Going personal is a propaganda tactic whose name comes from the Latin expression “Argumentum ad hominem (Argumentum ad personam)” - “an argument directed at a person”. Propagandists resort to personal attacks on the opponent when they cannot refute their arguments. Thus, they try to turn a losing situation into a “victory” by humiliating the opponent and distracting from the main topic.

For example, the spouses of Russian propagandists Yevhenii Popov and Olha Skabieieva resort to such tactics in their TV show “60 minutes about the essentials”. Guests were often invited to the studio, supposedly to represent Ukraine and Ukrainians. As soon as the arguments of these guests did not suit the hosts, they resorted to manipulation and going personal:

an explicit or veiled image of the interlocutors themselves;

manipulative use of phrases such as “as an intelligent person, you cannot contradict the statement …”; that is, they create a false dilemma for the interlocutor either to agree with the proposed unacceptable statement, or to argue and thereby contradict the statement “as an intelligent person”;

inappropriate appeals to authority such as “you are wrong, because we [in Russia] know better what is happening in Ukraine…”; that is, the further argumentation of propaganda is based on a logical flaw.

Thus, Russian propagandists on the air of the national TV channel formed the image of Ukrainians as stupid, uneducated, funny, helpless, “inferior” people.

Also, this tactic is used by the representative of the Russian foreign ministry, Mariia Zakharova, if the Russians cannot reasonably , in accordance with the norms of international diplomacy, respond to the statements of foreign leaders. For example, to the words of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki that Russia poses a threat to Poland and Europe, Zakharova reacts with personal attacks against him.

Personality tactics are often combined with ridicule and substitution concept tactics.