I liked how this old film explained old political truths so clearly. I think propaganda was more powerful in the past, when control of the press, radio, film, was easier to achieve.
You don’t hear the term “propaganda” much these days. If you wonder where it went, substitute the word “marketing”. 
And public relations. The best PR is the kind you never even detect. The kind that rallies us to war. The kind that covertly shapes public opinion. The kind that makes us think that bacon and eggs are breakfast foods. I suspect that we are being manipulated more than ever before in history.
There’s a breakfast place on my favorite boardwalk with a sign that says something like “Voted best pancakes on the island!”. I don’t remember whether it even said who did the voting. By employing a supposedly neutral third-party, it becomes a PR technique.
Advertising / Marketing –
“The best pancakes on the island!”
PR –
“Voted the best pancakes on the island!”
We are blasted from birth with specious marketing claims – best this, biggest that, fastest the other – and we learn to detect it and tune it out. Remember Crazy Eddie? Public relations techniques are far more insidious because they are harder to detect. And we are thus open to manipulation.
Hey! Where can I get some of those cakes?
See what I mean, people? This is how it works.
I don’t really see the distinction. The first example, if presented in quotes, can be representative of a quote by somebody who really likes the pancakes. Totally legit. Without the quotes, it technically needs something to back it up, or else it’s a lie. Of course the “voted” version has the same problem, but the owner’s mom and her friends could have done the voting… again totally legit from a legal standpoint. 
Yup. His prices were insaaaaane.
Wow, the 1978 commercial was so calm compared to the ones I remember (from mid-80s onward).