Some critics of advertising have assumed that the creation of false needs in consumers is the principal mechanism underlying what these critics regard as its manipulative and hegemonic power. …
Marcuse supposed that we all have certain real needs, both physical and psychological. Advertising appropriates these needs for its own purposes, forging psychological associations between them and consumer items, e.g., between sex and perfume, thereby creating a false "need" for these items. Since the quest for fulfillment is thus displaced from its true objects to consumer items, the implicit promises of advertisements are never really fulfilled and the consumer remains at some level unsatisfied.
Unfortunately, the distinction between real and false needs upon which this critique depends is extremely problematic. If Marcusians are right, we cannot, with any assurance, separate our real needs from the alleged false needs we feel as a result of the manipulation of advertisers. For, in order to do so, it would be necessary to eliminate
But, in fact, Marcusians make a major mistake in assuming that the majority of consumers who respond to advertising do not do so autonomously. Advertising techniques are unable to induce unwilling behavior in rational, informed adults, and regulations prohibit misinformation in advertising claims. Moreover, evidence suggests that most adults understand and recognize the techniques used and are not merely passive instruments. If there is a real need for emotional fulfillment, and if we can freely and authentically choose our means of obtaining it, then free, informed individuals may choose to obtain it through the purchase of commodities or even through the enjoyment occasionally provided by advertisements themselves. …
Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?
Advertising has greater social value than Marcusians have supposed, because it is both an effective means of informing consumers and often an intrinsically entertaining medium of mass communication.
The author never claims that advertising is an “effective means of informing consumers” or an “intrinsically entertaining medium of mass communication.” So (A) cannot be the MP.
Even if, as Marcusians have argued, there is a theoretical difference between real and false needs, that difference is obscured in practice by the relationship of consumers to the forces of persuasion in profit-motivated, consumer-oriented societies.
The point is that the Marcusians are wrong in their claim that advertising creates false needs. (B) doesn’t express this. Also, the author never claims that the relationship between real and false needs is obscured.
Marcusian arguments regarding advertisers' creation of false needs are mistaken, because individuals are able to make autonomous decisions regarding their needs and are even able to use the elements of mass market culture to achieve genuine fulfillment.
This captures the MP as described in the last paragraph. Notice that the author sets up this point in P3 as well – “If Marcusians are right, we cannot, with any assurance, separate our real needs from the alleged false needs.” The last paragraph then shows that we actually can separate real needs from false needs. The implicit conclusion, therefore, is that the Marcusians are wrong.
Critics of advertising typically focus on the development of false needs in the consumer and do not fully consider the ability of people to make independent choices by distinguishing their own real needs from the apparent needs that advertising induces.
The MP is that the Marcusians are wrong. (D) simply tells us what the Marcusians focus on and what they don’t consider. But it doesn’t express the view that the Marcusians are wrong.
The problematic distinction that Marcusians have drawn between real and false needs provides an inadequate basis for their attacks on advertising, because the distinction overlooks consumers' physical and psychological needs.
This is unsupported, because the author never claims that the Marcusians are wrong due to overlooking consumers’ physical and psychological needs. What they overlook is that people can distinguish between real and false needs.
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