List of techniques that can be used in commercial, endorsement and the like.

1. Propaganda techniques
Or
How the media gets
Americans to buy, think, and
vote

2. What is propaganda?
• Persuasive techniques applied by
politicians, journalists, television
personalities, and others to accomplish
their desired ends.
• These techniques persuade us not
through the give-and-take of argument
and debate, but through manipulating
symbols and basic human emotions.

3. Testimonial
• Use of a celebrity (athletes, musicians, actors)
or authority figure (doctors, auto mechanics,
plumbers) to endorse or promote a product,
cause, idea.
Products
• Examples: Troy Polomalu and L T anwswering
mother’ call; meeting at end of tunnel
• Michael Jordan and Hanes
• Dentists and toothpastes
• Jessica Simpson and Pro Active Acne
medication

5. Testimonials
Use of causes
• Sarah MacLaughlin—ASPCA
• Presidents Bush and Clinton –Tsunami
relief
• P Diddy- Vote or die campaign
• Lance Armstrong- Live Strong, cancer

7. Plain Folks
• Use of a common man, ordinary person to
promote a product.
• Scenes of family, blue-collar workers, ordinary
people
Products
Oil-man, T-Boone Pickins-- energy plan
Brawny - lumberjack—paper towels
Vonage – saved families hundreds of $ each year

8. Plain Folks
Use with Causes (lofty purpose)
• Ordinary families using CHIP (health care for children)
• Joe the Plumber—ordinary citizen used to show values
of all

10. Bandwagon
• Use of threat of not being one of the
crowd, being left out is substituted for
evidence of the quality of the product
• Use of appeal to the subject to follow
the crowd, to join in because others
are doing so as well.

12. Bandwagon
• Products such as the Verizon
Network
• Walmart ad-everyone tries to rush
into store at same time
• Gatorade-Everyone follows Sidney
Crosby’s lead in drinking Gatorade
• Nike-Just do it

13. Card-stacking
• Providing only information that is positive
to an idea or product and omitting
information that is negative to the idea or
product
Ex: Warnings given at end of drug
commercials

14. Card-stacking
Use of technique to sell products
•Lipitor ads—positive information given at
first; negative side effects rushed at end
•Alcohol ads—pleasant setting—pretty
people, warnings about drunken driving and
dangers to pregnant women

16. Card-stacking
• Used to promote causes or ideas (Lofty
purpose)
• BP—clean energy, environmentally
friendly; do not address fact that it is not
available in near future

17. Glittering generalities
• Use of words that have different positive
meanings but are linked to highly valued
concepts.
• Ex: patriotism, loyalty, green, environmentally
friendly, low fat; no carbohydrates, organic

19. Glittering generalities
Used to sell products
• “New and Improved” Tide, Windex etc.
• Chevy—”American Built; Solid as a Rock”
• Room deodorizer— “Smells Like the
Great Outdoors”

20. Glittering generalities
Used for lofty purposes
Examples:
• Chevy – “American Built; Solid as a Rock”
– Promotes American Pride

21. Hasty generalization
Use of small group to represent the
position of the whole group.
• Ex: Even though it is the first day, I can
tell this is going to be a boring course.
• E-Harmony commercials: “I found my
soul-mate. You can too.”
• I lost 50 pounds Dexatrim; you can too.

23. Red Herring
• Use of change in subject to distract the
reader from topic under discussion.
• BP commercial displays windmills in
background to distract us from the real
issue of oil prices

24. Transfer
• Transfer is a device by which the propagandist
carries over the authority and prestige of
something we respect and revere to something
he would have us accept.
• Use of feeling of respect or reverence to
something advertisers want public to accept or
buy. Ex: White lab coats to sell pain relievers
and make up.
• Names of cars –Infiniti, Mustang, Taurus (bull)

25. Transfer
Used to sell products
• Example: Bridgestone—official tires of
the NFL
• M&M’s official candy of the Olympics
Used for lofty purposes:
• Save the Children Network—authority of
valued institution; therefore, give to the
charity

27. Political ads
using transfer
• What is the
purpose of
the transfer?
• Is it
effective?

28. What is going on here?
• What is the
propaganda device
used here?
• What is the purpose?
• Is it effective? Why
or why not?