WHAT DOES PROPAGANDA HAVE TO DO WITH THE CHOICES I MAKE?

It is ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a government, etc. What is Propaganda?

Propaganda is the “dark side” of bias. Propaganda techniques are designed to change your opinion by manipulating the truth.

Military Politicians Governments You and I Media & Advertising like: Television Radio Billboards Magazines Newspapers Who uses Propaganda?

Influence of Propaganda  If you watch 30 hours of TV per week, you will… –View roughly 37,822 commercials per year That’s about 100 TV ads per day  You will see another 100 to 300 ads per day through other mass media If companies did not think you could be influenced, they would not spend billions of dollars on it!

So … if everyone is trying to influence you, how do you make good choices?

Bandwagon Name-calling Testimonial & Endorsements Glittering Generality Plain-folks appeal Loaded words Emotional appeal Fear What are some of the methods or techniques used to persuade us?

Encouraging people to think or act in some way simply because other people are doing it. Bandwagon says everybody is doing this. Join the crowd! You must JOIN in to FIT in! If you want to fit in, you need to “jump on the bandwagon” and do it too. Bandwagon

Name-calling A negative word or feeling is attached to an idea, product, or person implying that we should not be interested.

Testimonial & Endorsements A famous person or expert endorses an idea, a product, a candidate. If a famous person or expert uses this product, believes this idea, or supports this candidate, so should we.

words like truth, democracy, beauty, timeless inspire positive feelings for a person, idea, or product. Glittering Generality Uses words of praise for a product or person

This idea, product, or person is associated with normal, everyday people and activities. Plain-folks appeal

Loaded Words Words that are very descriptive and filled with emotion. These words are used to capture the consumers attention and influence their actions. They can be used in both a positive and negative way and appear in all sorts of advertisements.

Emotional Appeal Words are used that try to persuade a person’s emotions and not their logic or reasoning. An emotional appeal tries to make the reader connect the writer’s message with an important feeling.

Tells us something to make us afraid Suggests that the product or person will save us from some danger. Fear

So…how do we make sure that we are making informed choices, instead of allowing others to sway us in our decision-making?

we read and listen to reliable sources, we watch for combinations of truths and lies, we check for hidden messages, we watch for use of propaganda techniques, We think critically We make our own choices when …