In a wider sense, propaganda shares many techniques with advertising – in essence, propaganda is merely the promotion of a commercial product. As commonly understood, however, the term usually refers to political or nationalistic messages. It can take the form of leaflets, posters, TV broadcasts or radio broadcasts.
More specifically, propaganda can refer to deliberately false or misleading information that supports a political cause or enhances the interests of those in power. The propagandist seeks to change the way people understand an issue or situation, targeting them with a loaded message to produce an emotional (rather than rational) response, forcing them to change their beliefs / actions in ways that are desirable to the interest group.
In this sense, propaganda runs parallel to the practice of censorship - the same purpose is achieved, not by filling people's heads with false information, but by preventing people from knowing true information.
The crucial distinction that sets propaganda apart from other forms of ‘idea promotion’ is the willingness of the propagandist to change people's understanding through deception and confusion, rather than persuasion and understanding. The leaders of an organization know the information to be one-sided or untrue, but this may not be true for the ordinary members who help spread the propaganda.
Propaganda is a mighty weapon in war. In instances of war, the aim of propaganda is usually to dehumanize the enemy or to create hatred against a special group. The technique is to create false images in the viewer's mind. This can be done by using special words, or specially avoiding certain words, or by saying that the enemy is responsible for certain things they never did.
Below are a number of techniques for generating propaganda:Ad Hominem: A Latin phrase which has come to mean attacking your opponent, as opposed to attacking their arguments. Example: Pauline Hanson is a virus infecting this nation!
Appeal to authority: Appeals to authority cite prominent individuals to support a position, idea, argument, or course of action. Example: If environmentalist Tim Flannery is backing the government’s drought policy, then it must be a good idea.
Appeal to fear: Appeals to fear seek to build support by instilling anxieties and panic in the general population. Example: The migrant influx means that Asians are taking jobs from your children.
Appeal to Prejudice: Using loaded or emotive terms to attach value or moral goodness to believing the proposition. For example, the phrase: "Any hard-working taxpayer would agree that those who do not work, and who do not support the community do not deserve a fortnightly welfare payment.”
Bandwagon: Bandwagon (also known as "inevitable-victory") appeals attempt to persuade the target audience to join in and take the course of action that "everyone else is taking." (ie: get on the winning team before it's too late) Also, those already on the bandwagon are reassured that staying aboard is still the best option to take.
Black-and-White fallacy: Presenting only two choices, with the product or idea being propagated as the better choice. Example: You’re either with us, or you’re with the terrorists! (George W. Bush)
The Common man: This approach aims to convince the audience the propagandist's position reflects the common sense of the people, that the propagandist is merely one of the masses. Propagandists use ordinary language and mannerisms in attempting to identify their point of view with that of the average person. Example: During election campaigns, politicians will visit working-class suburban areas, mixing with the battlers wearing ‘casual clothes’ and be seen ‘rolling their sleeves up’ to get stuck into some hard yakka – they’re not out of touch with ordinary folk!
Demonizing the enemy: Making individuals from the opposing nation, from a different ethnic group, or those who support the opposing viewpoint appear to be subhuman. Example: the Vietnam-era term "gooks" or Hitler’s storm troopers depicted in cartoons eating babies.
Direct order: This technique hopes to simplify the decision making process by using images and words to tell the audience exactly what actions to take, eliminating any other possible choices. Example: the famous 'Uncle Sam' recruitment poster proclaiming "I want you".
Euphoria: Using an event that generates euphoria or happiness, or using an appealing event to boost morale. Euphoria can be created by declaring a holiday, making luxury items available, or mounting a military parade with marching bands and patriotic messages.
Flag-waving: An attempt to justify an action on the grounds that doing so will make one more patriotic, or in some way benefit a group, country, or idea. Example: Eating lamb on January 26 is the most Aussie thing you can do – it’ll make you feel good and it’ll make this nation great!
Glittering generalities: Glittering generalities are emotionally appealing words applied to a product or idea, but which present no concrete argument or analysis. In the cold light of day, it’s hard to prove or disprove the claim. A famous example is the campaign slogan "Ford has a better idea!"
Half-truth: A half-truth is a deceptive statement which may come in several forms and includes some element of truth. The statement might be partly true, the statement may be totally true but only part of the whole truth, or it may utilize some deceptive element, such as improper punctuation, or double meaning, especially if the intent is to deceive, evade blame or misrepresent the truth.
Intentional vagueness: Generalities are deliberately vague so that the audience will supply its own interpretation. The intention is to move the audience by use of phrases that are undefined. Viewers tend to gloss over and not fully analyse the terms' validity or accuracy. People will draw their own interpretations rather than simply being presented with an explicit idea. In trying to "figure out" the propaganda, the audience foregoes judgment of the ideas presented.
Obtain disapproval: This technique is used to persuade a target audience to disapprove of an action or idea by suggesting that the idea is popular with groups hated, feared, or held in contempt by the target audience. If someone who supports a particular policy is made to believe that an undesirable or contemptible group (eg: the KKK) supports the same policy, then he/she may decide to change their original position.
Quotes out of Context: Selective editing of quotes which can change meanings. Example: “Muslims are...evil war-mongerers”. (Original quote – Muslims are quick to dispute the fallacy that many of their brethren are evil war-mongerers.)
Red herring: Presenting data or issues that, while compelling, are irrelevant to the argument at hand, and then claiming that it validates the argument.
Repetition: This type of propaganda deals with a jingle or word that is repeated over and over again, thus getting it stuck in peoples’ heads, entrenching its believability. This approach also helps to turn falsehoods into facts - there's an old saying "If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes true!"
Scapegoating: Assigning blame to an individual or group, thus alleviating feelings of guilt from responsible parties and/or distracting attention from the need to fix the problem for which blame is being assigned. Example: Big supermarkets avoid blame for continual price hikes claiming the action of shoplifters is what pushes up prices.
Slogans: A slogan is a brief, catchy and convincing phrase that makes it hard not to get swept up into supporting an idea. Examples: the US's invasion of Iraq was branded with the slogan "blood for oil". Similarly, some of the phrases that were coined... Operation ‘Enduring Freedom’ or "winning the battle of hearts and minds".
Transfer: (also known as Association) this is a technique of projecting positive or negative qualities (praise or blame) of a person, entity, object, or value (an individual, group, organization, nation, patriotism, etc.) to another to make the second more acceptable or to discredit it. It evokes an emotional response, which stimulates the target to identify with recognized authorities. Example: anything to which a Nazi Swastika is attached will be instantly despised.
Virtue words: These are words in the value system of the target audience which tend to produce a positive image when attached to a person or issue. Peace, happiness, security, wise leadership, freedom, "The Truth", etc. are virtue words and we immediately place these on a conceptual pedestal.
QUESTIONS
You will have read through the list of propaganda techniques. Go back and locate the following techniques - some techniques are quite similar and operate in conjunction with each other. Pick two (2) of these propaganda combos and explain how they operate. Come up with an example (from news & current affairs OR from the world of advertising) that illustrates how they work.
1. Appeal to Fear + Appeal to Prejudice + Demonize the Enemy
2. Bandwagon + Appeal to Authority
3. Glittering Generalities + Intentional Vagueness + Virtue Words
4. Euphoria + Flag-Waving
5. Slogans + Repetition
Follow-Up Questions
A. Propagandists convey loaded messages that promote emotional responses in order to change the opinions / attitudes of the viewer. Explain 'loaded' and 'emotional'.
B. In your own words, explain the distinction between propaganda and censorship.
C. Propagandists will specifically avoid certain words... Why might US cable news channel 'FOX News' use the term 'terrorists' rather than 'freedom fighters' to describe Al Q'aida members? Also explain the difference between 'agitator' and 'stakeholder'. And 'greed' and 'profit motive'.
Other Relevant FTV sites:
New Media Technology: http://get-up-and-run.blogspot.com/
Product Placement: http://whyproductplacement.blogspot.com/
Theatre Superstitions: http://theatresuperstitions.blogspot.com
