Ineffective figurehead

• Scarecrow, e.g
• Specious figure in an argument
• An effigy in the shape of a man to frighten birds away from seeds
• Easily refuted argument
• Conveniently weak argument, metaphorically
• Rhetorical creation
• Informal fallacy used in an argument
• Deliberately weak argument metaphor

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. (alternative spelling of straw man English)