Cultural Rhetoric

While watching a YouTube video the other day I saw a commercial for ESL and Intel. During the commercial it shows a series of different people mixed with famous gamers saying how every gamer is the same in the way that they are all different. This is a classic example of several different fallacies already, but then, it shows all the people saying “I’m a gamer” one by one and then altogether in a group at the end. One main fallacy that is used here is mob appeal. It is trying to get you to feel that you are part of a group of people who are all gamers like you. Then, they are also appealing to the use of authority because they have famous gamers in there along with regular people. So they are making use of the feeling of camaraderie but then they are also using a sense of awe by having famous people there as well. This can be very convincing while advertising for something, but the problem with this commercial is that there really is not anything that it is advertising for. There i...

Several years ago, I remember watching several commercials in which Subway would use top sports players in their commercials in order to promote their product. One in particular that I remember is the commercial with Michael Phelps. In the commercial, it shows Michael swimming and training for the Olympics. In the middle of his training, the announcer is saying how training is a lifelong passion, and then his mother comes in with a Subway footlong sandwich, and then the announcer states that that passion is fueled by a passion for footlongs. This is an example of a false cause fallacy because it is saying that Michael became a famous and successful swimmer because of his passion for footlong subs. The next line is a sneaky one that many don’t catch, but the announcer then says, “That’s why Debbie Phelps is always there for her son Michael.” Seems harmless enough but it is really an appeal to emotion. It is saying that in order to be a good mother, you need to buy Subway for your ki...

I was riding home in the car with my mom the other day when a commercial came on the radio. It was about two girls who had just left a club and were heading to a different club. It was clear from their voices that they had been drinking. All of a sudden there was a loud crash and the sounds of breaking glass and car alarms. They had gotten into an accident and the driver keeps apologizing saying, “I thought I was fine to drive: I was only buzzed.” To this the passenger, who had broken her arm in the accident, responded saying, “Oh, you were only buzzed? Well that makes it all better.” And she snapped her arm back into place. “Really?” the driver responded, “You’re really ok?” “No that doesn’t fix anything!” she replied and cried out again as her arm snapped back.  After which an announcer said, “Buzzed driving is drunk driving,” and the commercial ended. This was trying to prevent people from getting buzzed and then driving. It used an appeal to fear to try to per...