Propaganda is aimed at us every day.

On Friday, October 7, one of many community day sessions was aimed at just that. Dr. Stacy Winslow and Mrs. Toni Martindell, former social studies teachers held the session called “The Manipulation of Propaganda”. This class featured a limited amount of student participants but was no less informative. According to Winslow, the event was focused on how candidates use emotional propaganda, particularly with the portrayal of children to influence voters.

The session was based around a slide show presentation and showed two campaign ads: one from Hillary Clinton and one from Donald Trump. They both used children as a way to sway voters.

Clinton’s ad, titled “Role Models”, showed multiple children watching television and seeing some of the controversial comments made by Trump. Trump’s, rather than attacking his opponent, centered on his campaign. “Motherhood” featured Ivanka Trump speaking about her role as a mother, and how her father will help her or other women everywhere. Martindell explained how ads that involve children are the most effective.

“If you see a candidate surrounded by babies, you think he’s a family man,” she said. Children are a popular propaganda tool because of their innocence.

The session’s directors then spread out iPads onto all six of the classroom’s tables. Each iPad, as well as a computer in the front of the room, had a notable ad from a previous election that included children as the main focus. One of the videos, “Daisy”, was from Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 presidential campaign. It used children combined with nuclear warfare to attack his opponent, Republican Barry Goldwater. The ad was, according to Winslow, one of the earliest and most effective uses of propaganda in a presidential campaign ad.

The other ads were from Al Gore, George W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Barry Goldwater and others, which all used children in various ways to prove a point.

“Whenever you see an ad, stop and think, did I feel anything?” Winslow said.

In addition to ads, many news organizations are not reliable either according to Winslow.

“When you’re watching FOX News or MSNBC or CNN, you’re watching propaganda, it’s not necessarily reliable news.” said Winslow.