Japanese Propaganda: Loudspeaker Vans

During the past fifty years, the development of new technology has moved at an astronomical speed. Companies are constantly finding ways to shorten the time it takes for a concept or product to go from imagination to production. The cable television, VCR players, tape players, personal desktop computers, and dial-up Internet from a generation ago have already given way to satellite television, HD-TV, DVD players, iPods, laptop computers, and broadband Internet. Although the propagation of new technology is largely consumer directed and driven by market forces, many governments have attempted to use this technology for the spread of propaganda.

While this technique had a great deal of success in the early history of mass media, recent efforts to utilize the latest technologies are usually met with aversion or indifference. Most people simply encounter too many stimuli to pay attention to all of them. Promoting a specific ideology through the normal channels of mass media is particularly difficult in modern commercial societies such as the United States or Japan.

In response, one familiar tactic being revisited is the use of sound and music for propaganda. Every day, people in industrialized countries are bombarded with millions of advertisements in the form of newspapers, magazines, billboards, TV, and the Internet. Due to the volume of stimuli, propagandists are finding it increasingly difficult to break through the clutter. One way to shock the system into attention is to expose the body to stimuli in unexpected situations. For example, a sudden or loud noise can be very startling and usually causes the listener to respond, even if only for a moment. As an old, French fable says, "Man is like a rabbit; you catch him by the ears."

While a back-firing car might gain attention, oral speeches and music have shown to be much more effective in maintaining an audience. The use of slogans, musical anthems, and patriotic songs are forms of propaganda that are easily remembered and repeated by large audiences. In addition, if these auditory stimuli are recorded and then broadcast, it provides government with a quick, repeatable, and direct way of reaching the masses. In some cases, "people walk around whistling these melodies and even sing their children to sleep with them." (Jowett/O'Donnell)

"As early as 1950, Dobrogaev, a Russian psychologist, began working with speech tones and sounds for conditioning. In 1954, China began using loud speakers that broadcast official 'truths' in city squares and gathering places; this is still being done in China today." (Jowett/O'Donnell)

In Japan, a similar tactic is being used by broadcasting the names of political parties and candidates. For example, in Osaka, large passenger vans and trucks drive through the streets broadcasting the names of politicians over loud speakers. Although this propaganda technique can not hope to reach as many citizens as a television broadcast, the invasive nature of the loudspeaker ensures that those it does reach will remember the incident.

The purpose of propaganda is to influence people to adopt attitudes that correspond to those of the propagandist or to engage in certain patterns of behavior. (Jowett/O'Donnell) While delivering the message via loudspeaker may not entice direct involvement in voting or the political process, the simplicity of the message almost guarantees that the name of the candidate will be remembered.

"Whenever a communication source is a monopoly, such as a single newspaper, television network, [or loudspeaker van], and the message is consistent and repetitious, people are unlikely to challenge the message." (Jowett/O'Donnell) When people hear the same message over and over again it eventually does get through.

Today, people in industrialized countries are subject to an overwhelming barrage of data in the form of news, advertisements, and entertainment. Any information, however minuscule that slips "under the radar," has the potential to greatly impact the attitudes and beliefs of a given population. In Japan, loudspeaker vans attempt break through the clutter and create recognition for political candidates. The propagandists hope that come election time the simple message will be remembered after everything else has been forgotten.