Propaganda! Animal Farm!

What is propaganda?

Propaganda is advertising (print or media) that is used to persuade a group by appealing to emotion.

Propaganda is created by advocates or opponents of a cause. Ex. Wartime propaganda

It twists the facts to serve the purpose of the ideology. It is created by agencies and organizations rather

than individuals. It is directed to groups. Propagandists typically are more interested in being

persuasive than in doing the right thing or being exactly truthful (propaganda often exaggerates)

Most common forms of propaganda

Transfer Cause and Effect Emotional Words Bandwagon Repetition Logical Fallacies Name Calling Testimonial Appeal to Fear/Prejudice

Transfer

projecting positive or negative qualities of a person, entity, object, or value onto another in order to make the second more acceptable or to discredit it.

Cause and Effect

This technique suggests that because B follows A, A must cause B. Remember, just because two events or two sets of data are related does not necessarily mean that one caused the other to happen.

Emotional Words

Bandwagon

Reinforces people’s natural desire to be on the winning side (everyone is doing it!)

Repetition

Repeated use of a word, image, or slogan

Logical Fallacy

an argument that sounds logical, but, in reality, the premises given for the conclusion do not provide proper support for the argument.

Name Calling

This techniques consists of attaching a negative label to a person or a thing. People engage in this type of behavior when they are trying to avoid supporting their own opinion with facts. Rather than explain what they believe in, they prefer to try to tear their opponent down.

Testimonial

Use of authority ora celebrityto support a position

Appeal to Fear

Appeals to fear seek to build support by instilling anxieties and panic in the general population

Appeal to Prejudice

Using loaded or controversial terms to attach value or moral goodness to believing a specific intention

Propaganda used in Animal Farm

Old Major’s original speech (3-8) Mystery of the milk (16, 22-23) Apples for the pigs (23) Military directions given (28-29) Debate over the windmill (32-33) Squealer talking to the animals about

Napoleon taking over the farm (36-37) Squealer explaining the idea of the windmill

being Napoleon’s idea (38)

Propaganda used in Animal Farm

The sheep repeating “Four legs good, two legs bad” over and over (2nd half of novel)

Animal Farm trading with humans (42) Pigs moving into the farmhouse (44) Blaming Snowball for the ills of the farm

(46, 51-53, 59) Ending “Beasts of England” (54) Napoleon conferring a medal upon himself

(68)

Let’s Review…Which techniques are being used in these examples??

Propaganda Posters Activity Get into a group of 2-3 (no more than 3!) Select a propaganda technique from your notes. Create a propaganda poster that you might see

displayed in Animal Farm. Poster must make specific reference to the novel so far. Be sure to include color!

Your poster can be from the point of view of the pigs, humans, or the other animals. Up to you. Get creative!!

On the back of your poster, write a paragraph explaining: What technique or techniques you are using, what your

poster is referring to, and how your intended audience is supposed to respond to your poster.