The appeal to people fallacy is a variation of the appeal to authority. It consists in arguing that some statement p is true because most people believe p. In other words, an appeal to people fallacy arises when one who, instead of concentrating on the relevant facts of the argument, gives more emphasis on the emotions and opinions of the people as the basis of her conclusion.
According to logicians, the fallacy of appeal to people is in effect an appeal to commonly or traditionally held beliefs.
This type of informal fallacy is commonly found in advertisements where products are recommended by asserting that “everyone uses it” or “a majority of the population use it”. Let us consider the example below.
“Budweiser is better than any other beer in the world because 90% of the Americans drink it.”
In the example above, one is arguing that Budweiser is the best beer in the world because many or almost all of the Americans drink it. Put differently, the unstated premise here is that the best-selling beer is the best beer, and the conclusion is that since we ought to buy the best beer, then we ought to buy Budweiser.
Obviously, this is not a sound or valid argument. The fact that 90% of the Americans drink Budweiser entails neither that Budweiser is the best nor we ought to drink one.
Just as in many other types of informal fallacy, what we notice in the appeal to people fallacy is that it lacks the necessary evidence that we can appropriate to prove that indeed that claim is true. Hence, in the example above, we ought to provide the proof for us to be able to conclude that Budweiser is the best beer in the world.
For example, we may say that 90% of the people in the world said that Budweiser tastes better than any other beer available in the market or it is proven that Budweiser contains more vitamins and minerals than any other beer available in the market.
In this way, it is logical to conclude that indeed, Budweiser is the best beer in the world.
Below are some of the examples of the fallacy of appeal to people.
Example 1:
Tide Ultra is better than Surf because many Filipinos used it.
Example 2:
Well, for centuries people have believed in God, and I just don’t see how so many people could be mistaken. So that’s why I choose to believe.
Example 3:
Working one’s way through college is a cherished American concept, according to Dr. Newman, former president of the University of Rhode Island.
To recognize the fallacy of appeal to people, we need only to look for an argument in which the conclusion is based on assertions about commonly or traditionally held beliefs. We may also look for solid evidence that can back up the claim; if there is none, then it is safe to conclude that the claim or argument is fallacious.