Logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning, they are used to trick people’s thoughts, and are often used by politicians and the advertising media to fool people, and manipulate their perspective about a product. Knowing how to identify a fallacy is a priceless skill which can save individuals most of their time, money, and personal dignity (Bentham, 2016). This paper analyzes logical fallacies associated with Biogesic advertisement to show appeal to popularity, and Jake from State Farm advertisement that highlights hasty generalization fallacy.
Biogesic (Paracetamol) advert presents the fallacy of popularity, when the idea is brought out that clients should buy an item because everyone is buying it. For instance, the line in the Paracetamol advertisement that goes ‘Biogesic is proven by million’, appeals to popularity rather than stating how the product would cater for the needs of the consumers. The idea is to emphasize that most people in general believe that something is true. However, accepting other people beliefs and actions as to why they may say for example go for the product without demanding for evidence as to why that person believes so is a dangerous way to accept information (Gula, 2017). The advert should have then showed the consumer what it will do to them, and how it would cater for their needs instead of generalizing with the idea that everyone is using Paracetamol.
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In the case of Jake from State Farm Advertisement, the fallacy highlighted is referred to as hasty generalization. The fallacy comes about when the ad shows a small sample of it that makes the audience to jump into a conclusion when the situation may actual be something else (Shimp & Preston, 2018). In this ad, they make the audience think that the guy on the phone is talking to a woman when in real sense he is talking to Jake from State Farm. So the audience is tricked to make a conclusion without justification of sufficient or rather biased evidence.
References
Bentham, J. (2016). Anarchical fallacies. Headline Series , (318), 56.
Gula, R. J. (2017). Nonsense: Red herrings, straw men, and sacred cows : how we abuse logic in our everyday language . Mount Jackson, VA: Axios Press.
Shimp, T. A., & Preston, I. L. (2018). Deceptive and nondeceptive consequences of evaluative advertising. Journal of Marketing , 45 (1), 22-32.
Vleet, V. J. E. (2018). Informal Logical Fallacies: A Brief Guide . Lanham: University Press of America.
