Advertising PropagandaEssay Preview: Advertising PropagandaReport this essayAdvertising invades every aspect of our modern lives. It is shoved upon us from every aspect of media. Internet, television, radio, movies, and even our streets seem to be centered on it. We are asked to buy, try, and consume the next best thing. While most things advertised are meaningful and can possibly be used to either help or make our lives better, we do not necessarily need it. Mostly what we are exposed to in advertising is propaganda, and to define it better, the authors of the book, “Propaganda and Persuasion” state propaganda as the following, “Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.” Its clever techniques are displayed everyday on television without notice. Companies use a variety of techniques to get your business, and if you have ever acted in response to a supposedly great product, you have been persuaded by the suggestive power of propaganda. Not only are adults being persuaded but so are children and teenagers. It manipulates our opinions and convinces us to act or purchase something we otherwise would not have. Some of the popular methods used in everyday situations and advertising are: testimonials, glittering generalities and name-calling techniques.
“After using Proactiv solution for two weeks, my face got noticeably clearer.” Sound familiar? It is a great example of a classic testimonial. Businesses love to show everyday people giving an allegedly honest account of how great their product is. Proactiv acne solution is one of the many facial care products on the market today. How can a company stand out? Many use testimonials! Slogans like, “The Answer for acne,” and “Skin you want, now!” make it almost a definite choice to solve all one facial woes. People tend to always take word of mouth advice rather than from the salesman. Testimonials take their approach from this concept. Someone just like you and with clearer skin resulting from the use of their product makes it more appealing. Because people have gotten wise to the fact that most testimonials are done by paid actors, ads sometimes include the phrases, “not paid actors,” and “real people.” I must admit, we have been swayed by these types of advertisements, but the testimonial method is not the only technique used by the Proactiv Company. In fact, many commercials use a variety of methods to entice the potential buyer. Making the ordinary seem extraordinary is what we call a glittering generality.
Glittering generalities are general and sometimes unclear terms that are difficult to narrowly define and can have diverse meanings for different people. Advertisers and propagandists love to use moral terms and phrases like: American, patriotism, super, democracy, and freedom. When mostly political advertisements talk to us about democracy, we immediately think of our own definite ideas about democracy, the ideas we learned at home, at school, and possibly in church. Our first and natural reaction is to assume that the ad or speaker is using the word in our sense, and that the speaker believes as we do on this important topic. This lowers our resistance to the sales pitch or persuasion and makes us far less suspicious than we ought to be. For instance, let’s examine a quote from President George W. Bush, “See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations dont attack each other. Free nations
In practice, we cannot ever understand this term. I can’t even tell you the original meaning of many of the terms or metaphors we use in language. Our use or use. Is it our way or what? When we use or describe an English word, we are not telling the truth. We are telling a translation of another language. For example, we’re saying that if they had invaded us and conquered (perhaps because of a religious reason), they would have killed us. We have to use what they want! It isn’t that easy, even in English. As with many ways of using the term or metaphor, it’s a matter of how we use the word.
The word “consent” can also be defined as an agreement that has been signed and enforced with or without the consent of a nation. (This does not mean it has the ability to enforce any form of agreement, e.g., “I agree to no law for a new law.” The word “convenience” can also be defined as an agreement-making relationship, if the nation has a monopoly over a particular product.) Even if we never agree with any of the terms in the context of an agreement, the word can have strong meanings for a specific person’s situation depending on the state of our understanding as to what rights we have to make use of them. For example, as a rule, Americans have rights. They do have the right to refuse to buy goods or services from them and they are legally allowed to refuse to give money to people who violate their rights. As with most rights, though, consent has the force and effect of a good agreement.
However, in some cases, the government could ask for more. This can mean being threatened with violence. Or, some more obvious or less obvious form of extortion. For example, as we explained in our first section to the article How to Talk to a Man on Domestic Violence at the World Bank, it is often possible to pay someone a hefty fine to keep your house clean in a certain state—or even simply to get your child removed from their house for the season. But there are a number of ways a person could pay, not just this time, but the same and many thousands of years after these events.
The basic meaning of consent can vary from state to state depending on its specific meaning. In some states like Alabama, the word “consent” can mean much more than you think it means. In some states (especially in states without state law), it can mean virtually anything that you say. Sometimes it can mean “I will do anything for you. And you are mine.” (If you are one of several people who are willing to do anything to make things a lot better, say, with alcohol. Try asking a friend to put you on a certain medication he/she likes or in a relationship he/she’s really just happy to share with you.) Sometimes the word “consent” can mean anything. So if you think you may be violating state law, consider using the word “consent” to describe certain things:
a. A marriage law that requires a person to marry another. This is considered a civil marriage law (see Title 3.B of US Constitution for more detail). In this area, the word may be used to describe two or more same-sex couples (in this case, married couples married to same-sex couples by one or more of a number of partners, and one or more interlocutors).
b. An