After reading paragraph one to paragraph eight, I have primary know what the text is mainly about. Now let me read it continues. In paragraph eight, the author mentions six basic techniques, which can create the necessary illusion of superiority. These are “the weasel claim”, “the ‘water is wet’ claim”, “the ‘SO WHAT’ claim”, “the scientific or statistical claim”, “the compliment the consumer claim” and “the rhetorical question”. All of these advertising claims are common and easy to identify. However, to different products, they have different implication.
When it comes to “the weasel claim”, I am first puzzled by the word ‘weasel’. In My View, it is a kind of animal. And it seems that there is no relationship between weasel and advertising claims on the surface. However, after I read the content of “the weasel claim”, I get the idea. This name originates from the habit that weasels like eating eggs. It is a modifier, which refers to these claims appear substantial at first glance but disintegrate into hollow meaninglessness. I guess that as the same as weasels eating the inside of eggs, but leaving it to appear intact the casual observer, “the weasel claim” just indicates these ads which have good appearances but meaninglessness in side. In order to leave a clear impression to readers, the author holds two samples below.
Turning to “the ‘water is wet’ claim”, there is a question rising in my mind. That is why the advertiser names the claim like this. Everyone knows that water is wet. Like the literally meaning, this kind of advertising claim refers to these products, which have the characteristics for all the brands, but not a real advantage over competition.
The next claim is “the ‘so what’ claim”. Similar to other readers, my first react is “so what?” In my opinion, “so what” is used to show that you do not think something that has been mentioned is important. But here, the author compare it with “the ‘water is wet’ claim”. “The ‘so what’ claim” is also telling us the truth, but not to the product itself. Usually, it has a unique advantage that is not shared by most of the other brands in the product category. Let me take the “Geritol” for instance. In the case, the author mentions, “Is it twice as beneficial to the body?” I think the complete question would be “but, is it twice as beneficial to the body as ordinary supplements are? In the structure “as…as”, the second part of the structure can be omitted if you have already mentioned the thing to which you are comparing the amount, measurement or degree.
When we talk about “the scientific or statistical claim”, it seems more persuasive than other claims. It usually uses some sort of scientific proof or experiment to enrich the product. In this part, I am not familiar with the sentence “even the weasel ‘help’ did not prevent the FTC from demanding that this ad be within drawn”. In this sentence, the author adopts subjunctive method. The whole sentence can be understood although the word “help” is fairly vague, the FTC considered that the claim was precise enough to be called a false claim and thus this ad had to be withdrawn.
Nowadays, more and more people are pursing fashion and personality. To cater to people’s need, “the compliment the consumer claim” is the best choice. There are two “rights” in the sentence “if you do what is right for you, No matter what others do, then RC Cola is right for you” puzzle me. Based on analyzing the structure of the sentence, I know that the first “right” is an adj. which means “suitable”. While, the second “right” is a pun. It is an adv, which refers to “RC Cola is exactly designed for you”. Also, it can be seen as an adj., which means “suitable” as the former one. The last claim is “the rhetorical question”. This technique demands a response from the audience.
Contrary to the opinion that “people are believers in their own immunity to advertising”, the author affirms the fact that whenever people realize it or not, even if they avoid looking at ads still affect people’s life.
This is my understanding from paragraph nine to paragraph fifteen.
