Whose voice guides your
choice?
Clipart-Microsoft Office XP 2002
Propaganda techniques in the media
How do you decide who is the best
candidate…
Clipart-Microsoft Office XP 2002
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 CardYou can use it from Tennessee to
Timbuktuanywhere 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?
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Spending grew 100%
under Mayor Moneybags!
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.
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Milly the Model
asks, “Got Milk?”
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.
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Look on the bright
side!
Vote for Bill Brite !
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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Vote for Smith
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 JulyEat 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?
True Love
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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 Calmme 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?
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Guard against
Identity theft
Use Safety Ware
www.safetyware.com
How do we make sure that we are making informed
choices,
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instead of allowing others to sway us in our decisionmaking?
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 !