Fallacies in Advertisements

Fallacies, or flaws in logical reasoning, are more commonly committed when certain emotions are invoked in the reader to accept the conclusion (informal). This paper focuses on the use of fallacies in advertisements, which uses emotional appeal. I will argue that, while information manipulation through ads is in a moral view wrong, deciding whether the use of fallacies in endorsements is wrong or right varies for every case depending on the foreseeable risk that it will bring to the general public.

Advertisements comprise more than half of what we see on television. One example of popular endorsements is a shampoo ad like the one for Pantene. One of its ads goes like this: “101 out of 139 women experience hair fall problems. Well, you don't have to worry anymore ladies because there's Pantene Hair Fall Control. Kris Aquino and 150,000,000 women have chosen Pantene. You try, you be the expert!”

In my given example, the fallacy of appeal to the people (Bandwagon argument) was used since the premises for the conclusions are logically irrelevant and no concrete evidence or reason is stated why the viewers should buy the product like certain chemicals or substances that might truly enhance the hair. Instead, the ad evoked certain feelings–that desire to ‘belong’– in the viewers to make them want to buy the product. The given figures highlighted that a majority of women allegedly are now using the product and so, the ad encourages you to join them. Moreover, a fallacy of appeal to vanity was committed too since the advertisement featured a well-known public figure like Kris Aquino. Associating products with celebrities is very common and effective. Initially, you really have no initial reason or intention to purchase the product. But wh...

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...ough legal are not just ordinary merchandises. Information must not be manipulated and, right and ample information and warnings must be provided so customers will be guided accordingly.

In conclusion, although seeing the method of manipulating information in a church-based moral sense as wrong all the time, its use is not wrong in all cases. People are more inclined to anything if they were emotionally appalled. Therefore, their use in advertisements is necessary and indispensable. But there are different cases. In some cases of using fallacies in advertisements, the end justifies the means when potential harm to the people is not foreseen; but in some it does not, especially when the product endorsed has foreseeable risks to the public.

Works Cited

Waller, Bruce N. 2005. Consider Ethics: Theory, Readings, and Contemporary Issues. New York: Pearson Longman: 23.