PROPAGANDA RESEARCH

Locate an example of propaganda in printed form or on the radio, TV or Internet, Newspaper, advertisements, campaign literature shortly before an election, or other materials may be used.  If the propaganda is printed, Xerox a copy unless the material is your own.  If you hear on the radio or see on TV an item of propaganda write down the message carefully and describe the action if on TV. 

Then follow the directions below:

First, put the item of propaganda on paper, written or pasted (stapled) down.  Second, label the propaganda with the particular technique used (Name Calling, Glittering Generality, etc.).  Third, explain why and how the given sample or propaganda fits the specific label given.

*You must turn in an example of each of the Propaganda Techniques listed below. 

Propaganda Techniques

Propagandists can use several very simple methods to persuade their audiences.  All these techniques have one element in common:  they make an appeal to the values and attitudes of the audience.  The next time you watch advertisements on television you might try to identify the particular techniques being used.

Glittering generalities is a technique of surrounding a product, candidate, or policy with rather empty phrases that evoke a favorable response.  Politicians, for example, become lyrical about freedom, democracy, the individual, or a better future, and have successfully campaigned on such slogans as New Frontier, Great Society, or even Law and Order.

Namecalling is a method used in negative propaganda:  it attempts to attach an unfavorable label to something that the propagandist opposes.  Opponents of plans for a national health insurance program, for example, have successfully branded these plans as socialized medicine.  This phrase conjures up images of socialism, a concept to which the American public generally reacts very unfavorably.

Transfer is a method of winning approval for something by associating it with something else that is known to be viewed favorably.  The most obvious example is the practice of associating commercial products with attractive models, however irrelevant the link between the two may be.

Testimonial is the techniques of using people-often celebrities, to make public statements favoring or opposing something.  Commercial advertisers, for example, commonly use sports heroes, movie stars, or even retired astronauts to recommend their products on television and in magazines.   

Plainfolks is the method of identifying the propagandists ideas, or person with ordinary people.  Political candidates, for example, try to create a down-to-earth, common-sense image by being filmed driving tractors, wearing hard hats, or mingling in street crowds.
Cardstacking is an argument in which the facts (or falsehoods) are arranged in such a way that only one conclusion seems to be logically possible.  This method is commonly used in commercial advertisements that compare one brand to another.

Bandwagonis a method that tries to build support for a particular viewpoint or product by creating the impression that everyone is doing it.  the implication is that the audience is being left out of a popular trend and should get with it.