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Source: p 238, With Good Reason, An Introduction to Informal Fallacies (2000 6 ed) by York U. Prof. S. Morris Engel. Disclosure: I do not benefit or gain from, and am in no wise connected to, Avis.

Present-day advertisements are subtle, but irrelevant appeals to sympathy persist, as in Avis Rent-a-Car's successful slogan: "We're number two."

Avis's argument appears a Valid (but Unsound) Deduction to me. So how is it an Appeal to Pity?

Premise 1: If Avis is #2, then Avis will improve to be #1.
Premise 2: If Avis is #1, then you should choose Avis.
Conclusion. 3: You should choose Avis.

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    Alternatively: Avis, being #2, has more motivation to improve than #1, leading to better customer service and quality of product. I suspect there is a common belief these days that the company in the dominant position doesn't care as much about its customers as those vying for dominance.
    – labreuer
    Commented Jun 19, 2016 at 0:01
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    Wrong interpretation. That was only part of the slogan. The main slogan was We try harder - we're #2. Had nothing to do with pity. Wrong interpretation. It meant that they tried harder for customer satisfaction. You can read about it here - projectrebrief.com/avis/#page=overview
    – Swami Vishwananda
    Commented Jun 19, 2016 at 9:35
  • @SwamiVishwananda Put that as an answer so I can vote it up.
    – Miss Understands
    Commented Oct 13 at 5:37
  • Scrappy underdog versus complacent market leader.
    – user4894
    Commented Nov 11 at 21:11

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The full slogan was "We're number two. We try harder." Not an appeal to pity at all, but and assertion that they were motivated to deliver better service to improve or retain that ranking.

The original advertising campaign made that more explicit. You can probably find examples of it on the internet; somebody has probably uploaded the television commercials, somewhere.

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That is not an appeal to pity. It is a simple appeal to consumption of an alternative product.

The idea that the company tried to convey was like "We're the best alternative" (to Hertz's rent-a-car services, which possibly dominated the market at the time).

The idea is clearly described in the book The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (Ries, Trout) as the "Law of the Opposite", which means to presents the company not as a better alternative, but as a different alternative.

In addition, recognizing that the company is the second in the market -which few do- hides a strong message of honesty, strength, apparently with way more impact than the recognized weakness.

Third, a simple, short and clear message draws always a lot of attention.

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Yes, Avis is making an appeal to pity (argumentum ad misericordiam). What are good criteria to pick a particular car rental? Avis doesn't even mention them, far from claiming they satisfy them.
The slogan "We're no. 2" is equivalent to "we're not doing so well (as the competition, the no. 1)" and ... (implicature follows) "we could use some help"). You only help out of pity/compassion/charity and hence appeal to pity.

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  • I've often said that once we know what the best one of something is, it should just win absolutely. So, the coffee I like is the best and there is no need for the other kinds. The car I bought is just 'it' and no need for the other ones. Unfortunately, other people do not see things my way, and I can't make them do the right thing. Why do they want some other kind of coffee? It makes no sense.
    – Scott Rowe
    Commented Oct 12 at 21:28
  • Poor Avis! They should at least get gold star for trying so hard. ;-)
    – Idiosyncratic Soul
    Commented Oct 12 at 21:53
  • "Rooting for the underdog" is a type of appeal to.pity. it's likely that the Avis marketers were looking to tap into that.
    – Idiosyncratic Soul
    Commented Oct 12 at 21:56
  • If it was an appeal to pity, why should customers not choose #3, #4 or #5?
    – tkruse
    Commented Nov 11 at 12:45
  • @tkruse, good question. I'm all out. I hope someone can/will answer your question.
    – Hudjefa
    Commented Nov 12 at 12:23

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