Fallacy Summary and Application
Fallacies are used in many applications of business. Companies use them to push products, spin dropping profits, and to prevent losses in customer base. Politicians use fallacies constantly to attack opponents and to change to subject when pressure is put on them for things they have done in the past. This paper will discuss three different types of fallacies and how companies and individuals use amphiboly, false analogy, and ad hominem to sell their product or opinions.
Amphiboly is a fallacy that uses vague statements to cause people to draw the wrong conclusions. Claritin is an antihistamine used for allergy relief. Before August of 1997, the Claritin commercials showed a woman running through a field with an announcer stating "At last a clear day" and "Its time to see your doctor". Not once was the benefit or the hazards of the drug mentioned. People would then think, "I would like to have a clear day. I should call my doctor". This was causing people to call their doctors to ask if they needed Claritin or one of the other drugs to have a clear day. The reasons the pharmaceutical companies did this was because before 1997 an ad could be made with the drugs name but as long as the benefits were not mentioned the side effects did not have to be mentioned either. Fortunately, in 1997 the FDA changed the law.
Sometimes companies use false analogies to fool people into thinking that what they are buying is better or something altogether different then what they are purchasing. Not all false analogies are spoken; some false analogies can be used through animation or art. In WWII Saab built aircraft for the war effort and after the war their plans were not in demand so t ...