(C) Alec Muffett's DropSafe blog.
Author Name: Alec Muffett
This story was originally published on allecmuffett.com. [1]
License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.[2]


Potatoes: Chinese state propaganda in mainstream TV

2024-12-26 06:44:16+00:00

I did not know this, but we can look forward to such controls being imposed (misused or otherwise) on social media if various safety groups intent upon imposing control on public speech, get their way.

If you’re watching the Chinese drama Blossom you know that it’s a cinematically filmed romance with two gorgeous leads and epic fight scenes. But it’s also another thing: a government promotion for potatoes.Every so often the narrative grinds to a halt and the characters begin singing the praises of [potatoes] It got so weird that it made me google potatoes in China (1/3)

https://www.threads.net/@daebakpodcast1/post/DEBZ-popwY3

It continues:

It turns out that China has been heavily promoting [potato] production for the past decade. Per Potato News Today (lmao) , China launched the “Potato as a Staple Food” campaign in 2015 to elevate potatoes to the status of other grains common in Chinese cuisine such as rice and wheat. But according to a blog post from the University of Westminster, Chinese people have been reluctant to embrace the spud for a variety of reasons, one of them being its association with rural poverty. (2/3) Instead of ordering people to eat more [potatos], the Chinese government is choosing to market [potatos] to the people. And what better way to do that than to integrate [potatos] into a drama’s storyline about the Emperor’s attempts to feed his people and strengthen national security. It’s rich gorgeous powerful people chowing down on [potatos] for pleasure and profit. Also a good reminder that Chinese dramas are often filled with similar messages deemed for the good of the people whether we’re aware of them or not (3/3)

Propaganda happens; but we don’t have to enable it for public conversation.
[END]

[1] URL: https://alecmuffett.com/article/110779
[2] URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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