Transcript Chapter 4 - SamuelsatWSPS

Chapter 4
Propaganda Techniques
Persuasion Vs. Propaganda
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Persuasion
is an attempt to
convince others to do
something or change
a belief.

Propaganda
is persuasion that
deliberately
discourages people
from thinking for
themselves.
Example
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A beer advertisement shows beautiful
women gathering around a man holding a
certain brand of beer.
Analysis: The advertiser is using transfer
techniques to build a connection
between the brand and the man’s
popularity and success with the ladies
Example
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“Bill Clinton is nothing more than a
geriatric skirt-chaser.”
Analysis: This is name-calling, or
labeling used to invoke powerful, negative
emotions.
Example
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“We should vote for Chris for class
president. Everyone else is going to vote
for him.”
Analysis: Where’s the evidence that Chris
will be a good president? The
bandwagon ploy encourages people to
act because everyone else is doing it.
Example
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A person who recently had liposuction and
took diet pills states, “I lost 40 pounds in
two weeks on Super Slim.”
Analysis: This statement is an example of
card-stacking by the use of a half-truth
that only tells part of the story.
Loaded words carry strong
positive or negative connotations.
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Plant
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Weed
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Animal
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Beast
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Pregnant Woman
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Expectant Mother
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Loud
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Noisy
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Drug
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Medicine
Emotional Appeal or Propaganda
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Emotional appeals are regularly used in
persuasive presentations. But, if emotional
appeals distort the truth, or provoke irrational
desires and fears, they are considered
propaganda techniques.
Is this an emotional appeal or propaganda?
A home security system runs a commercial
featuring a teenager watching two small children
at night. A man dressed in black opens the door
and the alarm goes off.
Definitions to know.
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Hearing
Listening
Critical Listening
False Reasoning
Persuasion
Propaganda
Test Yourself
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Bill, I know you think that 1+1=2. But we don’t
accept that sort of thing here.
I may be overweight, but Kelly is fat, and Sheila
is downright obese.
A book on “sea mysteries” or “The Bermuda
Triangle” might tell us that the yacht Connemara
IV was found drifting crewless, southeast of
Bermuda, on September 26, 1955. The book
makes no mention of the fact that the yacht had
been directly in the path of Hurricane Iona, with
180 mph winds and 40 foot waves.
Test yourself
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A car company runs an ad featuring a
young, happy couple driving along the
coast at sunset.
A pro-life group stages a protest and holds
up graphic pictures of a bloody aborted
fetus next to a cute baby.
“You’re wasting your time arguing with her
she’s a tree hugging hippie.”