PrepTest 141 - Section 1 - Passage 3 - Question 17

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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. …

Critics' perspective · Advertising is manipulative because it creates false needs in consumers

Central to this type of critique are the writings of political theorist Herbert Marcuse, who maintained that modern people succumb to oppression by believing themselves satisfied in spite of their living in an objectively unsatisfying world. This process occurs because in mass market culture the powerful psychological techniques of advertising create "needs" that are false and whose satisfaction thus contributes, not to the genuine well-being of consumers, but rather to the profit—and thereby the disproportionate power—of corporations.

Basis of critics' perspective · Marcuse's theory

Advertising creates false needs that people satisfy, but satisfying these false needs doesn't contribute to well-being.

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.

Expand on Marcuse's theory · Satisfying the false need for consumer items doesn't satisfy real needs

Consumers might think that buying stuff satisfies real needs, but it only satisfies false needs.

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 forces of persuasion that are so prevalent in society that they have come to inform our instinctive judgments about things.

Author's critique · Distinction between real and false needs doesn't really exist

If Marcuse is right, then people wouldn't be able to separate real needs from the needs created by advertising. (This is a setup for a contrapositive argument. The author's about to say that people can distinguish these needs.)

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. …

Support for author's critique · Consumers can identify desires created by advertising

Advertising is regulated, and people can rationally respond to it. They're not just tricked by ads. They can even get enjoyment from the ads and from buying stuff.

It is no doubt true that in many—perhaps even most—cases the use of an advertised product does not yield the precise sort of emotional dividend that advertisements seem to promise. …

Concession · Buying advertised products doesn't give the exact emotional feeling that the ads promise

This does not mean, however, that consumers do not freely and intentionally use the product as a means to another sort of fulfillment, or even that its genuine fulfillment of needs must be less than the advertisement suggests.

Author's Response · But that doesn't mean buying advertised products can't genuinely fulfill some needs

Passage Style

Critique or debate

17.

The author states that Marcuse believed that advertisers

base many of their manipulative strategies on psychological research findings

Not supported. There’s no claim that Marcuse believed advertisers relied on research findings. Although he believed advertisers use psychological techniques, that doesn’t imply he believed they rely on research findings.

appeal to people's real needs in order to create false needs

Stated.

93%

are restricted to a degree by regulations prohibiting misinformation

Not supported. The author never makes any claim about Marcuse’s beliefs concerning regulations.

exaggerate the consumer's need for independent decision-making

Not supported. What Marcuse believed was that advertisers create a false “need” for consumer items. This has nothing to do with the consumer’s “need for independent decision-making.”

deny that the needs they create in people are less real than other needs

Not supported. What Marcuse believed was that advertisers create a false “need” for consumer items. The author never claims Marcuse thinks advertisers view the need for consumer items as less real than other needs.

PrepTest 141 - Section 1 - Passage 3 - Question 17

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