Advertising- so simple and so complex.  At the surface, it’s simply a captivating image meant to garner attention for a product.  However, through close analysis, you can see (or don’t) that they utilize sinister psychological tactics, perfect in time for Halloween.  Let’s inspect three advertisements from popular brands to find the fallacies lurking beneath the picture.

In this ad, a nun is enjoying gelato, as if it is a heavenly delight.  The fallacy perhaps could be fit under Appeal to Appeal to Traditional Wisdom.  Nuns and churches are associated with being all knowing powerful places, and thus an “endorsement” of their product makes people believe that if the church/nuns are recommending this product, I should have it too.

In this ad, this cigarette company has a new line of “thin cigarettes” and claim that the best ones are like women… thin and rich.  I found multiple fallacies here.  The first one is Style over Substance.  There is no discussion of the product, but instead focusing on a chic well dressed women.  There is also an Appeal to Emotions because for men it could arouse feelings of sexuality/love while with women it could be jealousy/aspiring to be like her.  By focusing on these emotions, the buyer ignores the facts of the product.

In this ad by PETA, an organization supporting animals and veganism, they claim that feeding kids is child abuse.  The first fallacy I see is the black-or-white one because it forces you into two options: either you feed your kids meat and you are an abuser OR you make them go vegan and you are a good parent.  There is also a Lack of Proportion because it removes all reason and makes parents believe that if their kids eat meat, they will be obese by showing a large kid eating a burger.  Even the ad seems to zoom in on the kid in a weird camera angel to exaggerate the facts.

These ads utilize these fallacies to convince consumers through devious means.  So can you detect them now?  Write in the comments below the three fallacies you see in this ad, and I’ll feature you in my next blog post!

Signing off,

Delectable Danielle