Throughout the original Snickers commercial featuring Betty White, numerous logical fallacies are committed.
The Snickers commercial begins with a group of men playing football in a park, alongside Betty White. In this commercial, Betty White is addressed as “Mike” by her fellow teammates. When a pass is thrown to Betty White, or “Mike,” she slowly walks to catch it, but misses and is tackled into mud in the process. Subsequent to this incomplete pass, Betty White walks over to her team huddle and is immediately called out for “playing like Betty White” by one of her teammates. She quickly responds with, “That’s not what your girlfriend said.” This obviously creates more tension between the two, but it disperses when a female approaches from the bleachers and hands White a Snickers bar. She takes a bite of…show more content… First, a false dichotomy is expressed in the end of the commercial because Mars claims, “Snickers satisfies” one’s hunger, but no other food options are given. To reverse this fallacy, Mars needs to include other food options as well that will satisfy one’s hunger, especially healthier options. Second, a hasty generalization is made because Mars argues that a Snickers bar will satisfy all. An argument is made from some to all, as not everybody will be satisfied by this candy, so Mars needs to alter the slogan to say “Snickers satisfies some.” Last, it is implied that because Betty White’s characters was hungry, that is why she is not playing as well as she should be, which is a post hoc fallacy. Outside forces may have affected her playing ability during the game, but Mars does not express that possibility. In order to fix this fallacy, Mars needs to directly express that hunger is not the sole reason for White’s “girly” performance on the field. Once these fallacies are corrected, the Snickers commercial can and will be considered
