Logical Fallacies

Using logos, ethos, and pathos is important when writing to connect with different types

of people. While writers use this to appeal to their readers, movie producers, news writers, and

advertisers use logical fallacies to grab your attention. These fallacies grasp viewers’ attention

to remember whatever is being produced.

A commercial by Pepsi was debuted in 1984. This commercials was a group of kids and

adults drinking cans or bottles of Pepsi. Each person who drank it began dancing and looking

like Michael Jackson. With a Pepsi edited version of his song, “Billie Jean”, playing in the

background, the people meet Michael Jackson while drinking their Pepsi’s. This a form of, false

cause fallacy. False cause is when the cause and effect doesn’t exist. This commercial promotes

their product to make customers believe drinking Pepsi will make you turn into Michael

Jackson, which is not true.

Disney’s movie, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” stars a cartoon man with a disfigured

body. The movie is about a hunchback who wants to be around other people and be loved by

them. However, these people are scared of him and consider him a monster because of the way

he looks. This is a form of, genetic fallacy. That means that the viewers see him as

untrustworthy, because he is deformed. However, writers used this fallacy to show that anyone

is capable of being loved or loving others.

An article released in 2016, titled, “Screens in School are a $60 Billion Hoax”, was used

to convince readers that technology was useless to teaching. The writer shares biased opinions

as facts, portraying that technology is the only resource used to educate. This logical fallacy is,
strawman. This means that the writer is over exaggerating a statement and portraying it to

sound bad so others will go against it.

Works Cited

Fisher, Jamaal. “On This Day In 1984: MTV Debuts Michael Jackson's Pepsi Commercial.” The
Source, 27 Feb. 2014, thesource.com/2014/02/27/on-this-day-in-1984-mtv-debuts
michael-jacksons-pepsi-commercial/.

Juliani , AJ. “The Logical Fallacies of Time Magazine's ‘Technology Hoax’ Article.” A.J. JULIANI, 15
Oct. 2018, ajjuliani.com/the-logical-fallacies-of-time-magazines-technology-hoax
article/.

Wright, PS. “Disney Movies Are Rotten With Fallacies.” Splot! Publishing, Splot! Publishing, 19
Nov. 2016, www.splotpublishing.com/blog/2016/11/18/a2ljz4gakcpcw7gaak5c4yeg3r51ck.