Summary of Propaganda Techniques in Advertising By "Ann McClintok"

Propaganda Techniques in Today’s Advertising:

According to Ann McClintok, in her article “Propaganda Techniques in Today’s Advertising” she discusses that every day, we are overloaded and seduced by the advertisements we see in newspapers, magazines, TV, etc. The advertisers brainwash us and let their messages get stucked into our subconscious by the repetition and non-stop pop-ups everywhere at anytime. Propaganda is the most commonly used technique in today’s advertising. It is the dissemination of info aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of people. Moreover, propaganda isn’t only concerned with politics, but with the way products are sold in advertising. The average of the forms of propaganda each one faces a day is expected to increase in the future even though it is 500/day.

There Are Several Types of Propaganda Techniques:

The testimonial is the most-loved and most-used. It deals with using celebrity faces and names for an ad of a certain product. This technique works by selling films & books. It can as well be used for political issues. For example:
-Barbra Streisand for Bill Clinton
-Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed George Bush
-Michael Jackson for soft drinks
It is an effective propaganda. If we like the celebrity, we’ll immediately like the product.
Examples in Lebanon:
-for Pepsi : Haifa Wehbe and Elissa (Singers)
-for Vogue sunglasses : Elissa (Singer)
-for Sony Ericsson and Jewelry : Nancy Ajram (Singer)

Plain folks deal mostly with the warm hearted scenes which affect us. It encourages us. As for politicians too, they are photographed usually mingling with citizens in the streets to show us that they are like the rest of the population. This also affects us in a way or another.
Examples in Lebanon:
-Political parties and candidates are photographed with the elections to show how they are involved in the populations.
-Regina Fenianos (Charity person) and the "Miss Lebanon" involvement in charity.
-Sanita advertisement showing the workers during work in the factory
-In some TV talk show, ministers are invited to live for one day with a poor family, just like they live.

Posted by (S.S.)