Course: HUM-115-40IN Critical Thinking - Chapter 10 and 11

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning and Fallacies

HW 4: Fallacies

For this assignment you will locate 4 logical fallacies/ appeals in advertisements-(you can use magazines, journals or commercials). In particular, you should select 4 different ads that illustrate at least four of the following fallacies/ appeals:

• Appeal to Fear
• Appeal to Pity
• False Appeal to Authority
• Post hoc/ doubtful cause (an argument that provides no clear evidence between an event and its alleged cause)
• Hasty Generalization (Making a broad generalization based on an inadequate sample size)
• Bandwagon.

Begin each analysis by describing the advertisement and where you found it. Next, identify the fallacy and then explain how the logical fallacy/ appeal is used in the advertisement.***Make sure to identify the specific fallacy (For example: Appeal to Fear, Bandwagon, Post Hoc).

You need to make sure to use 4 different advertisements for this assignment. And write in complete sentences. You may note that more than one fallacy is present in an ad, but you still need to use four different ads. Do not use ads from the Internet that have been used to illustrate fallacies. Please carefully read the chapter and then look for fallacies in Print Sources. For example:

Advertisement 1: The advertisement is for milk and it was found in Organic Style magazine. The ad features a photo of Brad Pitt holding a glass of milk and sporting a milk mustache. The caption over the photo reads "Drink Milk." The advertisement implies that if Brad Pitt drinks milk, then everyone else should too. This is a false appeal to authority fallacy because it relies on Brad Pitt's popularity to persuade the audience to drink milk. However, the ad offers no evidence to support that Brad Pitt is an authority on milk or on health. The fallacy here can also be considered a bandwagon fallacy because it invites the audience to drink milk since celebrities, such as Brad Pitt, do; it invites people to climb on the bandwagon, implicitly loaded with milk-drinking celebrities. Again, the ad offers no evidence to support why people should drink milk other than the claim that Brad Pitt does.