Types of Political Appeals

Plain Folks

By using this technique, speakers attempt to convince their audience that they, and their ideas, are "of the people." Ex: Marco Rubio being the son of immagrants.

Testimonials

Famous people or figures who appear trustworthy speak to the audience on behalf of a person or product. (a celebrity endorsing a product)

Snob Appeal

Giving the impression that people of wealth and prestige are on board. Ex: A product that was invested in by a Shark Tank investor.

Card Stacking

Only presenting one side of the issue Ex: only presenting one side of issues like climate change

Bandwagon

The basic theme of this tactic is that"everyone else is doing it, and so should you" Ex: billions served at Mcdonalds.

Glittering Generality

The device seeks to make us approve and accept without examining the evidence; Glittering generalities include phrases such as "We believe in," "fight for," and "live by virtue," They also include words about which we have deep set ideas, such as civilization, Christianity, good, proper, right, democracy, patriotism, motherhood, fatherhood, science, medicine, health, and love.

Namecalling

This technique links a person, or idea, to a negative symbol. The propagandist who uses this technique hopes that the audience will reject the person or the idea on the basis of the negative symbol, instead of looking at the available evidence. An example would be a poster with a political candidate and a derogatory word.

Scientific Approach

Using scientific jargon (i.e. numbers, stats, data, etc). to convince your audience Ex: Using percentages from a study to gain support.

Transfer

a device by which the propagandist carries over the authority, sanction, and prestige of something we respect and revere to something he would have us accept. An example would be like appealing to American democracy.

Emotional Appeal

appeals to the emotions of your audience. For example, when a propagandist wards members of her audience that disaster will result if they do not follow a particular course of action, she is using fear appeal.

euphemism

the propaganda attempts to pacify the audience in order to make an unpleasant really more palatable. This is accomplished by using words that are bland. An example of this is during war time, since war is particularly unpleasant, military discourse is full of euphemism.