“Everybody else’s tobacco is poisonous. ‘Lucky Strike’ is toasted.” — Don Draper, Mad Men
In this scene, Don Draper is trying to figure out how to advertise Lucky Strike cigarettes when the company can no longer make health claims. When he learns that Lucky Strike tobacco is toasted, he creates a simple contrast: everybody else’s tobacco is poisonous, while Lucky Strike is toasted. The problem is that these two statements are not opposites. Lucky Strikes being toasted does not mean that they aren’t also harmful. In fact, Lee Garner Junior even points out that everybody else’s tobacco is toasted too.
The reason I consider this a false dilemma is because Don presents the audience with what sounds like two choices: you can have everybody else’s “poisonous” cigarettes, or you can have Lucky Strike, which is “toasted.” This makes Lucky Strike sound like the better or safer option without actually saying that it is safe. Being toasted and being harmful can both be true at the same time. The advertisement leaves out that possibility and instead creates a simple choice between something negative, “poisonous,” and something that sounds positive, “toasted.”
This is what makes a false dilemma useful in marketing. A company can make you feel like you only have two choices even when there are many other possibilities. For example, an advertisement could say, “You can keep using your slow old phone, or you can upgrade to the future.” Those aren’t really your only choices. You could keep your phone, buy a different brand, repair it, or not have a phone at all. By limiting the choices, the advertiser can make the option they want you to choose seem like the obvious one.
The Lucky Strike example also shows why it is important to pay attention to what an advertisement doesn’t say. “Toasted” sounds much better than “poisonous,” but the word doesn’t prove that the cigarettes are safe. When you come across a false dilemma, ask yourself: Are these actually the only two choices, or are other possibilities being left out? This example also plays into peoples emotions as it makes it seem safer. They could have stated “Our’s are toasted like the rest and all cig’s are poisonous.” But I don’t think that would be good marketing.
Now that you know about false dilemmas and all these other logical fallacies, you should check out the hasty generalization logical fallacy next!