Propaganda by current standards and measures is; “information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.”
Propaganda implies the public is aware of what is considered non-conformist behavior. Which can cause a division among people. Allowed to be open where the public opinion holds more merit. Great examples outside politics would be the entertainment industry. We see propaganda so much in the headlines about things in the entertainment industry, that the entertainment industry has to create their own propaganda. And that’s to keep people guessing rather than figuring out what they, for practical business reasons are hiding.
Both are similar, unique techniques of marketing. Whether that be a product or oneself. Biggest difference is macro to micro.
Gorilla Marketing is defined as; “innovative, unconventional, and low-cost marketing techniques aimed at obtaining maximum exposure for a product.”
Moving onto what we can consider Gorilla Marketing. Immediately what comes to mind is direct mail campaigns. Seen this done on smaller scales too. Where to find out where each festival would be one had to follow all of the flyers. The easiest way to put this one, it’s the path of aggressively marketing through whatever means necessary. Could even place coupons in this category.
To bring this all together. How can these be applied to our individual lives? Well I begin with Propaganda which becomes applied to the Celebrity of Self. Regardless of how good or bad a person does in their lives, there is a certain level of propaganda that follows. Even if they move away from said propaganda. Basically as if they had too much tabloid attention. Which leads to more Gorilla Marketing. This can be considered the flair a person has, persona, lifestyle, belongings, essence. A person will do radical Gorilla Marketing when they are in distress, have recently moved, start up a new job, etc.
Damage of this norm by social media and the internet plays a massive role on this. Both sides are in a heightened or on a pedestal type state online. A highlight reel of good and bad, very little in-between. Honestly can’t think of any other time in history where people’s lives have been so known to one another. Nothing in recorded history to my knowledge.
Which brings about this paradox. If so much is known, why is Propaganda so common and Gorilla Marketing of the self so important? One can be considered Gossip 2.0 but what of the person who does market oneself online rigorously? Not even for reasoning, just doing so. Has the computer age caused specific personality disorders to flair up and appear only online? Something a person does to dissociate from who they were earlier and are in general to enter a specific online persona? A simplistic form of NPD. Outside the internet the narcissist is normal. Their narcissistic Jungian Shadow has been officially fed.
Before internet people didn’t have unlimited access to everyone, everywhere, at any time. What was once considered a wonderful idea for security purposes, has slowly seeped into the hands undeserving citizens and back alley criminals. People with malintent that is. The beauty is people can fix this now. Once a person becomes aware they never actually forget. Absent minded, occasionally. But hammer something in and it stays. Our recent bout with a pandemic showed this much.
Now is the time to retain who we are more than ever. It’s like high school without any of the cliques. Freshman at the Grand University of Life. Know your teachers, understand your peers, do your best. First impressions have already been made. No sense in trying to make a first impression daily. Consistency and tenacity are but two of the major factors in the Universal Plan.
Electric Icarus Project 