Propaganda and Advertising/PR

This ad for Barack Obama's presidential campaign back in 2008 is an obvious piece of propaganda. All the candidates used propaganda in one way or another, but this is the most famous example. Numerous propaganda techniques can be drawn from this.

The slogan "hope" (as well as "change", "yes we can", among others) has been repeated over and over again, which fits it nicely into the category of "ad nauseum". Ad nauseum involves repetition to instill a sense of validity.

With the slogan of hope, we can also say this hints at the "black and white" technique in that it implies other candidates don't offer hope. It's silently saying "With Obama we can find hope, but with the other candidates we can't." Black and white involves a false dilemma, making one choice appear obvious over the other and thus should be taken.

The technique of "flag waving" can be seen with the red-white-blue color scheme. Obama is the patriotic candidate of course, as opposed to the other ones. At least that's what they want us to believe. It doesn't involve a flag but it's implied by the national colors, as "flag waving" incites a sense of validity by using pariotic symbols. This also involves the "black and white" fallacy because it implies that if you're not for Obama then you're not patriotic.

Hope is also being used as a virtue word. "Virtue words" are words that tie into a culture's value system and are used to paint a positive picture of something. This fallacy is very close to "glittering generalities", which involve emotionally appealing words that have no concrete argument - also in use here.

Another propaganda technique that doesn't appear in the Wikipedia page is "cult of personality", which can be seen with the glorification of Obama's face. The red, white, and blue design with Obama giving us a stern and determined look, combined with the proliferation of this picture, can be compared with what dictators such as Hitler, Stalin, and Mao have done. Not to sound cynical but it's true.