The American Dream and Other Lies

Turns out misinformation has been around since the Roman Empire, from both the CIA to the ancient pharaohs using propaganda to get their way. From clever marketing techniques to rumor mills, here are 20 campaigns that fooled everyone.

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1. CIA Vampires

In the 1950s, the CIA got a bit creative in how they fought against communism. In fact, one operative in the Philippines created terror among communist rebels by marking individuals with vampire-like holes in their necks. This led to major vampire mania in the region, only for the CIA's hand to be revealed at a later time.

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2. Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend

Marilyn Monroe may have you thinking diamonds are a girl's best friend, but it was actually De Boers that beat her to it. They were responsible for running an ad campaign linking the rarity of diamonds to successful marriages. They even went on to state that a good diamond is worth 3 months of your income, whatever that may be!

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3. The American Dream

Many people have heard about the American Dream, this idea that in America, anyone can become anything and achieve wealth. Many movies, like Coming to America and Forrest Gump, popularize this idea of an American Dream. But when immigrants do arrive, they find that there are plenty of hardships, and it isn’t all rainbows and sunshine.

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4. The First Roman Emperor

Emperor Augustus is cited as using a plethora of propaganda to solidify his rule from 27 BCE to 14 CE. He petitioned artwork and literature to associate himself with the gods. He also used his wife and daughters as puppets to portray the perfect Roman family. Finally, when he stepped in to stabilize Rome after civil strife, his leadership was practically secured.

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5. Tom Cruise Fever

It turns out the U.S. Army is interested in using movies to send the right message, and every U.S. military branch has an entertainment liaison office for this very purpose. For instance, this liaison office manipulates scripts to ensure Top Gun makes the Air Force look cool.

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6. Breakfast Is the Most Important Meal

It turns out breakfast is not the most important meal of the day! In fact, this was just a marketing campaign that Kellogg’s, the company behind all your favorite breakfast cereals, came up with. The marketing was so successful that this is now considered a universal truth.

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7. Operation Mockingbird

The CIA just loves meddling in international affairs—after all, that’s their job! During the Cold War, they recruited journalists around the world to write and share pro-American narratives, and successfully shaped American perception through foreign media.

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8. Torches of Freedom

There was a time when smoking was considered quite healthy, with doctors selling out to promote the product. One of the most successful campaigns was led by Edward Bernays in 1929, where tobacco was referred to as "torches of freedom," and women were encouraged to partake as a sign of feminism.

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9. Uncle Sam

When it comes to empowering their military, the U.S. is never slacking! One of the most famous military campaigns ever is “Uncle Sam,” and it was intentionally created to have a strong visual and personal appeal, and led to huge intakes during World War I and World War II.

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10. A Coca-Cola Christmas

Branding yourself synonymous with Christmas is a smart way to sell out products reliably every year. With that in mind, in the 1930s, Coca-Cola dug into Santa’s red suit and started presenting itself as an American tradition. Quite literally faking it till they made it, Coca-Cola is now a popular Christmas drink.

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11. Dear Leader

While the people of North Korea are starting to catch on, for ages, this republic has led its people through fear and a cult of personality. The leaders, known as the Kims, were said to have supernatural powers and were born through divine circumstances. This mythology, paired with a lack of education and limited access to the outside world, made many none the wiser.

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12. The Secret Pharaoh

Another ancient propaganda campaign was held against Hatshepsut, a pharaoh who was purposefully hidden from the public eye. She was a female pharaoh who also wore a false beard to solidify her rule. She was an adored and successful queen, but her stepson and successor erased all remains of her legacy out of jealousy. He chiseled her name out of monuments and even smashed her statues, but historians were able to uncover evidence of her rule.

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13. Migra Corridos

In an interesting turn of events, to dissuade people from illegally crossing their borders, the U.S. launched an entire musical album in Mexico. This album included folk ballads discussing how difficult and unforgiving border crossings were, and surprisingly, they worked. Although the Mexican population was suspicious, this album did lead to a decrease in illegal crossings.

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14. Army Games

In the early 2000s, the U.S. came up with some clever ways to work around new legislation prohibiting domestic propaganda. They decided to make video games, particularly America’s Army, which was released in 2002 and gained popularity among key demographics. Similar games, like Call of Duty, fill similar niches now.

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15. Beowulf Origins

Beowulf is a celebrated Old English epic poem that many people study in school. Strangely, at first sight, it seemed the story was about Christian values, referring to “the Lord.” But then it was later found that this commentary was added later on as a cover-up to mask the original rituals and pagan references in the text.

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16. Carrots Are Good for Eyes

When you think of carrots, you probably don’t think of World War II immediately after. Well, it turns out that carrots helping your eyesight was a myth popularized by the U.K. Ministry of Information to make Germans think night raid accuracy rates were going up.

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17. Catherine and the Horse

One major case of propaganda involves Catherine the Great and her lover, a horse. While this is completely false, the rumor started to mock the powerful woman and besmirch her reputation. Obviously, it was just a way for her enemies to try and get the last laugh.

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18. ZunZuneo

While this operation was short-lived, the CIA set its eyes on Cuba in 2010. With the mission of sowing chaos and distrust, they essentially created a Twitter clone called ZunZuneo. The idea behind the social media network was to encourage young Cubans to revolt against their government, but after a short-lived success, it was exposed.

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19. Napoleon Is Short

Returning to the history books, Napoleon was also the victim of mass propaganda. It was a British political cartoonist who often drew Napoleon as short to mock him, when in reality he was 5’6" to 5’7" in modern measurements, making him average for the time.

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20. Ra Ra Rasputin

If you’ve listened to the famous song by the same name, you probably have a good idea about who Rasputin is. It turns out a lot of his wilder affairs were just the work of propaganda. The Russian aristocrats disliked how much influence a peasant like Rasputin had over the monarchy, so they propagated rumors about his relationship with the Tsar’s wife.

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