Propaganda

Propaganda is a means of persuasion used to mislead and deceive people into believing and agreeing with the propagandist's point of view. Propaganda can be used to persuade people of causes that are good as well as bad. Good propaganda can persuade someone to donate money to a charity or to become a volunteer at a local hospital. They can use the bandwagon propaganda by saying things such as "Join the global effort to fight breast cancer" insinuating that everyone else is doing it but it would be a good thing to join the fight against breast cancer that would benefit a lot of people.

Companies can also use propaganda to persuade consumers to purchase their products. They use types of propaganda such as testimonials by having celebrities endorse their products in order to persuade consumers to buy what they are trying to sell. They are banking on the fact that people will like that celebrity and respect them enough to agree without stopping to think if it is something they themselves really need or would use.

Politicians also use propaganda in their campaigns. They use many types of propaganda. One example would be card stacking. They use this type of propaganda in that only certain facts that are desirable to the candidate are presented and they ignore the facts that would make them look bad to the voters. They might list all of the good things that were achieved while they were mayor of a city in a campaign for a senate seat. They would not say anything about the negative aspects. They might mention that property taxes were lowered during their term but may not mention that taxes on other things were raised like building permits, food, gas, etc. Another type of propaganda often used by politicians is name calling. They label their opponents with words of bad connotations in hopes of persuading voters to believe them without really thinking about the issues at hand and in turn the voters will not vote for the opponent but for the politician doing the name calling. They will also use name calling against the ideas and policies of their opponents. They are wanting the voters to react to their claims unquestioningly. A lot of people labeled President Obama as a terrorist during the presidential campaign because of his father having been a Muslim. They were using name calling as well as faulty cause and effect. They were trying to say that because his father was Muslim then he must be too and because some terrorists are Muslim then anybody who is Muslim is a terrorist, which is not a correct assumption.