PrepTest 159, Section 1, Question 24
Advertising agencies are often wrongly criticized for causing(54 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(5 more words not shown)
- Acan be classified(11 more words not shown)
- Bare created by(7 more words not shown)
- Cwill rarely be(6 more words not shown)
- Dare exploited rather(4 more words not shown)
- Eare generally what(8 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Couldn't an advertisement create a desire? I wouldn't automatically accept the claim that criticism of advertisers is wrong. But first we need to understand the distinction this author is making.
People want something, and then an advertisement encourages them to believe a product will satisfy that want. Creating the belief about the product isn't necessarily the same as creating the underlying desire. That helps us see why the author's admission about advertisers' purpose needn't contradict the opening defense of them.
What we’re looking for
We're finishing this argument, so the conclusion should follow that distinction. The author is portraying advertisers as taking advantage of desires people already have. Whether that is a complete account of advertising is another question. The missing sentence needs to express the account being developed here.
Working the answers
- A
A desire doesn't become a need merely because someone buys something to satisfy it. More importantly, the argument isn't trying to reclassify wants as needs. It's distinguishing the source of a desire from the belief that a product will fulfill it.
- B
The passage never divides advertising into true and false claims or says those two kinds have different effects on desire. The issue is whether advertisers create the desires at all, not whether an inaccurate claim has a special desire-creating power.
- C
Believing a product will satisfy a desire is different from having that desire actually satisfied. The passage tells us why people buy, not how often the purchases deliver what they hoped for. We can't turn the account of their belief into a prediction that the purchases rarely work.
- DCorrect
Advertisers exploit existing desires rather than create them, according to the argument. They encourage people to see a particular product as a way to satisfy a desire. That preserves both parts of the author's account: advertisers induce a belief that encourages buying, but they aren't responsible for originating the desire itself.
- E
This says desires cause people to believe advertisers' claims. The passage says inducing a belief about satisfaction is the advertisers' purpose, but it doesn't establish why people accept that belief. E introduces a psychological explanation for believing advertisements instead of completing the distinction between using a desire and creating it.
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