Fallacies in Advertising

Argumentum ad Verecundium is highly effective in that it can be used to market to any target audience: young people react to

When it comes to the topic of commercials, most of us readily agree that commercials are irritating. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the purpose of the commercial. Whereas some are convinced that commercials are meaningless, others maintain that commercials tell a story. Effective commercials are repetitive and illustrate a story. Marketers use rhetoric marketing, the art of persuasive speaking and writing, when persuading an audience to buy a product. Rhetoric marketing is especially effective through the illustration of a story. It is effective because the marketer is able to relate to the consumer with a story or message. Advertisers also use the appeals of logic, credibility, and emotions to intrigue interest in a company. Coca-Cola’s advertisement, “Falling,” depicts the product as a confidence building companion suitable for young love through a series of logical and emotional appeals that visibly promotes the brand’s credibility.

Have you ever tried to persuade someone to see something in a specific way? If so, you may have utilized the three rhetorical appeals, logos, ethos, and pathos. Rhetorical appeal or rhetoric is something students learn about in an English or Writing class. Rhetoric is a subtle way to make writing appear cohesive and engaging. According to Lynn Troyka and Douglas Hesse, there are “three central principles of rhetoric- the persuasive appeals”(18). The use of rhetoric in advertising is used to help the advertisers to appear more professional to consumers, and compel viewers to comply with the goals of the advertisers. Two other tools advertisers use to entice viewers are the design and color of an advertisement. The "Charity Water: Imagine" ad uses advertising tools such as rhetoric, design, and color to achieve a desired response from consumers.

In any given setting, the main objective of using of using rhetoric is to make the message more effective and convincing the audience to act or abide by the message being transmitted to them. Persuasion in television advertisement in television commercial is aimed at reaching millions of customers and potential customers. The state farm insurance company has not been left behind in trying to utilize the power of rhetoric in most of it television commercials to marketing their services and lure new customers to join the rest in using the company services. As we will see from the evidence later in this research, this state firm video "Like a Good Neighbor, state farm is there” utilizes a number of strategies that have been borrowed from the Compliance Gaining Theory its endeavor to effectively persuade its audience. According to the theory, Compliance gaining involves efforts put in place to gain customer loyalty by focusing on choices that people make about what has been said when trying to be persuaded to behave in predetermined manner about the massage sent to them (O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy 21). This research article is intended to show that yes the commercial video, “Just like a Good neighbor, state farm is there” is effective in transmitting the intended message to the

In “Propaganda Techniques in Today 's Advertising” by Ann McClintock, the author discusses how Americans are being brainwashed by advertisements and the different techniques they use to catch our attention. Ads are simply everywhere we look, it is impossible to get through the day without seeing one. All advertising companies put tons of research into how consumers spend money or even vote. Once these companies finish their research, they create advertisements that appeal to the masses. The basic propaganda techniques that McClintock writes about are Name Calling, Glittering Generalities, Transfer, Testimonial, Plain Folks, Card Stacking, and Bandwagon. Each one of these propaganda techniques is used in specific ways by advertisers to sell their product or service to consumers. I have selected a political ad which uses the Glittering Generalities technique, a coffee ad that uses Transfer technique, a soda ad that uses the Testimonial technique, and a soup ad that uses the Name Calling technique.

Fallacies can be either illegitimate arguments or irrelevant points, and are often identified because they lack evidence that supports their claims. However, based on the argument presented no fallacies were detected as the arguments had evidence to support its claim. The argument presented was introduced using a claim of value. According to Rottenberg and Winchell (2012) claims of value attempt to prove that some things are more or less desirable than others. They express approval or disapproval of standards of taste and morality. Advertisements and reviews of cultural events are one common source of value claims, but such claims emerge whenever people argue about what is good or bad, beautiful or

The main concepts presented in the article are the varying definitions of each author on the concept of critical thinking. The information the author uses are definitions which are the opinions of varied authors and are similar in foundation in that to apply critical thinking one must be able to identify a problem, pose a question(s), provide valid supporting evidence, and come to a conclusion. Although the author’s definitions do not identify a problem, questions, evidence, or conclusions, the relationship Petress (2004) shows is that the reader must apply this process themselves as it is not always given. The information used does appear to be relevant, significant, and valid. The references the author listed does provide enough information for me to come to this conclusion. Since this work is a literature review and not a case study, numerical data are not necessary to determine validity of the information.

Critical thinking is a vital task that must be done in our everyday lives. In “Becoming a Critic Of Your Thinking” found at criticalthinking.org, Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Paul explain critical thinking as “the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances”. Even tough there are many different types of methods to achieve a better quality of critical thinking, Dr. Elder and Dr. Paul discuss four specific ones in the article. All strategies, however, force you to put yourself in an uncomfortable and difficult position to develop a better quality of thinking.

Generally, an argument amongst people will happen at some point in their week; It’s not uncommon for arguments to become heated. Individual’s use all sorts of different ways to persuade the other person to believe they are right. In order to be persuasive, an individual has to be able to support their claim; whether it is facts or opinions. (Engleberg & Wynn, 2013, p. 230) Although, many people can base their arguments on false claims called fallacies. There are two commercials that represent different fallacies of reasoning; one being an H&M commercial portraying the appeal to popularity and the other an Android commercial that portrays the faulty analogy fallacy.

The average person will watch approximately 2 million commercials throughout their lifetime. In this technologically driven environment, it’s the most effective method of appealing to an intended audience. However, there is a lot more to an advertisement than meets the eye. There are numerous methods being used in order to appeal to the audience. Corporations and businesses focus on rhetorical appeal when it comes to creating a successful advertisement.

I agree with the authors on the definition and use of critical thinking and decision making skills. The benefits of being a critical thinker are enormous, they include being able to make effective decisions and learning to ask the important show-stopping questions. By using these skills you will be able to probe deeper and get to the heart of the issue. As stated in an earlier paper, the use of critical thinking when making crucial business decisions quite simply makes good business sense. Critical thinking skills are crucial in today's fast paced business world. Once these skills become

What is Critical Thinking? Is the process of conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and /or evaluating information gathered by observation, experience, reflection, reasoning or communication, as a guide to belief and action (Scriven & Paul, n.d.). When one applies critical thinking more ideas are develop, fewer mistakes are made and better decisions are reached. When people instead of using critical thinking act on beliefs or without giving it a second thought, the end results are poor decisions and as a result have a disaster at hand. People don’t always use critical thinking, it is not uncommon to hear someone say such remarks after making the wrong decisions; “I just was not thinking”, “I did not think it was a big deal”,

The concepts of critical thinking and creative thinking are both gaining increasing importance in the world today. Critical thinking allows people to understand difficult concepts in a manner that is clearer and more defined. They can more readily understand those concepts if they employ critical thinking. In all portions of everyday life, a person is expected to make independent judgments. Those judgments are based on experience and knowledge. Without the ability to think critically, every situation that a person comes across would have to be considered in isolation from all other situations. When a person encounters a problem that is a new one, he or she may be able to use critical thinking to solve those problems.

Our lives revolve around money. The value of a dollar does not buy much anymore; everything comes with a price tag. The media likes to entice people with catchy slogans, celebrities or any other setup just so they can obtain our money. Once they grasp our attention we realize most of these attention grabbers had no relation to their argument or what they are trying to sell. Thus the correct term for the types of misleading ads and television commercials is called informal fallacies. The purpose of an informal fallacy can be to enact reactions from the audience, used to discredit a person or lastly appeal to a certain outlook. They mainly lack the validity in order to prove their argument. The media provides us with many scenarios using different forms of informal fallacies. I will provide three notable examples of informal fallacies by explaining the type of fallacy and why the media used this fallacy.

Advertising is a persuasive communication attempt to change or reinforce one’s prior attitude that is predictable of future behavior. We are not born with the attitudes for which we hold toward various things in our environment. Instead, we learn our feelings of favorability or unfavorability through information about the object through advertising or direct experience with the object, or some combination of the two. Furthermore, the main aim of advertising is to ‘persuade’ to consumer in order to generate new markets for production.