CHAPTER 18 | THE FALLACIES OF LOGIC

MARKETING RHETORIC FOR FUN AND PROFIT

Fallacies of logic in marketing are common, because people are busy. Or lazy. Or just out of time at the time of transaction.

We all fall for it, even if we know it is not logical. Curiously, falling for it is a choice, regardless of knowing better. It’s comforting.

Rhetoric keeps it all simple.

MONEY LOGIC FALLACY

We’ll be discussing behavioral economics later, which is the intersection of psychology and microeconomics. Microeconomics is what you think about personal money, and how we marketers exploit that.

Let’s set the scene: You’re on your way to a party and forgot the host gift.

If the hosts imbibe (trend data says drinking is at an historic low, in fact, the lowest low since prohibition at 54% of adults who drink, with older audiences still hanging on and younger audiences ditching), then a trip to the liquor store is a convenient stop.

Digression: Although most people think Wisconsin drinks more than any other state, this fact is a fallacy of popular belief. Google it. New Hampshire drinks more gallons of alcohol per capita by total volume. Wisconsin is tied for third here with North Dakota, behind Delaware. Wisconsin is the title holder for HEAVY drinking, with 25% of our population classified as heavy drinkers. Explains a lot.

You have entered the liquor store and go to the wine section. You know nothing about wine.

You assume if it’s more expensive, it’s better quality. So you go for pricey.

This is a fallacy of logic as a default.

NOVELTY FALLACY

Novelty is slowly loosing its grip as people realize the 20-year old refrigerator in their garage that they got from their parents has never required service, but their new smart refrigerator is actually dumb and requires constant coddling.

“New” has always been an advertising stalwart, with “new and improved” as one of advertising history’s most beloved consumer product bursts.

The default fallacy is that something newer is better. The new phone, new car, new razor. It may be better, or may not.

New as a tenet itself, is a marketing ploy, often referred to as “new news.”

New news is especially relevant for PR, when clients think their mere existence is a story worth covering by the press.

It’s not.

And it’s very common for clients to expect that PR agencies can get non-stories placed.

Which is a curious weakness that, effectively, delivers two truths: Yes, “new news” such as “improved” may be a story, but the expectation that everything is a story, to include “new hires,” “new office spaces,” awards and product line announcements are not.

Novelty is now happening every day, making novelty, on one hand, the most un-novel thing in the world.