Absurdity as Advertising

Essay by grayone88512University, Bachelor'sA, October 2007

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AbstractThree logical fallacies will be examined and critical thinking will be applied to examples of advertising. Discussions will include the following:-Ad verecundiam will be discussed with an example of a Lipitor television commercial.

-Non sequitur will be discussed with an example of a Lexus commercial.

-Argument from analogy or false analogy will be discussed with an example of the Saab commercial.

Advertisements are designed to stimulate the mind. From a cute puppy that represents a cell phone company to a diet pill that can make hundreds of pounds melt off of your body, absurdity in advertising is rampant. Companies are willing to juxtapose incongruent images into consumers' minds. The more extreme the image, the better. "Absurd ads are more likely to be noticed, and they are likely to be processed extensively."(Cathcart, 2006)The methodology of the advertisers is simple enough. The more absurd the commercial or advertisement the more likely consumers are to purchase our products.

If the companies were not having great success and their products were not selling in vast quantities, this type of advertising would not continue to be used. So long as absurdity is greasing the wheels of the capitalism train, the company does not care if the facts are presented so long as consumers are willing to buy their products. The assumption is that consumers are willing to gobble up vast quantities of products if social acceptance is inherent.

Example one:Ad verecundiam and LipitorAd verecundiam is defined by Wikipedia.com as:"An appeal to authority or argument by authority is a type of argument in logic, consisting on basing the truth value of an otherwise unsupported assertion on the authority, knowledge or position of the person asserting it. It is also known as argument from authority, argumentum ad verecundiam (Latin: argument to respect) or ipse dixit (Latin: he...