HOW HITLER SOLD HIMSELF TO THE GERMAN PEOPLE

 You might want to checkout my other Hub from the same era at:

http://hubpages.com/hub/ADOLPH-HITLER-a-Psychological-Profile

Franchise Hitler was very much a personality based cult similar to Joseph Stalin (that other humanitarian and warm human being) and as such is very difficult to duplicate unless you go for extensive plastic surgery and grow a furry caterpillar under your nose (cue makeup).

In his speeches to his public we see that everything was staged and would do credit to a modern pop show like Madonna or Britney Spears. The lighting, the music, the spectacular backdrops, the other cast members – everything was choreographed for maximum impact and effect.

Hitler allowed no public display of weakness, no hesitancy or lack of confidence and definitely no human weakness thus conveying the God-like aura that surrounded him to be perpetuated.

If you were running a modern ad campaign trying to sell yourself, you could do worse than look at the elements used in selling this myth or package to the Germans.

 A charismatic leadership is also a feature of the marketing of the Nazi’s and Hitler as leader and father or Führer. Emphasising the family and family values was also an important idea that resonated with the Germans in those days. Hitler was very rarely seen in the company of any woman as if to imply that he spent all his energies on Germany and its success. His use of emotion during his speeches is evident in all the old newsreels of the day.

Modern marketing does the same thing – show a picture of a small child being bathed by a supportive Mom and Dad and we will all melt under the emotion and buy the softer, smoother and safer soap. Later on we think about it – but if this is the only way to think in a totalitarian regime I think most of us would ‘buy into it’ if we heard the message often enough. You don’t even need to understand the German language to see the emotive words, signs and gestures Hitler uses to get his message across at public meetings. I remember meeting someone very early on in my life who told me that they had attended one of these mass meetings and found that it was very hard to resist the urge to shout ‘Sieg Heil’ when many thousands of people around you are all acting the same in unison.  There is something rhythmic in the human soul which responds to songs like ‘We will rock you’ by Queen.  It reminded him of a football match where thousands all wore the same colours as the team and chorused support for the team when you saw them.

The swastika – at the time a massive symbol of brand awareness recognising the association in peoples mind with this sign make it unique so unique that today it is held in very low regard because of its previous history. So I don’t think we will see a perfume or aftershave called Swastika anytime soon.

By using control of the radio, movies and newspapers by the state and also carefully fed propaganda of the time this kept and emphasised who the enemy was. The enemy could be Jewish or Communist depending on the stories being publicised not only directed at adults but children to. Feeding on the fears and concerns in this way and not allowing anything controversial to act as a check or balance (see link to the White Rose Organisation to see what happens to dissenters) and held the Germans tightly in the hands of the Nazi regime at that time.