testimonial
South Korean singing sensation, Psy, is known worldwide as the singer of “Gangnam Style,” the most watched music video on Youtube with nearly two billion views. As one of history’s most famous musicians, Psy is a fine choice to use for propaganda, who used Testimonial technique as the clip in the link above shows. This short 30 second advertisement video that aired during the Super Bowl’s halftime show relies heavily on this technique, having a famous figure, in this case Psy, supporting the propaganda creator’s belief or message. The video itself is a playful parody of Gangnam Style and it shows Psy dancing around with several giant pistachios, irrefutably having Psy endorse the Wonderful Pistachios’ pistachios. Perhaps the most telling and unquestionable proof that this is an example of the testimonial technique is at 0:21-0:24 where a disembodied voice says “Psy does it. Why don’t we all go nuts?” This undoubtedly shows that the video uses testimonial technique filled propaganda, since the very definition of the Testimonial is to persuade someone to do something by showing a celebrity also doing that something, which in this case is buying Wonderful Pistachio pistachios.
YouTube. "PSY Wonderful Pistachios Get Crackin Super Bowl Commercial." YouTube. 2 Feb. 2013. Web. 17 Feb.
2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYuYBEeK00Y>
YouTube. "PSY Wonderful Pistachios Get Crackin Super Bowl Commercial." YouTube. 2 Feb. 2013. Web. 17 Feb.
2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYuYBEeK00Y>