Logical Fallacies In Everything's An Argument

Logical fallacies are prominent in modern American culture; one place such fallacies are found, and more often than not, overlooked is in print ads. We see these advertisements in our day-to-day lives and allow them to influence our decisions but if we take a deeper look we may be dissatisfied with the underground message being conveyed, amongst other things. This advertisement centered on Alicia Silverstone provides us with a great example of logical fallacies found in modern advertising and how awful they truly can be. Silverstone is advocating for PETA in this advertisement, which is a corporation that strives for ethical treatment of animals. This company is using her to undermine people’s opinions of vegetarians as a whole and push us …show more content…
One of which is the false authority fallacy. Defined by Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz in Everything's An Argument, "False authority occurs when writers offer themselves or other authorities as sufficient warrant for believing a claim" (79). Making arguments in this manner, on someone’s authority instead of facts, is not enough to completely base an argument. The advertisement alludes that if you are a vegetarian you will have a beautiful physique just like Silverstone, which is absolutely false. Silverstone is a paid actress; PETA is just using her as a face to draw attention away from what the company is actually intending to accomplish. Appealing to a false authority reduces your credibility and makes the evidence for your claim weaker …show more content…
It is used to catch eyes and highlight what the company believes to be important. Visual rhetoric can be found in the advertisement where Silverstone’s name is in bold font. This is done to give Silverstone’s name importance, to make people believe that she is more credible than she actually is. Another place visual rhetoric promotes this fallacy is the size and location of the word “vegetarian.” The placement of the word in the center of the advertisement draws your attention to her body, which is placed directly below it. Now that your attention is drawn to her body because of the placement of the word your mind automatically correlates the word “vegetarian” and her figure. The fact that she is simply naked is a very strong visual used to grab people’s attention. The setting of the advertisement suggests that being a vegetarian is a noble or lavish way of life. These fallacies along with these examples of visual rhetoric help build a clear and concise message for a particular