Evings Pierre

The Hidden Propaganda Techniques In Advertisements

(By Evings Pierre or PS for the eFriends)
We the people in this society are constantly subjected to propaganda, that in many instances have shaped our opinions and dictated how we make every day decisions. Be it through television, magazines, newspapers, or even the internet, we are being brainwashed and seduced by ads, in which the advertisers have made a systematic effort to con us, and sway our opinions one way or the other. Many methods have been used to tricks us. Yet, while some of us have been fortunate enough to see through these advertisers’ trickery, we still allow ourselves to be forced into buying a particular product, accepting a viewpoint, or even electing a certain candidate. In the paragraphs that follow, I shall bring about three specific TV ads, and highlight the different propaganda techniques that have been used in them to urge some products on us.
Early last morning, I turned on my TV for the sole purpose of watching the weather. To my great surprise, it was rainy and cold outside. “No way,” I said to myself, “just yesterday, it was 80 degree F." "How could that be?” I wondered. As I flipped from one channel to the other, I found myself overwhelmed with advertisements having nothing to do with what I was seeking for. Finally, I decided to stay on WBZ channel 4, hoping to catch their first weather announcement. In the meantime I resigned myself to get through the successive ads, that were brought on for my viewing pleasure. Among these myriads of ads, I can truly say that three have caught my eyes. In these, the advertisers used several obvious methods of propaganda techniques, just as described in Ann McClintock’s paper “Propaganda techniques in today’s advertisements.”
The first one was about the medical product Singulair for asthmatic people. Throughout the ad, they use the method of ‘Plain Folks’, in which they showcase regular parents caring for their asthmatic kids. Since I have an asthmatic son myself, this had brought me closer to these people, and had gotten me more focused on the ad, as the advertisers would have expected. As they push on, with their praising of the product, they switch to what expert dub the ‘Name Calling’ method, by flashing under the screen the phrase “Singulair, not a steroid.” By so doing, off course, they are telling us to stay away from the other asthma medicines, aptly leading us to believe that they are all steroids, something we know is very bad for our sick kids. Furthermore, they go on to flash the other phrase “Singulair, asthma control that can help you breathe easier.” Basically, there they are using what is called the ‘Card Stacking’ propaganda technique, whereby they stack all the cards in favor of the product Singulair. The purpose of using such method, is to keep us, the viewers, focussed on the fact that Singulair will help our kids breathe easier. At that point, for being so captivated, we would fail to ask ourselves the question: "it helps them breathe easier than what?"
The second ad on the other end, involved the product ‘Abtronic’, an electronic muscle stimulator. They claim that it can be used on not just the abdomen, but also any part of the body, to build muscles and reduce fat. Their motto is: “ the future of fitness with no sweat”. There, obviously in shaping this ad, the advertisers used the ‘Card Stacking’ technique to stack the cards in the favor of Abtronic, prompting us to reject the other muscle stimulators. “10 minutes of using the Abtronic,” they say, “ is equivalent to doing more than 400 sit-ups.” Now, fitness with no sweat uh! Who wouldn’t like that? They know how difficult it is for regular folks like us to get on a treadmill, or do sit-ups. As such, they capitalize on our laziness, and offer us a product that necessitates no hard work. Just as well, the ad goes on to force the idea on the viewers further, by using both the techniques of ‘Plain Folks’ and ‘Testimonial’. Among the regular folks they showcase are teachers, sales managers, stockbrokers, pilots, a group of people that obviously have no time for exercising. Additionally, these advertisers try to bring a level of guaranty to the product, by getting testimonies from respected folks like certified exercise trainees, police officers, Stunt women, plastic surgeon etc… They all testify that it is convenient and very safe. As the ad continues, "it is not available on store," a voice says. "All you have to do is send 4 easy payments of 29.95 (plus S &H),” it finishes. Now, notice how they did not spell out shipping and handling, which usually amount to about a good five to ten bucks. Instead, they abbreviated the words, and put them in fine lines, with the obvious intention of deceit. Once again, the advertisers have sought to stack the cards in their favor, by not divulging the total cost of $119.80 plus shipping and handling, leading us to believe that the Abtronic is only priced at $29.95.
The third ad had to do with the American Travel Industry Association. In light of the September 11th disaster, Americans have openly expressed their fear of flying, bringing the travel industry to their knees. Thus, the industry had found it necessary to find a way of getting us back on the airplanes. Using the ‘Testimonial’ propaganda technique, excerpts from president Bush’s speech asking: “ What is expected of us?” has been used to appeal to the public. “ Fly and enjoy the country” the ad continues to tell us, bringing on both "plain folks" like the mid-fifties hotel doorman, and the old restaurant worker standing fearless and urging us to show our courage, and most importantly the testimony of a pilot inviting us to fly. Furthermore, they picture a Boeing 727 soaring over the sky, and using the ‘Band Wagon’ technique, they showed a group of airlines employees urging us to come and fly with them. This of course is a clear symbol of defiance and readiness serving to show that we are in control of the situation. “After all we are all Americans; if we are doing it (flying), so can you. Join the band wagon,” they seem to be telling everyone.
The notion of passing messages through advertisements has been used for centuries. While some methods may have been better than others, they all have one goal, that of forcing us to accept one particular product, thought or ideology. From what I can understand, this is an open-ended way of reaching us. As long as there’s life on this earth, others will find creative ways of forcing things upon us. It is therefore up to us, to not fall for any of that. Ironically, we tend to draw our own sense of importance from the mere fact that powerful people are trying hard to reach us. As such, we often eagerly give up to their trickery, to then buy their products, accept their viewpoints and even elect candidates we really know nothing about. It goes to say that things in life are not really what they seem. We are all like herds of goats led by cunning goat hurters. Unfortunately, some of us do end up in the slaughterhouse, as we let our blindness take over our very mind and soul. By the way, the weather announcement I was looking for finally came. “It’ll be dreary all day, and the temperature will remain in the 50’s,” the weatherman said. Brrrh! I felt it in my bones.