The INTENSIFY / DOWNPLAY Schema
TECHNIQUES

Association Association
People intensify by linking (1) the idea or product with (2) something already loved/desired by -- or hated/feared by (3) the intended audience. Thus, the need for research by advertisers on audience analysis: e.g. surveys, polls, "market research," "consumer behavior," psychological and sociological studies. Association can be done by direct assertions, or indirect ways: metaphoric language, allusions, backgrounds, and contexts. Some of the "good things" often associated with products are those common human needs / wants /desires for basics, certitude, intimacy, space, and growth.

Applied to ADVERTISING, you can ask these questions:
  • What "good things" -- already loved or desired by the intended audience -- are associated with the product?
  • Any links with basic needs (food, activity, sex, security)?

  • With an economy appeal to save or gain money?
  • With a desire for certitude or outside approval (from religion, science, or the "best people," the "most people," or the "average people")?
  • With desire for a sense of space or territory (neighborhood, nation, nature)?
  • With desire for love and belonging (intimacy, family, groups)?
  • With other human desires (esteem, play, generosity, curiosity, creativity, success)?
  • Are the speakers (models, endorsers) authority figures: people you respect, admire? Or friend figures: people you'd like as friends, identify with, or would like to be?
  • Are there any "bad things"-- things already hated or feared-- stressed, as in a "scare-and-sell" ad?
  • Are such problems presented, then the products offered as solutions?
    Aldous Huxley (in Brave New World Revisited) referring to this technique, wrote: "The principles underlying this kind of propaganda are extremely simple. Find some common desire, some widespread unconscious fear or anxiety; think out some way to relate this wish or fear to the product you have to sell; then build a bridge of verbal or pictorial symbols over which your customer can pass from fact to compensatory dream, and from the dream to the illusion that your product, when purchased, will make the dream come true."
    Applied to POLITICAL RHETORIC, you can ask these questions:

    People intensify by linking (1) the idea or product with (2) something already loved/desired by -- or hated/feared by (3) the intended audience .Or, in negative attacks in politics,, associating the Other with "bad" things, something already hated or feared by the intended audience.

    Association can be done by direct assertions, or indirect ways: metaphoric language, allusions, backgrounds, and contexts.     Some of the "good things" often associated with one's own side are those common human needs / wants / desires for basics, certitude, intimacy, space, and growth. Some of the "bad things" often associated with the Other's side are common human fears and threats.

  • Are there explicit, direct assertions of affiliation or membership ("I am... I belong to")? Of tastes or opinions ("I like... I believe in")?

  • Are there implicit, indirect suggestions using music, colors, flags, symbols, backgrounds? Such associations can trigger intense emotions, feelings. Most obviously: flag-waving, God-on-our-side, dead heroes, "plain folks" associations.

  • Background associations often include the choice of companions (advisors, friends, celebrities, spouse); of locales (historic sites, shrines, beautiful scenery); of events ("good times" - festivals, fairs; "bad times" - showing up and helping at disasters.)

  • Are there any metaphors or analogies (e.g. suggesting links to sports, war, nature, family)?

  • Any "name-dropping": references or allusions (e.g. literary, historical, patriotic, religious)?
Expect people to intensify by means of repetition, association, and composition.
A good axiom about how to counter a propaganda blitz by advertisers or politicians is: When they Intensify, Downplay.
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