Topic in English:

Bias and Propaganda

What is Bias?
 Bias is writing which is slanted toward one opinion.
 An unbiased article would present both sides of the issues.
What is propaganda?
 Propaganda is a way of wording or structuring something so it appeals mostly to
emotions, and it distorts facts.
 It is used to promote a one sides argument aimed at winning people over to a certain
cause or belief.
 There are secret messages in propaganda and they are not always easy to find. These
messages can be in sound, pictures, color, or design.
 The purpose of propaganda is to persuade!
 Propaganda does not always have to be negative or positive. Remember its purpose is
to persuade.

Propaganda Devices

1. Name Calling
Also called stereotyping or labelling is another propaganda technique. Direct name- calling is
a direct attack on an opponent. If it is likely to annoy the audience, indirect name calling is
used. In this case, sarcasm is employed. Cartoons and photographs are used in name calling.
This technique is used in politics.
Examples;
a. (Pepsi)- very subtle nothing negative is said but is
implied that cokes’ only value is to use it as a step
stool to get to the better product.

b. (
B
u r
g
er King)- slanted
comparison at the two
fast food chains
(McDonalds and Burger
King)
c. (Campbell’s’ Soup)- Points out an ingredient that Progresso Soup contains that
Campbell’s does not. Again there is no proof the consumer would then need to look at
the ingredient on the cans of both soups to determine if the statement is true.
d. (Political Attack ad.)- Political ads of this type are commonly found on television
before a close election. Very rarely so the people who create the ads provide any proof
of their allegations; the person watching the ad must do the research to determine if the
claim in the ad is true.
e. My opponent is a flip-flop man who cannot make up his ming. He changes mind with
the breeze.

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2. Glittering Generalities
These are vague, broad statements that will connect with the audience’s beliefs and values.
They really don’t say anything substantive. Slogans make great examples. The vagueness
means that the implications, though varying for different people, are always favorable. Think
of peace, freedom, justice, family values, etc.
Example:
a. Things go better with coke.
b. Find magic in Enchanted Kingdom.
c. Strike up for the new world.
d. Gatorade always wins.
e. Freedom security tradition change
prosperity.

3. Transfer
This is an effort to transfer your approval of
something you respect and approve of to
another something
that the
propagandist wants
you to approve of. Flag-waiving helps.
Examples:
a. Many Pacquioa train very hard for his fight but he feels
pain every training so he takes Alaxan FR to relieve the
pain.

b. Sarah Geronimo has a long black silky hair

in taking good care of her hair she uses Sunsilk.
c. Coco
Martin loves
to drink
coffee in
giving
himself
satisfaction he prefers to use Nescafe.
d. Kris Aquino loves to travel. She wants a
comfortable way during her travel in many places
so she prefer Philippine Airlines in travelling
around the world.
e. Kathryn Bernardo have fair skin, she want to achieve a white complexion so she uses
Olay products to achieve it.
4. Testimonial
When a famous person or a celebrity endorses a certain view, they testify to the idea or the
product. This is an effective propaganda technique that often works wonders to influence an
audience.
Examples:
a. Drew Barrrymore promoting a Cover girl makeup.
b. Lebron James is promoting the famous fast food
place McDonalds’s! When his fans see this they
want to eat it because their favorite NBA
Basketball player eats it.
c. Singer
Julieanne
Haugh
promoting Wrigley’s Juicy fruit gum they put

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 famous respected people to advertise things like this so people will think if my favorite
singer chews this gum then I want this also.

d. Serena Williams promotes Gatorade she wants her fans to buy it.
e. Hayden Panefiere is an actress who is trying to convince people to buy milk.

5. Plain Folks
This technique works in a way to establish that the speaker is regular and ordinary and has
the same views and opinions as the people he is appealing to. It creates a sense of
camaraderie between the speaker and his audience which helps builds belief in the idea.
Example:
a. Everyday baby promoting different foods.
b. TYSON is advertising to end childhood hunger.
c. A little boy that could be
anyone is advertising OREO.

d. SUBWAY has a man promoting them by saying if you eat SUBWAY you will lose
weight.
6. Card Stacking
This can also be called Cherry-Picking. The propagandist uses only those facts and details
that support their argument. The selected reasons are used to support the conclusion. You
will get misled if you do not notice that important details are missing. The worst part of card-
stacking is that it can be very difficult to detect if you are not really knowledgeable about the
subject.

Examples:
a. Cream silk conditioner can give hair a smooth and silky appearance.

b. During election periods political parties will often gag their loose cannons who might
pen their mouths and say the wrong thing.
c. A minister of new church sects sets up in a poor area, feed people who will listen tells
them of how the poor will be saved and so on.

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 d. A politician just happened to be in town when a new school is opening so they just
stay in, hi jacking the press for their own means.
e. A brand of snack food is loaded with sugar then commercial may boast that product is
known in fat which implies that is also low in calories.

7. Bandwagon
Influencing people by telling them how everyone is using the same product or is true to the
same ideology. This encourages people to take the same course of action.
Example:
a. Pepsi commercial that pushed forth the slogan “the choice of a new generation.”

b. On the commercial you see that

as one person takes out their
phone another person does until
everyone in the balcony has a 7
mobile phone out to capture
dancing. This commercial
would make viewers think that
everyone in the dance is supporting T-Mobile.
c. In the state farm commercial state confusion it shows everyone walking around with
various items, the man’s wife calls the insurance company and asks why his husband
has a lot of stuffs and he responds by telling her how she saved money and that most
people who switch to state farm save on average 480 dollars.
d. In a commercial of Proactive skincare it uses assentation “America’s #1 skin care
product” to group proactive with the entire country.
e. An ad of Macs that says “real mean use Macs” this is bandwagon because it is saying
that men should be own Macs or else they won’t be “real” men.

PERFORMANCE

Direction: Create an advertisement video using the different propaganda devices

presented on our lesson, and perform it in front of your teacher. You can choose any product you
want to advertise. You will be graded using the rubrics below:
5 3 1
Students are Students seem pretty Students do not seem
completely prepared prepared but might at all prepared to
Preparedness and have obviously have needed a couple present.
rehearsed. more rehearsals.

Students speak Students speaks Students often

clearly and distinctly clearly and distinctly mumble or cannot be
Speaks Clearly all the time, and no all the time but understood.
mispronounced mispronounced some
words. words.

Content Students commercial Students commercial Students commercial

included 2 include 1 inclusion of
propaganda/ propaganda/ propaganda/
persuasive technique. persuasive technique. persuasive is not

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 clear.

Volume is loud Volume is not loud Volume often too

enough to be heard enough and only soft to be heard by all
Volume by all audience heard by some audience members.
throughout the audience throughout
presentation. the presentation.

Weekly Evaluation

Score:
Direction: Identify if what propaganda device is use below. Write your answer on the space
provided.

1. 5.

________________________________ ____________________________________

2. 6.

________________________________ ____________________________________

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3. 7.

________________________________ ____________________________________

4. 8.

________________________________ ____________________________________

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