Do the Propaganda!

How trained is your eye?  Can you sniff out poor reasoning?  Can you hear the dog whistle appeals embedded in careful word choice?  Detecting modes of political propaganda is a skill that requires you to be aware of every possible front of persuasion.  This project is your visual guide to counter-act political persuasion.
Your source material for analysis can only come from current candidate websites, supporter websites, and newspaper editorials.  You will scour through various propaganda and expose both the visual and written persuasion. A photograph may be so loaded that you comment upon several of its characteristics. Each observation must be unique from each.  For example an observation that explains how the flag is a transfer device for patriotism can not be used twice.  There is plenty to find!

1. Photobombs- Through political photography, find examples of how the candidate is targeting specific political themes (5) (job creation, education, security, etc).  You must also comment upon the visual strategies that help persuade for the candidate (camera angle, lighting, positioning, obvious "photoshopping".
2.  Persuaders -VALS (3) Basic Appeals (3) Branding techniques of building community (3)
3. Propaganda in you eye and ear - Propaganda Techniques(4)/Rhetorical Devices-(4)

For the A!    Proper identification of logical fallacies and explanation of faulty reasoning (3).  Hint: Discussion boards are radioactive platinum for this!

Tribune Election Center     Illinois Senate Alexi Giannoulias  Mark Kirk 
                                         Illinois Governor- Bill Brady   Pat Quinn
                                         14th District-        Bill Foster   Randy Hultgren

Fierce Senate races- Christine O'Donnell vs. Chris Coons  Delaware
                                Joe Miller vs. Scott McAdams vs. Lisa Murkowski Alaska
                                Rand Paul vs. Jack Conway
                              

Votesmart for more candidates if you wish!

Publishing Options/ Format Requirements
Perhaps the easiest way to archive your visual evidence will be to use the "print screen option" and paste the image directly into a power-point/ word document.  From there you can follow the example I provided in the class group folder.

For the A!
I like this option bunches.  Voicethread is a great way to hear your analysis.  Check out this example.

Great Eye from Natalie C in 4/6

Natalie found a aesthetic similarity between a recent Driod 2 Commercial



Another Droid Commercial  and another

and a Sprite Commercial featuring Drake

but wait...they did this in Pakistan too.

but are they not really just biting off Tony Stark suiting up to be Iron Man?

Read Between The Lines

For today, we will unpack the debate strategy between our Illinois politicians by examining their word choice.  To do this, we will use some useful technology to illustrate this emotional framing of language.    
A)    Click on the transcript of the Kirk vs. Giannoulias Debate  October 19, 2010. 
B)    Open up a second window in the internet browser.  Go to Wordle. Copy the text of your candidate's responses only and paste the responses into the dialogue box.  (A) Mark Kirk (B) Alexi Giannoulias
C)  Click the go button in order to create your wordle.  Click layout and select horizontal to see better.  You may also hit the randomize button to get a different design.
D)  Take a moment to find patterns in the word choice from this debate.  Try to group words into three themes (ex. safety...) If you want to know the exact number of times the word shows up in the debate, you can use the Word Frequency Counter to see the word by word breakdown. 



Turn in response to me by the end of the hour-
1)  Each candidate had a clear strategy for the evening.  Based only on your observations of the frequency of words floated in the wordle, what did the candidate want the audience to feel about the other candidate (specific negative associations)?  What did they want the audience to know about themselves (positive associations)?  Use specific evidence to convince.
2)  Assume your inferences are correct,  which candidate is activating a stronger emotional reaction?  Explain why you see this to be true.

Political Rhetoric, Explained - Steven Pinker

The Merchants of Cool- Extra credit Review

The Frontline Documentary The Merchants of Cool is a classic survey of the aggressive advertising methods directing at teens.  Watch the Merchants of Cool.  Describe where you see unique brands and media products (TV shows, films) that currently have captured "cool".  Be sure to include specific examples from the film in your response.

Branded Surveys!

Help out a classmate and take one of our Branded Surveys!
4/6                                      9th                                     10th
Vans                                  Starbucks                          Under Armour
WEGO Wear                    Nike Fashion                     Monster
DC Shoes                         American Eagle                  Coke
Apple                                 Red Bull                              Chipotle
Pink                                        Pink                                      Starbucks
Nike Athletic                         Wiz Kalifa                             Snuggies
Hot Topic                            Vans                                             iPod
Pac Sun                               Coach                                                  Facebook
                                            Apple                                           McDonalds
                                            Abercrombie and Fitch               Sony
                                                                                             Nike 1
                                                                                              Nike 2
                                                                                             

Extreme Carrots?

In order to energize sales of their product, a group of baby carrot farmers pulled millions of dollars to create this ad campaign. Here are some of the youtube commercials:



NPR Story

Google Survey Tutorials for Branded Project

Google Survey -Set Up
Google Survey- How to Share
Google Survey-Review Results

Facebook- Blogging Heads-Zuckerberg: Non-Evil Non-Genius?

Great Dialogue between two authors discussing if Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates can be called visionaries.  From the opinion article  Zuckerberg: Non-Evil Non-Genius?

Advertising reading list for October 4-8- 2010

1. 
   

   Even a 3-Year-Old Understands the Power of Advertising

2. 
   

   Marketers can (literally) read your mind

3. 
   

   Disney Expert Uses Science to Draw Boy Viewers

4. 
   

   Brain-Manipulation Machines Raise Ethical Questions

5. 
   

   Teen Marketing: Apple's the Master

6. 
   

   Brand Loyalty an Expression of Self-Worth, Just Like Religion

7. 
   

   Is the Ad a Success? The Brain Waves Tell All 

8. 
   

   Disney Invites 'Goths' to the Party

9. 
   

   New Study Puts Faith in Brands

10. 
    

    The 'Buyology' Behind The Way We Shop

11. Looking to a Sneaker For a Band’s Big Break

12. Why a Baby's Laugh Will Make You Buy

Youtube Doubler Commercial Mashups

Fanta vs. Nair from Hadama in 4/6