Abstract
<jats:p>In our time, the sceptre of global power lies in the hands of multinational telecommunications corporations, which lead what might be described as the fourth, fifth, or even sixth revolution of large-scale productive societies. In our view, the fundamental similarities between the capitalist and communist blocs are more substantial than their differences, which are largely reduced to superficial ideological nuances. With this work, we seek to evoke an analogy between advertising and the Eurovision Song Contest, as both are frivolous, graceful, and loosely structured phenomena; and because it is virtually impossible to demonstrate conclusively that they are anything other than innocent by-products of entertainment or vanity devoid of any specific purpose. We employ the neologism “publipropaganda” as the title of this section in order to sketch the hypothesis that commercial advertising within our bloc broadly fulfils the functions of any planned propaganda system, albeit in a more discreet and effective manner. With the same light-heartedness displayed by the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815), where dances, music, and festivities accompanied momentous geopolitical decisions, matters of the greatest supranational importance are quietly managed beneath the mantle of Eurovision before the astonished gaze of the public. Its dense bombardment of stimuli, launched in every direction, exceeds the capacity of even the most attentive minds to assimilate consciously. Moreover, its fractal nature and sheer magnitude enable the generation of multiple, diverse, and multifaceted experiences and memories. The state of excitement—and even sensory saturation—experienced by viewers watching the mega-event in real time, as well as by those attending in person, who are the most exposed to its emotional charge, functions as a powerful distraction. This provides ideal conditions for the injection of subliminal messages and the dissemination, on a global scale, of communicational capsules concerning what has happened, what is happening, or what is about to happen in the immediate future.</jats:p>