The Bandwagon Effect Fallacy: Toilet Paper Wars

Duchess and Bruno make a rash decision...

Panic buying! Everyone is going to crap themselves 5 times a day, apparently. Just because they're all buying toilet paper, doesn't mean you need 40 rolls stocked up in your bathroom! 

Want to learn more about this fallacy, and how you can avoid ending up with a mountain of toilet paper? Dive deeper with our fun Bandwagon Effect Activity Pack!

Bandwagon Effect in a Nutshell

The Bandwagon Effect doesn't give you a reason to do something. It gives you a crowd instead.

Nobody in that supermarket stopped to work out how much toilet paper a cyclone actually requires. They saw empty shelves. They saw other people grabbing armfuls. And that was enough. The crowd became the argument.

That's the Bandwagon Effect - or as logicians call it, argumentum ad populum. The fact that everyone is doing something doesn't make it right, or smart, or necessary. It just means a lot of people got scared at the same time. Duchess and Bruno aren't stupid. They just forgot to ask: why is everyone buying toilet paper? And then forgot to wait for an answer.

See all 24 fallacies in What Are the Most Common Logical Fallacies?

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