Download Kody Gorny English 101 Essay 2

Kody Gorny
Sims
English 101
2/26/14
Propaganda
Anne McClintock discovered seven types of propaganda known to man today. Propaganda is a
systematic effort to influence peoples opinion, to win them over to a certain view or side. Propaganda
is very important to society today because of all the celebrities that use the products and sponsor them.
Three of the main propaganda techniques are Bandwagon, Card Stacking, and finally Testimonial.
These three are the most important propaganda techniques because they are the most used by people
today.
The first propaganda technique I am going to talk about is the Bandwagon propaganda.
Bandwagon propaganda is when advisory pressure customers into using the product that they are
selling. McClintock states that the “Bandwagon propaganda is successful because people do not want
to feel left out when the product is successful” (P.250). Bandwagon propaganda is mostly used when it
comes to choosing a sports team to like as your favorite team. When the New England Patriots went
undefeated all the way to the Super Bowl everyone was becoming Patriot fans because they were
winning. Once they lost and Tom Brady got hurt everyone stopped liking them until they started
winning again. Everyone uses the term “Bandwagon” in their life because they want to be able to say
that “their” team is winning.
The second propaganda technique is the Card Stacking technique. Card Stacking is when one
side may divert or suppress evidence, oversimplify the facts, set a “straw-man”- a false target or divert
attention from the issue at hand, and finally tells half the truth. McClintock stated that “Card Stacking
is usually harder to detect in a lot of the advertisements” (P.249). Advil PM is used at night for people
that have a headache because it is stronger than the Tylenol PM and has more medicine in it. The Advil
PM shows what is in the medicine unlike the Tylenol PM where it tells you what is in it on the inside
where the instructions are located. The box of Advil has more color than the Tylenol box which does
not show as much eye popping color towards the eye.
The third and final propaganda technique I chose to talk about was Testimonial. Testimonial is
when a company capitalizes on the admiration people have for celebrities to make their product
popular. McClintock stated “Testimonial is one that advertisers most-loved and most used of all
propaganda techniques” (P.247). Shaquille O' Neal promoted Icy Hot in commercials after he retired
from the game of professional basketball. By him advertising Icy Hot, it made not only athletes use it,
but other average people use it. When someone uses Icy Hot and tells someone they used it the first
thing that comes to mind is “ Didn't Shaq use that stuff?”. When an organization uses a celebrity to
advertise their product, people see that and say “ If they use it, I can too.”
These three propaganda techniques are the main techniques used by most people today. They
see a celebrity using a product then they think they can also. People use the bandwagon technique so
they do not feel left out when around friends and family. Companies use the Card Stacking method to
add more and more to their product users.