Cereal Ad

This is an advertisement that is taken from the internet. It is an ad for a new type of cereal called the “Nintendo Cereal System” that contains two different flavor in one box. In this particular ad, the marketers decided to use game characters to represent their new brand of cereals. In bold, white letters, it says, “Introducing a winning combination for breakfast.” They compared the box of cereal with two flavors with the combination of having two popular game characters. This is an example of false analogy. The cereal and game has nothing to do with each other, and the ad is comparing two very unlike things by using the key word “combination,” yet the meaning of the word is different when used to define the characters and the cereal.

The character on to the right side, Link, says, “We rescued breakfast,” which is a fallacy, because breakfast is not something that can be “rescued” by unreal, two-dimensional characters. Link says it in a way as if breakfast was something that needed to be rescued, like a princess in a game.

The words on the bottom in white says, “If you can’t beat’em, eat’em,” which is interesting because food, cereal in this case, is not a game-like object that one must beat. The statement is also an example of a false dilemma because it only gives the consumer two extreme choices to decide on, which is to beat or eat the product. The statement ignores the option of not eating the product at all.

This ad also contains appeal to popularity because of the usage of two popular game characters. Just because Mario and Link represent the brand of cereal, it does not mean that eating the cereal will make the consumer a hero like the two characters.