Rhetological Fallacies - Ethical in copywriting?

[gabeb1920]

Just came across an interesting info graphic about rhetological fallacies:
Rhetological Fallacies – A list of Logical Fallacies & Rhetorical Devices with examples — Information is Beautiful — Infographics

Just a simple list with no detailed explanation but I like the way they give simple examples for each.

Note that some of the examples given are political/religious but I don't want to focus on that here.

Rather I think it's certainly good to be aware of these so you can perhaps be less influenced by advertising in the media.

Also I'm curious what people think of using these kind of techniques in advertising your own products or services?

Is it unethical to try to manipulate people in to purchasing using these kind of techniques which some would consider under handed?

Or is it ok if the product still provides value and you are using these techniques for the customers own good?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Also I'm curious what people think of using these kind of techniques in advertising your own products or services?

When presenting arguments for your product/service, we should aim to NOT use any of these.

Note that some of the examples given are political/religious but I don't want to focus on that here.

Ironic how an infographic on exposing bias is authored from a complete bias as well. Is there a logic fallacy for that too? What should we name it?

Nonetheless, the descriptions are accurate and adequately explain discourse on any news network nowadays. And that's why I haven't tuned onto any news program/website in months.

 

[gabeb1920]

When presenting arguments for your product/service, we should aim to NOT use any of these.

Thanks for the reply MJ.

What about the fallacy labelled as "Appeal to Money" or "Appeal to Novelty"?




These are a common technique mentioned here on the forum. The argument goes something like, "I'm pricing my product above competitors to make the brand seem more appealing" or "You constantly need to be bringing out new products to keep customers engaged".

So your suggesting that it would be ideal to not use these methods and instead concentrate on creating the 'productocracy' (just read this part of the book last night!) with a solid product?

That makes sense as the ideal option but are there situations where some use of these is justified?

I agree 100% that a good product should be able to stand on its merits but I'm just curious

 

[GMSI7D]

Also I'm curious what people think of using these kind of techniques in advertising your own products or services?

Is it unethical to try to manipulate people in to purchasing using these kind of techniques which some would consider under handed?

i don't understand what you mean by manipulate

Democracy is all based on these things

because this is how people work.

if seducers, politicians and businessmen were all nice and 100 % honest and logical

then nobody would get laid , nobody would buy anything, there would be no president in the white house office.

society wouldn't work at all .

 

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[gabeb1920]

i don't understand what you mean by manipulate

Democracy is all based on these things

because this is how people work.

if seducers, politicians and businessmen were all nice and 100 % honest and logical

then nobody would get laid , nobody would buy anything, there would be no president in the white house office.

society wouldn't work at all .

Thanks for the reply

I wasn't meaning 'manipulate' in any bad sense and I know that these kind of techniques are used all the time, often times unknowingly, in order for people to get the things they want.

But I'm sure you'd agree that it is possible to 'over use' these techniques or to use them to scam people.

I'm thinking it somewhat separates the idea of perceived values vs actual value.

You could use these techniques to misrepresent yourself or your product thus creating perceived value. However when the other person you're interacting with sees the real situation the actual value is revealed to be less than the perceived value.

Maybe that's part of the deciding factor, if the actual value matches the perceived value then using some of these techniques is ethical?

But using these techniques to misrepresent the actual value to be higher than it really is would be unethical?

 

[GMSI7D]

Thanks for the reply

I wasn't meaning 'manipulate' in any bad sense and I know that these kind of techniques are used all the time, often times unknowingly, in order for people to get the things they want.

But I'm sure you'd agree that it is possible to 'over use' these techniques or to use them to scam people.

I'm thinking it somewhat separates the idea of perceived values vs actual value.

You could use these techniques to misrepresent yourself or your product thus creating perceived value. However when the other person you're interacting with sees the real situation the actual value is revealed to be less than the perceived value.

Maybe that's part of the deciding factor, if the actual value matches the perceived value then using some of these techniques is ethical?

But using these techniques to misrepresent the actual value to be higher than it really is would be unethical?

value is not what you think it is

value is what your customer says it is

think about that

this is all about perception .

so you are just helping your customer to see the best value from their point fo view

by the way, marketing gurus say that you have to use every tool to help customers make the right decision for them .

perception is the keyword

nice guys don't get laid but bad guys do

-- > perception

people don't buy healthy food ( greens) but junk food


--- > perception

and so on. so don't worry too much and do your best to succeed.