Appeal to Authority Recognition – UGC NET Question

An appeal to authority fallacy occurs when a claim is accepted as true simply because an authority or famous person asserts it, without examining the actual evidence or expertise. In this case, a famous actor is cited to guarantee the scientific soundness of a diet. Actors are not necessarily experts in nutrition or medical science, so their endorsement does not constitute strong scientific evidence. The argument relies on status rather than substantive reasoning.

Option A:
Option A, straw man, would involve misrepresenting another person’s argument, which is not happening here.

Option B:
Option B correctly identifies the undue reliance on a celebrity’s opinion as the central flaw, instead of referring to clinical trials or expert studies.

Option C:
Option C, red herring, would distract from the issue by introducing an irrelevant point, whereas the problem here is the kind of evidence used.

Option D:
Option D, false cause, involves wrongly attributing causation, which is not the main issue in this example.