Fallacies in advertising vs. false advertising – what publishers should know

What is false advertising?

False advertising is a promotional strategy that includes a false claim. Many governments employ regulations to restrict such practices, as it might directly hurt consumers by, for instance, tricking them into buying “healthy” products, which in reality are stuffed with mediocre ingredients.

When publishers permit false advertising creatives to be displayed on their websites, they risk jeopardizing the trust of their audience, their hard-earned website traffic, and their reputation. Luckily, there are ways to act when something like that happens or even to prevent it completely – we will delve into that deeper in the next paragraphs!

Fallacies in advertising

Advertising fallacies, on the other hand, are techniques that help to sell the product or service. Usually, advertisers try to evoke a sense of credibility and desirability in their potential consumers with emotional triggers and logical errors. They aim to provoke strong emotions, such as pity, anger, sadness, or even disgust, in the viewer. Because cognitive biases act as mental shortcuts that help us make quick decisions and simplify complex ideas, fallacy-based advertising becomes a powerful tool for shaping perception through emotion.

Difference between false advertising and fallacies

The fact is that both false advertising and fallacies are misleading, but the main differences lie in two key points: mechanism and legality. When it comes to the mechanism, false advertising is based on directly false claims, while fallacies manipulate people, usually by using emotions or flawed logic. Additionally, most advertisements based on fallacies aren’t illegal, as opposed to those that are clearly false. For instance, Volkswagen’s “Clean Diesel” marketing campaign from 2008 was more than a simple fallacy, as it was clearly misleading to consumers. It turned out that the commercials included false claims that diesel engines don’t emit more airborne pollutants than gasoline-powered engines. In fact, the company installed devices in many millions of cars that cheated emissions tests intentionally (because without them, it would be evident that U.S. limits were heavily exceeded).

Logical fallacies in advertising

• The halo effect in advertising is often used to make potential buyers believe that a new product is as good as an old one made by the same company, although it has not yet been tested. This kind of belief is based on the human tendency to attribute certain positive features to the whole brand after a good previous encounter with its products. For instance, Nike’s campaigns focus more on the empowerment of ordinary people than on the quality of the product, assuming it doesn’t need to be advertised, because it’s proven to be great;
• The red herring fallacy involves drawing attention away from the main issue. The name of this phenomenon derives from the tactic of deceiving a hunting dog from its prey with a strong-scented fish. Often, fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s advertise not the nutritional value of the food but the experience a customer might have during their visit;
• The false cause fallacy unreasonably links two unrelated phenomena. It is supposedly believed that these two have a cause-and-effect relationship. For instance, it might be used to advertise “lucky jeans” that will supposedly favor all their owners’ endeavors. Another example is the Coca-Cola Christmas campaign, which indicated that their beverage has “The original taste of Christmas”. Although Christmas has a longer tradition than “Coke”, the company claims that the taste of its most famous soft drink is already inseparably connected to this festivity;
• Hasty generalization is a commonly used fallacy in which some statements are based upon small, insufficient evidence. An example of such a tactic is providing the results of a survey about a product: “9 out of 10 drivers recommend this service” – the recipient of the advertisement doesn’t even know how many people took part in the survey.

Social fallacies in advertising

• The appeal to authority is a persuasive strategy for advertisers to gain the trust of their audience. Sportsmen advertising sports attire or actors dressed as paramedics talking about headache pills seem much more convincing. A classic example of this approach is the Colgate commercial, which suggests purchasing their toothpaste with the tagline, “9 out of 10 dentists who tried it would recommend it.”;
• The bandwagon fallacy is a tactic used by advertisers to persuade people to buy a product or service, relying on the notion that others are likely to like it as well. An example of a catchy advertisement that employs this technique might state: “35% of Americans pick this toothpaste”. This tendency is easy to spot even in real life – for example, when given a choice between two restaurants, many people are inclined to dine in the one with more customers.

Emotional fallacies in advertising

• The appeal to emotion fallacy is used in ads that attempt to persuade a viewer to buy or take action by evoking emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger, or pity. This tactic is often seen in charity adverts, where nonprofit organizations try to raise money for those in need, often by showing pictures of children with signs of malnutrition to evoke sympathy;
• The ad hominem fallacy – this term derives from Latin and can be loosely translated to “against the person”. In advertising, it’s used as an attempt to discredit the advertisers’ opponents and make them appear unattractive by appealing to emotions. An example of this fallacy is the Pepsi slogan “The choice of a new generation”, which directly attacked the Coca-Cola Company, indicating that enjoying the opponent’s beverage was outdated;
• The slippery slope tactic is often used to exaggerate the possible outcomes of some events. In the digital advertising industry, it might look like, for instance, a suggestion that if you don’t use a specific detergent, your kitchen will remain dirty forever;
• The straw man fallacy goal is to misrepresent an opponent’s argument, feature, ability, or point of view. In the advertising world, it’s often used in laundry detergent ads, by referring to different commonly sold products that have supposedly worse dirt-removing features than the one presented in the ad.

How to prove false advertising?

To ensure the safety of the digital ad environment, the industry giant – Google – decided to develop a range of rules that both publishers and advertisers have to abide by. The Publisher Policies and Restrictions are what digital creators monetizing their content with Google’s products have to be familiar with. When it comes to advertisers, Google Ads promotes clear advertising policies because they want users to trust advertisements they see on the internet. Advertisers who don’t comply with the guidelines may face penalties, which can even lead to their account suspension. Apart from ad creations’ content, there are some ad-related behaviors that Google doesn’t accept from ad creators – we can find it all in the Advertising Policies Help Center.

Why publishers should know more about fallacies

As a publisher, you should be aware of which ads violate Google’s policies, for the only way to prove that an ad is inconsistent with these policies is to refer to a specific regulation. Here are examples of advertising practices forbidden by Google:

• Unacceptable business practices include phishing techniques of trying to collect sensitive data about the users or presenting misleading pieces of information about the company, products, or services;
• Coordinated deceptive advertising practices like hiding or altering an identity in coordination with other websites or accounts (when an ad refers to political or social issues and public matters). It’s forbidden to direct content regarding the above-mentioned topics to audiences from other countries when simultaneously hiding important identity-related details;
• Misleading representation happens when advertisers announce false or incomplete claims, hiding important details about their identity, affiliations, or qualifications;
• Dishonest pricing practices that mislead customers consist in giving false information about the payment process, or actual prices;
• Clickbait Ads, as any sort of encouragement to click on an advertisement, with the use of, for instance, sensationalist text and images or the word “click” directly written;
• Misleading ad design – users must be aware that they are looking at an ad (and not, for example, a system message or the website’s original content);
• Manipulated media for the purpose of deceiving ad receivers, including fabricating political or publicly important content;
• Unreliable claims, such as luring users with promises of unlikely results or simply making untrue statements, especially when they concern health (like weight loss) issues, financial services and products, or politics and social issues;
• Unclear relevance, which means, among others, that ads don’t indicate properly what the user will be able to see after being redirected to the advertiser’s site. It can also involve using spamming keywords;
• Unavailable offers, like offering products or services that are no longer available or were never sold at a certain price.

What can a publisher do?

Publishers need to be vigilant about the content (including ads) displayed on their websites, as they are accountable for everything the user encounters there. For instance, if a malicious ad is displayed that redirects the user to a virus-infected website, causing damage to their devices, it’s likely that they will lose trust and will never return to the website. Even if displaying fallacies is less severe, choosing ads only from reliable sources is still necessary. Remember the saying “trust takes years to build and only seconds to break”!

• You should be aware of Google’s (or other ad providers whose solutions you’re using) policies regarding fair advertising, so when bad ads appear, you will be able to tell them apart from the good ones;
• It’s a good idea to regularly review your inventory and try to detect any suspicious behavior. When an ad that potentially breaks Google policies appears – you can take action by blocking it and later reporting it. It’s equally possible in the case of Google Ad Manager, AdSense, and AdMob;
• Opt for a trusted monetization partner who will provide you with the highest quality solutions. It’s especially advisable to search for a Google Certified Publishing Partner like optAd360, who works only with reliable advertising suppliers!