Our technologically advanced teens are daily bombarded with half-truths, mixed messages, and outright lies as they live a good deal of their lives online. Much of this comes from the adverts they see plastered all over the websites they visit, though those websites themselves are also the source of what we can rightfully call propaganda.
When you hear that word you might think back to those ham-fisted WW2 posters you saw in school, depicting the Japanese as giant rats or recruiting posters showing all the “fun” of joining the army amidst a bloody conflict. Yeah, those were propaganda, because they sought to influence their audience’s attitude through an emotional appeal.
That sort of propaganda just won’t cut it anymore. Today’s propaganda is much more subtle and stealth and it is everywhere. Helping students understand how propaganda is designed and how it influences the audience is important to helping them become aware citizens.
Grade 8 is currently examining propaganda through visual and audio examples. After exploring the most common techniques found in propaganda campaigns, we spent some time looking at historical examples, then modern advertisements and political speeches. The students have had fun–and shown talent–for picking out slyly coded messages and half-truths. At the very least, they’ll be more conscious shoppers!