What logical fallacies should copywriters avoid?

I've seen many of these used in copy which has sold huge numbers of products.

My opinion is, a good copywriter finds the fallacy the reader comes in with. The old saw, "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still," seems to apply.

The financial newsletters attract a certain mental slant, many of the "slippery slope" variety, and have since Harry Browne and Howard Ruff in the old days. Their readers already come to the promotion believing the slope exists.

As for the idea of the poster, that these are sneaky ways used by media, politicians, et al,
to "fool" people...

seriously, not that much effort or thought has to go into fooling masses of people (Trump??) It is a pretty darn easy thing to do.

This gives some ammo for those so inclined.

There may be a flip side to some of these, tweaked for less than sneaky persuasion purposes, as with kids doing stupid things which could cause injury to themselves ("Ralphy, you'll put your eye out").

GordonJ

I figure most persuasive writin' asks the LOADED QUESTION somea the time.

But I wonder — what percentage does not supply the LOADED ANSWER?

With classical oratory you also got LOADED RHYTHM, which bypasses logical/linguistic truth or untruth with its musicality.

I guess if you were to run with onea these reasonin' flaws with a view to producin' a result you'd have to play subtle.

If your fallacy stands out a mile, people are gonna point a finger atya.

That's a really interesting question, because I've seen at least one prominent copywriter say that you should use any logical fallacy you can to make your arguments. It's all fair game in selling to the customer (so they say).

I am not going to name names because I don't have a quote for this on hand.

And I don't agree with this perspective. I don't feel I'm in business to bamboozle people into buying!

Marcia Yudkin

I don't think that ANY copy can stand up to full investigation and be clear
of all logical fallacies. Yet, at the same time the writer should not try to
trick the reader into making a positive decision. A very common fallacy
is "if I can do it you can do it too."

-Ray Edwards

"You get what you pay for" is another common logical fallacy.

Truth is, you don't necessarily.

People have no innate way of determining value... so we depend on outer sources of information to help us figure it out.

That's where effective copywriting comes in. There are numerous ways to establish value in the mind of a prospect... ways that often work in the seller's favor, not the buyer's.

Alex

Appeal to emotion is laden within copy.

There are different logical fallacies which a copywriter should avoid. It is essential for a content writer to write a content which is error free.

As you know nowadays, there are different tools available online with help of which content writers can easily improve the quality of content which they want to post. Before a content writer should start writing it is important for him to have right and appropriate information for writing right content.

It is important to note that clear and unique your content will be helpful in increasing the number of users for that particular site.

There are different important aspects which you should keep in mind such as begging the question, argument from final consequences, appeal to authority, appeal to common belief, burden of proof, composition, gambler's fallacy, genetic fallacy, no true Scotsman, red herring, Slippery slope, Straw man, Tu Quoque. It is essential to be aware of all logical fallacies by a content writer for bringing perfection in his work.

By keeping all these factors content writers will be able to improvise the standard as well as quality of their content. It is important to recognize and try to avoid error fallacies always if you want excellent quality of content.

Looks like you are unaware of the crucial distinction between copywriters and content writers.

The question raised here involves copywriting, not content writing.

Marcia Yudkin

My suggestion Marcia: Don't waste your time and emotion. The battle is lost.

Just put everyone who thinks that content is copywriting on your "iggy" list. Then you'll only see the posts worth reading and responding to.

Alex