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Fallacies and Ads: A Better Story than Twilight

A few decades ago if we needed information, we had to go for radio news, newspapers,

magazines, and so on, and we had complete control over what information we wanted to receive

and what information we didn't want to receive. Cut to 2022, and this right somewhat has been

taken away from us, and the icing on the cake is that we have no control over the

information, since we are regularly fed with twisted news and propaganda through our social

media and even mainstream media without even realizing it. As a result, there is a lack of critical

thinking and fact-checking among people, and they cannot even differentiate between what is

fallacious news and what is not, and advertisements have taken full advantage of this loophole.

Thus, this paper aims to educate readers on the prevalence of fallacies, particularly in

commercials, as well as the ethical aspects of using fallacies in advertisements, and ultimately, to

provide potential countermeasures against fallacious information.

Before we get into advertising fallacies, let's take a glance at how prevalent fallacies are

in general. According to an article by Musi & Reed (2022), 59 percent of fake news during the

COVID-19 epidemic period was not fabricated, but rather presented in a misleading context. The

authors also say in the article that at that period, news about vaccines and symptoms of the

COVID-19 virus was being reconfigured, which in a crisis scenario, contributed to a lot more

anxious environment among the people. The article also quotes a statement by Tedros Adhanom

Ghebreyesus, then-WHO Director General, who stated that the globe was not only facing an

epidemic but also an infodemic during the Covid-19 outbreak. This remark from the WHO

director has a lot of depth to it, and it can be used to sum up the entire situation in the context of

the misleading information that surrounds us. This research does not address false news since
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fake news is something that everybody can spot; rather, this research focuses on reconfigurable

news, which is extremely difficult to identify and avoid.

Now it's time to talk about fallacies in advertisement. For this, let's examine an Indian

advertisement of Vimal Elaichi, which can be found in the video by Elaichi (2022), which

includes two major fallacies. Beginning with the advertisement's breakdown, this advertising

features two of the most well-known actors in Hindi film, Mr. Ajay Devgan and Mr. Shahrukh

Khan, who are promoting the Vimal Elaichi as a product. According to an article by Petric

(2020), appeal to authority occurs when a claim is made utilizing a person's position of authority,

which is exactly the situation in this advertising where famous actors are used to establish the

credibility of the product.

Moving on to the commercial's other fallacy, which is both interesting and well-hidden. If

you look attentively at the advertisement, at the end you will notice a picture of the product,

which is Vimal Elaichi, but if you search for Vimal Gutkha in the market or on the internet, you

will find a packaging that is similar to Vimal Elaichi. To put this in context, Vimal Gutkha is a

tobacco-containing product, and advertising of such products is prohibited in India. As a result,

the company cleverly uses Vimal Elaichi as a foreground product without the actors mentioning

the name elaichi anywhere in the advertisement, and puts the tobacco-containing product in a

similar packaging, causing people to assume that the actors use the tobacco-containing product.

According to Petric (2020), such fallacy is known as the Red herring fallacy, in which the

audience is misled by diverting the course of information at hand to make it easier for the

presenter to convey the information, but ultimately leading to the presenter's indented topic. As

previously explained, this is the identical scenario for Vimal Elaichi's commercial.
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After discussing all of the points mentioned in the previous paragraphs, like the false

news that surrounds us and an example of Indian advertising that is full of fallacies, many people

can be left with the question: Is it truly unethical to use fallacies in advertisements? To answer

this topic, let us explore an article by Ripley (2005), which provides examples of numerous

advertisements with fallacies, but separates them into two categories: ethical fallacious

commercials and unethical fallacious commercials. To get a clearer picture, let's compare two

commercials from the same article by Ripley (2005), one of which is from ethical fallacious

advertisement and the other is from unethical fallacious advertisement.

To begin, there is the example of "Ethical Fallacious Advertisement," which is a Pepsi

commercial in which the article claims that the advertisement reflects friendship, connection, and

youthfulness between a school girl and the drink, despite the fact that there is no mention of the

nature of the product, such as taste, quality, etc., which is a fallacy in itself, but it does not depict

anything wrong or immoral. Thus, this commercial is classified as ethical. Furthermore,

according to the same article, another advertisement that falls under the category of unethically

fallacious advertising is the commercial for Jordache Clothing, which reflects an offensive

condition between a man and a woman, where the chastising male is shown, which can be

threatening and offensive to many people. As a result, the author of the article considers such

advertisement to be unethically fallacious. The author also emphasizes at the conclusion of the

article that fallacies that reflect unfair, harmful, and hazardous reasoning can be considered

unethical. Overall, the main idea of this argument is that while utilizing fallacies in ads is not

immoral in itself, the manner in which they are presented can be kept under ethically

consideration.
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As the saying goes "Easier said than done,”. Nitpicking problems in a crisis is easy for us,

but offering meaningful and significant solutions to the problem is quite difficult. However, the

purpose of this study is to discuss the issue as well as potential solutions to mitigate it. An article

by Walton (2010) explains how to avoid fallacies and manipulation by stating that even if the

information appears to be true, one should not leap to conclusions too early. Instead, one should

do an analysis of the offered explanation before drawing a judgment. In a similar manner, Musi

& Reed (2022) in their article propose that a systematic approach should be developed to

automate the identification and detention of fallacies using software and bots, as well as educate

individuals on how to recognize fallacies by making them their own fact checkers. These two

potential solutions for countering fallacies are not specific to fallacies in advertising, but they can

certainly be adapted to countering fallacies in advertisements as well.

Allow me to set aside all facts and evidence for a moment and express my own opinion

on the subject. According to Ripley (2015), if the advertisement's fallacies aren't biased or

harmful, it can be considered ethical. I have a similar opinion on this topic, since I consider using

fallacies in a creative and entertaining manner is a skill. I believe it is OK to use fallacies in

advertisements as long as they do not hurt people's sentiments. And in response to the argument

that fallacies mislead people, rather than prohibiting the use of healthy fallacies, individuals

should be educated and taught not to confuse reality with creative fallacies.

From beginning to conclusion this paper seeks to unfold everything in the context of this

issue. This research covers it all: proving the prevalence of fallacies, examples of fallacies in

commercials, ethical considerations for the use of fallacies in advertising, possible solutions, and

my personal opinion. The primary goal of this study was to inform readers on the current state of

advertising fallacies, as well as fallacies in general. However, more research is recommended in

order to dig up more facts and evidences for this topic, which will help people become more

aware of fallacies and how to distinguish between fallacies and facts in advertisements, making

commercials more entertaining and at the same time making it informative as well, and only then

it can truly be said that "Fallacies and Ads: A Better Story than Twilight."
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References

Ripley, M.L. (2005). Arguing For the Ethics of an Ad: An Application of Multi-Modal

Argumentation Theory. OSSA Conference Archive, 47.

http://scholar.uwindsor.ca/ossaarchive/OSSA6/papers/47

Petric, D. (2020). Logical Fallacies. The Knot Theory of Mind.

https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.24781.18401/1

Musi, E., & Reed, C. (2022). From fallacies to semi-fake news: Improving the identification of

misinformation triggers across digital media. Discourse & Society.

https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265221076609

Walton, D. (2010). Why Fallacies Appear to Be Better Arguments than They Are. Informal

Logic, 30(2). https://doi.org/10.22329/il.v30i2.2868

Elaichi, V. (2021, March 20). Vimal Elaichi - Ajay Devgn | Shahrukh Khan | Hindi 60 secs

[Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUoJRZgJ-ZE