Propaganda

Animal Farm introduces 8th grade students to the concept of propaganda, how the farm’s rulers, the pigs, use misleading and manipulative information to support their rule. After reading and discussing the novel, students explore political posters from the 20th Century – Soviet, German, American, and Chinese – and begin debating the difference between propaganda and advertising. After watching clips from the advertising reality show “The Pitch,” students assemble into imaginary advertising firms tasked with creating a propagandistic advertising campaign for the pigs on Animal Farm, adopting a catchy slogan and designing print, video, and social media ads. Finally, students research how political candidates in the U.S. today are using social media advertisements in sometimes questionable ways, leading to two argumentative papers: the policies that social media companies should adopt for political ads, and the extent to which advertising executives today utilize propagandistic techniques to sell their candidates.

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