PROPAGANDA

1. PROPAGANDA Like this presentation, or we’ll break your legs

2. What is propaganda? • Propaganda is when information – usually biased information – is used to promote a political cause or point of view. • Persuasive language is used in propaganda, as the propagandist tries to convince and persuade the audience of their viewpoint or idea.

3. TECHNIQUES USED IN PROPAGANDA • Name-calling: Negative names are used for the ‘enemy’ or opposition, so that the audience has an emotional response to them and are immediately biased against them.

4. TECHNIQUES USED IN PROPAGANDA • Generalities: Linking positive, general, and commonly accepted words (“love,” “family,” “democracy”) with a person, group, or cause to make an audience approve without careful consideration.

5. TECHNIQUES USED IN PROPAGANDA • Euphemisms: Substituting words or phrases with softer, ‘nicer’ ones to create a more positive response or to mislead intentionally (“senior citizen” for “old person,” “collateral damage” for “civilian casualties”)

6. TECHNIQUES USED IN PROPAGANDA • Appeal to celebrity /authority: using well- known personalities to endorse a person, group, or cause. /An appeal to a ‘higher authority’ to back up the point.

7. TECHNIQUES USED IN PROPAGANDA • Plain folks/Camaraderie: Trying to convince an audience that someone is “one of them”— this helps to convince the audience that they ‘know how they feel’, even if they do not

8. TECHNIQUES USED IN PROPAGANDA • Bandwagon: Claiming that an audience should do something because “everybody else is doing it”- this plays on people’s fear of being left out

9. TECHNIQUES USED IN PROPAGANDA • Fear: Warning an audience that something horrible will happen to them if they don’t take certain action.

10. TECHNIQUES USED IN PROPAGANDA • Hyperbole: An exaggeration, or exaggerated statement to make a point (‘never’/’always’).

11. ASSIGNMENT • How many propaganda techniques can you find used in the following World War posters? • Identify and explain how the technique is used in each of the following. You must find at least one in each.

12. Technique used: • How? • Is it effective? Why or why not?

13. Technique used: • How? • Is it effective? Why or why not?

14. Technique used: • How? • Is it effective? Why or why not?

15. Technique used: • How? • Is it effective? Why or why not?

16. Technique used: • How? • Is it effective? Why or why not?

17. The following extract is from the novel, just after the pigs have stolen the milk and apples. The main propagandist, Squealer, is trying to cover up the pigs’ theft using the power of persuasive language `Comrades!' he cried. `You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers."