Step 1: Analyzing Advertisements for

Propaganda Techniques

1. Glittering Generalities
Words of praise for product or person; nice words like
goodness or patriotism

Who is the target audience? What evidence suggests

this?

What word(s) identifies this advertisement as an

example of Glittering Generalities?

How does the layout of the advertisement emphasize

the propaganda technique?

How do the font styles, colors, subtext, background

colors, props and photography techniques emphasize the
propaganda technique?

Is this advertisement effective? Why? Why not?

What other observations do you have about the way

the Glittering Generalities technique is used in this
advertisement?

2. Name Calling
Trash-talking another product or person

Who is the target audience? What evidence suggests

this?

What is the fight?

No language is used, but what in the illustration shows

rivalry?

Examine the objects in the illustration. What other

observations do you have that indicate this as an example of
Name Calling propaganda?

Would language enhance this advertisement? Why?

Why not? If so, what words would you add to show Name
Calling propaganda?

What other observations do you have about the way

the Name Calling technique is used in this advertisement?

3. Testimonial
A famous person recommends a product or a political
endorsement

If someone tells you about a personal experience with a

product, then you are likely to believe that person. If that
'someone' is a celebrity, you may be even more likely to
buy a product that he or she is promoting. This kind of
story about a personal experience is known as a
'testimonial'.
Testimonials are used in advertising and political
campaigns to appeal to the audience's sense of ethos,
i.e. that which gives someone credit or a mandate.

 If a third, independent party has approved of a product or

idea through experience, then the speaker's voice is
validated.
What's more, the audience may be able to identify with
person giving the testimonial.
This is why the person from the testimonial usually
comes from the same demographic group as the target
audience.
The 'Got Milk?' campaign is a good example of advertising
that relies on testimonials and celebrities. This particular ad
featuring Susan Sarandon comments on the importance of
milk in providing the nutrients tha families need. She is
speaking as both a film star and a mother. Many mothers can
understand this importance to provide nutrients for children.
Many people simply think: "If Susan Sarandon drinks milk, so
should I!"

Who is the target audience? What evidence suggests

this?

Who is the famous person?

How does the endorsement by this person make the

product seem like it is worth the purchase?

Examine font styles, colors, and page layout. What do

they suggest about the product, and how do they strengthen
the power of the testimonial?

What other observations do you have about the way

Testimonial propaganda is used in this advertisement?

4. Plain Folks
Appeals to regular people and their values such as health,
family and patriotism

Who is the target audience? What evidence suggests

this?

What is this advertising suggesting will happen if

regular people eat Subway?

How does this advertisement appeal to regular people?

Why does the use of this regular guy appeal to regular

people?

Notice the only word used is the company logo. How

and/or why is this effective?

What comparison is shown that supports the usefulness

of the product?

What other observations do you have about the way

Plain Folks propaganda is used in this advertisement?

5. Bandwagon Effect

The bandwagon effect is a propaganda technique that

suggests one should do something because everyone else is
doing it. It is an argumentation fallacy, because something
does not have to be true if everyone is doing it. It comes

from the idea of a parade, where happy people go by on

bandwagons and people in the crowd have the urge to 'hop
on'. The bandwagon effect is an age-old technique used to
recruit soldiers for war or sell hamburgers to the masses.
This McDonald's ad is a good example of the bandwagon
effect. We see happy people walking by and eating at the
restaurant. If we want to be as happy as the people in the
ad, then we had better eat at McDonald's.

An appeal to be part of the group

Who is the target audience? What evidence suggests

this?

What language is used to suggest that eating this

cereal is in the best interest of the audience?

Examine font styles, colors, language and page layout.

What do they suggest about the product, and how do they
strengthen the power of the Bandwagon technique?

What other observations do you have about the way

Bandwagon propaganda is used in this advertisement?

6. Transfer
An appeal that helps a person imagine themselves as part of
a picture

Who is the target audience? What evidence suggests

this?

What is this advertisement suggesting about the

president?

How does the layout and background create an image

for America and/or the president?

What is the tone of this image? Positive? Negative?

How can you tell?

What other observations do you have about the way

Transfer propaganda is used in this advertisement?

7. Card-stacking
Manipulating information to make a product appear better
than it is, often by unfair comparison or omitting facts

Who is the target audience? What evidence suggests

this?

What in this advertisement suggests the product is

good and/or that facts may be omitted?

Examine font styles, colors, and page layout. What do

they suggest about the product, and how do they strengthen
the power of the card-stacking technique?

8.

Fear

In advertisements, speeches or even newpaper articles we see

that writers and speakers appeal to their audience's sense of fear.
If you can make people scared, then they will believe or buy

anything. We see it in advertising, political campaigns and public

service announcements. It is an age-old technique used many
campaigns from the 'War on Terror' to the 'War on Drugs'.

This story by The First Post is critical of an article in The Sun,

which appealed heavily to fear and invented a story to scare
people.

9. Shock advertising

Shock advertising is used to gain attention.

If an advertisement is controversial, then it gains free publicity through

the press and on blogs.

Even though this kind of publicity can be negative, it is still publicity

nonetheless.

Shock advertising leads to brand awareness and an eventual rise in

sales.

Many companies that use shock advertising do not even show their
product.

The interest is solely on creating a very memorable impact on their

audience.

Studies show that shock advertising can be effective for increasing

brand awareness and sales (see Buyology by Martin Lindstrom).

There are many examples of shock advertising from Benetton

to Calvin Klein. The image included here is of Isabell Caro
who posed for Oliviero Toscani and Nolita Jeans before dying
of anorexia. This picture of her emaciated body shocked many
viewers and gave Nolita Jeans a lot of publicity.
10. Conflict in advertising

 Including a conflict situation in an ad helps sell a product or

an idea.
This advertising technique relies on the audience's interest in
seeing the conflict resolved.
If you think about how children are intrigued by fights in the
schoolyard, then you understand how conflict in advertising
draws our attention to a product.
Conflict in advertising can sometimes lead to shock
advertising if scandalous or controversial, which goes one
step further in creating a media-hype and drawing attention
to the product or brand.

An ad as simple as this one for Benetton in the early 1990s

includes a conflict that the audience wants to see resolved.
We ask questions like: "Why are these men handcuffed
together?" "Who has the key?" "Is one a police officer and the
other a criminal?" Asking questions like these engages the

audience with the image and eventually the product and

brand.
11. Problem / solution technique

If you can convince someone that they have a problem, you

can sell them a solution. This is the kind of persuasive
technique used by advertisers and politicians, known as the
problem / solution technique. If an audience can identify with
one characteristic of the problem, then they can be persuaded
to believe that they must buy into the solution.

This technique can be found in the Tylenol ad opposite. Many

people find air travel a stressful experience. If you can identify
with the stress and headache that this passenger is suffering
from, you may want to buy Tylenol too.

12. Anti-advertising

An anti-ad draws your attention to and makes you aware of the

conventions of advertising. In effect anti-ads seems to tell the
audience that they are smart enough to see through the tricks

played by advertisers. Not only does an anti-ad break the rules

of advertising. It shows you how and why they have done this.
The notion of anti-advertising started in the 1950s with the
'lemon' ad from Volkswagen. 'Lemon', is another world for a
bad car. Calling their cars 'lemons' shocks readers into reading
the rest of a lengthy infomercial (An infomercial is a form of television
commercial, which generally includes a phone number or website. Most often
used as a form of direct response television (DRTV), longform infomercials are typically 28:30 or 58:30 minutes in length. )about

their strict inspection process at the Volkswagen factory.