Advertisements are everywhere, on television, radio, social media, billboards, magazines, and even on yearbooks. On the other hand, would it not be nice if every advertisement an individual saw, read, or heard were actually true? Like using Axe body spray really did attract women or eating Snickers truly made one satisfied in seconds? Yet, most of the time the advertisements that seem too good to be true, actually are. In fact, countless of ads are only slightly true and instead filled with many common errors in reasoning, known as logical fallacies, a sneaky marketing technique companies utilize to trick a consumer into giving them their undivided attention and money. In fact, one notorious company for using logical fallacies in their advertisements is Proactiv. Thus, the Proactiv commercial featuring Lindsay Lohan that aired on TV a couple of years ago is a precise example of the appeal to authority, bandwagon, and plain folk logical fallacies being used to get their product sold.
In the commercial, Proactiv uses an appeal to authority to earn an individual’s trust. To clarify, this logical fallacy is used when a company or brand hires a popular celebrity or a person with “authority” to advertise and express how beneficial a product is. With this intention, Proactiv hired Lindsay Lohan, a popular actress and singer, to speak on their behalf and promote Proactiv. She advocates how the three-step acne system has indeed helped clear her skin, testifying, “I don’t like