Fallacies of Reasoning (Commercials) PDF

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Paper on fallacies in commercials and why it is the fallacy of your choosing....

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Fallacies of Reasoning

Zoe Ong

Mr. Brenton Cheeks

College of Humanities and Social Science

Com 222

2 In the commercial there are a bunch of kids on the streets dressed similarly to the King of Pop drinking Pepsi which makes them dance like Michael Jackson. Leading into them bumping into Michael Jackson who teaches them more dance moves, singing this is the “Pepsi generation” in the same tune as Billy Jean. In the commercial the fallacy being used is False Analogy, this most known for comparing two events or likeness. In the fallacy paper we looked at in class the definition for a false analogy is “This means that the similarities between the two things being compared are not substantial enough to assume that another characteristic of one of them probably applies to the other.” (Logical Fallacies) In the commercial the things that they are comparing is dancing like Michael Jackson to drinking Pepsi. Neither of these things have to do with each other, as dancing is something learned whereas Pepsi is just a soda that won’t make you a good dancer. This commercial shows how companies use two things that don’t have any correlation but make some far reaches to sell their products. In this commercial the two things that are the causing factors are Pepsi and dancing. Though they may have some similarities this doesn’t mean that they are alike in all ways. My reaction to the commercial is very funny because there isn’t a possible way for something like a drink to make someone dance better or become like someone else. Though there are other things like dance or singing lessons that could possibly make you be a good Michael Jackson impersonator, but nothing could make you someone else. Also recognizing that it was a marketing scheme to get a younger and older audience to buy a product that is being held by an adored idol. Which is still used to this day because people follow leaders and influencers that they believe in, even if the product doesn’t make you dance like Michael Jackson.

3 The second ad that we’re going to focus on is a commercial is from Old Navy. The commercial starts with a child and his mother in the car on the first day of school talking about how the different ways the child needs to engage in the classroom. The child is unhappy because he is dressed in a very posh manner, he then points to some kids at the school and says he wants to dress like them. His mother then asks the children where they got their clothes, they say Old Navy. The mother and child drive off to get him some new clothes from Old Navy. The fallacy in this commercial is band wagoning. Band Wagon is when it seems like everyone doing one thing or supporting one thing and you either feel pressured to join or join to feel included. There are branches of the band wagon fallacy and the one that this commercial relates to is the appeal to popularity. In the commercial the child in the car wanted to dress like those kids most likely because they looked popular, and he wanted to fit in as he was new to the school. But the fault with that is there is not much evidence about how their clothing makes them popular. In an article called Appeal to Popular Opinion the author says this “The logical error in an appeal to popularity lies in its inflating the value of popularity as evidence." (Nordquist, 2019) The mother and child decided to dress like the rest of the children because it seemed like that was what everyone at the school wore and he had to be like everyone else. This commercial to me is very relatable on many levels. We live in a world that all we want to do is fit to an extent and stand out in our own ways. The commercial shows how easily people jump onto a bandwagon and will do anything to fit in. In the end what will help you make true friends is being yourself and wearing what makes you feel comfortable.

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Reference:

1. Logical Fallacies . Logical fallacies. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2021, from https://lc.gcumedia.com/phi105/fallacies-website/fallacies-website-v1.1.html. 2. Nordquist, R. (2019, January 17). The bandwagon fallacy-is the opinion of the majority always valid? ThoughtCo. Retrieved November 9, 2021, from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-bandwagon-fallacy-1689158....