Buyers Beware

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Buyers Beware!
Propaganda Techniques Advertising Strategies
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What is propaganda?

• Spreading of information to help or hurt a cause.
• Telling only the side the writer wants people to
  know.
• Propaganda appeals to emotions rather than
  intellect.

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Why think about propaganda?

• By the age of 20, the average American has seen
  about one million commercial messages.
• Advertising accounts for 2/3 of the space in
  newspapers, and 40 percent of our mail.

• The average American spends one year of their
  lives watching TV commercials.
• Teens are the fastest growing segment of the
  consumer market.

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Why think about propaganda?

• Each year advertisers spend millions of dollars
  trying to convince people to buy products.

• Most people don't know that advertising is not
  free to the buyers of products.
• This business expense is added to the
  cost of the product so that we pay more
  at the store.

• In fact, you are paying for products you don't
  buy!

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Why think about propaganda?

• Its persuasive techniques
  are regularly applied by politicians,
  advertisers, journalists, radio
  personalities, and others who are
  interested in influencing human
  behavior.
• Propagandistic messages can be used to
  accomplish positive social ends, as in campaigns
  to reduce drunk driving, but they are also used
  to win elections and to sell malt liquor.
• Propaganda can be as blatant as a swastika or
  as subtle as a joke.

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Propaganda Analysis

• Propaganda analysis exposes the tricks that
  propagandists use suggests ways of resisting
  the short-cuts that they promote.

• Propaganda analysis is an antidote to the
  excesses of the Information Age.

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Common Techniques

• Word Games
• Name-calling
• Glittering Generalities
• Euphemisms

• Special Appeals
• Plain Folks
• Bandwagon
• Fear
• Rewards

• False Connections
• Transfer
• Testimonials

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Word Games
The Name-Calling technique links a person, or
idea, to a negative symbol. (slamming the
competition)

• The speaker criticizes a person/product with
  little or no reason/evidence.

• The propagandist who uses this technique hopes
  that the audience will reject the person or the
  idea on the basis of the negative symbol, instead
  of looking at the available evidence.

• The most obvious type of name-calling involves
  bad names. (Commie,Fascist,Pig,Bum,Queer,Terroris
  t)

• A more subtle form of name-calling involves
  words or phrases that are selected because they
  possess a negative connotation. (stingy vs.
  thrifty or skinny vs. thin)

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Word Games Name-Calling slamming the
competition
At Burger King Restaurants, you can always get
your flame broiled WHOPPER sandwich made your
way. Were proud to say that we serve
individuals, not billions.
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Word GamesThe Glittering Generality is, in
short, Name-Calling in reverse.

• While Name-Calling seeks to make us form a
  judgment to reject and condemn without examining
  the evidence, the Glittering Generality device
  seeks to make us approve and accept without
  examining the evidence.

• Uses words or vague statements that sound good
  but have little real meaning

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Word Games Glittering Generality
Name-Calling in reverse
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Word Games
Euphemism is the substitution of mild or pleasant
expressions for one that is offensive of
unpleasant.

• The propagandist attempts to pacify the audience
  in order to make an unpleasant reality more
  palatable.
• This is accomplished by using words that are
  bland and euphemistic.

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Word Games Euphemisms weasel words
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False Connections
Transfer

• Propagandists transfer the fame, prestige, or
  reliability of something or someone to an issue
  that may or may not be related.

• Any politician who publicly says a prayer is
  transferring religion to their image.

• In the Transfer technique, symbols that stir
  emotion are constantly used.

• The cross represents the Christian Church. The
  flag represents the nation. Cartoons like Uncle
  Sam represent a consensus of public opinion.

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False Connections Transfer
The Nazis justified treatment of the Jews by
proving their inferiority through their own
science.
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False Connections The Testimonial occurs when a
celebrity or expert endorses a product,
candidate, or idea.

• Testimonial technique can construct a fair,
  well-balanced argument.

• However, it is often used in ways that are
  unfair misleading.

• The most common misuse of the testimonial
  involves citing individuals who are not qualified
  to make judgments about a particular issue.

• Unfair testimonials are usually obvious, and
  most can see through this rhetorical trick.
• This happens when the testimonial is by a
  celebrity that we dont respect.
• When the testimony is provided by an admired
  celebrity, we are much less likely to be
  critical.

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False Connections Testimonial
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Special Appeals The Plain-folks technique has a
person or cause being associated with regular
people.

• Plain-folks tactic is often used by politicians.

• The idea is that the candidates are just like
  you they put their pants on one leg at a time
  too.

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Special Appeals Plain-folks
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Special Appeals The basic theme of the Bandwagon
appeal is that "everyone else is doing it, and so
should you."

• Bandwagon appeals to the desire, common to most
  of us, to follow the crowd.

• Because the writer wants us to follow the crowd
  in masses, he directs his appeal to groups held
  together already by common ties.
• ties of nationality, religion, race, sex,
  vocation

• Since few of us want to be left behind, this
  technique can be quite successful.

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Special Appeals Band Wagon

• 9 out of 10 prefer
• number 1
• most popular

Billions served
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Special Appeals The Fear technique is when a
propagandist warns that disaster will result if
the audience does not follow a particular course
of action.

• Using the fear technique plays on the audience's
  deep-seated fears

• The idea is to present a dreaded circumstance
  and usually follow it up with the kind of
  behavior needed to avoid that horrible event.

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Special Appeals Fear
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Special Appeals Rewards
Offers some type of benefit if the product is
purchased.

• These benefits, or rewards, are often toys,
  gimmick, kids clubs, rebates, etc.

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10 Media TechniquesEmotional Appeals

• Nature (peaceful/angry)
• Sexy
• Cartoon/animation
• Celebrity
• Wealth

• Humor
• Macho
• Friends
• Family
• Fun

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Whos renting your eye-balls?
When analyzing propaganda, know that advertisers
use AIM to sell their products!
A audience I imagery M message
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• A audience
• Who is the target audience?
• What is the age of the target audience?
• What is the social status of the target
  audience?
• Who is excluded from the target audience?

• I imagery
• Who is selling what?
• What is the figurative language (if any)?

• M message
• Which techniques are being used?
• Which appeal is being used?