Assisgment #7

 Advertisements and Fallacies


This past summer I completed a very interesting class which counted toward my humanities requirement for school. The name of this class was called "Introduction to Logic". This was a very intresting class breaking down logic and difference between valid and invalid concussions. I also came across a chapter called "Logical Fallacies". What is it you ask? According to www.merriam-webster.com, a fallacy is simply "a wrong belief : a false or mistaken idea". Please stay with me. You may ask, "What does advertisement and logical fallacies have to do with each other? I would say, they have everything to do with each other. In this postmodern world full of progange, many are easily mislead, for in many mind's fallacy does not exist. Truth is based on opinion. So this where advertisements come in. The purpose of advertisements is to sell. By weaving in low key logical fallacies, there is greater opportunities to increase sells and public opinion.

I will now give a few fallacies given by the text book, "Introduction to Logic edition 10", and then give examples of fallacies in common advertisements seen everyday. One fallacy is called, "False Cause": Wrongly assumes a cause and effect relationship. Another fallacy is called, "Appeal to Emotion": Which manipulates people's emotion in order to get their attention away from an important issue. Another fallacy is the "Bandwagon" fallacy. This creates the impression that everybody is doing it and so should you. All three of these fallacies can be seen in one Subway commercial . For example, in one Subway commercial famous swimmer, Michael Phelps is seen in a pool swimming. A voice in the background says, "Training has to be a life long passion, fueled by a "foot-long" passion". The message is, to be like Micheal you must eat Subway, this is a funny false cause. A few seconds later, his mother is seen over the pool with a Subway sandwich, ready to fed her son.The massage here is, to be a good mother you must fed your child with Subway. This is an appeal to emotion. Lastly, Michael and his mother says, "Official training restaurant of the Phelp's family, and athlete's everywhere". What is the message in saying, "athlete's everywhere"? This is a form a validation and promoting popularity. Since all athletes are eating it, you should to. There are other types of fallacies such as, Scare tactics, Appeal to the People, False Dilemma (Avoids another choice), Attack of the Person, Red Herring (focus on irrelevant topics to win a argument), Straw Man ( A misrepresentation) and Jumping to Concussions.

Now of course I'm not against Subway in of itself, but I believe we should be able to see fallacies in ads and their messages. So next time you watch an ad, ask yourself, "Is there a fallacy in this ad and what kind? You will become a more logical person, who does not waste money.