The Psychology of Slogans

Muzafer Sherif Ankara, Turkey

THIS paper aims to handle the psychology of slogans by the application of some major facts that come out persistently in the laboratory investigation of social influence--work which, in turn, is founded on such basic psychological phenomena as judgment and perception. s a new approach to the psychology of slogans it points to the possibility of achieving the all-important feat of welding together everyday actualities and usages with a conceptual scheme developed in laboratory research. This treatment, therefore, cannot be more than an outline. !e shall consider a slogan to be a phrase, a short sentence, a headline, a dictum, which, intentionally or unintentionally, amounts to an appeal to the person who is e"posed to it to buy some article, to revive or strengthen an already well-established stereotype, to accept a new idea, or to undertake some action. s will be seen from e"amples to be given, slogans imply a value judgment. #rom this characteri$ation of a slogan it is evident that we do not find any basic difference between business and political slogans. %sychologically the basic dynamics involved in business slogans and political slogans is the same. The reasons for our contention will become clear as our main psychological points are developed. This must not be taken, however, as a denial of the specific properties of business slogans and the appetites and desires to which they appeal, or of political slogans and the situations from which they arise or utili$e. In noticing the importance of slogans in everyday life, social and even applied psychologists are lagging behind practical men who rise and fall by their deeds and words, unlike investigators in academic posts who may change their schemes once every few years without much conse&uence either to themselves or to their fellow men. 'nless we deal with actualities our psychological scheme is but a high-sounding emptiness. In the business world the importance of a good slogan or trade name is a recogni$ed fact. well-known advertiser(s journal, Printer's Ink, has published thousands of slogans used in business in merica. t least a few of them have an effect that lingers on.

)*+,-

.eep that School /irl 0omple"ion )%almolive Soap1each for a 2ucky instead of a Sweet )2ucky Strike 0igarettesThe 3ation(s Host from 0oast to 0oast )0hilds 1estaurants4erth of a 3ation )/reenport 5etallic 4ed 0o.4uilt to !ear !ithout 1epair )H. 5ueller 5fg. 0o.3ot an ccessory, 4ut a 3ecessity )4rown Spring 6sler 0o.4aking id that 3ature 5ade )#alk merican %otato #lour2et Taylor 7o 8our Tailoring )9. 2. Taylor :, 0o.5oney Saver-4utter #lavor )6hio 4utterine 0o.Time to re-tire )#iske Tires-

It is not within the scope of our paper to e"amine any one of these slogans separately. In passing we shall only point out that slogans are not magic ways of selling merchandise without offering anything substantial in return. The important and obvious thing for us to bear in mind is that business men, who would not throw out money for nothing, spend large sums in finding and advertising their slogans. ;ven academic institutions, which already had their colors, insignia and mottoes, have started learning from business men. #or e"ample, a western university announced the following slogan in connection with its ,<=> summer school Summer School where Summer(s 0ool %ractical politicians and other popular and religious leaders have already used slogans to arouse people to high patriotic, religious, ardor. Since many people do not stop to investigate platforms, politicians try to catch them by

slogans. Some of the following e"amples from merican presidential elections summari$e real issues? others are more or less catch phrases.
%ublic 6ffice is a %ublic Trust ),@@*-

This slogan summari$ed the desire of the people to get rid of the corruption prevalent at the time. Here we cannot go into the history of every slogan.

) *+ATippecanoe and Tyler Too ),@*B Sound 5oney ),@<>#ull 7inner %ail ),@<>8ou 0annot 0rucify 5ankind upon a 0ross of /old ),@<>4ack to 3ormalcy ),<AB2et(s be done with !iggle and !obble ),<AB/. B. %. - C/as, 6il, : %etroleumC ),<A*.eep 0ool with 0oolidge ),<A*0oolidge or 0haos ),<A*Two 0hickens in ;very %ot and a 0ar in ;very /arage ),<A@4read, 4onus, :, 4eer ),<=AIn Hoover !e Trusted? 3ow !e(re 4usted ),<=ADote for 2andon and 2and a 9ob ),<=>-

s will be readily noticed, at least a few of these slogans do not fit into the times. Slogans are especially effective at critical periods. This, precisely, is the point that we shall elaborate. It is especially in critical tinges that practical politicians utili$e slogans most effectively in order to push people in the direction they wish them to go. few e"amples from the critical periods of the war and post-war illustrate this point. In merica during the tense days of the !orld !ar, CHe .ept 's 6ut of !arC was an effective slogan in favor of !ilson(s reelection. fter merica entered the !ar on the side of the llies, the intense situation demanded its appropriate slogans, among which two good e"amples areE C !ar to ;nd !arC and C5ake the !orld Safe for 7emocracy.C The suffragettes of merica were &uick to give their version of the famous slogans
CHe .ept 's 6ut of SuffrageC and C7emocracy Should 4egin at HomeC

In the confusion associated with misery and insecurity the 3a$i propagandists, side by side with their insistence on slogans e"tolling ryan blood purity, 3ordic superiority and romantic .ultur, utili$ed socialistic slogans that fitted the temper of the /erman masses at the time.

7eutschland ;rwache #reiheit and 4rot /emeinnut$ vor ;igennut$ 4rec hung der Finsknechtschaft

Some of the slogans used by the 3a$is might very well be used by their socialist opponents. 4ut the &uestion as to whether their socialistic slogans are in harmony with the ryan blood purity and 3ordic superiority doctrines is not our problem here.

) *+=The CShare the !ealthC slogan of Huey 2ong is a similar slogan which caught the imagination of at least a portion of the petit-bourgeois population of merica as the way out of their difficulties. 2ikewise as part of the program to incorporate everything in #ascism, the Italian #ascists crystalli$ed the chaotic and staggering situation in Italy for the time being. few slogans may summari$e this particular fascist solutionE
ll within the State, 3othing outside the State, 3othing against the State 4ook and a 1ifle 5ake a %erfect #ascist %low 5akes the #urrow but the Sword !ill 7efend It

3owadays the newspaper headlines in heavy print also serve somewhat as slogans in that they call attention in dramatic shortcuts to that aspect of the news which falls in harmony with the interests and prejudices of the power or powers that control the paper. The diametrically opposite headlines that conservative and radical papers e"tract from the same columns of news during the present Spanish 0ivil !ar are striking, cases in point. s usual, Hearst papers utili$e the occasion in a sensational way to stir up the readers in favor of fascism. fter this brief glance at the actualities in business, politics, and journalism, we may look for the psychological basis of the use and effectiveness of slogans. There are very few psychological studies of slogans. 6ne interesting study is 2umley(sSlogans as a Means of Social Control. He calls attention to the dangers that are brought about by the abuse of slogans. His way of summari$ing the effectiveness of slogans readsE C8ou cannot argue with disease germs. 8ou cannot argue with slogans.CGAH 2umley does not offer any conceptual scheme in terms of which one can approach the psychology of slogans. His account is empirical. pproaching the subject with the common sense of everyday life, he saysE CThe features which make slogans so effective are too numerous even to mention, let alone to delineate, in this paper.C 3evertheless, he cites fourteen featuresE )a- 1hythm? )b- lliteration? )c-

lliteration and antithesisE )d- 1inging repetition of sounds? )f- 4revity? )gppeal to curiosity is not infre&uent? )h- %unning )i- Sentiment of patriotism E )j- The propogandists do not hesitate

)*+*- to enter, all unbidden, the inner sanctuary of one(s private life? )k0ertain slogans appear to be meaty, the unavoidable conclusions of profound thought? ),- uthoritative note of slogans? )m- 5any slogans are strictly classappeals? )n- The apparent obviousness of meaning is an effective feature? )o6bscurity of origin, combined with euphoniousness, timeliness, and other features, adds greatly to the strength of the slogan. 0ertainly many of these items say something about the characteristics of slogans. In fact all of them may be true as separate items. 4ut it will be readily seen that this enumeration of their features is not based on any consistent psychological principle. Some of the items characteri$e the eternal structure of the slogans, some the meaning, and a few the propagandist himself. 1emembering the above items as useful discrete characteri$ations of the slogans, we have to go further into their psychology. Some conclusions obtained in the laboratory investigation of basic psychological phenomena and also some recent results of e"perimental social psychology will died light on our problem. ;"perimentation with stimulus situations has shown that the stimulus field is organi$ed into a definite pattern and that certain aspects stand out, the rest forming the background. If the stimulus field is itself patterned, the e"perienced pattern is determined by the conditions of the e"ternal pattern. If the stimulus field is not itself patterned, we tend to perceive it in some sort of pattern. Subjective rhythm read into the regular clicks of the clocks, or puffs of the locomotive, or the patterned perception of pu$$le pictures, or of ambiguous 1orschach figures are e"amples of the point. ;specially in cases where patterning is e"ternally lacking do we tend to e"perience the situation by reading our own conscious or unconscious inclinations or interpretations into it. To perceive and e"perience things in some sort of pattern or order seems to be a basic and general psychological tendency. %atterning is organi$ed around some salient features or outstanding points of reference which are themselves part of the stimulating agents that form a functional unit at a given time. This fact has revealed itself in almost all fields of investigation-sensory phenomena, judgment, perception, memory, affectivity, e"perience of success or failure, etc.[3] !ith the shifts of the reference points there may result a reorgani$ation of the whole pattern or structure. This is especially

)*++- true in cases in which the stimulus field lacks intrinsic patterning. Some established attitude, some pressing desire, past ac&uaintance, or some other sort of preparedness may work in favor of singling this or that feature out of other possible ones. This tendency to e"perience an indefinite, unpatterned, unstructured stimulus situation in some form of order has been shown in some recent e"perimental studies in social psychology. !hen a group of individuals face an unstable stimulus situation and are asked to report on some indefinite aspect of it, they tend to e"perience it in terms of a common range and a common reference point within that range, both of which are built up in the course of the group activityE 6nce the common reference point is established for the group, the individual member persists in adopting the common reference point even when he faces the same stimulus alone on subse&uent occasions.[4] It seems to us that the essential characteristics of the circumstances contributing to the rise and catching &uality of the slogans are psychologically similar in essentials in spite of the fact that the e"periments referred to above lack the concrete vitality and motivating direction of the actual situations. This is especially true of political slogans. The similarity lies in the fact that new slogans also arise or become effective when the situation people face is unstable, indefinite and demands a short epitomi$ing e"pression. The case of business slogans is fundamentally similar. In business also the persons who are interested in rendering their slogans effective have to launch their slogans on people who are more or less indefinite as to the articles or conveniences offered to them. It is difficult to know beforehand which slogans will catch and thus focus attention on this or that article. 'sually the effective slogan is the one that appeals to a particular appetite, need, or other demand with a short-cut, simple e"pression whose features--such as rhythm, alliteration, punning make its recurrence or repetition easy. 4ut none of these features is enough in itself to make a slogan effective. 6therwise it would be comparatively easy to sit down and construct a slogan. In actual practice, some of the best known slogans that make the most effective appeal--because they and not others are the best short-cut e"pressions of the situation on hand have entirely accidental origin. business man, 0harles %elham, vice-president of %uller and Smith :, ho., Inc., has recently made one point clear with the histories of some well-known business

)*+>- slogans, such as CThe 3ation(s Host from 0oast to 0oast.C #rom the delightful cases he collected the author reaches the conclusion that Cif there is any conclusion to be drawn from these stories, it certainly is not that there is an approved way of going about formulating a slogan. Hard work may produce it and may not? a chance remark, a luck- eavesdropping, years of thought, or

a moment(s inspiration. To base a theory of the techni&ue of inspiration on such material would plainly be stuff andIor nonsense.C [5] !hat the business man noticed about slogans is also seen by the political observer who does not follow events merely from the irresponsible objectivity of his academic chair. !hat the business man characteri$ed as the Ccasual and accidental,C a political observer characteri$ed as the CspontaneityC in the inception of the slogans. In our opinion CspontaneityC is preferable because Ccasual and accidentalC smack of indeterminism. slogan may have been formulated unintentionally or by some business or political propagandist. It catches the public imagination almost spontaneously when it fits in as a shortcut e"pression summari$ing a directed and unsatisfied wish and carrying with it effective &ualities of some established stereotypes if they e"ist. In other words, slogans catch almost spontaneously when )and not before, because only a few might notice them- they stand out as short-cut characteri$ations of the direction and temper of the time and situation. The difficulty in formulating an effective slogan that will catch like wildfire may be attributed to the fact that very few people can hit on a happy combination that e"presses the temper of the time best. If this is not hit upon, mere structural &ualities such as simplicity and rhythm will not help much. It is because of this that the deliberate propagandist or leader is not always the person who originates slogans. They may originate from below. 4efore the famous slogans of the !orld !ar became effective in merica, a political observer shrewdly e"pressed this fact. In ,<,J, in an editorial in The Nation the writer called attention to the characteristic of spontaneity with which slogans catch, and concludedE (K!e do not know whence the merican slogan for the present war will come. It may come from the !hite House or from the vaudeville stage or from the common life. 4ut it will be set in motion without forethought, it will make its way at first without public notice, and

)*+J- before we are aware we shall have it.C[6] This observation is in essential harmony with the conclusion reached by the business man. The psychological properties of slogans come into high relief when we take into account the rise and effectiveness of slogans in times of panic, critical situations, or revolutionary moments. 6rdinarily the routine of daily life is regulated by more or less well-established norms L i.e., customs, traditions, modes, various kinds of well-implanted social values. Some of them become ossified stereotypes, and the flow of social life and human relationships as regulated by these norms and stereotypes is almost taken for granted. 4ut in critical times when the e"isting norms or stereotypes are no longer sufficient to regulate the new conditions, the situation upset by the rise of new

and heretofore unaccounted factors and relationships has to be reformulated. The new situation produces its own appropriate norms. #or an.(, ?-coup coactivity that lasts for any length of time result, in a set of norms that defines the desired ends and taboos of the group. nd slogans, especially at the time of crises and tension, become short-cut battle cries of the situation which may be used or abused as magic focal catchwords for intense action and feeling. Thus slogans may serve as crystalli$ation points in the confusion of a crisis which tends to develop into a new regulation of a new order. The e"tent of upset may vary--it may affect and reformulate one aspect of group life, or it may affect the whole structure of society. ;specially in cases where the whole structure of society is affected, we see masses moving intensely and summari$ing their movement with certain sharp slogans. t such times people are not in the mood to read or hear long political speeches or platforms. Slogans and headlines that fit into the temper of the movement are the things that count. 2et us take, for e"ample, two important revolutions from history, the #rench and the merican 1evolutions. 6ne of the most important slogans in the world(s history is the C2iberty, #raternity, and ;&ualityC of the #rench 1evolution. This revolution started at a time of tyranny and oppression, when the #rench masses lived under destitute conditions while the privileged minority took pride in being useless in the world of lu"ury and fantasy of their class. There MMa,, flu longer any connection between economic and social realities and the superstructure of norms and eti&uette. The #rench 1evolution Carose front the ever increas-

)*+@- -ing divorce between reality and law, between institutions and men(s way of living, between the letter and the spirit.C( !hen a superstructure of norms is separated too much from the basic realities, sooner or later that superstructure suffers. The objective realities force themselves through the destruction of the degenerating and parasitic superstructure to a new order. !hen life was becoming unbearable the old traditions and superstitions began to lose their grip on the #rench masses. Therefore, religious life, an important part of the superstructure, Cno longer had any attractions,C [8] and Cthe innovators now won the day.C [9] !hen again and again the good life promised by virtues of loyalty to values and institutions is not fulfilled, people wake up and challenge them. If the unfortunate conditions of living are intensified by new crises, things move faster and come to the point of e"plosion. This is what happened during the years just preceding the #rench 1evolution. few concrete items will give a clearer pictureE

C t bbeville there were ,A,BBB workmen unemployed, at 2yons, AB,BBB and the numbers at other places were in proportion. t the beginning of the winter, which was a very hard one, it was necessary in the large cities to organi$e workshops supported by charity, especially as the price of bread was constantly rising.( The harvest of ,J@@ had been much below normal. The shortage of forage had been so great that the farmers had been forced to sacrifice part of their cattle and to leave some of their lands uncultivated, or else sow it without previous manuring. The markets were short of supplies. 3ot only was bread very dear, but there was a risk that it would run short . . . . The wretched people cast covetous glances upon the well-filled barns in which their lay and ecclesiastical lords stored up the proceeds of their tithes and their rents in kind.C [10]

The effect of this situation in individual e"perience is well e"pressed in the words that Taine puts into a peasant(s mouthE
CI am miserable because they take too much from me. They take too much from me because they do not take enough from the privileged classes. 3ot only do the privileged classes make me pay in their stead but they levy upon me ecclesiastical and feudal dues. !hen from an income of a hundred francs, I have given fifty-three anal more to the ta" collector, I still have to give fourteen to my seignor and fourteen more for my tithe and out of the eighteen or

)*>Bnineteen francs I have left, I have yet to satisfy the e"cise-officer and the salt-ta"-farmer. %oor wretch that I am, alone I pay for two governmentsthe one obsolete, local, which is today remote, useless, inconvenient, humiliating, and makes itself felt through its restraints, its injustices, its tares? the other new, centrali$ed, ubi&uitous, which alone takes charge of every- service, has enormous needs and pounces upon my wealE shoulders with all its enormous weight.C [11]

This is the time when the individual, and many others like himself, is open to new possibilities. In fact, people feel the need to hold on to something new? the whole of life has to be reformulated. Therefore,
Cthe rising was directed not only against those who were speculating in foodstuffs, against the old system of ta"ation, against internal tolls, and against feudalism, but against all those who e"ploit the populace and live upon its substance. It was closely connected with the political agitation. t 3antes the crowd besieged the Hotel de Dille with cries of Dive la Libert.' C [12]

In this atmosphere of unrest, confusion, and ferment, the slogan C2iberty, ;&uality, and #raternityC emerged as a magic torchlight which crystalli$ed the aspiration of the masses in a shortcut way. 3ow let us turn to the merican 1evolution and look at the conditions from which some of its well-known slogans emerged. 2ong before the outbreak of the merican 1evolution and especially during the ten years preceding it, commercial legislation in the colonies was in a state of anarchy. The chronic confusion that accompanied the shifting conditions under which C merican business and agricultural enterprise was growing, swelling, and beating against the frontiers of ;nglish imperial control,C [13] was augmented by a business depression following the war of ,J>=, and /renville(s program for relieving ;nglish ta"payers with merican ta"es.
CIn the swift reaction that followed, inflated prices collapsed, business languished, workmen in the towns were thrown out of employment, farmers and planters, burdened by falling prices, found the difficulties of securing specie steadily growing.

)*>BC4y the new imperial program, the evils of the depression were aggravated.C [14]

C3o Ta"ation !ithout 1epresentationC was the slogan that rallied the colonists up and down the seaboard in overt protestE a boycott of ;nglish goods, riots in the large cities, tarring and feathering of ta" collectors, the destruction of imported goods and royal officials( property. 6nce the revolution broke out, new slogans arose. 1esolving the rebellion and independence came so swiftly that many colonists firmly for C3o Ta"ation K!ithout 1epresentationC did not accept this number of slogans evolved to sanction the course that had been e"ample, C1esistance to Tyranny is 6bedience to /od.C crisis with who were method. taken? for

5ore serious than the doubts of those who hesitated to defy authority was the want of unity among the thirteen colonies, a lack leading to uncertainty on the battle field and disorgani$ation in civil life. ;ven the indefatigable cheerleader for the revolution, Thomas %aine, said
C!hen I look back on the gloomy days of last winter and see merica suspended by a thread, I feel a triumph of joy at the recollection of her delivery and a reverence for the characters which s3atched her from destruction.C [15]

There was no administrative machinery ready-made to co rdinate activities. C;"actly the opposite was true? they had to create everything national out of a void-a government, a treasury, an army, even a bookkeeping system, and agencies for buying supplies.C [16] To make matters worse, the revolutionaries themselves within each state were divided into opposing factions that nullified each other(s work and sometimes came to blows. The merchants and property owners were intent upon overthrowing the feudal mercantilism of ;ngland, while the mechanics, small farmers and laborers were an"ious to utili$e the upheaval to abolish the remnants of feudalism within the indigenous social structure. 'nity of action against the e"ternal foe could alone meet the situation, and slogans to that effect were effective and widely circulated !"nited #e Stand, 7ivided #e $all''% and !If &e 7on(t Hang Together, !e(ll ll Hang Separately.C nybody why reads 9ohn 1eed(s Ten 7ays That Shook the !orld and goes through Glie misery and starvation depicted there,

)*>,- can easily understand why such slogans as C ll %ower to the SovietsC and C%eace, 4read and 2andC became signals that stood out in the midst of destruction and wretchedness as symbols of a new life. !e have tried to give a psychological characteri$ation of the rise and effectiveness of slogans. 6ur chief point is that slogans are short-cut e"pressions arising in confused and critical situations. This does not mean that. these short-cuts necessarily e"press the true and objective solution of the problems they are facing. !e have not even implied this. t critical times, such as ours, demagogues may arise and catch the temper of the times, uttering slogans which may move millions of people temporarily. The analysis of actual forces and the evaluation of the correctness of the solutions offered lie outside the limits of our discussion. 4ut it may be safe to say that the more correctly and the more objectively a set of slogans e"presses the underlying forces in a critical situation, the more vital and lasting they will prove to be. Slogans of liberty and e&uality at times of tyranny and oppression, and of peace and bread at tinges of insecurity and war, scarcity and starvation, will keep on moving the masses as magic torches, since they e"press a deprivation and tension that shakes the very depths of human life.

Notes ,. These fascist slogans are taken from a. .T. Furcher, CState %ropaganda in ItalyC in %ropaganda and 7ictatorship, ;dited by H. 2. 0hilds, %rinceton 'niversity %ress, ,<=>, *@.

A. 2umley, #. ;., Slogans as a means of social control. merican Sociological Society, %apers and %roceedings of nnual 5eeting, ,<A,, ,>, ,<=*. =. #or a concise survey of factual evidence see Sherif, 5., %sychology of social norms, especially 0hapter III. CThe #rame of 1eference in %sychological %henomena,C 3ew 8orkE Harper, ,<=>, A>-*>. *. See Sherif, 5., study of some social factors in perception, rch. of %sychol., ,<=+, 3o. ,@J. +. 0harles %elham, !here slogans come from, %rinters( Ink, 7ecember ,AE, ,<=+, ,BB-,B<. >. ;ditorial, Nation, 9une A,, ,<,J, JA@. J. 5athies, ,. @. Ibid., ,=. <. Ibid., =. ,B. Ibid., =*. ,,. /ottschalk, 2. 1., The era of the $rench 'e(olution, )*)+,)-)+, 4ostonE Houghton 5ifflin 0o., ,<A<, =<. ,A. Ibid., A+. ,=. 4eard, 0. . and 5. 1., The rise of .merican ci(ili/ation, 3ew 8orkE 5acmillan, ,<=B, I, AB,. ,*. Ibid.. A,,. ,+. %aine, Thomas, The crisis, 3ew 8orkE 7.5.. 4ennett, ,@JJ, 3o. D, >=. ,>. 4eard, 0. . and 5. 1., op. cit., A=+. lbert, The #rench 1evolution, 3ew 8orkE .nopf, ,<A<,

5u$afer Sherif, CThe psychology of slogans.C 0ournal of .bnormal and Social Ps1cholog1, ,<=J, =A, *+B-*>,.