branding.

The reason for this might be linked to how those colours make us feel at that particular age, and that these feelings could stick with us throughout our entire lives.

“A small child exposed to these colours would instinctively process them and feel like these restaurants are a friendly and safe environment, because they look exactly like toys. By the time that child grows into an adult, they may well be conditioned to feel that McDonalds is associated with the colours of their childhood, and couldn't possibly be a bad place." (Supersize me, 2004)

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In contrast to tapping into our inner childhood, with the playful, primary colours of the brand logo, the colours of the interior and décor use a slightly different technique in order to make us feel uncomfortable argues Ritzer. “Relaxation isn't the point.

Getting the hell out of there is the point. The interior colours have been chosen carefully with this end in mind.” (Ritzer, G, 2001 : Page 116). The brand colours contrasted with the earthy greens, browns and yellows of the uniform and décor doesn’t quite match. It is argued that this specific colour scheme has been specially put together in order to stop us from relaxing and ultimately reduce the amount of time we are inside the restaurant.

These subconscious and repeated feelings of childhood are not only linked to the colours in the McDonalds logo, but also to the everyday McDonalds experiences that we take part it as children. This idea is said to be called ‘brand imprinting for later actuation in life’ and this theory is explained using a secret study about tobacco advertisements and children.

“They would buy little toy cigarettes and start 'play smoking' them at 4, 5 and 6 (years old). They wouldn't even notice the packaging, but the theory was that it's buried in the brain. When they get to the age of smoking, without even realizing it, they're going for that pack that they recognize because it has those nice feelings that they remember from being little kids.” (Banzhaff, J in Supersize Me, 2004)

It is argued that the same principle is applied with McDonalds in the way they directly appeal to children. They use multiple advertising clause’ to directly target youth.

They are very heavy on ‘birthday parties’ held inside their restaurants and they pioneered the ‘Happy Meal’ linking the gift of receiving a toy to purchasing fat-laden fast food. Furthermore, their very own ‘trade character’, Ronald McDonald is at the heart of the business and has been invented based on the popularity of clowns with children. It isn’t hard to make these links, McDonalds would probably not be where it is today if it didn’t appeal to children in this way.

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"By the time kids are able to speak, most of them can say McDonalds." (Wooten, M, in Supersize Me, 2004) This is most definitely true in most cases, which is scary in one sense. On the back of this quote and as part of the investigation into how integral children are to the McDonalds brand, a case study was taken out on a selected group of children based in the north-west of England (2013) (See fig. 4).

The experiment asked children who was of varying ages (the lowest being 6 and the highest being 10) to respond to a series of simple questions relating to the McDonalds logo and brand by answering, or even drawing their response. As you can see from the series of images, the McDonalds ‘Golden Arches’ logo was shown to the children which was followed by a series of questions. The first question asked the children if they knew what the logo was, followed by another question of whether they thought it was good or bad?

Out of the four children asked, all four of them knew that the logo was for McDonalds, be that spelt wrong, or abbreviated. Again, all four of the selected children thought that McDonalds was good. This proves to some extent, although a very small study, that children (in the UK) are at least familiar with the McDonalds brand, just through visuals alone, and have already made an informed decision that this place is good. The next two questions asked the children to list and draw some of their favourite foods. 75% of children listed McDonalds branded food within their allotted space. Two separate children mentioned ‘Chicken Nuggets and Mcflurry’, and another child used the term ‘McSteakPie’, which doesn’t even exist as a product.

The fact that this child is using the term ‘Mc’ in front of unrelated food products helps prove how much of an effect this business has on children at such an early age.

Kincheloe solidifies the idea that the McDonalds brand has dramatic effects on children. He writes;

“Numerous children I interviewed talked about wishing for an infinite supply of McDonald's hamburgers. Some wished they could someday own a McDonalds restaurant.” (Kincheloe, L, 2002 : Page 8)

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This child-targeted brand integration is obviously helped by money and current success. The fact that the Nazi’s had the money and power to be able to pay for their brand to integrated into society is the main reason why the public started to take notice. This direct form of branding and marketing makes it impossible for the demographic to ignore, unless they disconnected themselves from the world completely. It’s the same principal in capitalism and modern corporations today. It’s unavoidable that you will come into contact with the McDonalds brand on a regular basis. McDonalds pray on this environmental type of marketing.

As an example of this money, power and control of the market, "in 2001, on direct media advertising, McDonald's spent 1.4 billion dollars worldwide.” (Supersize Me, 2004) in America. As a comparison to this, “in it's peak year, the '5-a-day' healthy eating campaign spent a mere 2 million dollars which is over a 1000 times less" (Supersize Me, 2004) than McDonalds. This gives an idea about how these monopolizing corporations grow by controlling the vast majority of advertisement.

The most heavily advertised products tend to be the ones that are the most consumed, and we start to see this throughout the variety of branded items coming into contact with the global population. Just like the Nazi’s propagated their brand, McDonalds is replicating their actions, replacing the Swastika with the infamous Golden Arches.

"Think about how food is marketed. T-shirts, Coupons, Toys, Giveaways, Placemats.

All of the ways in which food is marketed is ubiquitous.” (Supersize Me, 2004) With sponsors and product tie-ins there really is no end to the amount of advertising related to McDonalds that we see on a daily basis and again children are a major target.

One of the most shocking techniques that Bernays used was creating fake reports that glorified particular products in order to make consumers believe it was something it wasn’t. When relating this to advertising today, there are currently rumors circulating about the truth in a lot of the McDonalds advertising and wording used within it.

Many people suggest that there are similar techniques to what Bernays employed, being recycled and carefully crafted for a new and unsuspecting audience.

An example of this would be McDonalds’ “100% beef” slogan which can be found on their hamburger packaging today (see fig. 5). Many people argue that the way they get around selling a product that isn’t entirely made up of 100 percent beef as “100% !

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beef”, is by buying their meat from a company named “100 % beef”. It is unknown how true this accusation is, as there is no solid evidence, but there are large numbers of people who believe this to be true, some of which are part of an ever-growing online community of anti-McDonalds activists called McSpotlight. Their website says; “McDonald's churns out an incredible volume and range of sophisticated propaganda. It often masquerades as factual information, or as merely informing the public of 'the McDonald's experience'... Every item is carefully written, often in order to give false impressions, often omitting crucial facts, and often in an extremely ambiguous way.” (Anonymous, Mcspotlight, 2009)

These views would obviously have a strong bias, but there are no doubts that Bernays’ legacy still lives on with some of the techniques being used by massive corporations such as McDonalds.

The shape and the name of the famous McDonalds emblem are said to have important effects on us too. Much like the Swastika used by the Nazi’s, the McDonalds logo is argued to have very religious qualities to it. One of which, is the name of the it, ‘The Golden Arches’. The very wording of this creates some sort of mythology around the icon and makes it out to sound like a place of worship or wonder of the world. “It's really a stroke of advertising genius. Arches meaning always welcoming, and big enough to house the whole world…There is also something spiritual, biblical and angelic in the figure of a golden arch, like walking under it will bring health.” (Ferry, B, 2009) Theorist George Thorr writes in response to Ferry’s article about how the golden arches are part of a bigger system within the McDonalds brand;

“This adoption of the golden recreates a positive sign and transforms it into a branding tool for McDonald's. It seems that McDonalds is a corporation built on several different connotative signs. All of which, seem to be part of a system of signs that attach new ideology to common images or symbols.” (Torre, G, 2009).

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makes it recognized around the world globally. There is a consistent stable set of brand elements that make up the McDonalds logo, at the centre of which are the golden arches. The background is a deep red colour, which grabs attention in any context around the world and the white simplified font of the name ‘McDonalds’ accompanies this. The red background could sometimes be replaced with white, or any other colour, and the word ‘McDonalds’ could also be translated into any other language, but the thing that is always consistent about the brand is the golden arches.

It’s familiar and it’s friendly. It is, in a way, a cult institution that we are all a part of, or have been part of at some point in our lifetime. It’s a safe haven for us when away from home. For example, when we find ourselves in a foreign country and feel out of place, when we see the golden arches of McDonalds, we feel safe in a bizarre way.

It’s a place that we recognize, and it is probably the biggest single thing that most human beings can relate to and have in common with each other.

This chapter has explored some of the branding and marketing techniques that McDonalds applies in order to subconsciously control the masses and has related them back to some of the initial techniques that Bernays put into place whilst also comparing them with similar movements of the Nazi brand. The next chapter, will look at specific examples of Propaganda and Advertising used by both parties in order to give a clearer idea of how the consumers hidden needs and desires are specifically targeted. Pieces will be analyzed using Vance Packard’s theory on seducing our 8 hidden needs.

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Chapter 4 Propaganda. Targeting our Hidden Needs.

A way that we can begin to get a clearer idea of how these two Institutions used, and still do use particular advertising strategies and ‘propaganda’, is through a detailed analysis of specific pieces of work from both parties.

The Nazi’s used Propaganda powefully, which was widely and consistantly spread throughout Germany at the time of their reign. "During the subsequent decades, Nazi leaders showed the world bold, new ways to use this tool, with a variety of sophisticated techniques." (State of Deception). The use of poster campaigns throughout Nazi Germany was integral to their success. "The poster was more than a branding tool, it became a means of communication." (Heller, S, 2005 : Page 58) Head of Nazi Propaganda, Josef Goebbels understood the importance of this, and therefore carefully monitored what kind of posters where propagated and at what times. The “posters echoed the aggressiveness of the movement in constructing stereotypes and tapping into popular emotions.” (Heller, S, 2005 : Page 58) Part of their method was by targeting our hidden emotions, needs and desires. Particularly selling a sense of power and immortality to the public, as well as instilling fear and hitting on nationalist and familial themes. Some of the posters were cautionary in trying to do this, using slogans such as “Our last hope : Hitler” whilst others were more commanding and aggressive, “Wake Up! Vote for the National Block”.

Using a piece entitled “Es lebe Deutschland!” which translates to “Long Live Germany” as an example, we can start to uncover some of these techniques at work within the poster design and layout. This is one of the most iconic and historically relevant pieces of German Propaganda in existence. If you look towards the top of the poster (see fig. 6), you will see that there is a sharp glow of light beaming out from the clouds. Hitler sits beneath this light, a god-like figure, bathing in the glory, much like an angel would be depicted in previous religious imagery. The light is breaking through the clouds and shining down onto Hitler’s back, which could be

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suggesting that he has God’s spirit on his side, as well as being a visual metaphor for Hitler himself, like the light breaking through the clouds, being able to break through any troubles that the German population might have. There is a very conscious religious aesthetic within this piece and throughout other Nazi propaganda at the time, and this could be looked at as trying to sell a sense of immortality. The way that the Nazi’s created their own religion was a way of showing that Germany is immortal and that there is life, through the Nazi’s, even after physical death. This ‘selling of immortality’ is solidified within this poster through the use of the typography. ‘Long live Germany’ is the English translation of the slogan, which is such a powerful quote on it’s own. ‘Long Live’ are the key words, relating to Germany never dying, and thus being immortal. Just like the way a car advertisement would instill a sense of power within the male by making them purchase their car, Hitler would instill a sense of power within the nation through Propaganda like this poster. One of many elements that suggest this sense of power within this particular poster is the eagle that is placed above Hitler’s head. This suggests that there is a strong force of power looking over Hitler and the German population. The eagle was a common theme used throughout a lot of Nazi Propaganda at the time, and was used as a direct symbol of strength and power. Using visuals like this would make the German population believe that by joining the National Socialist party, that they would in turn gain some of this power.

Most Nazi Propaganda could relate to all of the ‘hidden needs’ that are discussed in the first chapter, such as this next example entitled “Du bift front” which translates to “You are the front” (see fig. 7). Focusing on the type used within this piece alone, we can already see some of the techniques at play. The specific usage of the word ‘You’, which in typographical hierarchy is at the top end of the scale, relates directly to the single person who is consuming the image. This already gives us a reassurance of worth and ego-gratification simultaneously. The way that a single person is being told that they are the front of the movement instantly makes them feel special and unique giving them self-gratification and a boost of confidence. They feel worthy in a constantly competitive and growing world, because their role within society is endorsed within the poster. Focusing our attention to the image of the strong man doing manual labour. This too, has carefully been designed with even more of our hidden desires in mind. One of which is selling us ‘creative outlets’. Within a fully !

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automated world, the German masses were finding it hard to show their creativity. As this poster is reaching out for manual labour jobs, the chance for people to show their creativity through their labour is personified within the image of the man showing his skills as well as the faded image in the background of the soldiers face. Just like the last poster, this poster also plays on our desires of a sense of power and immortality, again through the use of the strong character at the forefront of the image. His shirtless form, revealing his muscled torso reassures us that the workforce of the Nazi’s is strong and shows no sign of weakness. The image of the soldier helps solidify this thought and again the immortality of the movement is personified through this. Finally, the poster links to us becoming emotionally secure, in particular the women consumers. The image of the men is strong and therefore makes them feel safe within the comfort and protection of the Nazi movement, which in turn makes their bond with the political party stronger.

Moving onto McDonalds advertisements and their ways of targeting our hidden desires. A 2013 television commercial was run in the UK by the McDonalds corporation entitled ‘Dave’. The commercial starts with a middle aged woman telling her young boy that she’s asking her new boyfriend, Dave, to move in with her and him. As you can imagine, the boy isn’t best pleased and this is followed with a number of scenes which show the new stepfather trying to bond with the boy, with the boy rejecting his offers in a hostile way, using the phrase ‘nah, your alright’. The commercial results in the stepfather suggesting a trip to McDonalds being the only thing that the boy responds positively to, and this is how they result in bonding.

Within this commercial, there are various emotional subconscious connections that are being emphasized to us, some more obvious than others. The most obvious of these is probably ‘selling a sense of roots.’ The commercial finishes with a written quote; “We all have McDonalds in common” (see fig. 8). This simple but effective statement along with the previous scenes of the stepfather and boy smiling at each other just before tucking into a hamburger, help show that McDonalds is a way of bringing family together and bringing the best out of family relationships.

Furthermore, this combination of image and type also brings an element of ‘emotional security’ into play. When the connection is met within the confinements of McDonalds, this reveals to our subconscious a sense of comfort and happiness as all

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the bad feelings between the step-dad and boy have been banished. As McDonalds is close by to us no matter where we live in the UK, we all have that feeling of security and home whenever we see it, and this advert plays up to that. ‘Ego gratification’ is achieved with the praise of a sympathetic character within the stepfather. Most adults can relate to a similar experience to this, and thus become that character. When the child is finally made happy through buying McDonalds, the stepfather’s and therefore the consumer’s ego has been gratified. Essentially when you consciously read the advert, it comes down to telling your subconscious that if you buy your children a hamburger then everything will be fine. This might sound ridiculous, but we don’t really notice that when passively watching the advert on television, and our subconscious is tricked into believing it, without us giving it a second thought.

Furthermore, there are many other McDonalds adverts that target our desires in a slightly different sense. Another example is a 2013 television campaign for the ‘Spicy McChicken Bites’ product. The advert starts with your average Joe walking out of a McDonalds restaurant eating this particular product. As he is walking through the town, he starts to transform into various versions of himself. The first of these is a stylish macho man, dressed in a suit and matching hat. As the ladies start to turn and check him out, it starts to become clear that a sense of ‘ego gratification’ is taking place. By suggesting that the product could have this desired effect on women towards you means that we are personally gratified through our sex-appeal and happiness being boosted. The advert proceeds to portray the man in various different situations, which relate to other hidden needs. You see him climbing the ladder of a helicopter, parachuting back down to the ground, turning into an arctic explorer, then an astronaut (see fig. 9). These are all accompanied with the product tagline, which is ‘get a taste for adventure’. This combination of things being used simultaneously relates to various different marketing techniques. The most obvious is probably selling a ‘sense of power’. Becoming an Astronaut is considered to be the most ‘manliest’ possible job to take on. This emphasizes the fact that the product will make you a stronger person and the different skills being shown also play on the ‘creative outlets’ desire. They portray the product to give the consumer these skill sets and power to show their creativity and in turn gain a sense of worth in society. These techniques are used for countless products, not just McDonalds, but it’s not until we !

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look beneath the humor of the advert until we see this. Using an Astronaut as a particular example. Numerous adverts have used this sense of strength and power as a direct advertisement towards men. A recent deodorant manufacturer, ‘Lynx’, released a campaign with the tagline ‘Nothing beats and Astronaut’ and the British lager manufacturers ‘Carling’ used a similar campaign, where average Joes are portrayed as Astronauts. This might seem like an obvious target of our hidden desires, but we don’t notice this in a docile state, which is what makes it so successful.

Conclusively, you can see that the exact same techniques are being recycled over and over again by both the corporate world and the political world in tandem. Using Vance Packard’s (1958) set of theories, we have decisively started to pick apart propaganda and advertising that may have seemed quite innocent on the surface and given an insight into how they are carefully designed in order to target specific areas of our subconscious. We have looked into the main areas of our ‘hidden needs’ as Packard would call them, and realized that these theories are accurate, at least to some extent, and are strong enough to still be used today by the biggest global corporations in the world. Furthermore, this only helps the argument that the branding and in particular marketing techniques are in fact similar for these institutions, and most others too.

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Conclusion

The first chapter looked into the background of Psychoanalysis and we learned how it has been used previously to infiltrate the subconscious of masses of people, in order to make them spend money on items they desire rather than need, as well as discussed various theorists views on specific techniques that advertisers and propagandists alike regularly use to target our hidden desires in needs, in order to obtain sales.

Chapter two focused specifically on Nazi Germany, and how they managed to build a brand system around their totalitarian regime, to help brainwash and control the German masses. They did this through the use of a solid and extensive brand campaign, which was integrated into the everyday lives of the Germans, and they did this with the help of specific techniques that relate back to some of the initial findings in Chapter one. Chapter two, using a similar structure, uncovered some of the branding and marketing techniques McDonalds use to gain similar repeated results as the Nazi’s did and compare and contrast these to the previous chapter.

Through looking into specific branding and marketing techniques of both McDonalds and Nazi Germany, and also comparing them with their predecessors, in particular the theories of Sigmund Freud, and the application of them by Edward Bernays, it is clear to see that there are strong connections and a lot in common in how their brand is carefully planned out in order to appeal directly to the subconscious of the consumers on mass. “Parallels between Nazi and commercial identity systems may seem simplistic, but the similarities cannot be ignored… Hitler and his facilitators understood the value of a wholly integrated system” (Heller, S, 2005 : Page 75), as do the people behind McDonalds. An Integrated system brings success to any brand and at the heart of this lays an abundance of Propaganda, which uses a series of marketing techniques that appeal to our subconscious. These techniques have been uncovered by Vance Packard, and explored within this investigation throughout chapter four, linking particular elements within pieces of propaganda and advertisements to our hidden desires and unpicking how this is achieved by both hegemonic institutions.

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Conclusively, we have understood that it is integral that any successful brand strategy connects with our subconscious in order to gain a substantial amount of control and global dominance. When comparing the two power wieldersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; strategies, we can clearly see that there are similarities of techniques from their branding techniques, right through to their marketing, advertising and PR systems and even down to the way the business is structured. Above this, it stands clear that the more power that a particular brand has, the more successful is itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reign and by using specifically targeted forms of subconscious branding and advertising techniques, it seems that almost any ideology can be sold to any chosen target audience, depending on how it is marketed. The particular examples that have been compared might be shocking to some people, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not really important as these global forces could be interchangeable. This means that any other hegemonic force within society could be slotted into this investigation and would more than likely bring out the same results.

Fro example, this investigation could have been a comparison between the branding and marketing techniques behind Barrack Obama and the Democratic party in America and the global rise of the Nike corporation. They are all fundamentally similar in the way they target us both consciously and subconsciously in order to either gain our trust or financially, in the form of selling us products or getting us to vote and in turn gaining global dominance and power.

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Spurlock, M (2004). Documentary. Supersize Me. New York, USA: Kathburn Picture, The Con, Studio On Hudson.

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Appendix 1

Vance Packard’s 8 Hidden Needs 6 relevent examples to the investigation

i)

Selling a reassurance of worth. For example, selling soap products to house workers by fostering their ‘ worth of esteem’ directing the advertising away from the feeling that housework is an unappreciated chore.

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Selling ego-gratification. For example, the vanity press that prints a person’s book for them, if they cover the publishing costs. Although nobody actually reads the books the authors walk away with a thriving sense of importance.

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Selling creative outlets. For example, gardening products that are targeted at older women and all men as a way to replace the ‘growing’ of a child with the ‘growing’ of a garden.

iv)

Selling sense of power. For example, selling new cars to men as a way of reviving their sense of power, playing on the fact that their old one does not deliver.

v)

Selling sense of roots. For example, associating bread with ‘the good old days’, which by implication were warm, friendly and homely.

vi)

Selling immortality. For example, selling life insurance to men through the perpetuation of their influence. Apparently men willing to accept their physical death but cannot accept their obliteration.

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CG!