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Systematic effort to manipulate
other people’s beliefs, attitudes, or
actions by means of symbols
(words, gestures, banners, music,
clothing, designs and so forth)
Who is entering your brain?
How are people invading your thoughts?
What is propaganda?
How does it work?
Propaganda is a way of persuading you to
do something, like buying a certain
product or voting in a particular way.
Propaganda works by appealing to your
emotions or your sense of logic.
Components
Target
Audience
Emotional
Appeals
Fallacies
Repetition
Target Audience
Who is the message intended for?
Age
Gender
- We really are attracted to commercials that
show people we feel are our age or like the
age we’d like to be.
- We often identify with people in the
commercial who are the same gender as
we are – man or woman.
Target Audience
Who is the message intended for?
Special Interests
- We are interested in products
that match our hobbies, our jobs,
our family.
Social Class
Snob Appeal:
Plain Folks:
Shows people who are
obviously wealthy or “in”.
We wish we were too!
Shows ordinary people
on purpose so their
product doesn’t look
snobby.
Propaganda Techniques
Advertisements use specific techniques to
influence how we think.
We will study 3 kinds of techniques:
• Emotional Appeals
• Fallacies
• Repetition
Emotional Appeals
techniques used to make us respond with our
feelings, not our brains
If you get emotionally involved in the product,
you’re likelier to buy it!
Patriotism
These ads make us think the product
Is one that will identify us
as a good citizen.
Look for: flags, soldiers,
firemen, the words “our
country” or “free”
Emotional Response
Humor
These ads make us
laugh and smile.
If it is funny, we will
remember it.
Look for:
funny situations
or anything you
would laugh at.
Family Values
These ads make us
think the products will
make our family a
loving one.
Look for:
Families having
fun, laughing,
hugging, eating
together, the words
“love”, “family”,
“mom” or “dad”.
Emotional Response
Romantic Appeal
Romantic ads make us
Think the product will
make us romantic or
sexy.
Look for:
romantic situations
Name Dropping
These ads refer to a
celebrity (name dropping)
or have a celebrity
promoting their product.
We think we will be like
the celebrity.
Look for:
A celebrity or listen for
the name.
(This is sometimes a faulty appeal
to authority, especially when the
person has nothing to do with
the product.)
Emotional Response
Testimonial
These ads have a person who
gives their personal story
about a product and how
they have used and liked it.
You think …….
Sometimes this person is a
celebrity.
Sometimes it is not.
Either way they give their story
to influence your purchase.
Bandwagon
These ads specifically suggest
that “everybody” uses the product
or believes a certain idea.
You think …….
Look for:
Huge crowds, the words
“everybody”, “most popular”,
or numbers with high percents.
Emotional Response
Appeal to Pity
These ads make us feel sorry for the
people or situation. Think about those
poor sad little puppy dogs and kittens or
that sad little child who is hungry.
You think …….
These are sad situations and we should feel
pity, but realize that the photos are meant
to play on your emotions, not your logic.
Look for: sad situations
Listen for: pleading voices, sad music.
Propaganda Techniques
Advertisements use specific techniques to
influence how we think.
What is the first technique we have studied
so far?
EMOTIONAL APPEALS
Can you name some emotional appeals?
Fallacies
A fallacy is an error in logic – a place
where someone has made an error in
his thinking.
Sometimes this happens in commercials,
but more likely it will happen during debates
or speeches or just conversation.
Being a good listener and a good thinker is
important in spotting fallacies.
Fallacies
Red Herring
This is avoiding the
question/subject by
bringing up irrelevant
information.
Whenever we introduce
something irrelevant, we
are
avoiding the question!
Ad Hominem
“against the man”
These are personal
attacks.
Attacking the person
instead of the issue
is a way of distracting
listeners and ultimately
not addressing the topic.
Fallacies
Generalizations
____________
Straw Man
This is a type of
ad hominem fallacy.
The straw man changes
or exaggerates an
opponent’s position to
make it easier to refute.
Hasty Generalizations
“Jumping to Conclusions”
Sweeping Generalizations
If it is good for you, then it is
good for everyone.
Glittering Generalizations
It’s all “good” – but ….
there aren’t any facts.
Fallacies
Safety/Trust
This fallacy makes you
think the product or
information is trustworthy
and safe.
Look for:
Statistics and numbers
Appeal to authority
Part-to-Whole
Assuming
that what is true of
a part must also be true
of the whole.
Stereotypes could play
a role in this fallacy!
You will see this fallacy
in reverse too –
Whole-to-part.
Repetition
Slogan- A brief, catchy phrase you’ll
remember.
Jingle – a brief, catchy song you’ll
remember.
The company’s slogan is the same in all their
advertisements. If you remember the slogan,
you’ll remember the product. If you remember
the product, you’ll most likely buy it.
Review
What is a fallacy?
Can you name any
Fallacies and describe
Them or give
an example?
Name a type of
repetition.
Can you give
an example?
Plato said:
“Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.”
How easy is it
to break into
YOUR
brain?