Imagine that you have decided to shed some weight by going on the diet? There are many ways you can take to lose that weight such as exercising, cutting out fatty foods, in-taking the right amount of calories, and many more. Yet in the 1960's Metrecal Commercial, the author makes a logical claim by saying that drinking Metrecal will help you lose weight. Once the speaker introduces the slim and trim ones, he states, “They’re the Metrecal for lunch bunch. At lunch instead of fattening food, they have delicious Metrecal milkshake flavors to help stay slim and trim.” Here, the speaker justifies the reason why he calls the bunch slim and trim. He states that they are slim and trim because they drink Metrecal and in order for them to stay slim, they continue to drink Metrecal just for lunch.
In order to persuade the audience even further, the commercial includes the nutritional value in Metrecal by saying it contains “the protein that hungry dieters need” The speaker does a great job at including this statement because the audience now knows that they are not just drinking milkshake-flavored drinks, but they are gaining the daily nutritional value of protein they need in this Metrecal drink. Although this statement may be true, it also makes a hasty generalization of dieters. It quietly assumes that the reason why hungry dieters are hungry is because they lack protein. Therefore by drinking Metrecal, the protein in it will nourish their hunger, which could or could not be true. A hungry dieter can drink multiple cans of Metrecal and still feel hungry because they lack other important nutrients in their system. However even though this is a logical fallacy, it works in favor for the company because the main goal of the commercial is to persuade people into losing weight, not to acquire protein they do not have. Including this statement was just additional information perhaps for anyone who was looking for how it benefits their body. Altogether, the use of logos helps to strengthen the company's claim and gains the attention of people who are aiming to be slim and trim.
I like how you pointed out the logical fallacy in the commercial because it shows how advertisers manipulate their audiences to sell their product. It also shows how intertwined logos and pathos are since, as you pointed out, the advertisers can use this logical fallacy to appeal to their audience's emotional misgivings about the product. I also think that the logos in this commercial is meant to add to their ethos. By giving an audience facts (even if they're not true) the advertisers demonstrate that they conduct scientific research.
ReplyDeleteThe ways you displayed how the company Metrecal used logos are insightful and give the viewer a better understanding of how the company makes the advertisement more convincing. I also like how you pointed out that while the commercial employs logos, it might not actually be based on sound facts and statistics. Do you think the advertisement needs a stronger appeal to logos to become more convincing or do you think the reliance on ethos and pathos is sufficient?
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting and wise for the company to state that their product includes "the protein that hungry dieters need." First, they are connecting with the audience and addressing the struggles of dieting, and not eating the amount of necessary protein. In addition, they use this statement to avoid revealing the realistic nutrition information regarding this product. Nice post!
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