@CartyBoston Our term for it back in the late 80s was "cultural imperialism" - the money that flowed into the entertainment industry, to refine the propaganda and influence operation, was astounding.
It wasn't just the US doing it, don't get me wrong. The Brits were and still are very effective at it too - the BBC alone is still a mighty soft-power instrument, to say nothing of the many film-production companies, the radio, print journalism (utter shite though a lot of it is). and so on.