Propaganda is the manipulation and control of language or images to send a certain message or messages. Propaganda is all around us in every part of the world. You are exposed to propaganda every day.

There are two primary areas in which we encounter propaganda. These are the political arena and the marketing/advertising arena. We are studying Animal Farm so we can think about the ways propaganda is used in the political arena. HOWEVER, I am about to ask you to work on a project that will require you to apply your knowledge of propaganda to the marketing/advertising arena. In order to do this, we need to learn some new vocabulary…

Bandwagon Persuading people to do something by letting them know others are doing it.

Testimonial Using the words of a famous person to persuade an audience

Transfer Using the names or pictures of famous people, but not direct quotations, to sell a product or idea.

Repetition The product name is repeated at least four times.

Emotional Appeal Words that make you feel strongly about someone or something.

Branding trade name: a name given to a product or service a recognizable kind burn with a branding iron to indicate ownership; of animals

Manipulating words to soften the true meaning. Example: Trash dump vs. waste management

Simplification covers the true meaning. Example: “Made from real fruit juices!” (but only 10%)

Demographic: a characteristic used to classify people. Examples would include age, race, or gender. Target Audience: the group of people for whom an ad is intended.

Work in groups of two. Agree on a fictitious product that you will sell. Create an ad campaign to sell your product to the class. Ad campaigns are due on Monday, November 1. You and your partner will be asked to present your campaign to the class. You should use a story-board style of visual aid to explain your campaign. You should incorporate at least 5 of the vocabulary words from this presentation.

1. Propaganda 2. Bandwagon 3. Testimonial 4. Transfer 5. Repetition 6. Emotional appeal 7. Branding 8. Euphemism 9. Oversimplification 10. Demographic 11. Target audience