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1、Section four:Mass Media 1.Propaganda Techniques in Today s Advertising We Americans,adults and children alike,are being seduced.They are being brainwashed.And few of us protest.Why?Because the seducers and the brainwashers are the advertisers we willingly invite into our homes.We are victims,seeming
2、ly contenteven eagerto be victimized.One study reports that each of us,during an average day,is exposed to over five hundred advertising claims of various types.This bombardment may even increase in the future,since current trends include ads on movie screens,shopping carts,videocassettes,even publi
3、c television.We absorb their messages and images into our subconscious.Advertisers lean heavily on propaganda to sell their products,whether the“products”are a brand of toothpaste,a candidate for office,or a political viewpoint.Propaganda is a systematic effort to influence people s opinions,to win
4、them over to a certain view or side.Propaganda is not necessarily concerned with what is true or false,good or bad.Propagandists simply want people to believe the messages being sent.Advertisersoften use subtle deceptions to sway people s opinions;they may even use what amount to outright lies.What
5、kind of propaganda techniques do advertisers use?There are seven basic types:1.Name Calling Name calling is a propaganda tactic in which a competitor is referred to with negatively charged names or comments.By using such negative associations,propagandists try to arouse feelings of mistrust,fear,and
6、 even hate in their audiences.2.For example,a political advertisement may label an opposing candidate a“loser,”“fence-sitter,”or“warmonger”.Depending on the advertiser s target market,labels such as“a friend of big business”or“a dues-paying member of the party in power”can be the epithets that damag
7、e an opponent.Ads for products also often use name calling.An American manufacturer may refer in its commercial,for instance,to a“foreign car”-not an“imported one.”The label of foreignness will have unpleasant connotations in many people s minds.Another example is the MasterCard ad that shows a man
8、trying unsuccessfully to get some cash with his American Express card.A childhood rhyme claims that“name can never hurt me,”but name calling is an effective way to damage the opposition,whether it is another credit card company or a congressional candidate.3.Glittering Generalities。A glittering gene
9、rality is an important-sounding but general claim for which no explanation or proof is offered.It is the opposite of name calling.advertisers who use glittering generalities surround their products with attractiveand slippery words and phrases.They use vague terms that are difficult to define and th
10、at may have different meanings to different people，such as“great”,“progress”,“beautiful”and“super”.名师资料总结-精品资料欢迎下载-名师精心整理-第 1 页，共 4 页 -This kind of languages stirs positive feelings in people,feelings that may spill over to the product or idea being pitched.As with name calling,the emotional respons
11、e may overwhelm logic.Target audiences accept the product without thinking very much about what the glittering generalities really mean.4.The ads for politicians and political causes often use glittering generalities because such“buzz words”can influence votes.Election slogans include high-sounding
12、but basically empty phrases like the following:“He cares about people.”(That s nice,but is he a better candidate than his opponent?)“Vote for progress.”(Progress by whose standards?)“Theyll make this country great again.”(Does“great”mean the same thing to candidate as it does to me?)“Vote for the fu
13、ture.”(What kind of future?)Ads for consumer goods are also sprinkled with generalities.Product names,for instance,are often designed to evoke good feelings:Love diapers,New Freedom feminine hygiene products,joy liquid detergent,and Loving Care hair color.Products slogans lean heavily on vague but c
14、omforting phrases:Kinney is“The Great American Shoe Store,”General Electric“brings good things to life,”and Dow Chemical“lets you do great things.”We are also told that Chevrolet,is the“heartbeat of America,”and Coke is“the real thing.”3.Transfers In transfer,advertisers try to improve the image of
15、a product by associating it with a symbol most people respect,like the American flag or Uncle Sam.The advertisers hope that the prestige attached to the symbol will carry over to the product.Many companies use transfer devices to identify their products:Lincoln Insurance shows a profile of the presi
16、dent;Continental Insurance portrays a Revolutionary War minuteman;Amtrak s logo is red,white,and blue;Liberty Mutuals corporate symbol is the Statue of Liberty;Allstate s name is cradled by a pair of protective,fatherly hands.Corporations also use the transfer techniques when they sponsor prestigiou
17、s shows on radio and television.These shows function as symbols of dignity and class.Kraft Corporation,for instance,sponsored a“Leonard Bernstein Conducts Beethoven”concert,while Gulf Oil is the sponsor of National Geographic specials and Mobil supports public television s Masterpiece Theater.In thi
18、s way,corporations can reach an educated,influential audience and,perhaps,improve their public image by associating themselves with quality programming.Political ads,of course,practically wrap themselves in the flag.Ads for a political candidate often show the Washington Monument,a Fourth of July pa
19、rade,the Stars and Strips,a bald eagle soaring over the mountains,or a white-steeple church on the village green.The national anthem or“America the Beautiful”may play softly in the background.Such appeals to Americans love of country can surround the candidate with an aura of patriotism and integrit
20、y.名师资料总结-精品资料欢迎下载-名师精心整理-第 2 页，共 4 页 -4.Testimonial The testimonial is one of advertiser s most-loved and most-used propaganda techniques.Similar to the transfer device,the testimonial capitalizes on the admiration people have for a celebrity to make the product shine more brightlyeven though the ce
21、lebrity is not an expert on the product being sold.Print and television ads offer a nonstop parade of testimonials:heres Cher for Holiday Spas;heres basketball star Michael Jordan eating Wheaties;Michael Jackson sings about Pepsi.American Express features a slew of well-known people who assure us th
22、at they never go anywhere without their American Express card.Testimonials can sell movies,too;newspaper ads for films often feature favorable comments by well-known reviewers.And,in recent years,testimonials have played an important role in pitching books;the backs of paperbacks frequently list com
23、plimentary blurbs by celebrities.Political candidates,as well as their ad agencies,know the value of testimonials.Barbra Streisand lent her star appeal to the presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis,while Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed George Bush.Even controversial social issues are debated by cel
24、ebrities.The nuclear freeze,for instance,starred Paul Newman for the pro side and Charlton Heston for the con.As illogical as testimonials sometimes are(Pepsis Michael Jackson,for instance,is a health-food adherent who does not drink soft drinks),they are effective propaganda.We like the person so m
25、uch that we like the product too.5.Plain Folks The plain folks approach says,in effect,“Buy me or vote for me.Im just like you.”Regular folks will surely like Bob Evanss Down on the Farm Country Sausage or good old-fashioned Country time Lemonade.Some ads emphasize the idea that“were all in the same
26、 boat.”We see people making long-distance calls for just the reasons we doto put the baby on the phone to Grandma or to tell Mom we love her.And how do these folksy,warmhearted scenes affect us?They re supposed to make us feel that AT&T the multinational corporate gianthas the same values we do.Simi
27、larly,we are introduced to the little people at Ford,the ordinary folks who work on the assembly line,not to bigwigs in their executive officers.What s the purpose of such an approach?To encourage us to buy a car built by these honest,hardworking“everyday Joes”who care about quality as much as we do
28、.Political advertisements make almost as much use of the“plain folks”appeal as they do of transfer devices.Candidates wear hard hats,farmers caps,and assembly-line coveralls.They jog around the block and carry their own luggage through the airport.The idea is to convince voters that the candidates a
29、re at heart average people with the same values,goals,and needs as you and I have.Card Stacking.When people say that the cards were stacked against me,they mean that they were never given a fair chance.Applied to propaganda,card stacking means telling half-truthsmisrepresenting the facts by suppress
30、ing relevant evidence.Card stacking is a difficult form of propaganda both to detect and to combat.When a candidate claims that an opponent has changed his mind five times on this important issue,we tend to accept the claim without 名师资料总结-精品资料欢迎下载-名师精心整理-第 3 页，共 4 页 -investigating whether the candid
31、ate had good reasons for changing his mind.Many people are simply swayed by the implication that the candidate is waffling on the issue.Advertisers also use a card stacking trick when they make an unfinished claim.For example,they will say that their product has twice as much pain reliever.We are le
32、ft with a favorable impression.We dont usually ask,Twice as much pain reliever as what?When Ford claimed that its LTD model was 400%quieter,many people assumed that The LTD must be quieter than all other cars.When taken to court,however,Ford admitted that the phrase referred to the difference betwee
33、n the noise level inside and outside the LTD.5.Bandwagon In the bandwagon technique,advertisers urge,“Everyone s doing it.Why don t you?”This kind of propaganda appeals to the deep desire many have not to be different.Political ads tell us to vote for the“winning candidate.”Advertisers know we tend
34、to feel comfortable doing what others do;we want to be on the winning team.Or ads show a series of people proclaiming,“I m voting for the Senator.I dont know why anyone wouldn t.”Again,the audience feels under pressure to conform.The bandwagon approach is also a staple of consumer ads.They tell us，f
35、or example，that“Nobody doesn t like Sara Lee”(the message is that you must be weird if you don t).They tell us that“most people prefer Brand X two to one over other leading brands”(To be like the majority,we should buy Brand X).If we dont drink Pepsi,were left out of“the Pepsi generation.”To take pa
36、rt in“Americas favorite health kick,”the National Dairy Council urges us to drink milk.And Honda motorcycle ads,praising the virtues of being a follower,tell us,“Follow the leader.He s on a Honda.”Why do these propaganda techniques work?Why do so many of us buy the products,viewpoints,and candidates
37、 urged on us by propaganda message?They work because they appeal to our emotions,not to our minds.Clear thinking requires hard work:analyzing a claim,researching the facts,examining both sides of an issue,using logic to see the flaws in an argument.Many of us would rather let the propagandists do ou
38、r thinking for us.Because propaganda is so effective,it is important to detect it and understand how it is used.We may conclude,after close examination,that some propaganda sends a truthful,worthwhile message.Some advertising,for instance,urges us not to drive drunk,to become volunteers,to contribute to charity.We may even agree that a particular soap or soda is“super.”Even so,we must be aware that propaganda is being used.Otherwise,we will have consented to handing over to others our independence of thought and action.名师资料总结-精品资料欢迎下载-名师精心整理-第 4 页，共 4 页 -