"By Far the Most Famous of These Dramatic Advertisements of the Post-War

Multiple Choice

"By far the most famous of these dramatic advertisements of the Post-war Decade was the long series in which the awful results of halitosis were set forth through the depiction of a gallery of unfortunates whose closest friends would not tell them.'Often a bridesmaid but never a bride....Edna's case was really a pathetic one.' ...'Why did she leave him that way?' ....'That's why you're a failure,' ...and then that devilishly ingenious display which capitalized on the fears aroused by earlier tragedies in the series: the picture of a girl looking at a Listerine advertisement and saying to herself,'This can't apply to me!' Useless for the American Medical Association to insist that Listerine was 'not a true deodorant,' that it simply covered one smell with another.Just as useless as for the Life Extension Institute to find 'one out of twenty with pyorrhea [gum disease],rather than Mr.Forhan's [a mouth product] famous four-out-of five.' ...Halitosis had the power of dramatic advertising behind it,and Listerine swept to greater and greater profits on a tide of public trepidation." What attitude did Frederick Lewis Allen take toward Listerine's advertising campaign?

A) He appears apprehensive of its manipulative qualities and the lack of medical evidence supporting its product.
B) He sees the advertising campaign as a triumph for public health.
C) He believes the advertising is a nefarious example of capitalism.
D) He is pleased that advertisers are able to enforce hygienic standards on young women.