Oscar Torres Essays (364 words) - Public Opinion, Communication

Oscar Torres Professor Johnson English 105 12 October 2017 Your Secret Desire It is time at last to speak about how one of your darkest deepest secret desires is being exploited by big advertisers. Advertisers use the propaganda tool of the bandwagon appeal to encourage people to buy product by appealing to the desire of not being different. Bandwagon propaganda has to be the most unethical technique explained in Ann McClintock's Propaganda Techniques in Today's Advertising because its strong psychological appeal. Bandwagon propaganda is very impactful in current society with its psychological appeal for people to be on the "winning team" but, it is not outweighed by the disadvantages. Current society is vulnerable to Bandwagon propaganda due to secret desire embedded into everyone. Bandwagon propaganda is an effective tactic because of instinctual appeal to the herd instinct hardwired into our brains. The herd instinct is still in today's society it can be seen everywhere an example would be if a person was lost they would follow someone who radiates confidence and looks like they know what they are doing. This instinct ties to the bandwagon technique by celebrity appearances in advertisements for instance you are dealing with acne and see a known clear faced Justin Bieber advocating for Proactiv you will most likely check out Proactiv and give it a try. Bandwagon propaganda explained by McClintock states the companies lure buyers by conforming them into the secretive norm of not being different embedded within us. Just like a coin there is another side of psychological tool of bandwagon propaganda. Furthermore the practice of bandwagon propaganda exerts pressure to those impacted stated by McClintock on Propaganda Techniques in Today's Advertising. The pressure is vented by companies using advertisements that exercise the "everyone is doing it. Why don't you?" mentality. This exploitation of a person's mentality is the most common use of the bandwagon tool in advertisement.McClintock's case is that Bandwagon propaganda appeals to our emotions. An example of this in today's society would be how people don't like to be left on trends, Without the bandwagon appeal trends would not be a thing everybody would be unique. Bandwagon propaganda is more psychological than the average consumer knows.