This Is Propaganda

White feathers, red light districts, and the rise of the military edging complex. How governments weaponized horniness to win WWI, and began to reimagine what women represent to a nation at war.  — A production of BRINK, original media and branded entertainment   Website: thisispropaganda.show Instagram: @thisispropagandashow Email: propaganda@brink.com — CREDITS Written, Produced, and Hosted by Malcolm Critcher and Joshua Belhumeur  Co-Producer: Reed Chandler Additional Voice Acting: Rhiannon Lane  __  DISCLOSURE Some dialogue and quotations have been condensed, paraphrased, or reconstructed based on contemporaneous accounts, interviews, and other source material. AI Disclosure: We use AI to create custom filters for our voices, but the original performances are our own. We also used AI for a custom composition using our own lyrics for “The Girl Behind The Man Behind The Gun”. All used under commercial license. This is a new frontier for all of us, and we are finding our footing when it comes to AI usage and transparency. We welcome any and all feedback. — CHAPTERS For Courage (0:00) Order of the White Feather (4:51) Wilson's War Drums (10:25) Memoir of a Doughboy (12:20) The Munson Magic (13:22) Turn Off the Red Light (16:05) Motivating the Warrior (21:11) — SOURCES AND ATTRIBUTIONS AVAILABLE AT: thisispropaganda.show/season-two/horny-for-war-the-history-of-how-sex-became-a-weapon

This Is Propaganda is back, and more patriotic than ever. From WWI posters to TikTok E-Girls, strap in for an immersive narrative investigation into how the military uses sex to define the image of the soldier, and the weird and unexpected ways it has changed our culture. New episodes through Fall of 2025.

With endless bot armies infiltrating social media feeds and harnessing the algorithm to control narratives and public opinion, our media system is becoming increasingly polluted. How long will it be before the internet is officially “dead,” where more comments and views are bots than human? Our conversation this week is with Amil Khan, a former Reuters foreign correspondent and BBC investigative journalist with over two decades of experience in media and communications. Amil is now the CEO of Valent, a firm specializing in countermeasures for organizations under threat from bot networks and disinformation campaigns. Welcome to DoubleThink, conversations inspired by This Is Propaganda. If you haven’t yet, check out the Webby Award–winning first season. — BRINK media group is re-imagining how brands, causes and artists compete in the oversaturated attention marketplace through original productions and branded entertainment. Website: thisispropaganda.show Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow Email: propaganda@brink.com

The average American's worldview is under constant assault from propaganda. Between the 5,000 advertisements we see daily, for profit journalism, and virtually every post on social media, the gulf between reality and the myths we are surrounded by has never been wider. And with the widespread adoption of algorithms guiding this entire process, we are in desperate need of a new set of skills to navigate the landscape.  This set of skills is widely referred to as media literacy—a concept that extends literacy beyond the ability to read and write, into the ability to understand how and why messages work across different forms of media.  Joining us is special guest Renee Hobbs, media literacy scholar, educator, and founder of the Media Education Lab.  Welcome to DoubleThink, conversations inspired by This Is Propaganda. If you haven’t yet, check out the Webby Award–winning first season. — BRINK media group is re-imagining how brands, causes and artists compete in the oversaturated attention marketplace through original productions and branded entertainment. Website: thisispropaganda.show Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow Email: propaganda@brink.com

It probably won’t come as much of a surprise that the Pentagon was involved in the making of Top Gun. What may be more surprising is the sheer scope of film and television projects the Pentagon has had a hand in—and just how deeply involved it is in the production process. From Pitch Perfect 3 to the reality show Wife Swap, today we’ll explore how the Pentagon became one of the most powerful forces behind Hollywood storytelling—and the long-term impact this influence has had on audiences both in America and around the world. Joining us is special guest Tom Secker journalist author and podcaster. You can learn more about Tom's work at spyculture.com Welcome to DoubleThink, conversations inspired by This Is Propaganda. If you haven’t yet, check out the webby award winning first season — BRINK media group is re-imagining how brands, causes and artists compete in the oversaturated attention marketplace through original productions and branded entertainment. Website: thisispropaganda.show Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow Email: propaganda@brink.com

What aesthetics and ideas defined the branded propaganda targeting millennials in the 2010s, and why do they increasingly fail to resonate with Gen Z audiences? Joining us is special guest Eugene Healey, brand strategy consultant and educator. Follow Eugene at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elkhealey This is DoubleThink, conversations inspired by the themes of This Is Propaganda. If you haven’t yet, please listen to the Webby Award season one of the pod. — BRINK media group is re-imagining how brands, causes and artists compete in the oversaturated attention marketplace through original productions and branded entertainment. Website: thisispropaganda.show Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow Email: propaganda@brink.com

San Francisco ad man Howard Gossage (1917–1969) is a bit more under the radar than his Madison Avenue contemporaries, but his work in both consumer marketing and advocacy messaging was brilliant. His unconventional and interactive approaches to advertising felt like a harbinger of what was to come a half-century later with the advent of social media. We discuss his work and what it can teach us about propaganda. With special guest Justin Oberman, longtime advertising creative and social media influencer. Follow Justin at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinoberman/ This is DoubleThink, conversations inspired by the themes of This Is Propaganda. If you haven’t yet, please listen to the Webby Award season one of the pod. — BRINK media group is re-imagining how brands, causes and artists compete in the oversaturated attention marketplace through original productions and branded entertainment. Website: thisispropaganda.show Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow Email: propaganda@brink.com

Liberal “pro choice” messaging has historically conceded the moral high ground (“safe, legal and rare”). Amelia Bonow helped change that as the leader of the Shout Your Abortion movement. In this episode, she shares her journey and discusses why the persuasion war is far less important than educating people on the options they still and will always have, regardless of legality. Find safe abortions anywhere at: https://www.youalwayshaveoptions.com/ Learn more about Shout Your Abortion: https://shoutyourabortion.com/ This is DoubleThink, conversations inspired by the themes of This Is Propaganda. If you haven’t yet, please listen to the Webby Award season one of the pod. — BRINK media group is re-imagining how brands, causes and artists compete in the oversaturated attention marketplace through original productions and branded entertainment. Website: thisispropaganda.show Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow Email: propaganda@brink.com

David Shields (best-selling author / filmmaker) joins us to dissect the brutal reality of politics as performance. We dive into Trump’s media mastery, Luigi Mangione’s provocative symbolism, and why the Democrats are stuck playing an obsolete game. Be sure to check out David’s latest work, How We Got Here, a film and book companion. This is DoubleThink, conversations inspired by the themes of This Is Propaganda. If you haven’t yet, please listen to the Webby Award season one of the pod. — BRINK media group is re-imagining how brands, causes and artists compete in the oversaturated attention marketplace through original productions and branded entertainment. Website: thisispropaganda.show Instagram: instagram.com/thisispropagandashow Email: propaganda@brink.com — Cohosts: Josh Belhumeur and Malcolm Critcher

This discussion dives into how emotional shortcuts drive the Culture War, making it hard to accept complexity and nuance. It critiques the transformation of news into a commercial spectacle, emphasizing sensationalism over understanding. The conversation reveals the cognitive dissonance individuals face and highlights the dangers of modern tribalism and oversimplified identities. It encourages critical thinking about societal issues, reminding us that complex problems rarely have a single antagonist.