Passage Discussion

[andrewgong01]

Here's how I understand the passage after a throughough review. However, I am not quite understanding Line 50 onwards on what exactly the author was conceding.

The other confusing part was Line 21 through 25 in P2. I took it to mean that Marcuse has claimed there is a real need, which is then linked to consumer products creating a false need. Then Lines 21 goes into a question of fulfilment but I did not understand what was meant by it.

P1: Critics view, talks about Marcuse. Marcus is anti advertizing and thinks it oppresses customers into the power of corporations

P2: Marcuse Assumption : We have real needs, companies then create false needs by tying consumer products to the real needs. I am unclear with what Lines 21-25 means after ward when it talks about fulliment

P3: Author pushes back and says Marcuse's assumption is bad. If Marcuse correct, we can't separate or real needs from our fake needs then unless we ban all advertizing

P4: Marcuse wrongly assumes decision making of consumers: Consumers have some rationality. However, I did not quite understand Lines 50 onwards aside from the fact that the author seems to concede to the critics a point but then pushes back against the concession...

In all the passage is about MArcuse's view. However, Marcuse argument has two major mistakes. First, the distinction between real and false needs is "bad" (P3) and Marcuse assumes there is less rationality in consumers (P4)

[ohthatpatrick]

Very nice passage map and diagnosis.

21-25:
The real needs, presumably, are things like “being loved, finding a mate, being respected/valued/feared, being fed/comfortable, being listened to”

If a Haagen Daz commercial promises near-orgasmic satisfaction from each bite, then my quest for fulfilling a REAL need for love has been displaced from its true object (love/sex) to a consumer items (Haagen Daz bar).

Since I won’t ACTUALLY get near-orgasmic satisfaction from eating a Haagen Daz bar, “the implicit promises of advertisements is never really fulfilled”, and even though it was a delicious treat, “at some level I still feel unsatisfied”.

49-end
This is acknowledging that the joy I get from a Haagen Daz bar is probably usually less than the emotional dividend (near-orgasmic satisfaction) the ad seemed to promise. But, this paragraph is saying that I am savvy enough to understand when I buy that Haagen Daz bar, I won’t be getting THAT sort of fulfillment, but I might choose to buy it anyway as a means to another sort of fulfillment (a delicious treat).

And then the final thought seems to be just allowing for the fact that, “Hey, sometimes eating a Haagen Daz bar really IS near-orgasmic satisfaction!”