Trump and the Branded Alphabet: An exercise in Critical Thinking

Since the George W. Bush Administration, GRIID has been doing Media Literacy work in the community, which is essentially the promotion of critical thinking skills.

During the past 25 years we have been using Media Literacy Exercise #1, which we update every time a new US Administration has new cabinet members. This exercise has two parts, with Part I being the branded alphabet and Part II being a visual of White House cabinet members, and in this case cabinet members of President Trump. The answers to Part I & II can be found on page 3 of Media Literacy Exercise #1.

In both parts of this exercise, people are asking to identify the products from each letter of the alphabet, then name the members of the Trump Administration and what position they hold.

The Branded Alphabet media literacy exercise is a great way for people to:

• Understand the pervasive nature of advertising in our society and how we are all being targeted by advertising campaigns.
• Understand how the news media functions and how they decide what information to give us, when to give it to us, and how to give it to us.
• Juxtapose the Branded Alphabet with the current administration cabinet as a way to demonstrate the gap between our knowledge of products vs our knowledge of politics.
• Understand how the media system is constructed in such a way as to make consumerism a priority over an informed public

We invite you to test your knowledge, by participating in this Media Literacy Exercise. First, see if you can identify the product for each letter of the alphabet. Second, see how many people you can name in the Trump Cabinet, along with what position they hold in his administration.

Now, think about why it is easier for people to identify branded products, than to identify politicians that have a significant impact on policies that affect all of our lives. Some of the most common reasons that people give are:

• The products have been around for decades, but administration officials change regularly.
• The images of the alphabet are different, colorful and engaging, whereas the image of politicians are very similar.
• As a society we are inundated by commercial images, but the faces of administration officials are only on certain news channels or websites that focus on national politics.
• We consume products, but we don’t consume politicians. 

Can you come up with more reasons why we know more of the Branded Alphabet over members of the Trump Cabinet? In addition to identifying them, can you talk about who these people are in terms of their history, their voting record (if they were elected officials), what other government positions they have held, how much money they have and what kind of political positions have they embraced over the years?

Here are a few websites that you might find helpful for answering some of these questions.

Voting Records for those in the Trump Administration have previously held federal political positions https://justfacts.votesmart.org/

Campaign Financing records for those in the Trump Administration have previously held federal political positions, or you can search what each of the Trump Cabinet members have contributed previously. https://www.opensecrets.org/ 

The Revolving Door Project tracks people who have been in politics and gone into the corporate world, or they came from the corporate world and are now in politics https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/personnel/ 

https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/trump-2-0-bracing-for-criminals-corruption-and-constitutional-crises/

You can also compare the information you get from the above sites to what the White House has to say about these cabinet members.