Ad Hominem Fallacy Examples

Words: 414

Pages: 2

Open Document

As television shows become increasingly complex, so do commercials. One of the tactics employed to keep viewers entertained are through the use of fallacies. For example, there are several commercials featuring the Ad Hominem fallacy, because of presidential and mayoral campaigns. Although one fallacy in particular called the slippery-slope fallacy, occurs in a recent DIRECTV commercial.
This DIRECTV commercial begins with the picture of an angry man on hold with his cable company. Using this slippery-slope fallacy, he goes from being angry on the phone to immediately playing racquet ball to relieve his stress. He then injures himself resulting in a trip to the hospital for an eyepatch. This eyepatch makes the man look tough, which leads …show more content…
They try to hook their audience by including viewers in a seemingly exclusive type of person. This tactic not only fails as a hook, but it also offends viewers by deeming them ill-tempered. The second point of this commercial is to sell the viewer on DIRECTV, through the slippery-slope fallacy. The series of events the man goes through during the commercial lead the viewer to believe that they will “wake up in a roadside ditch” if they do not get DIRECTV. This tactic does not work, because it doesn’t market the capabilities of the product, it only bullies viewers into buying DIRECTV.
While some will argue that the commercial is lighthearted and funny, it is important to remember that companies will use any means to get people to buy their product. They will generalize some in an effort to connect with a certain audience and will do the same with the other audience in a different commercial.
In the final analysis of the DIRECTV commercial, it can be concluded that they have used the slippery-slope fallacy very well. Although, they have created an excellent slippery-slope fallacy, it resulted in an insulted audience and a failure to sell their

AFitzpatrick CN Ch3 Pg88 104 Essay

Questions/Main Ideas: Notes: What is a logical fallacy? An error in reasoning, or common error in reasoning opposite of a factual error which is simply being wrong about the facts. What is a deductive fallacy? Sometimes called a formal fallacy is a deductive argument that has premises that are all true but they lead to a false conclusion, making it an invalid argument. What is an inductive fallacy? Sometimes known as an informal fallacy an inductive fallacy appears to be an inductive argument, but the…

Words 626 - Pages 3

Knowledge Check Study Guide

decision making Questions Rhetorical devices I, rhetorical devices II, rhetorical devices III, rhetorical devices IV, and proof surrogates and repetition Fallacies that involve appeals to emotion, some 100% Score: 15 / 15 non-emotion-based 10 11 12 13 14 15 fallacies, and two wrongs make a right The ad hominem fallacy, the genetic fallacy, straw man, false dilemma, slippery slope, misplacing 100% the burden of proof, and begging the question Concept: The stages of decision making Mastery…

Words 1776 - Pages 8

fallacy's Essay

Crib Sheet: Mosley's explanation of the fallacies Fallacies: A fallacy is an error in reasoning, false reasoning. A fallacy is a failure and the mark of an argument that should not be credited. From W.R.A.C. Emotionally loaded terms (emotionalism) Emotionalism is different from appealing to emotions. Every persuasive speech should appeal to the reader's emotions, and we will soon learn that psychological appeals are a type of support for value claims. Emotionalism is the use of emotion instead…

Words 2809 - Pages 12

Steve Olsen's Essay Respectable Blue Collar Guys

paired with the ad hominem fallacy, classification and division, sarcasm, alliteration, and imagery to effectively persuade Americans to remember to whom we owe our utmost respect and honor-- the Blue Collar Guys. Olsen uses a variety of rhetorical patterns to develop his idea. Throughout the essay, he uses classification and division to draw the line between the “blue-collar guys” and the “white-collar guys.” An example of this is when Olsen…

Words 1030 - Pages 5

Ethos Pathos Logo Analysis

In the live lesson, we learned about the three persuasive appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos uses ethics, knowledge, and credibility to appeal to the listener. For example, a dentist recommending a certain brand of toothpaste to keep teeth white, people would be swayed to buy this brand because of the professional’s area of expertise. Logos uses facts and logic to appeal to the listener. For instance, nine in ten doctors recommend eating fruits and vegetables every day to reduce the risk of…

Words 315 - Pages 2

Fallacy and Good Example Essay

10 Logical Fallacies Straw man Fallacy: Misrepresenting someone’s argument so it is easier to attack. It is usually by exaggerating their statements as shown above. The guy with the glasses didn’t accomplish anything and used the “certification” as an excuse to not do anything. Appeal to Emotion: Targeting emotion to manipulate a respond. In this example, it is using FEAR as an emotional response to make the reader forward the chain mail. The Fallacy fallacy: Assuming that a claim that…

Words 343 - Pages 2

Critical Thinking and Straw Man Argument Essay

Associate Level Material Assumptions and Fallacies Write a 150- to 200-word response to each of the following sets of questions: 1. What are assumptions? 2. something taken for granted: something that is believed to true without proof 3. belief without proof: the belief that something is true without having any proof 4. act of undertaking something: the act of taking something upon yourself How do you think assumptions might interfere with critical thinking? Without seeinh the whole…

Words 397 - Pages 2

Sticks and Stones Essay

fathers, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin utilizes numerous rhetorical fallacies to depict Benjamin Franklin’s rise through society. Based off his primary intent of the piece, the betterment of society, Franklin incorporates ethos as a mode of persuasion into his writing. As a component to argument, ethos is the process of convincing the audience of the credibility of the author. In using the rhetorical devices of ad hominem and argument from authority, Franklin is able to successfully depict his…

Words 906 - Pages 4

Everyone's An Argument Analysis

The section of Logical Appeals on page 289 of Everyone's an Author begins by stating that you need to have cold hard facts, reasons, and evidence to support your claims so that you may add to your own creditability. And then section informs that evidence can take many forms. The forms consist of: facts and statistics, data from surveys and questionnaires, direct observations, testimony, experiments, interviews, personal experience, visual, and many more. When you have an argument, you need to…

Words 225 - Pages 1

Study Guide Essay

Logical Fallacy-A logical fallacy is, roughly speaking, an error of reasoning. When someone adopts a position, or tries to persuade someone else to adopt a position, based on a bad piece of reasoning, they commit a fallacy. Blanket Statements -This dangerous fallacy involves a statement that makes an overly general or absolute claim or reason and leaves the arguer vulnerable to attack. Blanket statements use the language of absoluteness. False Dilemma/either or- This fallacy occurs…

Words 1036 - Pages 5