Framing and the Construction of Perception

“The Practice of creating circumstances and of creating pictures in the minds of millions of persons is very common. Virtually no important undertaking is now carried on without it.

– Edward Bernays, Propaganda, 1928, p.25

Propaganda is quite an interesting topic in regards to shaping a mass audience’s perception of events. In particular, Propaganda has been used in the military departments of many countries and city-states from Greece in 500 BC to Australia, America, and Britain in the current day. Though Propaganda has been used for so many decades it has changed very frequently with the development of new technology like mass printing, computers, recording, etc.

The use of Propaganda in a military environment is extremely effective at empowering and uniting a nation against a specific enemy. This can be seen in both Nazi Germany (AXIS) and the (Allies) Britain, Australia, and the United States Propaganda of World War 2. One very important piece of propaganda during this time is the Australian poster (shown above). It displays a Japanese soldier moving towards Australia creating the idea that Japan is close to invading the Australian mainland. This poster was created in 1942 a year after Japan attacked pearl harbor and because of this, it is one of the most well-known Australian world war 2 pieces of propaganda for a good reason because it was a major part in uniting the nation against a common enemy. The Australian government used this frame of the Japanese as an immediate threat to Australia and it changed the perception of the Australian population about going to war to support America and Britain.