Wag the Dog: PR Ethics, Propaganda, and Political Spin
This paper analyzes the 1997 film Wag the Dog through the lens of the Public Relations Society of America's code of ethics and classical propaganda theory. It examines how Conrad Bream's manufactured Albanian war conflict violates and occasionally satisfies PRSA ethical tenets surrounding truth, confidentiality, and conflicts of interest. The paper also explores the film's title metaphor, its eerie real-world parallels to Clinton-era and Bush-era political spin, and the specific propaganda devices — emotional appeals, plain-folk imagery, bandwagon tactics, and fear — that Bream and his team deploy to manipulate public opinion.
- PRSA Ethics and Conrad Bream's Conduct: Bream's actions measured against PRSA ethical tenets
- The Meaning of the Title: Two interpretations of the tail-wags-dog metaphor
- Real-World Political Parallels: Clinton and Bush-era echoes of the film's plot
- Propaganda Devices in the Film: Emotional appeals, fear, bandwagon, and plain-folk tactics
- Conclusion: Media manipulation and public complacency as enduring themes
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What makes this paper effective
- It applies a concrete external framework — the PRSA code of ethics — to analyze a fictional character's behavior, giving the argument a disciplined analytical structure.
- It moves logically from the film's internal ethics, to its title metaphor, to real-world political parallels, and finally to propaganda theory, creating a layered argument rather than a simple plot summary.
- The comparison between the film's fictional scenarios and actual events (Clinton's Operation Desert Fox, Bush's war on terror) grounds an abstract media critique in documented historical context.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates applied textual and cultural analysis: it uses a theoretical framework (PRSA ethics and propaganda device taxonomy) as a lens through which to read both a cultural artifact (the film) and real political events. This technique — applying a professional or disciplinary code to a narrative — is a strong model for film and media studies essays at the undergraduate level.
Structure breakdown
The paper is organized into four analytical sections. The first measures Bream's behavior against each PRSA ethical tenet in sequence. The second unpacks the film's title metaphor using two distinct interpretations. The third draws parallels between the film and the Clinton and Bush administrations. The fourth identifies and explains specific propaganda devices — emotional appeals, plain folk, bandwagon buzz, us-versus-them framing, and fear — embedded in the film's plot.
PRSA Ethics and Conrad Bream's Conduct
The Public Relations Society of America espouses a code of ethics that includes protecting and advancing the free flow of "accurate and truthful" information. Likewise, the PRSA advocates honesty and accuracy in its core practice guidelines for professionals. In Wag the Dog, Conrad Bream (Robert De Niro) deliberately engineers a plan to divert the public's attention away from a presidential sex scandal by hiring movie producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) to manufacture multimedia images for the media. The fake war is an outright, deliberate, and overt affront to the first ethical tenet of the PRSA, which would never admit Bream as one of its members. Interestingly, however, Bream does not try to lie about the sex scandal itself — he only wants to create a lie that will prove more sensational in the media.
Every other example of how Bream violates the core tenet of accuracy and truth follows from this first ethical infraction. For instance, a fake war can dupe the public but not the Pentagon. When senior military officials and members of the Central Intelligence Agency discover that the Armenian conflict is a sham, they order full disclosure. Here, Bream is being as honest as he ever could be. He convinces the CIA to compromise by not revealing the full truth about the public relations scam. However, the CIA must cover its tracks and decides it will be acceptable to tell the public that the war with Albania "has been resolved." Thus, Bream engages government complicity in his plan and, in doing so, follows the second major ethical tenet of the PRSA — "informed decision making through open communication." By informing the CIA, Bream encouraged open communication. He likewise remains relatively open with his colleagues and with Stanley Motss.
As the President's senior public relations advisor, Bream is entrusted with fulfilling the third ethical tenet of the PRSA: to "protect confidential and private information." Bream accomplishes this goal with aplomb, as the sex scandal involving the Firefly Girl is never made public. The President's confidential and private information is allowed to remain that way. Bream also covers his own tracks, further protecting confidential and private information. It is, however, uncertain whether Bream promotes "healthy and fair competition among professionals," as advised by the PRSA. Bream remains firmly in charge, and there is no question of other spin doctors needing to participate in the sex-scandal cover-up.
On the other hand, Bream does recognize the problems associated with "conflicts of interest," another principle advanced by the PRSA. He is well aware of what conflicts of interest look like and what form they may take. At one point, actress Tracy Lime (Kirsten Dunst) asks Bream if she can "put it on my resume," to which Bream coolly replies that if she did, he would "come to your house and kill you." This moment of foreshadowing underscores Bream's commitment to his professional obligations. Toward the conclusion of the plot, Bream has no choice but to kill his associate Motss. Motss expresses a desire to gain personally from his involvement in the cover-up, seeking personal fame and self-aggrandizement over his duty to protect the President — his client. Therefore, it is Motss who violates the conflict-of-interest principle. Bream does not, and he summarily eliminates the conflict of interest before it becomes a problem for his client. Because Bream's work is so powerfully successful, other persons in positions of power would do well to consider hiring him. In this sense, Bream does work to "strengthen the public's trust in the profession."
Works Cited
Baum, Matthew. Soft News Goes to War.
Baum, Matthew A. "Sex, Lies, and War: How Soft News Brings Foreign Policy to the Inattentive Public." American Political Science Review 1, 2002, pp. 91–109.
Coppens, Philip. "Wag the Dog." Retrieved online: http://www.philipcoppens.com/wagthedog.html
Levinson, B. "Wag the Dog." In HSC Advanced English.
Levinson, B. Wag the Dog. [Feature Film].
Maslin, Janet. "Wag the Dog (1997)." [Film Review.] The New York Times. 26 Dec. 1997.
Public Relations Society of America. "Ethics." 2014. Retrieved online: http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/
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