We’ve decided to have a new sale in response, so you can buy more at a lower cost! Manufacturer: Lately, there has been a lot of criticism regarding the quality of our product. Note how there’s superficial similarity between the red herring and the original topic, since they both relate to education this is done to hide the use of the red herring, and make it appear as if it’s a relevant part of the original discussion.įurthermore, the following is an example of a red herring in an advertisement: Here, the fallacious red herring is used to distract viewers from the original topic. But what about recent the recent controversy with the school board’s election procedure? Reporter: Students are organizing a march because they want their opinions about the environment to be heard. Similarly, the following is an example of a red herring in the media: As in the case of the previous example, this is also an example of the red herring fallacy, since it involves the use of a red herring with the intention of distracting the audience in a misleading manner. Here, the interviewer asks a valid question, and the politician responds with a red herring, in the form of a vague and seemingly related statement, which is meant to distract listeners and mislead them into believing that the politician directly answered the question.
Politician: I have been working hard ever since I came into office, and I’m happy to say that I met with many business leaders throughout the country, who all say that they’re glad to see that our hard work is paying off.
Interviewer: It’s been two years since your policies were implemented, and so far they have failed to reduce unemployment rates. In addition, the following is an example of a red herring in a political discussion: This is therefore also an example of the red herring fallacy, since the red herring in this case is used with the intent of distracting the other person and changing the topic. Here, Alex raises a valid concern, which Bob avoids addressing by using a red herring in order to change the subject. Actually, I’m working on a really cool project now, want to see some screenshots? For instance, the following is an example of the use of a red herring in a simple workplace conversation:Īlex: You promised me yesterday that you were going to take care of this task.īob: Oh yeah, that. Other examples of red herrings appear in various contexts, and we encounter them often in our everyday life. This is an example of a red herring in general and of the red herring fallacy in particular, since the executive responds to the question using irrelevant information, in an attempt to evade it and distract listeners.