Look How We Are Good, And They Are Evil
Tell me what you brag about, and I’ll tell you what you lack.
But the stacking card propaganda technique is all about the bragging. It is when you overemphasize the positive features of your product or service, even though there is no evidence for them, or you simply want to cover up the harmful elements.
The stacking card is very popular with politicians.
Politicians often make a circus out of certain everyday events. For example, politicians organize the grand opening of the highway, school, and even the traffic lights. Yes, you read it well.
The politicians in power have to use taxpayers’ money in the interest of the whole community. Congratulating the authorities on opening a highway or a school would be like applauding an ATM for withdrawing money to you. Ridiculous!
Despite doing what people expect of them, politicians make a show of their activities for a straightforward reason — media presence. Whenever a new school opens, the authority will invite journalists and then give out a press release.
In that way, the politician does send a clear message to the viewers at home. See how beautiful I am. You know, I could have put taxpayers’ money in my pockets, but I still decided to fix the road, arrange the park, buy new buses for public transport.
Instead of spending time with their mistresses in the Caribbean, the politicians spend the money on the homeless shelters.
However, politicians do nothing that they are not obliged to do.
The industry also likes to stack cards, especially in the food industry.
Chips promise us that it contains 50% less fat and 33 % less salt. But it doesn’t tell us it’s still unhealthy. Yogurt tells us it contains 0% fat, but it doesn’t tell us it contains sugar. It would be healthier to contain milk fat than sugar.
When you see a large “gluten-free” label on a rice package, keep in mind that rice does not contain gluten anyway. It’s like writing “no alcohol” on prunes. Come on, folks, buy our non-alcoholic prunes. I’d rather have plum brandy if you ask me.
Laundry detergent is now 75% stronger. Are you saying that thanks to your laundry detergent, I used to be dirty? Ew!
Take, for example, a copywriting course that lasts only seven days. Yes, you can go through all the lessons in just seven days, but whether you will learn anything in those seven days is crucial. 83% of people who enrolled in our course found a job immediately after completing the course. Of course, they are.
A confectionery factory printed on the wafers’ packaging they have 80% filling. The question is 80% of what. Have they been so dry before? Then that 80% may not be an improvement.
But that’s not all. The competing confectionery factory then started printing on its wafers’ packaging that they have 81% filling. Are you kidding us?
However, the lack of a 1% filling is nothing compared to how the competition can destroy you.
Just check out 60 Years of Presidential Attack Ads, in One Video posted by The Atlantic.
The stacking card technique serves to attack a person. These are arguments ad hominem. The four most common ways to destroy a person are discrediting, defamation, demonization, and dehumanization — four Ds.
Discrediting is done by showing that the arguments and decisions of the other party are weak and that the other party is incapable of doing the job. Donald Trump is a political profiteer and a tool of the business and political elite. Bernie Sanders is supported mainly by white men who are quite aggressive on social networks, that is. Have you yet heard about Bernie Bro’s narrative?
Defamation, libel or slander, is aimed at damaging someone’s reputation and name. Donald Trump is a white supremacist! Bernie Sanders is a communist!
Demonization serves to turn your opponent into a bad person that everyone hates. Anything that person does will be considered wrong. Trump is a fool! Sanders is a stubborn old goat!
Dehumanization means treating your opponent as a thing and a non-human being. Migrants are terrorists!
At the same time, it doesn’t matter at all whether the ugly things you say about another are real or not. Just fire up! Beat’em!
Politicians mainly use this propaganda technique on their own or through their associates and close media. One disgusting headline about you in the tabloid is enough, and no denial will wash away your name.
It is essential to find the secrets of your opponent and to place them at a specific time.
Narration or storytelling can serve in this propaganda technique. So, your opponent is a villain, and then you let go of the stories about his various misdeeds. Spicy stories sound more real than mere facts and therefore attract people.
The media has an important role to play. You must have good cooperation with journalists, especially with those who share your view of the world. And to serve them crap about your opponent. In today’s world, this is much easier to do through blogs and websites.
Of course, all this abomination is hard to prove. But who cares. A bucket of shit was thrown! And what would the ancient Romans say: “Faex iacta est!”
The subject of defamation does not have to be a person. It can also be a group of people, organized or not. No preference.
Migrants are rapists, violent criminals, and steal our jobs. They are terrorists, too. And not to talk about Wall Street. They want to throw us into debt bondage. People supporting gun control wish to turn us into communists.
Every time you gossiped next to a coffee machine with your colleague about your boss, you used this propaganda technique. Or while in a pub with your friends. How much time do you spend gossiping friends who weren’t there?
And no, not every comment about your opponent has to be so devilishly fierce.
Commenting on an opponent can also be thoughtful, like this Pepsi ad in which a child buys two cans of Coca-Cola to buy a can of Pepsi eventually. Cute!
