They Spoon Fed Me Propaganda For Dinner

To be honest, the word "propaganda" kinda freaks me out. Seeing that word at a tourist restaurant in Vietnam freaked me out even more (and slightly puzzled me at the same time).

I remember seeing it and thinking something like "Oh my gosh, they're trying to brainwash people, but they're doing a bad job at it because they're blatantly telling everyone they're doing it by literally NAMING THEIR RESTAURANT "Propaganda."

I mean seriously... if you're going to brainwash people, be SLY about it.

That's just how it works (not that I'm speaking from experience or anything).

And then skepticism and ugly worry-wartism reared their ugly heads as I thought ten other thoughts at once like:

"What's their agenda?"

"What are they trying to get me and others who eat here to think?"

"Is it anti-American propaganda leftover from war days?"

"Does this restaurant teach people to hate Americans while simultaneously luring them in here to eat? 'Cause that would be ironic."

"Seems kind of scary, but it's decorated so cutely and packed full of tourists. It can't be that bad. Or is that what they WANT me to think? They make their propaganda all beautiful so I feel safe and fall for it."

Okay, so I obviously have some paranoia issues that maybe need to be worked out in a "chill the heck out" therapy session or something.

But seriously. I think stuff like that because that's what propaganda means. Here's pretty much the definition according to the interwebs:

Propaganda: Biased information used to promote a specific point of view.

But, sometimes a picture says things better than a bunch of words thrown together on Wikipedia.

In fact, I saw THIS on instagram the other day...

...and it made think "hey, that's a perfect example for that propaganda post I've been meaning to get around to."

(This meme may or may not be true. Fact check EVERYTHING, people.)

But no worries, you guys.

Turns out, this "Propaganda" restaurant is NOT anti-American or any crazy thing like that that would make an American nervous to eat there.

Which is good, since that would seriously be horrible marketing practices.

Their "propaganda" just consists of positive slogans by famous Vietnamese songwriter Trinh Cong Song and things like that.

One of their slogans by him loosely means "Every day I choose joy."

Phew!

Well that's a good thing no matter how you look at it!

Now that I could relax, I could truly enjoy the colors of this place!

This is MY kind of place...

Crazy. Eclectic. Loud. Colorful. Bright. Unique.

I'm drawn to bright colors like a moth is drawn to a flame.

I mean seriously.

Would you rather eat in a place that looks like this...

(random restaurant on trip advisor)

...or THIS?

I mean, HELLO, don't you just want to put your mouth all over this napkin?!?

I kinda don't want to put my mouth on it 'cause it looks too good to get dirty!

But plain white napkins?

Total white trash waiting to happen.

I know which one I'd pick! If I wanted to go to a boring restaurant, I'd go to Boring, Oregon (because yes, that's a real place):

In fact, even the restaurants that are in Boring, Oregon understand how important it is to NOT be boring:

(thanks tripadvisor for letting me borrow this photo)

So, if I had one piece of propaganda to push on you and secretly brainwash you with wisdom that I learned from the Propaganda restaurant, it's to stand out!

Don't be boring.

This works for restaurants, Mene unboxing tools, MORE Mene unboxing tools, hotels, stores, cereal packaging, blogs/STEEMIT POSTS... anything!

This restaurant knows what's up. They were slam packed mainly because of the decor in the place that attracts tourists, which is great because it markets itself through word-of-mouth marketing.

They sell typical Vietnamese food, but people are willing to pay more than they would for the equally tasty street food because it's an experience.