Propaganda Techniques in the Modern

¶ … Propaganda Techniques

In the modern world Americans often forget that advertising and marketing have become forms of propaganda. As Ann McClintock stated in her essay entitled "Propaganda Techniques in Today's Advertising:" Propaganda is a systematic effort to influence people's opinions, to win them over to a certain view or side." (McClintock) This can be effectively demonstrated by the use of advertising in the 2008 presidential campaign between then Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. McClintock outlined six specific techniques by which advertisers use propaganda in their advertisements, these are: Name Calling, Glittering Generalities (freedom, happiness, etc.), Transfer (association with something else), Testimonials (celebrity endorsements), Plain Folks (I'm just like you), and finally Bandwagon (everyone's doing it, so should you). In the advertisements generated by both sides there were examples of each specific technique, but by far the most widely used were Name Calling and Glittering Generalities. Even so, there is a distinct difference between how these techniques were used: Senator McCain appears to have used one technique for each commercial, while Senator Obama blended different techniques into the same commercial. The results of the election seem to indicate that the blending together of several techniques into a single advertisement was effective.

The most widely used of McClintock's techniques is what she called "Name Calling." One example was the Obama campaign's advertisement entitled "Honor" which depicted a photo of dejected John McCain with the words " truly vile," "truth be damned," and "disgraceful and dishonorable campaign" in the background. (Honor) it was accompanied by a narration stating "what's happened to John McCain? He's running the sleaziest ads ever…"(Honor). Another being the ad entitled "Embrace" where John McCain was the background and phrases such as "Low Road Campaign" and "Nothing for You" filled the screen. (Embrace) and it was not only the Obama side which used this technique, the McCain campaign ran one memorable ad entitled "Dangerous" where they attempted to define "Who is Barack Obama?" After a short narration on how Barack Obama wanted to cut off funds to the troops in Afghanistan, the answer was "dishonorable," "dangerous," and "too risky." (Dangerous) This ad attempted to make Barack Obama look as though he was un-American, did not support the American military, and would endanger the country if elected.

Another of the techniques McClintock referred to was "Glittering Generalities," which can be defined as embracing general, widely accepted concepts without stating specifics. Obama's "What Kind" ad, which stated Barack Obama will "…make America number one again," exemplified this kind of generality. (What Kind) What exactly did this mean? Number one at what? There was no specific definition of "number one." On the other side, the McCain campaign's "2013" ad claimed that by the year 2013 many of the problems facing the nation, such as border security, nuclear threats, wasteful government spending, economic confidence, as well as the problems in the Middle East, would be solved; but only if McCain was elected. (2013) McCain also offered no specifics as to how he would secure the border, ease nuclear threats, or restore the economy, just the statement that if elected by 2013 these problems would be solved.