Week 12 ; Ch.10 #3

The section that I found most interesting in this chapter was "Common Fallacies in Advertisements". A fallacy is an error in reasoning due to misconception or presumption. This section talks about how ads usually depend on fallacies and psychological persuasion. A few example scare tactic of ads it talks about are ones that talk about losing weight, bad breath, body odor, or acne, etc. Advertisements like this make people realize the negative things about themselves that they may not have noticed before and will make them self-conscious. The ads promise a solution to the problems if you use the product. Another fallacy in ads is the fallacy of popular appeal, which states that "everyone" is using this product, including celebrities, so you should use it too. This type of advertising is usually the most effective with teenagers because they want to do what "everyone else" is doing to be "popular". Another type is snob appeal, which show people that are sexy, athletic, popular, or rich, using a certain product. A fourth type is the fallacy of appeal to inappropriate authority, which is when a celebrity promotes a product that's out of their field. For example, Britney Spears promoting Nike shoes. There are many different ways on how advertisements catch an audience's attention, so the best thing that you could do for yourself personally would be to not let it influence you into thinking negatively about yourself.