Simpsons Super Bowl 2010 commercial offers two types of fallacy to the audience. These are oversimplification and slippery slope, which are generally characteristic to the format of an advertisement, since it is to be timely concise and highly persuasive.
The plot and fallacies implied revolve around Mr. Burns’ character losing his fortune and feeling miserable. Apu’s character notices it, offers him a bottle of Coca Cola, which leads to people coming to Mr. Burns, lifting him up, cheering and everyone being happy. As we have no “argument for the inevitability of the event[s] in question” (LaBossiere 53) following each other, we encounter an example of slippery slope. Also, a bottle of the drink seems to solve Mr. Burns’ problem, attempting to “make a complex issue look simple by considering only one aspect of it” (Naugle 7), as the case with oversimplification. The latter is often met in entertaining videos and cartoons in particular, aimed at keeping audience’s attention.
Both fallacies can be estimated as effective. Firstly, they help the advertisement take the appropriate 1-minute timeframe, simplifying the plot and allowing events to escalate quickly and vividly. The latter also helps to keep the audience amused and satisfied with advertisement’s visual effect. Moreover, aesthetic pleasure is combined with emotional fulfillment, when it seems that any life struggle can be solved so easily. With help of minor fallacies (such as appeal to pity when Mr. Burns is portrayed being miserable; misleading vividness in the end when Milhouse flies into the sky) add to a desired outcome of the campaign.
Works cited
LaBossiere, Michael. 42 Fallacies (For Free). 2002. Web. 13 March 2016. <https://aphilosopher.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/42-fallacies.pdf>
Naugle, David. “Fallacies of Relevance Continued.” Web. 13 March 2016. <http://www3.dbu.edu/naugle/pdf/2302_handouts/fallacies_relevance_cont.pdf>
