My personal fallacy-believing false authority

I have a weakness for false authority. False authority, when speaking about rhetorical fallacies, references when somebody tries to use a figure, usually a celebrity, to make a product appeal to the people in terms of “coolness”, not functionality. For example, if you take two deodorant commercials, and one is done by a biochemist, and the other by NBA star Kevin Durant, chances are that the commercial done by Kevin Durant will be “cooler”, or more appealing to the general audience viewing it. Often the audience will be more attracted to buying it when a celebrity they know and idol is using that product. I certainly have a soft spot for these type of ads.

My earliest recollection of being fooled by this type of rhetorical fallacy is in the 4th grade. I remember that around the time of 4th grade I was incredibly obsessed with Tony Hawk, skateboarding, and of course, the PS2 game “Tony Hawk Pro Skater”. I would go to my friend’s house and play that video game, then go out to my friend’s front yard and skateboard. Needless to say, I was obsessed. So it was no surprise when a Tony Hawk sponsored came on that I was instantly intrigued, and instantaneously had a desire to go out and buy the product that he was advertising. I remember vividly what he was advertising, as well. He was advertising Tech Deck (the little finger skateboard) skate shoes. I saw that commercial and immediately went to my Mom and asked to go and buy those shoes. In my family we have a rule that when we were in elementary school, once a year, right before the new school year starts, we could go out and buy new school shoes, in whatever design and style that we wanted. I had already gotten my school shoes for the year, but I was determined nonetheless. I took my carefully saved, and hard earned money to the nearby Wal-Mart and bought those shoes. I wore those with pride to school and to my friend’s house, but to my dismay they were poor quality shoes. They fell apart quickly, weren’t comfortable, and looking back, were not that attractive as well. I should have spent more time at the store looking at them and walking in them, but my mind was so clouded by the image of me wearing the very shoes that Tony Hawk was advertising that I bought them with no hesitation. Needless to say, I was incredibly fooled by the rhetorical fallacy of false authority.