Woolley Marketing: The fake dilemmas that plague marketing
Why is it A or B rather than A to Z? In his first regular column for Mumbrella, Trinity P3 founder and global CEO Darren Woolley examines the false dichotomy of decision making.
Marketing is a challenge. Decisions get made daily. Hundreds and thousands of decisions every week, in every month, every year. And the options feel like they are ever-expanding. Media channels multiply with every new platform. TikTok last week, Clubhouse this week. While marketing budgets and resources feel like they are shrinking against all things that should or could be done. The complexity of it all! If only life could be easier.
It is no wonder the false dilemma, one of the 15 common logical fallacies, is so appealing. Imagine if these complex marketing issues could be reduced into a simple choice of A or B? When you reason from an either-or position and haven’t considered all relevant possibilities, you commit the fallacy of the false or fake dilemma.
Cartoon by Dennis Flad, with permission (2021)
