Throughout chapter 10 in Epstein's book, we learned about the Appeal to Emotion and the different aspects that it is made up of. One of the concepts that I thought was interesting was Apple Polishing, which is actually a particular way of using the Appeal to Vanity approach in arguments. Apple Polishing is a type of feel-good argument in which a person uses flattery, and excessive compliments, in an attempt to win support for their side. In my opinion, this is not 'apple polishing', more like sucking up! An example of this approach in action is when a good-looking, handsom advertiser is selling a new dietary fiber bar or snack to an overweight woman. The advertisement can butter the buyer up, telling them that they actually look slimmer and that their product will be beneficial to their amazing 'figure' and will keep them in shape, when in reality the product probably has a lot of sugar and what not and would not help the buyer's diet. The overweight buyer will fall for this heartmelting advertiser and spend spend spend!
I really liked your post and your example of appeal to emotion. I am a health and fitness freak constantly reading magazines, watching dvds and tv, reading blogs and searching websites to stay in shape and constantly tone me up or slim me down. I do agree that apple polishing while an example of appeal to vanity is very much like being a kiss up. In your example to producer of the product is selling something appealing that probably tastes like an unhealthy treat but is advertised to slim you down. In general overweight consumers look for any appealing product that doesn not seam like a complete sacrifice in order to shed any amount of pounds. Vanity has become a huge aspect of society.
ReplyDeleteI really like the term Apple Polishing for the appeal of vanity. I agree that it is kind of like kissing up. I admit that I have a tendency to flatter people and compliment them like crazy, but it's for making them feel good. For example, when a friend said they're not good-looking, I just say something like an attractive feature of them to make them feel better? Anyway, I like your example that a lot of advertisers tend to say the “good stuff” to the consumers to make them buy their product. I think that is very misleading, but then again, business do a lot of things to get consumers buy their product.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your explaining about apple-polishing. You example of it, it used everywhere. A lot of advertising companies always use good looking people or famous people to advertise their products. In addition of you "looking like them" a celebrity also buys this product. It usually never works out the way they say it will, but a lot of people are gullible and will buy the product no matter what. It is hard to trust advertisements at all because even though the commercials or ads look tempting, it is all just for show. Unless someone really knows about the product and you go talk to someone then you should go buy it. Other than that good example and i like how you wrote about this topic.
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