In the world of “high-line cars,” as the car dealerships like to put it, there are a lot
of misleading impressions being portrayed to potential buyers, all in the name of doing
business. The general public is constantly being painted a picture of what an ideal
“high-line car owner,” for example, should look like, what they should wear, how they
should work, and how they could live if they owned a Cadillac of course. For the vast
majority of people what they see on TV ads or in popular magazines determines what
they like. The more glamourous the product appears, the more likely it is to do well in
stores. Propaganda might be thought of as only being a wartime tool used by
governments to try and persuade a large mass of people. But in fact its much more
than that. It surrounds us in our daily lives being used by large corporations with their
own specific target group of people. Cadillacʼs campaign for 2006 uses the illusion of
success as their foundation for their propaganda ads. Cadillac uses three distinct
tactics of propaganda in their TV commercials; Faulty Cause and Effect, Glittering
Generalities, and Testimonial as defined in Propaganda: How Not To Be Bamboozled,
an essay written by Donna Woolfolk Cross. Cadillac uses these forms of Propaganda
in order to attract their target group more mature crowd of individuals (i.e. the ones that
can afford a high-line car such as a Cadillac).
In a thirty-second clip of one of Cadillacʼs many short films, Cadillac is using
Crossʼs Faulty Cause and Effect tactic to lure in potential buyers to their product.
Cadillac starts off their commercial clip using a beautiful young business woman that is
dressed in an elegant black business suit. She is depicted walking confidently down
the center of her office building between cubicles with her eyes fixed dead ahead and
her high heeled feet impacting the ground in synchronization with the background
music that is blaring a song with lyrics saying, “Here comes success!!! hooray
success!!!”. When she is spotted by her fellow male co-workers coming their way they
instantly try and avoid her or tense up in a way that they canʼt be mistaken for not
working. When the young women finally arrives at the elevator she finds a lone male
co-worker obviously scared stiff with a pen in his T-shirt pocket. The music cuts off and
they both stand next to each other facing forward in a short gap of silence until finally
the young woman says, “hello Chris” and the lone male co-worker responds with a
timid, “hello” then his pen in his pocket releases its ink all down his shirt. The young
lady is then shown in her car laughing as she drives away with her background music
re-joining her. In this commercial Cadillac wants us to believe that if you were to
purchase their product, success would follow thereafter in the form of promotions,
which would result in people giving you respect, and maybe even fear you. The pen
releasing ink all over the male co-workers t- shirt pocket is a humorous thought
because we all know that pens donʼt have emotions and therefore cant experience
fear. This would be the human equivalent to wetting your pants. However the picture
that Cadillac is trying to paint is that because this young lady is driving a Cadillac she
is successful, and because she is successful she is respected; so much that humans
and inanimate objects alike feel fear from her. Itʼs pretty clear that this commercial is
not aimed at a younger audience, because they are not the ones working for big
corporations yet, but more for those people that are in that particular situation and
desire that promotion. Faulty Cause and Effect is defined by Cross as being, “a causeand-effect relationship that may not be true. Just because one thing happened after
another doesnʼt mean that one caused the other.” (Cross 129) So in other words, just
because the young lady in the commercial is respected and successful doesnʼt mean
that it all happened for her because she bought a Cadillac. She most likely bought the
car after she received her promotion as a proclamation to the world that sheʼs
somebody now.
Probably the most popular way of getting your product noticed in todayʼs day
and age is the use of well known celebrities in Testimonials. Celebrities are the trend
setters of our modern world that need only to wear a product or make an appearance
to gain the acceptance of thousands of people. In Cadillacʼs next commercial, they
employ this tactic by using a celebrity to promote their product in Crossʼ Testimonial
form of propaganda. Tiki Barber, a famous football player that made his break out not
too long ago, is shown cruising down the road in a spotless black Cadillac SUV. Mr.
Barber goes on to talk about the fact of when he first started playing professional
football he was a second string back-up and wasnʼt till after the player he was backing
up got hurt that he had his chance to become great. The entire time Mr. Barber is
talking about how he took his chance, the camera moves into all kinds of angles
shooting the car against skyscrapers and bridges and brightly lit buildings which lights
bounces off the mirror looking paint on the car. The viewer is shown an example of a
very fortunate, and more importantly, famous individual, who is very successful in life
driving their product and talking about how anyone can be just as successful as they
are. Cross writes, “using the name of a man who is skilled and famous in one field to
give a testimonial for something in another filed is unfair and unreasonable” (Cross
132). We all know, of course, that all professional football players are the experts on
cars. Shouldnʼt honest car companies want leading experts in the automotive industry
speaking out for their product? The answer is, “why take the risk of getting a bad
review from someone that nobody knows, when you can simply pay someone that
everyone knows to do all the talking for you; and the best part is that you get to choose
what they say!” The simple truth is that the audience is so distracted by the illusion of
success and all its luxuries, that the viewer overlooks the most important fact that not
everyone can be a great athlete like Tiki Barber. As a matter of fact it takes more than
just being an great athlete it takes a little luck as even Tiki Barber admitted, “it wasnʼt
till after the player I was backing up got hurt that I had my chance to become great.”
One thing that every Cadillac commercial has in common are those great
sounding catch phrases at the end of every commercial, but what do they really mean?
These catch phrases are called Glittering Generalities, as Cross writes, “We believe in,
fight for, live by ʻvirtue wordsʼ which we feel deeply about, these sound good, but when
we examine them closely , they turn out to have no specific, definable meaning. They
just make us feel good.” (Cross 124). A Glittering Generality is not meant to be
examined. Its whole purpose is to add that little extra seasoning to the overall flavor of
the idea that is trying to be sold using catchy phrases. In many ways Cadillacʼs ads are
full of these mealiness phrases. Phrases like, “sometimes yoga doesnʼt cut it” used to
describe a older woman whipping around winding mountain roads and apparently
feeling some kind of satisfaction that she lacks from yoga, but what is the relevance of
yoga to driving an automobile? Absolutely nothing. Its hard enough mustering the will
to head out into our traffic jammed streets and freeways, even when are obligations
require us to, so taking an afternoon drive for no specific reason is highly unlikely.
Another phrase that Cadillac employs is, “Nothing is constant in life except change, or
is it?” this phrase would take the average reader at least another run through to fully
comprehend and even then they might still feel bewildered. Cadillac is trying to imply
that their cars are timeless and the values, they started their company with, have not
been influenced or altered with time. But perhaps the true Glittering Generality phrase
used by Cadillac is their new slogan, “Life, liberty and the pursuit” right off the bat you
feel good knowing that something about this car company is truly American, after all it
closely resembles our Nationʼs slogan. This car will bring us happiness (even though
its not stated, but instead implied). When used correctly Glittering Generalities can be
an effective tool of Propaganda for the average person to remember a company by its
catchy phrase or slogan.
Propaganda is used very effectively by large corporations all around the world,
playing to the emotions and dreams of the masses. It sets the ideal goal for many by
portraying the perfect scenario for their products. Weʼve all been victims of some type
of Propaganda at some point in our lives, whether we admit it or not its simply a case
of what we find attractive and interesting. Propaganda is something that will stay with
us for many years to come, knowing how to spot it and become wiser in our decision
making should be a goal that we should all strive to obtain. It is a very feasible goal as
long as we learn to block out the Glittering Generalities by searching for the deeper
meanings and not letting us be taken by fantasy phrases. We also need to listen and
pay attention to who exactly is giving us Testimonials and whether or not they are
qualified to share with us their opinions, and finally keep a wary eye out for Faulty
Cause and Effect, not everything happens because a specific event made it so, even
though its incredibly easy to make that connection. One thing is for sure the world
would be less interesting if we knew how everyone thought, if nothing else at least
Propaganda keeps us entertained. I would probably still buy a Cadillac if I had that
kind of money, not only for the statement I would make to everyone that sees me in it,
but also because I heard that Tiki Barber owns one.