It’s Propaganda!Marketing Techniques Used to Secure Your Vote

The 9 Propaganda Techniques

9 Propaganda Techniques

• Rally ‘Round the Flag• Dress for Success• Hoopla & Ballyhoo• Name Calling• Endorsement• Glittering Generalities• Bandwagon• Plain Folks Appeal• Appeal to Tradition• Slanting Ideas

Rally ‘Round the Flag

• Using the colors RED, WHITE and BLUE in your advertisement

• This can also be adopted to fit colors that are specific to your country, or perhaps a school (Example: using Purple and Gold when advertising for an entity like the University of Washington)

• Use the American flag in the background

• Express ideas of Patriotism• Example: Uncle Sam

Examples

Examples

Dress for Success

• Certain colors and manner of dress creates an impression of character, integrity, trust, and ‘power’

• White shirt (or blouse for women)• Navy blue or dark suit (gray is

acceptable)• “Power Tie”: Usually red – often

blue, sometimes yellow – with a simple or bold pattern

• Tie draws attention to middle of figure and up to the face

Dress – con’t

• Obviously, which of these two – based upon how they present themselves – create an aura of trust, competence, leadership?

Examples

Examples

Examples

Hoopla & Ballyhoo

• These terms are used to describe ‘fluff’ … balloons, stickers, buttons, confetti

• You see them often during the campaign

Name Calling

• Using ‘unpleasant labels’ or descriptions to harm a person, group or product

• Words or phrases are negative in nature

• Candidates will often take negative aspects of a person’s voting record or life experience – sometimes out of context – and pound the message over and over

• Sometimes you have to ask … “what is the proof?”

Examples

Examples

Examples

Endorsement

• Using a famous person (such as an athlete) to endorse, or approve, of the product or candidate

• The goal is for people to make a connection between a ‘great’ athlete/celebrity or an athlete/celebrity they ‘like’ – that therefore they will like the product/candidate also

Examples

“Be Like Mike”

Glittering Generalities

• These are broad, general words or phrases that are almost always positive in nature

• That possess few or no specifics• “Good” / “Better” / “Terrific”• “Knowledgeable” / “Smart”• “He knows what you want”• “Better than the rest”• “She listens. She cares.”• “Simply the best.”

Examples

Examples

Examples

Bandwagon

• Appeals to people’s desire to fit in, to do what other people are doing, to be ‘popular’

• “Everybody is doing it! Get on the bandwagon!”

• “I’m (doing this thing) and you should too!”

• One common visual technique is to show an individual or small group with a product (or candidate) and then make the ‘group’ grow over the span of the commercial

Examples

Plain Folks Appeal

• Using imagery to make a candidate more appealing to the average person by making them seem like ‘regular folks’

• Dressing casually, in jeans, sweater, t-shirts, etc.

• Doing things that ‘normal’ people do • Rolled-up sleeves, working with their

hands, talking with/meeting average folks

Examples

Examples

Appeal to Tradition

• Using imagery of ‘traditional American values’ to make the candidate or product more appealing to the masses

• White wedding• Trucks or Cowboys• White picket fence• Traditional American family• Hot dogs, apple pie, 4th of July• Mom• Baseball / Football

Examples

Examples

Slanting Ideas

• This method uses words, phrases or images in a certain way to favor an idea, product or candidate

• This is usually the most difficult technique to identify

• Newspapers may give bold, front-page headlines to candidates they favor, while putting the ‘other guy’ in smaller print or in the back

• They may also run side-by-side pictures of the candidates – one smiling, the other not

Examples BUSH PLAN CALLS FOR CUTS

Kerry’s long-range scheme for taxes

The End