Superheroes (Photo : ifeng)
Batman’s traditional partner in solving crimes is Robin, but for a Chinese online propaganda, the caped crusader is joined by Mr. Bean, Spongebob Squarepants, the Joker and Jack Ma to highlight how important it is that state secrets do not leak.
Quartz reported that the use of superheroes was done by China’s Ministry of State Security as the country marked on Friday, April 5, National Security Education Day. Besides showing how important it is that state secrets are guarded from leaking, the new “holiday” also promotes the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda on information security and human rights.
To do that the ministry produced several cartoon videos that has a lot of pop culture references which Beijing used to indoctrinate.
Agent 007 James Bond was tasked to explain two laws, the Counter-Espionage Law and National Security Law, which are the basis for the party’s stance on national security.
In another video, Joker, the nemesis of Batman, commits a crime which was reported to officials by an infant with large biceps and took photos of the incident to remind citizens it is their duty to report crimes to authorities.
Actor Colin Firth, in one video, encourages Chinese to imitate Alibaba founder Jack Ma, while German dictator Adolf Hitler is knocked out by a huge boxing glove.
The cartoons were initially aired over China Central Television, a government broadcaster. While some Chinese netizens found some of the cartoon characters funny, another said the series is easy to understand, close to the people and straight to the point.
One of the tools of China to prevent leak of state secrets is to control the internet using the “Great Firewall of China” which it used to hide the involvement of Chinese leaders in the Panama Papers scandal.
