Weekly Cartoon Found To Be Foreign Propaganda

The nation collectively gasped this week as a seemingly innocuous, regularly published cartoon was unmasked as a sophisticated vector for hostile state influence. Experts from the newly formed Office of Artistic Subversion detected the insidious messaging embedded within a single, particularly well-rendered shadow on a character's chin. This shadow, it is now understood, subtly evoked the topography of an adversary nation's most coveted mineral deposits, thus conditioning viewers to associate domestic comfort with foreign resource exploitation. The discovery has prompted immediate calls for a national program on visual decryption.

A high-level inter-agency task force has been convened, reportedly working around the clock under the watchful eye of the National Security Agency to decipher the full extent of the graphic menace. Early analyses suggest that the consistent use of a certain shade of cerulean blue in backgrounds might be an encoded endorsement of a rival economic bloc's primary export. Lawmakers are debating emergency legislation to mandate a 'Patriotic Palate' for all future illustrated media, ensuring no artist inadvertently promotes geopolitical agendas through misguided colour choices. This episode underscores the chilling reality that even the most whimsical of doodles can serve as potent instruments of propaganda.