Logical Fallacies in Advertising

Is the study of logic relevant to advertising? Is advertising, which is purely emotional, ever required to be also logical? Logical fallacies are highly suggestive and persuasive. Every day consumers are bombarded with one persuasive communication after another.

These appeals persuade not through the give-and-take of argument and debate, but through the manipulation of symbols and of our most basic human emotions. With the growth of communication tools like the Internet, the flow of persuasive messages has been dramatically accelerated.

In this paper, 10 different examples of logical fallacies are identified as they appear in print ads in leading publications. Although some of these ads might represent more than one logical fallacy, in each sample an attempt has been made to focus only on the most obvious.

Since few of us want to be left behind, this technique can be quite successful in advertising. This is an unabashed appeal to the emotions rather than the logic. The connection that an Internet Search Engine will keep you interesting is a good example of a second type of fallacy, the slippery slope.

When confronted with this technique, it may be helpful to ask the following questions:

* What is this propagandist's program?

* What is the evidence for and against the program?

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IC RECOMMENDATION -- Order Now! 3) AUDIENCE PERCEPTION -- Product has to be reliable since its in Tune reader (fallacy of excluded middle). 4) ABILITY TO PERFORM all they need is a check, credit card and tons of gullibility.  ADVERTISEMENT E: MICROSOFT Type of Fallacy: HYPOSTATIZATION, FEAR, and EXCLUDED MIDDLE Source: TIME Date: Jan 7, 1998 The fallacies in this ad are numerous. The headline "Are you living under the threat of change or in the hope of it?" has threat words and the suggestion is almost fatalistic. Hypostatization occurs when the abstract concept of "business failure" is taken to be a real and quantifiable danger. "What if your biggest competitor, today, launches a product that could very well sink your biggest line?" The excluded middle fallacy appears in the next to last paragraph. A. Technology(?) plays big role in change; B. Especially if IT's (what, where, missing connection.) ADVERTISEMENT F: MERCURY Type of Fallacy: FALSE CONNECTION: TRANSFER Source: FORTUNE Date: Jan 14, 1998 Transfer happens when an advertiser carries over the authority, sanction, and prestige of something we respect and have us accept it in the new context. We are given two visuals -- a shelf full of adventure books, and a
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Some common words found in the essay are:
FOX TV, Date October, Date Jan, ADVERTISING Introduction, Surgeon General's, Date Nov, Search Engine, Mercury Villager, Propaganda Analysis, Date January, type fallacy, logical fallacies, date october,  advertisement, false connection, october 1996, date october 1996, excluded middle, audience perception, 2 specific recommendation, connection advertisement, fallacy false, 3 audience perception, type fallacy false, false connection source,
Approximate Word count = 1465
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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