3 types of political propaganda tactics

Although the concept of political propaganda has fallen into disuse in the last decades of the 20th century, its use and its effects are still valid today. What happens is that It is described using other terms such as persuasion and advertising, due to the predominance of the image and the media of today’s society.

Political propaganda is a type of communication that is part of contemporary social and political systems.. The study of it has been addressed from various disciplines and the term has had a multitude of definitions throughout history. Now, to understand the concept of political propaganda we have to resort to 3 fundamental criteria:

Content: The content of the propaganda must be political, whether directly or indirectly. The message may seem non-politicized on the surface, but if analyzed in depth we find its political association.Message control: An important aspect is that the sender has 100% control of the message; both in the production and dissemination phases.Aim: The purpose of the message is to promote the interests and ideas of the sender, in addition to the intention of producing responses in the recipients in accordance with previously determined purposes.

In this article we are going to talk about some techniques that are used when carrying out political propaganda. The categories shown below are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive; which means that certain techniques can be in several categories at the same time.

Labeling techniques

These techniques use labeling as the main resource. It involves using terms with a great emotional or conceptual charge in order to associate the message with positive or negative aspects, as appropriate. There are several ways to apply the labeling technique:

Use of negative labels: condemnation of an idea by giving it a negative label, even though there are no arguments to support it. For example, the use of the label “the axis of evil” to refer to another group of people who do not share the same ideas.Asymmetric definition: taking advantage of the ambiguity of certain words so that they evoke in the recipients a message different from what is actually happening. For example, saying that the objective of war is “peace”; Peace is not the same for a ruler as it is for an ordinary citizen.Resonant generalization: use of impressive and vague phrases, with little message but with great emotional charge. For example, candidate X represents a “big change” for the country.

Association techniques

These strategies use the association as the main resource. Its way of having an effect consists of the receivers associating the characteristics of one concept (positive or negative) with another, which is initially neutral for the audience. Among them we can find:

Juxtaposition: association of independent ideas by placing them together side by side. Without the need to establish any explicit relationship between them. For example this message, “Leader X is authoritarian; Leader Y plays golf with LeaderVirtuous words: use certain words in the message that produce positive sensations or emotions in the audience. In this way, the positivity of those words can be associated with the message or the sender who recites them. An example of this is the use of the words “freedom”, “security”, “truth”, etc. in a speech.Common people: turn to everyday images of people and their ways, customs and language. In this way, a feeling of belonging is achieved by a large part of the audience towards the idea or message. For example, the use of photographs of young middle-class couples in party advertising.

Techniques based on source authority

The main method of these techniques is to go to the authority of the source. This way The arguments of the message can be left aside and the idea will be validated thanks to the sender or person who corroborates the idea. Some examples of this type of techniques are the following:

Construct meaning through secret sources: go to sources whose identity or origin is not revealed and are spoken of in generic terms. In this way, by citing them as experts they can affirm the message, not being able to verify its veracity due to their “anonymity”. An example of this could be a message such as “close and very well-informed sources claim that party X is illegally financed…”Wise men can’t be wrong: go to people with great prestige to paraphrase some of your ideas, which is in accordance with the propaganda message. For example, “as X said… and if X said it, no one can belittle him.” This is known as an argument from authority.Condemn the origin: discredit an idea without resorting to the arguments that support it, only disqualifying the source from which it comes. An example of this could be calling a leader a liar to break his message. In philosophical circles, it is known as an ad hominem argument.

In this article we have mentioned and explained three types of political propaganda tactics widely used today. But there are many more. Now, it would be illusory to think that we cannot be influenced by them, for this reason, It is necessary to know their characteristics to confront them and act upon the persuasion of political powers.

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