Propaganda techniques in the media

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Whose voice guides your choice?

How do you decide who is the best candidate…

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or which is the best toothpaste ?

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Looking for facts to back up your choice is an excellent idea, but find out who is presenting those facts.

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Are they facts at all, or is the advertiser using propaganda techniques to persuade you?

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What are Propaganda techniques?

• Propaganda is designed to persuade.

• Its purpose is to influence your opinions, emotions, attitudes, or behavior.

• It seeks to “guide your choice.”

Who uses Propaganda?

•Military

•Media

•Advertisers

•Politicians

•You and I

What are some of the techniques used to persuade us? • Bandwagon

• Name-calling• Testimonial• Glittering Generality• Plain-folks appeal• Transfer• Emotional words• Faulty Reasoning• Fear

Bandwagon•Everybody is doing this.

• If you want to fit in, you need to “jump on the bandwagon” and do it too.

• The implication is that you must JOIN in to FIT in.

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For example:

If the whole world uses this VISA card, you must need one too.

Bank of the World Visa Card-You can use it from Tennessee to

Timbuktu-anywhere you travel in whole

wide world !!

Sign up today at www.bowvisa.com

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Name-calling

• A negative word or feeling is attached to an idea, product, or person.

• If that word or feeling goes along with that person or idea, the implication is that we shouldn’t be interested in it.

For example:Do we want a mayor who will leave us in debt?

Spending grew 100%

under Mayor Moneybags!

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Testimonial

•A famous person endorses an idea, a product, a candidate.

• If someone famous uses this product, believes this idea, or supports this candidate, so should we.

For example:

If we drink milk we will all be as famous as Milly the model.

Milly the Model asks, “Got Milk?”

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Glittering Generality

•A commonly admired virtue is used to inspire positive feelings for a person, idea, or product.

•Words like truth, democracy, beauty, timeless are examples of those general terms.

For example:

If you want to be brighter, you’ll support Bill Brite.

Look on the bright side!

Vote for Bill Brite !

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Plain-folks appeal

This idea, product, or person is associated with normal, everyday people and activities.

For Example: We want a Jim Smith, a mayor who supports the regular American worker.

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Transfer

•Symbols, quotes, or images of famous people are used to convey a message.

•The message may not necessarily be associated with them.

For example:Joe uses symbols of America to tie his restaurant to American values for Independence Day.

Celebrate the American Way this 4th of July-

Eat at Joe’s

Joe’s Barbeque

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Emotional words

•Words that leave us with positive feelings are used to describe a product, person, or idea.

•We associate those words and, therefore, those positive feelings with the product.

For example:

What feelings are inspired by the words “true love”? If you wear this cologne will someone fall in love with you?

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Faulty Reasoning

•Factual supporting details are used though they do not support the conclusion. It works like this:

• Christians believe in God.

• Muslims believe in God.

• Christians are Muslims.

For example:

Does this mean that teachers need medication to keep their cool during the school day ?

More teachers recommend Calm-me to help them make it through the day

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Fear

•Our fears are displayed.

•Ideas, candidates, or products are shown to put our fears to rest.

For example:

If you use Safety Ware it will people from stealing your identity-or will it?

Guard against Identity theft

Use Safety Ware

www.safetyware.com

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How do we make sure that we are making informed choices,

instead of allowing others to sway us in our decision-making?

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We make our own choices when …• we read and listen to reliable sources,

• we watch for combinations of truths and lies,

• we check for hidden messages,

• we watch for use of propaganda techniques,

and, most importantly,

www.scottish.parliament.uk/ educationservice

WHEN WE LISTEN TO OUR OWN VOICES !