Maybelline is a leading skin-care, cosmetics, and personal care products company based in New York. The company sells makeup products, including mascara known as “Maybelline Great Lash Mascara.” The company advertises this product in Teen Vogue as “America’s Favorite Mascara.” This is an example of an advertisement that employs the bandwagon fallacy. This fallacy, also known as argumentum ad populum or appeal to the masses, seeks to persuade a person to do something because other people are doing it (Adcock, 2021). It dissuades independent thinking; ad instead encourages conformity. The fallacy is based on the assumption that an idea cannot be wrong if it has the support of the majority. The advertisement markets the mascara as the preferred choice of many Americans. The message appears in enormous font size and is the first noticeable thing on the ad other than the product itself. This is an example of the bandwagon fallacy because the advert hopes to increase its sales by persuading potential customers to join many Americans who consider the mascara their favorite.
The advertisement also employs the bandwagon fallacy in its mini-slogan that states, “No wonder one is sold every 1.7 seconds.” This statement is also an example of an appeal to the masses. In quoting this statistic, the company hopes to show the popularity of its mascara. Whether this figure is true or not, it portrays the product as highly sought-after. This is likely to garner more sales for the company since people do not like to miss out (Leonard, 2019). In the fashion industry, individuals usually adopt market trends and are likely to be easily influenced by others. Therefore, the bandwagon fallacy, which is used by Maybelline, is an effective marketing strategy in the industry.
References
Adcock, P. (2021). The bandwagon effect in marketing. Adcock Solutions. Web.
Leonard, K. (2019). Examples of bandwagon advertising propaganda techniques. Chron. Web.