Live Action Ad : Pfizer More Than Medication

This live action ad to promote the Pfizer company is directed at a prime time audience. It purposely commits the fallacy Hasty Generalization. The commercial uses character and setting to set you up to believe something that you discover in the end, is the wrong first impression. We assume that the teenage boy in this commercial is doing illegal activity; spray painting in a dark, deserted alleyway. At the end of the ad, we find out that he was spray painting a lovely picture for his sick sister, with flowers painted on the walls outside her window and a message telling her to ‘be brave’. We as an audience, commit the fallacy Hasty Generalization because the boy ends up doing a deed that helps his sister and isn’t the type of person we thought he was.

This commercial purposely aids us to commit this fallacy by adding in certain details. For example, the teenage boy is dressed in dark, baggy clothes with a black hat. His body language shows that he seems nervous, and he continually looks around, as if making sure no one is watching him. The ad also has the boy returning to a rough apartment. They use the women which you can assume is his mother to further the fallacy by looking at her returning son with a disappointing face, almost as if she knew what he had been up to and was awaiting his return. When the boy picks up the flowers and heads into a bedroom, you are unsure of where the ad is heading and what will happen next. You then discover that his sister, who is lying in the bedroom with tubes connected to her, seems to be very sick. You see the brother opening the curtains to the window and then the mother mouthing the words ‘thank you’ to him and looking appreciative. You then discover the picture he had been spray painting was really for his sister and to help her to get through her illness.

The ad also uses sound to build up the effect of the fallacy. At the beginning, the music in the background of the commercial is slow and almost somber. There is a bass strumming a series of notes and some piano, but the there are many sounds of street life at night, with sirens and car’s horns going off. The main sound is from the spray can the boy is using. When the commercial finally shows what was outside of the sister’s window, the music picks up and more instruments and a heavier beat is added to the loud melody.

At the end of the commercial, the phrase "Sometimes it takes more than medication" is shown. The background is plain white, which brings out the blue lettering of the phrase. The next screen shows the website address, a small Pfizer logo, and their slogan ‘Working together for a healthier world’. The website address happens to be morethanmedication.ca which makes a connection to the phrase from the previous screen.

I think the company chose to use this fallacy to make you feel badly for assuming the teenage boy was a bad person. When you realize that he was in fact helping his sister, I think the ad hopes you will feel uplifted and heart warmed. With this feeling, they hope you will feel inspired to check out their website and support their cause.