Self-study
Advertisement: Among popular automobiles, Sturdimades stand apart. ██████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████ █████ █████████ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ████ █ ██████████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ █ █████ ██ ██ █████ ███████ █████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ██████ ██████ █████ ███████████ ███ █ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████ ████████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███ █ ██████████ ███ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █ ████ ████ █████████
Summarize Argument
The advertisement concludes that you can rely on Sturdimades to last for a large number of miles because hundreds of Sturdimade owners have signed up for Sturdimade’s “long distance” club, which is a club for people with Sturdimades that they have driven for at least 100,000 miles.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is a cookie-cutter “unrepresentative samples” flaw. The advertisement reasons that since hundreds of people have driven their Sturdimades for over 100,000 and even 300,000 miles, you can rely on Sturdimades to drive long distances. However, the advertisement’s reasoning is vulnerable to criticism because it only cites a club for Sturdimade owners with Sturdimades that have lasted for a long time as evidence that Sturdimades are reliable. The experience of the members of the club may not be representative of Sturdimade owners more generally.
1.
Construed as an argument, the ███████████████ █████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
a
It draws a ███████ ██████████ ████ █████ ████████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████ █ ██████████████ ████ ██████ ████ ███████████
The advertisement commits this error. On the basis of a select group of people who own Sturdimades that have lasted long, the advertisement draws a general conclusion that Sturdimades can be relied upon to drive for long distances.
b
Its conclusion merely ████████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ███████ ███
This is the cookie-cutter “circular reasoning” flaw, where an argument cites its conclusion as evidence that its conclusion is true. The advertisement doesn’t commit this flaw.
c
It fails to ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████████
The “long distance” club is for Sturdimade owners who’ve driven Sturdimades for over 100,000 miles. When “long distance” is used in the conclusion, it’s understood that it’s referring to the number of miles a Sturdimade lasts, just as “long distance” was used earlier in the ad.
d
The evidence given ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ███████████
None of the advertisement’s premises go against what’s stated in the conclusion.
e
It treats popular ███████ ██ ██ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ████████ ███ █ ██████
The advertisement doesn’t cite popular opinion as proof that Sturdimades can be relied upon to drive for long distances. The advertisement cites hundreds of owners who have Sturdimades that have lasted for a high number of miles.