Logical Errors

Logical Fallacies

Faulty Arguments

Relevance

Snob Appeal

The snob appeal fallacy works by inviting the hearer to include himself in a small and select group of special people who stand above the "common herd" in some way. Commercial advertisements for liquor, cars, clothing, hi-fi equipment, and cigarettes often use this fallacy, and it often seems to produce the sales response to the products. As I was writing this particular chapter, I heard an intriguing radio commercial, interspersed with the music I like to have playing while I work. It triggered my crap detector when I realized that the flowery praise given by the announcer to a certain restaurant-"Dine in high style, enjoying the finest cuisine, prepared for your discriminating palate"-purported to describe a restaurant in which I had recently had dinner. One of my friends couldn't finish the plate of food she was served, the other later became sick from eating hers, and I left most of mine on the plate. Discriminating palate indeed!

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Map of Logical Errors