Foreign scholars analyze effective interaction methods via fanpages of Vietnamese police

Scholars at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute (Singapore) commented that through humorous content on Facebook, the Ho Chi Minh City Police force is becoming closer to the people while still conveying serious messages.

Interface of the page "Drug Prevention and Control - Ho Chi Minh City Police". Screenshot

According to CNA (Singapore), until early October, the page "Drug Prevention and Control - Ho Chi Minh City Police" - the official account of the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department, Ho Chi Minh City Police on Facebook was still operating with regular information updates.

But since October 5, this page has suddenly "transformed", switched to a Gen Z (born from 1997 to 2012) humorous style, juggling with readers, "catching the trend" of memes and quickly attracting a large number of followers. The applied formula is to take a common situation, transform it into a meme and end with a satirical anti-drug message.

According to CNA, this is a completely new style of propaganda: using laughter to create a sense of friendliness and familiarity. Research on humor in politics shows that this tone can make viewers more open to messages.

The page’s comments section has shown how effective this approach is. Social media accounts joke, tease the page’s administrators, or half-jokingly ask about rewards for reporting drug trafficking crimes. This mix of humor and frank exchange is why the page now functions as a social space that Vietnamese youth are helping to shape.

Research on humor helps explain why this method works. As American communications scholar Dannagal Young argues, jokes can act as “reducing signals.” Messages wrapped in humor tend to feel less like propaganda and are more memorable because the audience has to partially complete the underlying meaning to grasp the joke. Over time, the sender becomes familiar.

According to CNA, the Facebook fanpage of the Vietnamese police force is a testament to the effectiveness of cross-generational cultural understanding in an online environment.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/the-gioi/hoc-gia-nuoc-ngoai-phan-tich-phuong-thuc-tuong-tac-qua-fanpage-hieu-qua-cua-cong-an-viet-nam-20251205104348994.htm