Transcript Are they facts at all

Whose voice guides your
choice?
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Propaganda techniques in the
media
How do you decide who is the
best candidate…
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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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LIFE TAKES VISA…..
 What kinds of feelings does the man in the
commercial experience?
 How does Visa use the bandwagon
technique to try and persuade you to get a
VISA card?
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.
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.
Life Takes Visa (Testimonial)
 Who was the celebrity in this commercial?
 Why would using a celebrity make people
want to buy your product?
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.
Plain-folks appeal
This idea, product, or person
is associated with normal,
everyday people and
activities.
Transfer
•Symbols, quotes, or images of
famous people are used to
convey a message.
•The message may not
necessarily be associated with
them.
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.
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.
Fear
•Our fears are displayed.
•Ideas, candidates, or
products are shown to put
our fears to rest.
How do we make sure that we are
making informed choices,
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instead of allowing others to sway us in
our decision-making?
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,
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WHEN WE LISTEN TO OUR OWN
VOICES !