PCU's Fallacies

In the movie, PCU there are many fallacies that are presented throughout the film. The one that stuck out to me the most is that this movie commits the fallacy of Ad Populum. This is an emotional appeal that speaks to positive ir negative cnocepts rather than the real issue at hand. This is shown when the "cause heads" are protesting about eating meat. They are attacking the people that choose to eat meat and saying that they are bad people just because they choose to eat meats, instead of just trying to help raise awarness of the effects of killing animals.

For the Love of Adventure

The Death of an Innocent is the story of a college student Chris McCandless better known as Alex. He was an excellent student in high school, excelling in almost everything thing he put his mind to. He was a cross country star and everyone looked up to him because he was a natural born leader. But there was something a little peculiar about Chris. He had an obsessive passion for things and would not let anyone defer him from what he wanted to do. Most would say he was crazy for some of things he did but others would say that he was just a passionate soul. I do feel that in this day and age, people like Chris still exist.
Chris was a successful college graduate of Emory University. He was an intelligent young man just like many other college students around the world. After he graduated, he took the money that he had left and instead of splurging on a car or other frivolous things, he donated all of it to the bank and started his summer trip around the world to find out about things that did not make sense to him such as world hunger. While most people think that this is a crazy idea, there are those to this day who feel passionate enough about something that they would do any and everything to get it done. I also feel that some people do impulsive things for the adrenaline rush and just for the simple fact that they want to achieve something on their own and that is exactly what Chris was trying to do. Explore life on his own. This is why some kids go to college, to find their purpose in life and maybe Chris’ purpose was to explore new ideas. They may stray off a couple times to try their own thing but eventually they do find their way back, it just so happens in the case of Chris he did not get that chance.
Yes, it is true that society today is very materialistic. We value the power of the dollar and what it could do for us. The very thought of just giving up $100 let alone $20,000 makes me cringe, but if was enthusiastic about the reasons behind me giving up the money I would do it. Chris did not feel the need for the money so he did something else with it to make it useful. Many people give to charities all the time and even though they may not have the same intentions they do it anyway. As a society, we need to go back to the days where everything was not about the money but let’s face it, everything cost and we do not want to give up what we have earned.
To say the very least, yes Chris’s adventures may have not been well thought out and a little bit irrational. But he was doing something he truly enjoyed and who are we to take that little bit of joy he had away from him by calling him delusional. There are others like him out there and if they are doing what they love then they should do it.

Marketing/AIDS

Even though the clothing company may have produced an image that does appeal to the consumer eye and would surely bring them more attention because I have probably walked passed this store a million times and have not paid it any attention, I personally do not feel that this gave them the positive feedback they were expecting. I know that they were trying to raise awareness for aids and to get people to support by buying their clothes but I think they should have tried a different approach. They could have just used words or even put symbols and picture on some of their clothing to help but not use this picture. When I look at this picture of this family, the first thing that pops into my head is not any type of clothing. Instead, I want to turn the other way because it is such an alarming photo. I would want to go inside and ask them why they had this outside of their store. I would not buy the clothing from the store but instead, I would find an organization to donate. This picture just makes me cringe because the guy lying on the hospital bed is in so much pain and his family endures the same pain. Millions of people have this disease and have to suffer with it for a very long time, while this company is just sitting there. The picture also makes me want to learn more about AIDS in general and spread the mews to others so that we can all be well-informed about this epidemic that is slowly killing our generation. Although United Colors of Benetton thought they were doing a good deed as far as putting the message out there, I feel that they should have thought more about the emotion behind this image and the millions of people they were representing and considered how they would feel being used in this way. Yes, the do want people to know that the disease is out there and that it is not only a gay man disease but I feel that they should not be used for advertisement. This company did not take into consideration that this issue is such a personal subject and should not be treated lightly. Most people have personal experiences with AIDS and to know that a clothing company is using this as a marketing strategy would upset them because they know that only a small percent of the profits go towards AIDS research and that they would gain most of the money. I feel that it is all about what you value. Should you use such a strong image to raise awareness and get what you want at the same time or should you just do it to raise awareness to help millions. Most companies use strategies such as this just to make a dollar. Despite the fact that their moral judgment was lost a little in the marketing plan, they probably were successful at getting people’s attention and I am pretty sure that some stopped in to buy the clothing thinking they were contributing to a great cause but ultimately the were just part of the plan to gain money.