Card Stacking

Card stacking is a propaganda strategy which focuses on one perspective while suppressing the other.

For instance, only the opinions and experiences of those belonging to one side are publicized while those of the other side are censored. In advertising, enticing words such as “30% discount” or “sale” are in bigger fonts and more colorful designs while the phrase, “in selected items only” are only in plain and smaller letterings. In politics, a campaigner is highlighting his accomplishments while leaving out his past issues and weaknesses. This term is based on the magicians’ technique which is presenting a deck of cards which merely appears to have been randomly shuffled but was actually stacked in a certain order. It is also linked with “stacking the deck”, a cheating strategy in gambling, in which “false shuffling” is done.