Propaganda employs persuasive techniques that help spread ideas that further political, commercial, religious or civil causes. Here are several types of propaganda techniques with which you should become familiar:
| Name calling: | Attaching a negative label to a person or a thing. Used to make us reject and condemn a person or idea without examining what the label really means (AKA: stereotyping) |
| Glittering Generalities: | This technique uses important-sounding "glad words" that have little or no real meaning. These words are used in general statements that cannot be proved or disproved (AKA: virtue words). |
| Transfer: | The use of a positive symbol in an attempt to transfer its prestige, authority or respect to a person or an idea. |
| False Analogy: | Portraying two things that may or may not really be similar as being similar. |
| Testimonial: | Endorsement of an idea or product by a respected celebrity. |
| Card Stacking: | Slanting a message in favor of a single outcome through omitting key words or unfavorable statistics (AKA: cherry picking or distortion of data). |
| Bandwagon: | Encouraging action by highlighting the anxiety of being left out of something good or important |
| Either/or fallacy: | Presenting an issue as having only two sides rather than multiple perspectives, middle ground or grey areas. Used to polarize issues, and negates all attempts to find a common ground (AKA: artificial dichotomy or black and white thinking). |
| Faulty Cause and Effect: | Presenting two events or sets of data in a way to suggest that one caused the other to happen - a suggestion that because B follows A, A must cause B. |
| Least of Evils: | Justifying an otherwise unpleasant or unpopular point of view by suggesting that the alternative is worse |