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Fallacies In Propaganda

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Advertisements are everywhere these days. Everywhere we turn around there are billboards, television commercials and there are even advertisements when we go online. We as consumers are drawn into these advertisements. Those advertisements want you to believe their slogans and pitches so you can purchase their item or they make you think that their way is the right way.
In “Propaganda: How Not To Be Bamboozled”, Donna Woolfolk Cross divides and classifies a variety of logical fallacies and propaganda techniques that “help shape our attitudes on a thousand subjects”. She also pointedly reminds readers not to presume we are immune to propaganda.
Fallacy is defined as a mistaken belief. Appeal to fear fallacy or Argumentum in Terrorem is a …show more content…
Lutz states “Your job is to figure out exactly what each word is doing in the ad - what each word really means, not what the advertiser wants you to think what it means”. The Popularity fallacy, aka Bandwagon, mob appeal, or appeal to the masses, invites the audience to get on board on and purchase what “the rest of the world is purchasing.” Commercials utilizing the Popularity fallacy does not give absolutely no reasonable reason to purchase their product aside from the fact that it is popular and people like it. In a Nike commercial that was aired April 1, 2008, like all Nike commercials, thrives on the bandwagon fallacy. It gives the false sense that the great athletes of our time are using Nike products and Nike products are the reason they are so great and outstanding at what they do, accordingly you should purchase Nike products too. That right there shows that the consumers will do anything that is appealing and gets their interest. A lot of “bandwagon” fallacy happens in sports. A lot of fans will root and claim to be a fan for a team that has a winning record or wins a major sport event like the Super Bowl or World Series. When the team is losing, then the fans will not admit that they are a true fan of that

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