We've all seen commercials where the advertisers say something along the lines of "serving you for over 20 years" or something like that. These advertisements are examples of the appeal to tradition logical fallacy. What these commercials are saying is pretty much that their product is better because it is older. They are not really selling their product with real reasons.
One example is the Mercedes Benz commercial inserted at the bottom. Even though it doesn't explicitly say that it is better because it is older, this commercial starts with a very old car and progressively gets newer. It is trying to show that because the company has been around for a long time, it is obviously the best. What they are trying to say is that their car is the best one and that if a company hasn't been around as long, it is not as good. This is the reason that the fallacy is a fallacy. Older doesn't necessarily mean better, it just means older.
I was actually thinking of doing this commercial as well. Anyway, I agree with what you're saying about how they use all their old cars to show they are reliable. Its kind of sad when you think about how these commercials actually work on some people. Due to their devotion to an old brand or thinking the company is reliable because of the years the car company has been in service some people do not even look at the facts when buying a product.
Posted by: Camille M. | 09/29/2011 at 08:35 PM