Advertising Criticisms

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct42% picked this

   In modern society, advertising helps lead people to think that they

   Why this is right

   This is supported by the 2nd and 3rd sentences of the first paragraph. In the 2nd sentence, Marcuse believes that, modern people end up getting oppressed because they believe themselves satisfied (despite living in an objectively unsatisfying world). In the 3rd sentence, This process occurs because the techniques of advertising create "needs" that are false. Marcuse is essentially sketching out a causal chain (and the passage is reporting it in reverse chronological order). 1. ads create "false needs" in the minds of modern consumers 2. consumers believe they need a certain product to feel satisfied 3. consumers by that product and then convince themselves (ever so briefly), "NOW, I'm satisfied", even though they live in an objectively unsatisfying world. 4. the product doesn't contribute to their genuine well-being, so the consumers soon feel unsatisfied again and buy another product to fill that false need 5. they have thus succumbed to oppression by their corporate overlords What is confusing and frustrating about this answer is that at the end of the 2nd paragraph, we're spelling out that "the consumer remains at some level unsatisfied". However, we're meant to hear that as, "subconsciously, there's still something off, which creates a hunger to buy more products". We know this is at a subconscious level because Marcuse says in that 2nd sentence of the passage that "modern people believe themselves satisfied". The passage doesn't explicitly state some of the things in the causal chain I just delineated. It seems like LSAC wanted us to use our common sense understanding of how advertising and product-buying works to fill in some blanks. When I was a kid, and I would see a commercial for Transformers, I would then have a burning "false need" for a Transformers toy. If I were to get that toy, I would briefly feel tons of satisfaction. After a spell of days or weeks or months, though, my subconscious would realize that Optimus Prime did not fill my emotional void and I would be wanting a new toy.

   Skill tested: Locate Detail · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   42%
2. B

   Unsupported Comparison: modern vs. early2% picked this

   Modern societies differ from earlier societies in that they fail to satisfy

   The fact that this passage discusses modern people does not allow us to just infer some opposite thing about earlier societies. Marcuse believes that the world is "objectively unsatisfying", so he could believe that earlier societies also failed to satisfy basic physical needs; they were just clear-eyed about the natural state of the world rather than deluding themselves with consumerism.

   2%
3. C

   Wrong Point of View23% picked this

   It is impossible to draw any meaningful distinction between real and false psychological needs

   This is what the author is stressing in her objection to Marcuse. She says, "If Marcusians are correct, then [this problematic idea follows]." She isn't saying that Marcusians believe this claim. She thinks that Marcusian criticism depends on a distinction between false needs and real needs. She is saying, "If they are correct about the other stuff they say, then it would imply this idea (that undermines their view)." If they're correct in thinking that advertising is so good at brainwashing us that we can't tell false needs from genuine needs, then how would we, as Marcusian sociologists, decide on which needs are false and which are genuine? After all, our brains have been corrupted by advertising just as much as anyone's, so we no longer would have any way of distinguishing real from false.

   23%
4. D

   Out of Scope: totalitarian systems6% picked this

   Advertising in modern society has sometimes become a tool of oppression working to the benefit

   We talk about oppression and the hegemonic (dominant) power of advertising. But the passage never discusses totalitarian political systems (ones in which a dictator / autocrat has firm control over the country).

   6%
5. E

   Opposite: real needs27% picked this

   Advertising exploits basic human needs by deriving from them certain secondary needs which, though they become real needs, subtly work

   Marcuse is never saying that advertising creates "real needs", even if we demote them to secondary status. His whole critique is centered on the idea of "false needs".

   27%