Download Propaganda techniques

Propaganda techniques
Or
How the media gets
Americans to buy, think, and
vote
What is propaganda?
• Persuasive techniques applied by
politicians, journalists, television
personalities, and others to accomplish
their desired ends.
• These techniques persuade us not
through the give-and-take of argument
and debate, but through manipulating
symbols and basic human emotions.
Testimonial
• Use of a celebrity (athletes, musicians, actors)
or authority figure (doctors, auto mechanics,
plumbers) to endorse or promote a product,
cause, idea.
Products
• Examples: Troy Polomalu and L T anwswering
mother’ call; meeting at end of tunnel
• Michael Jordan and Hanes
• Dentists and tooth pastes
• Jessica Simpson and Pro Active Acne
medication
Testimonials
Use of causes
• Sarah MacLaughlin—ASPCA
• Presidents Bush and Clinton –Tsunami
relief
• P Diddy- Vote or die campaign
• Lance Armstrong- Live Strong, cancer
Plain Folks
• Use of a common man, the
• Scenes of family, blue-collar workers,
Products
Oil-man, T-Bone Pickins-- energy plan
Brawny—lumberjack—paper towels
Plain Folks
Use with Causes (lofty purpose)
• Ordinary families using CHIPS (health care for children)
• Joe the Plumber—ordinary citizen used to show values
of all
Bandwagon
• Use of threat of not being one of the
crowd, being left out is substituted for
evidence of the quality of the product
• Use of appeal to the subject to follow
the crowd, to join in because others
are doing so as well.
Bandwagon
Products such as the Verizon
Network
Walmart ad-everyone tries to rush into
store at same time
Gatorade-Everyone follows Sidney
Crosby’s lead in drinking gatorade
Nike-Just do it
Card-stacking
• Providing only information that is positive
to an idea or product and omitting
information that is negative to the idea or
product
Ex: Warnings given at end of drug
commercials
Card-stacking
Use of technique to sell products
Lipitor ads—positive information given at
first; negative side effects rushed at end
•Alcohol ads—pleasant setting—pretty
people, warnings about drunken driving and
dangers to pregnant women
•Trident—4 out of 5 dentists recommend
Card-stacking
Use to promote causes or ideas (Lofty
purpose)
BP—clean energy, environmentally friendly;
do not address fact that it is not available
in near future
Glittering generalities
• Use of words that have different positive
meanings but are linked to highly valued
concepts.
• Ex: patriotism, loyalty, green, environmentally
friendly, low fat; no carbohydrates, organic
Glittering generalities
Used to sell products
• “New And improved” Tide, Windex etc.
• Chevy—”American built; solid as a rock”
• Room deodorizer—”smells like the great
outdoors”
Glittering generalities
Used for lofty purposes
Examples:
Hasty generalization
Use of small group to represent the
position of the whole group.
• Ex: Even though it is the first day, I can
tell this is going to be a boring course.
• E-Harmony commercials “I found my
soul-mate. You can too. ”
• I lost 50 pounds on Alli, you can too.
Red Herring
• Use of change in subject to distract the
reader from topic under discussion.
• BP commercial displays windmills in
background to distract us from the real
issue of oil prices
Transfer
Transfer is a device by which the propagandist
carries over the authority, and prestige of
something we respect and revere to something
he would have us accept.
Use of feeling of respect or reverence to
something advertisers want public to accept or
buy. Ex: White lab coats to sell pain relievers
and make up.
• Names of cars –Impala, mustang, Taurus (bull)
Transfer
Used to sell products
Example: Bridgestone—official tires of the
NFL
MM’s official candy of the Olympics
Used for lofty purposes:
Save the Children Network—authority of
valued institution therefore give to the
charity
Political ads
using transfer
• What is the
purpose of
the transfer?
• Is it
effective?
What is going on here?
• What is the
propaganda device
used here?
• What is the purpose?
• Is it effective;why or
why not?