Propaganda Techniques

Types of Propaganda TechniquesPut behind pg 43

Propaganda-information that is spread

for the purpose of promoting some cause

• instead of impartially providing information

propaganda can be deliberately misleading

•while sometimes convincing, are not necessarily valid/true

Does advertising work?• Children had to decide between a plain cupcake

with frosting or a cupcake with frosting and Spider-Man.

• All the kids chose the Spider-Man • when the kids were asked why they chose that

one they said they think it tastes better. • Between a banana with Spongebob stickers and

a cupcake a good majority chose the banana.• Banana with no stickers and a rock with

Spongebob stickers…• Over ½ of the children chose the rock with the

stickers to eat for breakfast.

Endorsements:

• If people admire the person endorsing a candidate or product, they will support the candidate or product too!

Stacked Cards• Card stacking is a

technique that presents only one side of the issue, often by distorting the facts– “ Candidate Leah

Ashley has the best record on healthcare”

Name-Calling

• Name calling is an attempt to turn people against an opponent or an idea by using an unpleasant label or description for that person or idea

• “Ms. Jones is a racist.”

Glittering Generality• Statement that

sounds good, but is essentially meaningless

• Glitter-sounds good

• General- who doesn’t want this stuff?

Symbols• Political

candidates and interest groups use and misuse symbols when appealing to the public

• What symbols do you see?

Just Plain Folks• Political campaigns

often use many photographs of

• candidates wearing hard hats

• talking to factory workers, or even milk cows

• Idea is to make people think that the candidate is just like them…

The Bandwagon• Getting on the

bandwagon means convincing people that everyone else agrees with the interest group’s viewpoint or that everyone is going to vote for a certain candidate.

– It tries to appeal to many people’s desire to be on the “winning team.”

“Candidate Smith totally wants peace!”

• 1. Which propaganda tech. is most influential to children under 13.

• 2. Which propaganda technique do you see the most often?

• 3. Try to come up with examples of propaganda techniques from your daily life and label them with an explanation of how it affects you.