Download Propaganda

The art of persuasion. It is the spreading of ideas,
information or rumor for the purpose of helping or
injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.
Propaganda is intended to make us accept or approve
something without looking closely at the evidence.
Most of the propaganda devices utilize emotion and
avoid critical thinking.
• http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.p
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Assertion
• Commonly used in advertising and modern propaganda
• An enthusiastic or energetic statement presented as a fact,
although it is not necessarily true
• Often implies that the statement requires no explanation or
evidence, but that it should merely be accepted without
question
• Any time an advertiser states that their product is the best
without providing evidence for this, they are using an
assertion
• Although usually simple to spot, are often dangerous forms
of propaganda because they often include falsehoods or
lies.
Bandwagon: attempts to persuade the target audience to take
a course of action "everyone else is taking." "Join the crowd."
• An appeal to the subject to follow the crowd, to join in
because others are doing so as well
• Essentially tries to convince the subject that one side is the
winning side, because more people have joined it. The
subject is meant to believe that since so many people have
joined, that victory is inevitable and defeat impossible.
Since the average person always wants to be on the
winning side, he or she is compelled to join in.
• However, in modern propaganda, bandwagon has taken a
new twist. The subject is to be convinced by the
propaganda because since everyone else is doing it, they
will be left out if they do not. This is, effectively, the
opposite of the other type of bandwagon, but usually
provokes the same results.
Card Stacking: The strategy of showing the product’s best
features, telling half-truths, and omitting or lying about its
potential problems.
• Facts are selected and presented which most effectively
strengthen and authenticate the point of view of the
propagandist
• Involves only presenting information that is positive to an
idea or proposal and omitting information contrary to it.
• Although the majority of information presented by the card
stacking approach is true, it is dangerous because it omits
important information
• Example:
– Drug manufacturers do this frequently in ads in which they skim
over the possible harmful side effects of their products. Facts
are selected and presented which most effectively strengthen
and authenticate the point of view of the propagandist.
Plain Folks: The use of everyday people to sell a product or
service. Speakers and ads appear to make the person to be
“one of the people.”
• Designed to win the confidence of the audience by communicating
in the common manner and style of the audience
• Use ordinary language and mannerisms (and clothes in face-to-face
and audiovisual communications) when attempting to identify their
point of view with that of the average person
• Can win the confidence of persons who resent or distrust foreign
sounding, intellectual speech, words, or mannerisms
• Examples:
– America’s recent presidents have all been millionaires, but they have
gone to great lengths to present themselves as ordinary citizens
(Romney identifying with the struggles of Detroit by saying that “my
wife drives a Cadillac. Two, in fact.” Or identifying with NASCAR fans
by saying that “some of my friends own NASCAR teams.”)
Testimonial: The use of well-known, respected people
to endorse a product or service.
• Quotations or endorsements, in or out of context,
which attempt to connect a famous or respectable
person with a product or item. In testimonial ads, a
person, either a celebrity or a representative of
"everyman," praises the product or service.
• In the case of the everyman approach, the idea is to
have consumers relate to the person describing his or
her experience with the product of service. If it fills
their need, it should fill the consumer's need.
• For celebrity testimonials, the intent is to associate the
product or service with a famous person. If the famous
person believes the product is acceptable, then the
idea is that consumers will believe the product is OK.
Glittering Generalities: The act of referring to words or ideas
that evoke a positive emotional response from an audience.
Virtue words are often used.
• Intensely emotionally appealing words so closely associated with
highly valued concepts and beliefs that they carry conviction
without supporting information or reason
• Appeal to such emotions as love of country, home, desire for peace,
freedom, glory, honor, etc. They ask for approval without
examination of the reason.
• Though the words and phrases are vague and suggest different
things to different people, their connotation is always favorable
• Examples:
– Food products will quickly label their foods as low fat hinting that they
are more healthy, when, in fact, the product might be high in calories.
– Advertisers will sometimes give an incomplete comparison like “better
tasting.” Better tasting than what? Spam? Dirt?
– Saying that if you love your country, you will support___________
Transfer: The act of relating something or someone
we like or respect with a product.
• An attempt to make the subject view a certain item in
the same way as they view another item, to link the
two in the subject’s mind
• Although this technique is often used to transfer
negative feelings for one object to another, it can also
be used in positive ways
• By linking an item to something the subject respects or
enjoys, positive feelings can be generated for it
• Symbols are constantly used in this form of propaganda
• Example:
– On TV commercials, actors in white lab coats tell us that
Brand X cold medicine is better that Brand Y
Name calling: The use of names that evoke fear or
hatred in the viewer. The name-calling technique links
a person, or idea, to a negative symbol.
• The most obvious type of name calling involved “bad names.” For
example:
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Fascist
Pig
Yuppie Scum
Bum
• A more subtle form of name-calling involves words or phrases that are
selected because they possess a negative charge. For example:
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Social engineering
Radical
Stingy
Counter-culture
• Examples: A poster that is a play on World War II posters. Communism is
equated with downloading MP3s.
• Bill Gates has also been subject to a little name calling.
Simplification (or stereotyping)
• Similar to pinpointing the enemy, in that it
often reduces a complex situation to a clearcut choice involving good and evil
• This technique is often useful in swaying
uneducated audiences.