Quantitative Literacy: Analyzing Logical Fallacies in Advertisements

This assignment, focusing on quantitative literacy, analyzes logical fallacies commonly used in advertisements. It provides two examples: one demonstrating the appeal to emotions, using a 2014 Chevy commercial, and another illustrating the appeal to the masses, using a Camel cigarettes advertisement. The paper dissects these fallacies, suggesting how the advertisements could have been more truthful. Furthermore, it examines peer-reviewed advertisements, identifying fallacies like the appeal to authority. The analysis extends to discussing the effectiveness of advertisements based on truthful arguments versus emotional appeals, considering consumer preferences based on age and product type. The conclusion emphasizes that the effectiveness of an advertisement is contingent on its target audience and the nature of the product being marketed. The paper references multiple sources to support its findings.

Running head: QUANTITATIVE LITERACY
Quantitative Literacy
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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The post here takes into account two examples of advertisements with logical fallacies.
The first example deals with the logical fallacy of appealing to emotions and the second logical
fallacy represents appeal to masses. The report also mentions the logical fallacies in the
advertisements and provides suggestions on how the advertisement could have been more
truthful. The advertisements provided by the peers reviewed based on the logical fallacies. The
post also discusses on the effectiveness of advertisements based on truthful arguments.
The first example represents the logical fallacy of appealing to emotions in a 2014 Chevy
commercial featuring a golden retriever and a woman (Soliman, 2014). Appeal to emotion
represents a fallacy used for tugging the heartstrings of the audience by focusing on vulnerability
and lesser stress on logical statements for making a claim. In this context, if the commercial is
considered then one can find a dog named Maddie in most of the life events of the woman.
However, the commercial ends with a Chevrolet car and a caption ‘A best friend for life’s
journey’ displayed on screen. The commercial focuses on the appeal to emotion since the
audience made to watch and develop emotions between a woman and her dog that also makes
them vulnerable. Thus, when the viewer watches the car and the caption supporting it after
experiencing vulnerability they instantly feel the desire to buy the car. This can however be said
that the advertisement could have been more logical through discussing more about the car and
the feature it possess.
The second example focuses on the fallacy of appealing to the masses. Appeal to masses
represented as a fallacy that shows that everyone does a particular thing without being
judgmental of it being good or bad (Bantock, 2012). This fallacy represented through the
smoking commercial portrayed by Camel cigarettes. The idea behind this commercial is that
since doctors are smoking the mentioned brand of cigarettes, a study confirmed that they this

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particular brand seem to be their favorite. This claim of the advertisement is trying to portray a
message that the audience should also smoke this brand of cigarette so since the doctors are
doing so and recommending it. However, this commercial becomes more logical by using the
statistics collected in gathering the data.
On peer reviewing, one of the commercial mentioned based on losing weight and
assuring audience that they would not feel hungry without mentioning the fact that the diet based
on 500 calories a day. This example fits the logical fallacy of appeal to authority. There could
also be the fallacy of appeal to emotion (Hwang et al., 2013). This is because the advertisement
used for impressing the audience by tugging their heartstrings that also made them vulnerable
towards buying the product without judging the logical claim. Similar is the case with the
example that mentions about the equipments for weight loss.
Advertisements based on both logical fallacy and truthful arguments. It has been found
that consumers prefer truthful arguments in advertisements related to products like medicine
where appeal to emotion us preferred in cases of advertisements related to clothing (Goldsmith,
Flynn & Clark, 2012). Moreover, there have been instances where younger consumers prefer
advertisements with appeal to emotions especially for hedonic products whereas truthful
arguments for advertisements related to investment plans and pain relievers. In contrast,
however, the older consumers prefer truthfulness in every advertisement portrayed. Therefore,
the effectiveness of the advertisements depends on the target audience and the kind of product it
is trying to sell.

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Thus, the post throws a light on the logical fallacies of advertisements. The post also
discusses about the advertisements of the peers and the ways of making an advertisement more
effective.

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References:
Bantock, G. H. (2012). Studies in the History of Educational Theory Vol 2: The Minds and the
Masses, 1760-1980. Routledge.
Goldsmith, R. E., Flynn, L. R., & Clark, R. A. (2012). Materialistic, brand engaged and status
consuming consumers and clothing behaviors. Journal of Fashion Marketing and
Management: An International Journal, 16(1), 102-119.
Hwang, K. O., Ning, J., Trickey, A. W., & Sciamanna, C. N. (2013). Website usage and weight
loss in a free commercial online weight loss program: retrospective cohort study. Journal
of medical Internet research, 15(1).
Soliman, A. (2014). Gender and Pop Culture. Month.