Transcript Propaganda notes 2010

Systematic effort to manipulate
other people’s beliefs, attitudes, or
actions by means of symbols
(words, gestures, banners, music,
clothing, designs and so forth)
Who is entering your brain?
How are people invading your thoughts?
What is propaganda?
How does it work?
Propaganda is a way of persuading you to
do something, like buying a certain
product or voting in a particular way.
Propaganda works because it makes you
want to be like the people or situation you
see in the advertisement.
What is an ad campaign?
An ad campaign is a plan.
It uses multiple ads for the same product.
Each ad is different but they all have a
similar theme.
You remember them because they are
similar but they each target a different
audience.
Different audiences will react differently.
Components
Target
Audience
Emotional
Response
Humor
Slogan
Target Audience
Who is the message intended for?
Age
Gender
- We really are attracted to commercials that
show people we feel are our age or like the
age we’d like to be.
- We often identify with people in the
commercial who are the same gender as
we are – man or woman.
Target Audience
Who is the message intended for?
Special Interests
- We are interested in products
that match our hobbies, our jobs,
our family.
Social Class
Snob Appeal:
Plain Folks:
Shows people who are
obviously wealthy or “in”.
We wish we were too!
Shows ordinary people
on purpose so their
product doesn’t look
snobby.
Propaganda Techniques
Advertisements use specific techniques to
influence how we think.
We will study 3 kinds of techniques:
• Emotional Response
• Humor
• Slogan
Emotional Response
techniques used to make us respond with our
feelings, not our brains
If you get emotionally involved in the product,
you’re likelier to buy it!
Patriotism
These ads make us think the product
Is one that will identify us
as a good citizen.
Look for: flags, soldiers,
firemen, the words “our
country” or “free”
Emotional Response
Safety/Trust
These ads make us
think the products will
make us safe.
Look for:
scientific data,
facts, the words
“trust”, “count on”,
“help” or “care for”.
Family Values
These ads make us
think the products will
make our family a
loving one.
Look for:
Families having
fun, laughing,
hugging, eating
together, the words
“love”, “family”,
“mom” or “dad”.
Emotional Response
Romantic Appeal
Romantic ads make us
feel the product will
make us romantic or
sexy.
Look for:
romantic situations
Name Dropping
These ads refer to a
celebrity (name dropping)
or have a celebrity
promoting their product.
Look for:
A celebrity or listen for
the name.
Emotional Response
Testimonial
These ads have a person who
gives their personal story
about a product and how
they have used and liked it.
Sometimes this person is a
celebrity.
Sometimes it is not.
Either way they give their story
to influence your purchase.
Bandwagon
These ads specifically suggest
that “everybody” uses the product
or believes a certain idea.
Look for:
Huge crowds, the words
“everybody”, “most popular”,
or numbers with high percents.
Propaganda Techniques
Advertisements use specific techniques to
influence how we think.
We will study 3 kinds of techniques:
• Emotional Response
• Humor
• Slogan
Humor
If it’s funny we’ll remember it!
Ads use humor alone or in combination
with other techniques to get you in a
good mood.
Good mood = you’ll buy
Look for: funny situations, anything you
would laugh at.
Slogan
A brief, catchy phrase you’ll
remember.
The company’s slogan is the same in all their
advertisements. If you remember the slogan,
you’ll remember the product. If you remember
the product, you’ll most likely buy it.
How easy is it
to break into
YOUR
brain?