Influences and Fallacies of Advertisements (RD2)

Alexander Lau

20 July 2011

RD2

Influences and Fallacies of Advertisements

People are bombarded with advertisements throughout their daily lives. Advertisements can be seen on the television, radio, Internet, magazines, newspapers, buses, taxis, billboards, and many other places. Unless a person has been living under a rock, they will see at least one advertisement throughout the day. They can be very invasive, wanting us to buy things or do things according to the advertisement. [Thesis] Advertisements can be a negative force on our lives by preying on our subconscious. [Thesis]

One such advertisement is a commercial for Old Spice body wash. I came across this commercial on Youtube on Tuesday. It is an advertisement targeted mainly toward women even though the product is intended for men. The ad starts out with a shirtless muscular handsome black man standing in front of a shower. In his hand is a bottle of Old Spice body wash. He asks the audience, “Look at your man, now back to me, now back to your man, now back to me.” Then he tells the audience that if they use Old Spice that their man could smell like him. The scene quickly changes where the man is still shirtless, but now on a boat. He walks along the boat suggesting that the woman watching could be on a boat with a man that smells like him. The man stops and lifts up with his left hand to reveal a clamshell. The clamshell opens up displaying two tickets. Suddenly the clamshell falls off and a pile of diamonds starts forming. Then out of the pile of diamonds raises a bottle of Old Spice body wash. In the end, the camera zooms out revealing the man is sitting on a horse with the Old Spice bottle in hand. This commercial incorporates more than one logical fallacy. The first being non sequitur. The commercial suggests to the audience that a real man means having good looks and being muscular. A real man can be handsome and muscular, but they do not go hand in hand. By advertising the way they do, they are trying to tell women that their man is in adequate, but by buying Old Spice their man can at least smell like the man. That suggestion is a negative one. It not only makes women think their man is inadequate, but makes men feel less of a man when compared to the muscular man. The second fallacy is begging to question. Does using Old Spice really make men smell like real men? The third fallacy I see is bandwagon appeal. The commercial is basically saying real men are handsome, strong, and confident. First off, what is the definition of a “real man” anyways?

Another advertisement I came across on Youtube on Tuesday is one for Volkswagen, a car manufacturer. The commercial starts off with background music from the iconic movie Star Wars. The camera starts panning upwards to reveal a figure dressed in black. It is a child dressed as Darth Vader from Star Wars. He is walking down a hallway towards the camera. The scene cuts to a room where the child is standing with arms partially up in front of a bicycling machine. He seems to be trying to use the “force” on the machine to get it to do something, but fails. The scene then changes to another room where the child is in front of a dog laying on the floor. This time the child is trying to use the “force” on the dog, but again he fails. A close-up shot of the dogs face shows his lack of excitement. The scene changes to a laundry room where the child is trying to use the “force” on the washing machine. Then the scene quickly changes to what seems like his sisters room with a doll sitting on top the bed, again trying to use the “force” on the object. The child looks depressed as he has failed to use the “force.” The child is then shown following the dog down the hallway across the camera pretending to use the “force” to move the dog. The scene changes to the kitchen where he is with his mother at the kitchen counter. Next to the mother is a sandwich. The child tries to use the “force” to move the sandwich towards him. The mother instead moves the sandwich to him. The child is saddened by the results and drops his head in disappointment. The scene cuts to a car turning into and up the houses driveway.  Then the scene cuts to a saddened Darth Vader until he is interrupted by the dogs barking. The car is then shown with the child’s father coming out. The child starts running towards the car. The father thinks he’s being greeted by his son, but gets ignored. The child is then shown standing in front of the car, again trying to use the “force” on it. Some time passes then suddenly the car starts up. The child is surprised and jumps backwards. The scene changes where a remote is shown and one of its buttons being pressed. The camera zooms out revealing the child’s mother and father standing near a window watching their son. The scene cuts back to the child who looks confused. He looks around trying to see if anyone is around. The scene changes to a black background with white text apeearing, telling the audience that the all-new 2012 Volkswagen Passat is coming soon, and that it is priced around $20,000. This commercial is an ad populum fallacy. It preys on the audiences emotions. The commercial conveys a mishmash of feelings without telling the audience anything about the car. The lack of details about the car also bring up the begging the question fallacy, like what makes the car all-new. The background music being from Star Wars is well known. The music and Darth Vader are considered evil for those that know Star Wars, but the child dressed as Darth Vader negates that because children are seen as cute and not evil making the advertisement fun and enjoyable. The Star Wars theme now becomes one of nostalgia. Also, in the end, the commercial stats that the car is all new, but no mention throughout the commercial why it is all new. The whole commercial is there to entertain the audience, hoping that the audience remembers the commercial by appealing to their emotions. This can be negative as it manipulates our emotions into referencing to their products.

A quote from Alexandra Aoki stated, “Advertisements main purpose is to promote and lure people into wanting and/or agreeing with what they are putting forth to the public.” And, a quote from Kalea Perry stated, “They can lead people into believing that they need something that they really would not even want or desire in a normal situation.” I fully agree with both statements. That is why advertisements can be a negative influence in our lives. Advertisements influences the way we do things in this case, buying items even if those items aren’t needed.

Advertisements aren’t necessarily bad, but the way they are used is. By preying on our insecurities, ads try to makes us feel the need to buy products to make us better than who we feel we are. Like in the Old Spice commercial, it’s telling the female audience their man isn’t manly enough, and the male audience that they aren’t real men because they aren’t the man in the commercial. Ads also prey on our emotions. The Volkwagen commercial is funny and enjoyable. It’s a memorable commercial. It may not make you want to buy a car, but it makes a lasting impression, which is a win as long as the brand is remembered. People watching or looking at ads need to understand what is going on to not be influenced by what they see.

Work Cited:

Aoki, Alexandra. “Ad-Pro Forum.” Online posting. 20 July 2011. Laulima Discussion. 20 July 2011. [https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/site/KAP.35103.201140/page/eb4947ce-d356-43a3-b5fc-927bacb6d070]

Perry, Kalea. “Ad-Pro Forum.” Online posting. 20 July 2011. Laulima Discussion. 20 July 2011. [https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal/site/KAP.35103.201140/page/eb4947ce-d356-43a3-b5fc-927bacb6d070]