# Argumentum ad populum

*Also called: Appeal to popularity, bandwagon*

- **Cluster:** Crowds and prestige — Numbers, custom and status standing in for reasons
- **Page:** https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/ad-populum/
- **In Arabic:** https://fallacy.wiki/ar/fallacy/ad-populum.md
- **Licence:** CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

## What it is

Treating the number of people who hold a belief as evidence that the belief is true.

## In the wild

> Everyone knows organic food is healthier, so it must be.

## How to answer it

Ask what the majority is basing its view on. Popularity is a fact about people, not about the claim.

## Origin and naming

Latin for 'argument to the people'. Logicians have catalogued it since the nineteenth century under many names — appeal to the masses, bandwagon, vox populi — all pointing at the same move: the size of the crowd is offered as proof.

## More places it shows up

- Half the city switched banks this year; obviously that one is the better choice, or people would not be moving.
- This neighbourhood voted overwhelmingly for the measure, which shows the rest of us were wrong to doubt it.
- It is the most-watched series in the country right now — critics who pan it clearly just did not understand it.
- Everyone in the group chat bought one, so anything holding you back must be your own stubbornness.

## How to spot it

- Listen for verbs of mass movement — 'everyone is switching', 'millions agree' — standing where reasons should be.
- Notice when disagreement is treated as loneliness: the subtext is that you will be left out, not that you are mistaken.
- Check whether the crowd would even know; a million people repeating a rumor is still one rumor.

## Nearby

- [Appeal to common practice](https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/common-practice.md)
- [Appeal to tradition](https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/tradition.md)
- [Snob appeal](https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/snob-appeal.md)
- [Argumentum ad nauseam](https://fallacy.wiki/fallacy/ad-nauseam.md)

## Read more

- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum)
- [Fallacy Files](https://fallacyfiles.org/bandwagn.html)

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From fallacy.wiki — a bilingual field guide to 91 logical fallacies, published by phi holdings. Licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): reuse freely with attribution to fallacy.wiki.