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- Thu May 11, 2017 3:18 pm
#34750
Passage Discussion
Paragraph One:
The author begins by describing an opposing viewpoint: that of critics who claim that advertising creates false needs in consumers, ultimately procuring manipulative and hegemonic influence for advertisers. In particular, the author points to the writings of political theorist Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse argued that mass-market advertising uses psychological techniques to create false needs in people, who then satisfy those needs at the expense of their well being while profiting corporations, which acquire disproportionate power.
Paragraph Two:
Marcuse believed that advertising works by connecting the product being advertised to an actual physical or psychological need of the consumer. The consumer buys the product in an effort to satisfy the related, actual need. However, the purchase of the proxy product is incapable of fulfilling the true need, leaving the consumer unsatisfied at some level.
Paragraph Three:
However, the author raises doubts about Marcuse’s reliance on the distinction between real versus false needs to explain corporations’ use of advertising to gain profit and power. By Marcuse’s theory, due to the prevalence of advertising, people are incapable of distinguishing real from false needs.
Paragraph Four:
Yet the author points out that advertising cannot produce unwilling behavior in rational, informed adults, indicating that Marcuse is wrong when he claims that most consumers are “passive instruments” who do not respond to advertising of their own will. While conceding that it may be the case that most products do not provide the “precise emotional dividend” promised by the advertisements for those products, the author rejects the inference that consumers do not freely and intentionally use those products to satisfy a genuine emotional need that is just as fulfilling as that promised by the advertisements.
VIEWSTAMP Analysis
The Viewpoints presented in the passage are those of the Author and of Herbert Marcuse, put forward as a central critic of advertising.
The Structure of the passage is as follows:
The Main Point of the passage is that although the use of advertised products likely will not provide the consumer with the advertised emotional benefit purportedly associated with that product, rational, informed adults are capable of seeing past advertising techniques and are able to freely and intentionally purchase advertised products and derive real, rather than false, fulfillment from their use.
Paragraph One:
The author begins by describing an opposing viewpoint: that of critics who claim that advertising creates false needs in consumers, ultimately procuring manipulative and hegemonic influence for advertisers. In particular, the author points to the writings of political theorist Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse argued that mass-market advertising uses psychological techniques to create false needs in people, who then satisfy those needs at the expense of their well being while profiting corporations, which acquire disproportionate power.
Paragraph Two:
Marcuse believed that advertising works by connecting the product being advertised to an actual physical or psychological need of the consumer. The consumer buys the product in an effort to satisfy the related, actual need. However, the purchase of the proxy product is incapable of fulfilling the true need, leaving the consumer unsatisfied at some level.
Paragraph Three:
However, the author raises doubts about Marcuse’s reliance on the distinction between real versus false needs to explain corporations’ use of advertising to gain profit and power. By Marcuse’s theory, due to the prevalence of advertising, people are incapable of distinguishing real from false needs.
Paragraph Four:
Yet the author points out that advertising cannot produce unwilling behavior in rational, informed adults, indicating that Marcuse is wrong when he claims that most consumers are “passive instruments” who do not respond to advertising of their own will. While conceding that it may be the case that most products do not provide the “precise emotional dividend” promised by the advertisements for those products, the author rejects the inference that consumers do not freely and intentionally use those products to satisfy a genuine emotional need that is just as fulfilling as that promised by the advertisements.
VIEWSTAMP Analysis
The Viewpoints presented in the passage are those of the Author and of Herbert Marcuse, put forward as a central critic of advertising.
The Structure of the passage is as follows:
- Paragraph 1: Introduce the view held by Marcuse and other critics that companies use misleading advertising to create false needs in consumers and then pitch their products as the way to satisfy those needs, resulting in increasing profits for the companies at the expense of the consumers’ well being.
Paragraph 2: Expand on Marcuse’s critique of advertising by describing the difference between real and false needs and how by shifting the consumer’s focus from the real need to the false need, advertising fails to fulfill consumers, who are left unsatisfied.
Paragraph 3: Begin to present the author’s argument against the Marcusian view. State an implication of that view, that we cannot distinguish our real needs from the false needs created by advertisers.
Paragraph 4: Explicitly state that the Marcusian view is mistaken, since rational, informed adults see past advertising techniques and are not reduced to “passive instruments” purchasing products unwillingly. Claim that while consumers may not receive the precise emotional benefit promised by the advertisement, they are no less capable of receiving genuine fulfillment from the use of the product, though the fulfillment may be in a way that was not advertised.
The Main Point of the passage is that although the use of advertised products likely will not provide the consumer with the advertised emotional benefit purportedly associated with that product, rational, informed adults are capable of seeing past advertising techniques and are able to freely and intentionally purchase advertised products and derive real, rather than false, fulfillment from their use.