PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES Bandwagon: Advertisers make it seem as if everyone is buying this product, so you better buy it too: “The best car of the year is here…. All your friends and neighbors are driving one….” This technique makes you feel left out if you are not buying the product. Testimonials: Advertisers use celebrities or just regular people to endorse the product. Pay close attention; sometimes the celebrity doesn’t even actually say that he or she uses the product. Facts and Figures: Statistics, percentages, and numbers are used to convince you that this product is better or more effective than another product. Be aware of what the numbers are actually saying. What does “30 percent more effective than the leading brand” really mean? Transfer: This is a rather complicated technique for persuasion. To recognize it, you really need to pay attention to the background of the ad or to the story of the commercial. This technique gets you to associate the good feelings shown in the ad with the product itself. Then the good feelings transfer to you when you buy the product. Example: A commercial that shows a group of people having a lot of fun while drinking a certain brand of soft drink wants you to believe that you will be a part of fun groups if you buy that brand of soft drink too.

PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES CONTINUED Assertion: A simple statement of something as fact, usually with enthusiasm and without regard for whether it is true or not. Any time an advertiser states that their product is the best without providing evidence for this, they are using an assertion. Name Calling: links a person, or idea, to a negative symbol. Examples: commie, fascist, yuppie Glittering Generalities: use of virtue words; the opposite of name calling, i.e., links a person, or idea, to a positive symbol. Examples: democracy, patriotism, family Plain Folks: attempt to convince the audience that a prominent person and his ideas are “of the people.” Examples: a prominent politician eats at McDonald’s; an actress is photographed shopping for groceries Fear: plays on deep-seated fears; warns the audience that disaster will result if they do not follow a particular course of action. Example: an insurance company pamphlet includes pictures of houses destroyed floods, followed up by details about home-owners’ insurance. Card Stacking: Manipulating information to make a product appear better than it is often by unfair comparison or omitting facts. Example: Comparison between Apple computers and Mac