Collateral Damage In George Orwell's Animal Farm

Collateral Damage It is all a game to advertisers, they compete for one’s money, similar to how leaders compete for one’s mind. George Orwell’s Animal Farm exposes the effects of leaders abusing language to manipulate their people. The pigs warp the animals’ original ideas for their own comfort and privileges. Manipulation of language is not just a fictional theme, it exists in politics, advertisements, media, almost everywhere in our society. This is specifically a problem with advertisements aimed at children under eight years old because they are influenced easily. Advertisements aimed at children and the pigs in Animal Farm are similar because of their manipulative properties. What do Napoleon and children’s advertising companies have

It is simple for Napoleon and the pigs to do what they please since most of the farm animals are not smart enough to understand what they are actually doing. One way the pigs ensure the farm animals do not understand is by using words or phrases they cannot comprehend. This is shown when the pigs are explaining the commandments to the animals. The animals “did not understand Snowball’s long words, but they accepted his explanation” (Orwell 34). The animals are unable or unwilling to question the authority, and instead they put their blind trust into the leaders. This allows the leaders to easily distort Old Major’s original ideas to something that caters only to the pigs, and the farm animals do not even realize it. In a way the farm animals are like children watching a commercial. The advertisers put forth large words and phrases the children will most likely not understand such as, “some assembly required” (Mayer). The children in return do not question the advertisement, instead they see the commercial as truthful and are persuaded by false expectations to buy the product. The advertising companies and the pigs both exploit their viewers or animals limited knowledge to persuade them to do what they