Fallacious reasoning - Assignment Example

Fallacious Reasoning Fallacious Reasoning According to Goldstein, (2005) a fallacy is an argument component that is logically faulty. There are two types of fallacies, formal and informal. Fallacies result from misconception or presumption by the one reasoning and have emotional impacts to the listeners and may take advantage of people’s social relationships. They take rhetoric patterns that usually obscure logical arguments. There are many arguments in the world that appear to be sound but critical analyses indicate that they do not conform to logic.

Fallacies are very common in commercial advertisements on TVs, in magazines, billboards, and other means of advertisements. The most common fallacies in advertisements are appeal to emotions and ad hominem. In the ad hominem fallacy, the reasoning attacks the person rather than the issue at hand while in the appeal to emotions, the reasoning manipulates the emotions of the listeners in order to get their emotions (Carey, 2000).. Consider an advertisement during the Super Bowl Commercials 2012 in which David Beckham advertises H & M’s underwear (Hall, 2012).

No one can dispute the effectiveness of the advert because it is perfect and provokes the market for the product. The advert employs fallacious reasoning through playing with the emotions of the listeners and viewers. The company employs the fallacy appealing to emotions. The company exploits the fact that in most cases, females do the purchasing of males’ underwear garments. These are mothers, girlfriends, and wives. Beckham is highly loved and appreciated worldwide especially by females. He is a known figure in the world of soccer, hence has a following among the football fans (Hall, 2012).

The fallacy here aims at capturing the emotions of the viewers, hence make them purchase the garment. The company reasons that the multitude’s love for Beckham will make them love the garment, which is not necessarily true.ReferencesHall, S. (2012, February 6). David Beckham H&M Super Bowl Commercial: Soccer Star Poses In Underwear Ad (VIDEO/NSFW). Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Retrieved February 12, 2012, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/05/david- beckham-super-bowl-commercial-hm-video_n_1255165.

htmlCarey, S. S. (2000). The uses and abuses of argument: critical thinking and fallacious reasoning. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield Pub.Goldstein, L. (2005). Logic: key concepts in philosophy. London: Continuum.