Why is Propaganda so Influential?

In this post, I would study on the influence of propaganda, and its reason. Before saying 'No Pain, No Gain' is a propaganda, I come out with a question: Instead of defining it as a motto, why do I define it as a propaganda? Okay,you might doubt that I have a wrong thought or direction in this case. But, what I would like to say is this sport motto is not only restricted to sport, but also in various field. 

In my own experience, I have been an athlete, I know what 'No Pain, No Gain' really stand for, push yourself to the limit, even more go beyond yourself for gaining an achievement in tournament. This is my own understanding, I believe all the great athletes keep on this sport motto during their match or training, it helps them to reach the highest level. 

In addition, I have learned English by holding with this motto, the result is, it doesn't seem useful. I can feel the 'pain' during the learning phase, but I don't really gain from there. Today, I, as a design student, I have been told that designers do not have adequate sleep most of the time. It makes me have different kind of mindset toward 'no pain, no gain' again, designer must be lack of sleep, and keep rushing work, then only can reach the wonderland. Frankly, I don't really agree with that, I know that the volume of assignment is 'much', but designers do not need to sacrifice health for paying off. 

Anyway, in short, the main point I would like to bring out is "no pain, no gain" is no longer a motto only, it becomes a propaganda which is enough to affect people in different stages. However, why is it so powerful and influential? This is worth to discuss about. Recently, I have found out a theory which I think is strong enough to convince me, the term is called 'Stickiness'.

This term 'stickiness' is presented by Malcolm Gladwell in his book called "The Tipping Point", designers utilize this theory for product, advertising, and tagline. 

For example, THIS!

There has six variations which are the key to create sticky concept:

• Pithy
• Surprise
• Specific
• Credibility
• Emotion
• Storytelling

I choose the character of minion in the movie 'Despicable Me" to be my case study. The McDonald minion toys bandwagon was insane at one time. So, why is minion so attractive? Firstly, the invention of the language, the lyrics 'ba-ba-ba-na-na-na....' brainwashes me.  The illegible language does help to simplify the story of the movie, even though audiences don't really understand what they speak. Secondly, the stupid and crazy action of minions, this is the most impressive point to adult perhaps. The reason is because it reflects the inner childhood of adult that could not be shown out in the reality. It also reflects the humanity of minion through the moral value of story. Therefore, the mixture of virtual and reality is successfully associate with people. To sum up , in the design of minion character, it includes the notions of pithy, emotion, and storytelling.

At last, I would say that 'no pain, no gain' propaganda includes the key of credibility, specific, and pithy. It is credibility because athlete proves it; It is specific because movie using the true story as the storyline; It is pithy because it is using only four simple words to illustrate a deep concept.

Resources:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/despicable-me-2-minions-5-579907
http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/socialsciences/fr/theTippingPoint.htm
http://malcolmgladwelltippingpoint.wikispaces.com/The+Stickiness+Factor