Question

This is primarily a participation-based assignment. You are asked to research the Internet, news and/or advertising this week and look for an example of a fallacy that you can share with the class. You can use a URL link to share the example and then add a few sentences to identify and explain the fallacy. You are to show that you understand fallacies by identifying them in the media, so if you just Google a particular fallacy and use someone else's example and explanation, you will not get any marks.

Example

“An opponent of same-sex marriage, Maggie Gallagher,   stated the following when asked what tangible harm has come from same-sex marriage in those states that have allowed it? “…that marriage threatens to be re-normed as the union of two people of whatever sex, which means that children may not (by definition) have both a mother and a father.”

Begging the question on marriage equality The Economist (blogs) , May 08, 2012). Retrieved from The Economist

This is a good example of begging the question because the conclusion, i.e. that redefining marriage will mean that marriage will be redefined is a perfect circle of logic…getting us nowhere.

Answer 1

Drake Sprite Ad- The fallacy in this ad is termed as the appeal to authority fallacy. This is a common kind of fallacy, or an argument based upon unsound reasoning. When speakers /writers utilize appeal to authority, they’re declaring that something must be true as its believed by somebody who’s said to be an ‘authority’ on that particular subject. There is a fallacy in the stated ad because an ardent fan of Drake will want to purchase the drink since Drake is sipping Sprite in the advertisement.