Fallacies of Reasoning
An error that happens in reasoning or rather a flawed argument is referred to as a fallacy. This is an argument that least follows the rules of reasoning and logic, but it appears correct and sound when pronounced. Most of the commercials use a lot of fallacies to attract viewers. An example of a TV commercial with a fallacy of reasoning is the commercial about the Duplex paint (Gass & Seiter, 2018). This advertisement shows a bungalow painted on the outside with various colors. The viewers view the building from the outside, and the assumption is that even the inside is also well painted with the same paint.
The fallacy in this Duplex paints is committed because the occurrence is acknowledged on insufficient evidence. This advertisement concludes that people can tell the kind of paint that is has been used inside the house ‘based on showing the painted external parts of the house (Wüst, 2019). The commercial’s slogan is, “One can tell which paint is used in the side from the outside.” The fact is no one can tell the paint that is used inside the house by looking at the exterior. It is a fallacy of reasoning that has been used to capture people’s attention and persuade them to purchase the paint.
I think this commercial is captivating by using that fallacy, but at the same time, the slogan is not logical. If people try to draw some reasoning and logic from the commercial’s slogan, it is a fallacy (Gass & Seiter, 2018). Simultaneously, the slogan is very appealing though it leaves a lot of questions in people’s minds, especially the question of “how will we know?”
Another commercial that has a fallacy of reasoning is the advertisement of movies that contain the so-called superheroes. For example, Superman, Spiderman, and Bat-Man commercials have almost the same slogans, which indicates that the superheroes fight evil, and they have extraordinary powers. For instance, a commercial for Spiderman shows Spiderman fighting against a mass of people who are considered to be evil. He fights through supernatural powers and saves a person who had been attacked by evil people. The slogan of this commercial is “With Great Powers Comes Great Responsibility.”
The fallacy of reasoning is applied here because Spider man’s slogan is accepted by many people regardless of it being a hypothesis. In contrast, there is a much more logical hypothesis that is valuable (Gass & Seiter, 2018). Spiderman is a well-known character who stands against evil and fights evil people, and he’s got supernatural powers. Spiderman is very famous in the whole world, and most people view him as a superhero. The fact is spider man does not exist in the real world is all about fiction.
In my opinion, many people, especially young ones, view spider man as their superhero. Their parents go ahead and buy them the Spiderman attires so that the children can feel great. People have married the hypothesis about spider man to a point they view him as a real man with supernatural powers. When reasoning is applied, Spiderman is a fallacy that the real world does not exist.
References
Gass, R. H., & Seiter, J. S. (2018). When Good Arguments Go Bad: An Activity for Learning
about Fallacies in Reasoning. Syllabus, 7(2).
Wüst, V. (2019). Fallacies of Reasoning.