From food labelling, to conspiracy theories, to reality TV and online dating profiles, we look at how the card stacking technique is used to persuade and influence us.
What is Card Stacking in Propaganda?
Card stacking propaganda is when someone only gives you the information that makes their side of the story look good, while leaving out the awkward parts that don’t fit the narrative.
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The Art of the Stacked Deck_ Spotting the One-Sided Story
- By Emma McCulloch
- Everyday Persuasion Articles, The Theory
- Reading Time 10 Minutes
Table of Contents
If you like this type of material, you can read more with our collection of books looking at influence and persuasion.
The Awesome Looking Movie Trailer
You know when you watch that movie trailer that looks really good … and then it turns out a bit rubbish?
That’s because the movie studio used a form of persuasion that only shows you the good bits while leaving out the other stuff.
Showing only selected parts of the story is intended to influence and persuade you, and is a recognised form of propaganda and a logical fallacy known as Card Stacking.
Nothing in the trailer was false — everything they showed was true and genuinely in the film. But it’s all been carefully chosen and put together in a way that will appeal to you, and to influence and persuade you to watch the movie.
But it’s not only movie trailers that only show you the good bits, the card stacking technique is used to influence and persuade you in all sorts of ways ….
Card Stacking Propaganda Examples
Card Stacking Definition
A skilled card dealer or gambler knows how to arrange (stack) the pack to ensure all the best cards are in a favourable position for them.
Propaganda uses the same trick.
Instead of cards, it deals headlines, statistics, and stories that are arranged and presented in a way which is favourable to growing a particular belief or viewpoint.
News and Media
News and media platforms often create the appearance of consensus by only selecting the facts, opinions, and angles which are broadly in agreement with their own position.
Nothing needs to be false — card stacking works by omission, narrowing the range of conclusions an audience is influenced to reach.
For more on how media shapes perception, you might also find our piece on What Is Propaganda? From the Church to Carrots to David Icke useful reading.
Conspiracy Theories
Conspiracy culture uses the card stacking propaganda technique by only drawing on sources that support their alternative narrative.
Material that supports their position is treated as evidence; anything that contradicts it is dismissed as fake, corrupted, or part of the cover-up.
Card stacking works by exclusion, where opposing information is never allowed in.
This overlaps with other psychological persuasion strategies — explore our article on How Consumer Psychology is Used by Conspiracy Theorists to see card stacking in a wider context.
Online Dating
Online dating profiles are a lighter, more human example of card stacking.
For obvious reasons, people want to show themselves in the best possible light.
Carefully selected photos, flattering angles, best holidays, and well-chosen hobbies create a clean, appealing version of a person, while awkward traits, bad habits, and unglamorous realities stay off the profile.
This is card stacking.
If you’re interested in how persuasion plays out in everyday decisions and behaviour, check out Bandwagon Effect: Because Everyone Can’t Be Wrong … Right?.
Reality TV
Reality TV relies on creating heroes and villains to keep audiences engaged.
Producers don’t wait for these characters to emerge naturally; they construct them through selective editing.
Hours of ordinary, contradictory, or human behaviour are discarded, while a narrow set of reactions, comments, and conflicts are repeatedly shown until a clear role is established.
Food Labels and Marketing
Food labels often create the appearance of health by highlighting what has been removed, while omitting what has been added.
Reduced fat is placed front and centre; increased sugar, starch and additives stay in the smallprint on the back.
Nothing on the label needs to be false — card stacking works by selective emphasis, shaping how the product is perceived without shouting about the full details.
A Professional Propagandist Speaks
Will Camden, PR exec and narrative consultant, tells us about one of the very first campaigns he worked on which relied heavily on the use of card stacking to influence the behaviour of the consumer.
The campaign is highlighted in Will’s memoir Confessions of a Professional Conspiracy Theorist.
I learned how card stacking works during what we half-jokingly called the tea vs coffee wars, when we’d put out scare stories through the media to turn people away from drinking their usual morning cuppa.
The aim was never to lie or invent scandals. It was far more effective to work with what already existed. The trick was deciding which facts to show people and which ones to keep quiet about.
Each campaign began with the same question: What can we highlight that sounds worrying, and what can we safely ignore?
Scientific papers, industry reports, working conditions. We looked for any angle which would give us some ammunition.
We’d isolate a single finding, strip away its context, and present it as if it were the most important thing a person should know about their morning drink. The rest of the evidence stayed in the filing cabinet.
There’s a pretty good breakdown of the campaign in the book. Plus how we went on to use the same technique to help spread conspiracy theories of course.
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