Identifying Fallacies in Advertising
Subject: Understanding the techniques of advertisers
Audience: 12th Grade English
Standards Covered:
NYS: 1-4
NETS-S: 1, 6
Objectives: Student will:

recognize, identify, and deconstruct the fallacies used in advertising

develop an understanding of the fallacies used in advertisements.

use spoken, written, and visual language to critically analyze advertisements and their
marketing strategies

identify, read, interpret, and critically discuss explicit and implicit messages sent by
companies about their products.

apply their new understanding of advertisement marketing and consumerism in
developing their own advertisements.
Materials:

Computer with Internet access

Dry Erase board

Dry Erase marker

Various advertising materials from magazines

Fallacies in Advertising Handout

GRASP Handout
Anticipatory Set: Ask the students to do a quickwrite exploring the ways that advertising is
used to influence people's decisions. Ask them to think of a specific product that they have
purchased/or not purchased based on a specific ad. After a few minutes, ask students to share
their answers.
1. Explain that you are about to begin an exploration of the role that advertising
plays in people’s lives and the techniques that are used in marketing.
2. Have the students begin constructing a list of the different advertisements they
typically encounter in their lives.
3. Break students into groups and ask them to add other types of advertisements to
the list (examples may include television commercials, magazines, movies,
billboards, malls, sporting arenas, and clothing).
4. Ask the groups to brainstorm places where there are no advertisements.
5. After the groups have had a few minutes to brainstorm, have the class regroup and
ask the students to share their ideas with the class and record them on paper to be
used again later. The students should find that it is virtually impossible to escape
advertising.
6. Ask the students what the word “fallacy” means and share the definition found in
Webster’s dictionary: an error in reasoning or a flawed argument. It is an
argument that does not conform to the rules of logic, but appears to be sound.
7. Pass out the Fallacies in Advertising Handout and review the list with the class.
Inform them of the lists and examples available online, using the sites provided to
them on the handout.
8. Then share the Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJRQAyw2_Ls
to show them examples of ads using fallacies.
9. Provide the students with the various advertising materials you have gathered
(one magazine for each group), and have them identify the fallacies used in the
different ads. Ask them to concentrate on these specific questions:

Who is the intended audience of the ad?

What fallacy is used to persuade this audience to purchase a product
or think or act in a certain way?

Is the ad reflective of a stereotype?

Do you think the ad is successful? Explain why or why not.

Do you think the ad could be harmful in any way? Explain why or
why not.
10. Have each group share their examples with the class and indicate which fallacy
they think each ad is using and why, encouraging other students to express their
opinions on the different ads.
11. Ask the groups to answer the questions provided on the Fallacies in Advertising
Handout.

What might be the impact of being told we are never pretty,
handsome, rich, clean, or good enough?

What might the abundance of fallacious advertisements be saying
about us?

What about political ads?
12. Break up groups, have each student log onto a computer and open Microsoft
Publisher. Provide a brief explanation of how to use Publisher to develop an
advertisement of their own.
13. Assign Homework: Pass out the GRASP handout, and instruct students that they
will now pretend that they are advertising agency representatives. Ask them to
develop their own advertisement and speech to be used in campaigning for a
company's business. The speech must include an explanation as to their audience,
the fallacy they are using, and why. Remind them to use the sites provided on the
Fallacy in Advertising Handout for further explanations.
Assessment:

Students will be verbally questioned for understanding.

Students will show their understanding through group discussion.

Students will show their understanding through informal writing assignments:
1. Quickwrites

Students will show their understaning through the formal writing assignment:
1. GRASP speech
Sources:

Youtube – Advertising Fallacies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJRQAyw2_Ls

List of Fallacies: http://www.fallacydetective.com/articles/read/short-list-of-fallacies/

Examples of Fallacies: http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/7fall00/active/fal-f00.html

Youtube - Asking the Right Questions-Fallacies (part 1):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNmuOG8yp2s

Youtube - Asking the Right Questions-Fallacies (part 2):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqDgYSmisb0&feature=video_response