Fallacies are often used to support arguments on an illogical contention, that can weaken one’s argument and used as an unreliable reference. Logical fallacies are seen throughout different aspects in of media, ads, radio, and television. Companies and corporations intended reasoning in using logical fallacies in their advertisements to create false consciousness, manipulation between audiences, and in some cases create bias towards others. Advertisements can present multiple arguments that may seem reasonable but yet inaccurate. Logical fallacies can be filled with bias content than can lead into creating a sense of false consciousness about others within the viewer. In advertisements logical fallacies are commonly used to persuade their audience in buying that particular product. While fallacies can help sell specific products to manipulate individuals into believing they specifically need their product although it portray bias, discriminatory, and sexist towards women and men. Many brewery companies like Dos Equis, Heineken, and Bud Light promote their products in commercials and advertisements using false analogy, non-sequitur, and hasty generalization fallacy, which implicates stereotype and racism towards women and men.
A fallacy that many brewery companies use in the advertisements is false analogy. Dos Equis is a popular beer company which persuades and entertains their audience through various advertisements. In a 2011 billboard sponsored by Dos Equis there is two tribesmen at each side of a white man who is in nicely dressed attire walking through a deserted area reads, “Approach women like you so wild animals with caution and a soothing voice.” False analogy is used in the billboard headings to purposefully advertise, specifically to men that they should treat and approach women like wild animals. They are comparing women to wild animals and portraying if someone drinks Dos Equis, it will make them smoother as they approach women. This advertisement is belittling a woman’s worth and comparing it to a living creature. Furthermore, Heineken, another brewing company delivered a 30 second commercial “Light is Better” in 2018 that also uses false analogy. Seen in the commercial was a bartender who notices a light-skinned woman deciding if she should take a sip of the wine in front of her. The bartender’s immediate reaction is to rapidly grab a Heineken bottle and slide it towards her direction. As the bottle travels to her, it passes through two darker skinned women then finally reaches to the light-skinned woman; sometimes lighter is better appears on the screen and the woman begins to drink. Heineken is objectifying women as a way to increase their profits as well as betraying that a certain skin tone of women is better. The harm within these advertisements is the sexism and racism amongst women. These commercials and billboards are showing little to no respect towards women and suggesting all women, as defined by Duhaime’s Law Dictionary, “Are naturally ferocious, unpredictable, dangerous, and mischievous.” Discuss more on the issue and why they are comparing women to beer. ADD SOURCE!
Another way in which companies are misinforming their audience is by using the post hoc fallacy. Brewer companies Dos Equis, Heineken, and Bud Light have shown to use advertisements to have no correlation to their product. For instance, the Dos Equis billboard advertisements uses three men dressed as if they were ready to catch wild animals suggesting to their audience that they should approach women like wild animals. Bud light delivered a commercial in the 2012 NFL campaign “Superstitions”, where in the commercial there are multiple fans from a variety of NFL team whom are participating in tactics that appear superstition while drinking a bottle of Bud Lite.. For example, some are crossing their fingers, twirling their hair or mustache, wearing their team jersey, aligning their beer bottles in a specific pattern, or acting in a certain behavior in order to increase the chance of their team winning. During the end of the commercial all the individuals whom were acting in superstitious habits teams’ won.“It’s only weird if it doesn’t work” is printed at the end of the commercial as a message to their audience to have encourage them in drinking Bud Lite and acting in superstitious manner there team will win. This commercial implies that because of one’s superstitious behavior and drinking Bud Lite it will cause their sports team to win. It is determined that whichever NFL team wins at the end of a game is because of the fan’s superstitious behavior before or during the game.
