Propaganda or Good Advertising?

This week I’d like to look at the dark side to creative communication (Heavy breathing ala Darth Vader). It’s one that plays on the susceptibilities of people to various techniques that fall under the category of propaganda. Understand I have participated in developing marketing campaigns to attract people to church, to get them to consider the teachings of the Bible or to get involved in giving campaigns. That said, I find nothing wrong with the type of marketing whose objective is to get people to check out the product or idea being marketed and give it a chance to stand or fall on its own merits. But when the purpose of marketing is to manipulate a person to purchase a product or buy into an idea solely on various emotive strings that are being plunked then you’ve crossed the line into propaganda.

Some may consider the use of propaganda fair game when it comes to marketing, taking the philosophy of “Caveat Emptor” – Let the buyer beware. But I’ve found that the buyer has to be aware before he can beware. And a great majority of people simply aren’t aware that they are being propagandized. Too many of us are so over or underwhelmed with life that we coast through it on mental cruise control, which leaves us susceptible to some of the techniques I highlight below.

Here are 7 basic propaganda techniques as set forth by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis in the early 20th century, others have been added since then, but these seven by and large cover the majority of techniques that are used to manipulate people.

Bandwagon: This approach encourages you to think that because everyone else is doing something, you should do it too, or you'll be left out. Bandwagon is an appeal to the subject to follow the crowd, to join in because others are doing so as well. The average person wants to belong, to be part of the in crowd. This techniques plays off of that need of people not wanting to be left out.

Card stacking: This term comes from stacking a deck of cards in your favor during a card game. It seeks to slant a message. Card stacking involves presenting only information that is positive to an idea or proposal and omitting information contrary to it. Although the majority of information presented by the card stacking approach is true, it is dangerous because it omits important information. Keep in mind that an advertiser is under no obligation "to give the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

Glittering Generalities: Glittering generalities are words that have different positive meaning for individual subjects and have little or no real meaning, although they are linked to highly valued concepts. When these words are used, they demand approval without thinking, simply because such an valued concept is involved. For example, when a product states that it is “new and improved”, makes “whites whiter”, or has “scrubbing bubbles.”

Name Calling: Name calling occurs most often in political advertising. This technique consists of attaching a negative label to a person or an idea. People engage in this type of behavior when they are trying to avoid supporting their own opinion with facts. The propaganda attempts to arouse prejudice among the public by labeling the target something that the public dislikes. Often, name calling is employed using sarcasm and ridicule, and shows up often in political cartoons or writings.

Plain Folks: The plain folk’s device is an attempt to convince the public that the products/ideas/views reflect those of the common person and that they are also working for the benefit of the common person. The user will often attempt to use the accent of a specific audience as well as using specific idioms or jokes. This technique is usually most effective when used with glittering generalities, in an attempt to convince the public that the propagandist views about highly valued ideas are similar to their own and therefore more valid.

Testimonials: This technique uses "big name" personalities to endorse a product or an idea. Testimonials are quotations or endorsements, in or out of context, which attempt to connect a famous or respectable person with a product or item. Whenever you see someone famous endorsing a product, ask yourself how much that person knows about the product, and what he or she stands to gain by promoting it.

Transfer: Transfer is an attempt to make the subject view a certain item in the same way as they view another item, to link the two in the subjects mind. This technique can be used to transfer negative or positive feelings for one object to another. By linking an item to something the subject respects or enjoys, positive feelings can be generated for it. For example, using the American flag as a backdrop for a political event makes the implication that the event is patriotic in the best interest of the U.S.

There are several other propaganda techniques that have been developed or are subsets of the ones listed here. Techniques such as the “Either/or fallacy” that encourages "black-and-white thinking" because only two choices are given. Or the “Snob Appeal” technique that tries to play off of a person’s desire to be unique and have something, or know something that the majority doesn’t.

Hopefully being aware of these techniques will better prepare you to spot them when you are purchasing products for yourself, your business or non-profit, to insure that you make an informed decision. If a company/government/church has to use propaganda to sell something to us, then it merits us taking the time to dig deeper into what they are pitching to insure we aren’t being taken advantage of.

In closing I’d like to thank two of my professors for making me aware of these techniques and providing me with the tools to see past them. They are: Ray Fabrizio, who taught a course entitled “Propaganda in Media, Politics and Advertising” at Monterey Peninsula Community College in the 1980’s and Dr. John Williamson, who taught a course on “Critical Thinking” at Nazarene Bible College in the 1990’s.