How propaganda works
By HowStuffWorks, adapted by Newsela staff on 01.04.18
Word Count 1,000
Level 850L
Image 1. English propaganda poster from 1915, created by the British government. It shows a column of soldiers marching into
the distance, while being joined by civilians. Image from the public domain.
We are surrounded by messages that try to get our attention. Advertisers, politicians and other
groups all try to get us to agree with them. Another word for this is propaganda. While
propaganda is not always a bad thing, it refers to information that attempts to change what people
believe. It also leaves out details that might show a different point of view.
Propaganda is not exactly the same as advertising, where the goal is to get people to buy a
specific item. With propaganda, the goal is to change a belief or way of thinking.
Propaganda has been around for hundreds of years, but the term was used for the first time in
1622, about 400 years ago. That was when Pope Gregory XV, the head of the Catholic Church,
started the Congregation of Propaganda. The job of this group was to convert people back to the
religion of Catholicism. Many had started following a slightly different religion, called
Protestantism.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
1
Today, propaganda is used by businesses, political groups and the government. It is spread
through posters, television, radio and the Internet. The Internet has made it much easier to get
messages out to the whole world.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
2
Propaganda Techniques
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
3
There are many different techniques, or ways, to create propaganda. Name-calling is one of the
main techniques. Politicians use it when they insult someone they don't like. They might call
someone a "traitor" or a "liar" to make them look bad.
Another is the bandwagon technique. Since people want to be on the winning side, they will join a
politician who acts like they're already winning or popular. This is called jumping on the
bandwagon.
A third technique is called glittering generalities. This means bringing together positive words with
an idea that people love. People will usually agree with ideas like defending democracy or
protecting the family.
Card-stacking is a technique that only presents good information about a topic. The bad
information is completely left out. Although the information is usually true, card-stacking can make
people think that there are no bad sides to a topic.
The plain folks technique is used often in politics. For example, many politicians have a great deal
of money, but they might want to prove that they are still ordinary people. They might show up in
ads in which they do simple things like hunting or fishing. This makes them more relatable and
people are more likely to vote for them.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
4
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
5
Some propaganda is based on fear and scares people into choosing sides or taking action. A
group may want people to stop smoking. They may run a campaign that warns if you smoke, you
will likely get cancer and die.
The transfer technique is a bit harder to notice. A group or person tries to become connected to a
symbol that people like. For example, a U.S. president might stand in front the U.S. flag so that
people will see him as a true American patriot.
Propaganda Mediums
Television, radio and movies can be the most dangerous kind of propaganda, said M. Lane
Bruner. He is a professor at Georgia State University. He said that the audience can't respond to
a message that appears on TV. This is a problem because it makes it look like the message is
always true.
Types of Propaganda
Political propaganda has been around as long as there have been politicians. But the first official
type of propaganda was religious. Missionaries have used it for hundreds of years to convince
people to follow a certain religion.
To see through propaganda, it's necessary to do extra work and use different sources of
information. It can be very useful to find out who created the message and who is paying for it. It
is also useful to learn what words and images are being used. Then, you can decide if the
message is true or has a secret purpose.
War Propaganda
War propaganda began during World War I, more than 100 years ago. Great Britain and
Germany were enemies, and they used propaganda in the United States. They both wanted
Americans to take their side. Britain was able to block Germany from sending messages directly
to the United States. After that, many Americans only saw the war from the British point of view.
Propaganda was used even more during World War II. Germany was ruled by Adolf Hitler and the
Nazi party, which controlled all information. Germans only got positive information about Nazis.
Books that went against Nazi ideas were gathered and burned.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
6
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
7
Posters were also very popular during the war. They were used by all sides, including Germany,
Britain and the United States. Posters can be put up anywhere, and people remember images
more than words. In the United States, for example, a poster was used to get people to carpool.
This means having more than one person in the same car. The poster said that "When You Ride
Alone You Ride with Hitler." It meant that if people drove separate cars, they wasted too much
gas. The United States was fighting Hitler's Germany and needed to save how much gas it was
using.
Today, war propaganda still exists. The Internet lets it reach more people than ever. For example,
extremist groups in Iraq use the Internet to get new members and raise money.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
8
Quiz
1
Examine image 3 and read the paragraph below from the section "Propaganda Techniques."
Some propaganda is based on fear and scares people into choosing
sides or taking action. A group may want people to stop smoking. They
may run a campaign that warns if you smoke, you will likely get cancer
and die.
HOW does the image support the information in the paragraph?
2
(A)
It shows people that they can get cancer from communism.
(B)
It uses fear to show what happens to people when they smoke.
(C)
It uses fear to show people that communism is bad.
(D)
It shows that cancer causes many people to die.
Based on the four images and information from the article, which statement is TRUE?
(A)
Propaganda is mainly spread through posters.
(B)
Most propaganda uses the glittering generalities technique.
(C)
Propaganda is mainly spread during wartime.
(D)
The goal of propaganda is to change a belief or way of thinking.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
9
3
Read the third paragraph of the article.
Propaganda has been around for hundreds of years, but the term was
used for the first time in 1622, about 400 years ago. That was when Pope
Gregory XV, the head of the Catholic Church, started the Congregation of
Propaganda. The job of this group was to convert people back to the
religion of Catholicism. Many had started following a slightly different
religion, called Protestantism.
Which conclusion is BEST supported by this paragraph?
4
(A)
Religious propaganda aims to convince people to follow a certain religion.
(B)
Propaganda did not exist before Pope Gregory started the Congregation of
Propaganda.
(C)
There was no need for propaganda until people started to leave one religion for
another religion.
(D)
Pope Gregory XV used many different techniques to create and distribute
propaganda.
Read the paragraph from the section "Propaganda Techniques."
The plain folks technique is used often in politics. For example, many
politicians have a great deal of money, but they might want to prove that
they are still ordinary people. They might show up in ads in which they do
simple things like hunting or fishing. This makes them more relatable and
people are more likely to vote for them.
Which sentence from the paragraph explains WHY many rich politicians use the plain folks technique
to show that they are ordinary people?
(A)
The plain folks technique is used often in politics.
(B)
For example, many politicians have a great deal of money, but they might want to
prove that they are still ordinary people.
(C)
They might show up in ads in which they do simple things like hunting or fishing.
(D)
This makes them more relatable and people are more likely to vote for them.
This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.
10