Skip to main content

DirecTV Total Deadbeat


I saw a commercial the other night on TV while watching Amish Mafia. Right when I saw this commercial, I realized that there was something wrong. Let me start off by telling you what the commercial was: it was a commercial for Direct TV convincing you that having Direct TV is better than having cable. An actor by the name of Rob Lowe comes on screen stating that he has Direct TV and then an alternate dead beat dad version of him comes on as well stating that he has cable. The real Rob Lowe would state all the pros about having Direct TV while the dead beat dad would state the cons of cable, which included his children fighting over what to watch, but that’s their step dads problem while he gambles in an alley and then he saves money by having surgery in a motel room.

Here’s the part that struck me, at the end he said “don’t be like this me, get rid of cable and upgrade to Direct TV”. Apparently if you don’t want to be a dead beat you have to have Direct TV. There are two logical fallacies within this which are hasty generalization and appeal to illegitimate authority. It’s saying that everyone who has cable is a dead beat and the only way out of that is to have Direct TV, and they had, an actor, Rob Lowe star in the commercial as an authority figure even though he has nothing to do with the subject, and to be completely honest I didn’t even know who Rob Lowe was.

Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 21, 2015 at 4:46 PM

    Although the commercial seems funny overall, I think it is giving too extreme examples. I feel bad for the people who have cable!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Open Happiness

While at the movie theaters to see The Maze Runner , I saw a commercial that featured rhetoric. The commercial begins with a young woman named Jess purchasing two Coca Cola drinks in a convenience store. One has her own name on it, and one has the name of her friend Alisha on it. The cashier watches her forlornly as she leaves, hinting that he has a crush on his customer. Jess gives the Coke with Alisha’s name on it to her friend, and together the two friends drink them. Later, Jess, Alisha and two other friends come back into the store to buy more Coke, then leave and have a good time together. Jess keeps coming back to the store with more and more friends, each time purchasing Coca Cola with their names printed on the labels. The cashier smiles and watches, but it is clear that he wishes he was with Jess.  Finally, as the cashier is closing the store for the night, Jess shows up at the door with a Coke that has the name Chris on it. She smiles and hands the drink to the ...
4 comments
Read more

Lift Off: Harvard Graduation Speech

Donovan Livingston graduated from Harvard University in 2016. He was asked to speak at the graduation so he did. Donovan wrote a poem called “Lift Off”. In it he spoke of his life. His ancestors and slavery. He spoke of a new hope. A hope that kids can have to reach for the stars and to be up with them. He spoke of how each and every person has the ability to succeed and to exceed any expectations set for them. In his closing line, Livingston said “They say that the sky's the limit, but it is only the beginning. Lift off.” His speech was one of power and he used many rhetorical devices. Livingston was a Harvard graduate and to establish himself more as a speaker he talked about how he had given a similar type of speech at his high school graduation. He used pathos when talking about his life. About what he was like in school and how his teacher used his energy to make him a great speaker. The logos used was that he was one of the top members in his class and so he knew what he ...
1 comment
Read more

Marilyn Monroe's Shampoo

While browsing on Google I found an old advertisement.  The ad was for Lustre-Crème Shampoo. It featured Marilyn Monroe, known for her beauteous looks and her parts in different movies. One of her movies was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Lustre-Crème was attempting to sell their shampoo through the use of fallacies. By saying that Marilyn Monroe that tells you nothing about the actual product: it simply attracts you to the pretty face in the picture. Using this as an argument of why someone should buy your product is quite illogical. Just because Marilyn Monroe uses it doesn’t provide assurance of its abilities. They attempt using snob appeal by trying to make the audience believe that they could be like Marilyn Monroe if they use the same product as her. They use appeal to illegitimate authority by using Marilyn Monroe to promote their product. Although she herself is a customer, this is still rather irrelevant. She herself has no type of expertise in hair products and knows nothing t...
3 comments
Read more