Academic Reading 17
ADVERTISING in MAGAZINES
Publishers of magazines prior the 20th century had a single goal in mind — to provide good reading material to the public. They were not at all concerned with making huge profits, probably because they realised that it was not likely they ever would. Instead, publishers aimed to inform and to influence the opinion of their readers. The attitude of publishers toward the use of advertising was expressed in 1853 by the editor of Athenaeum in England. He felt it was his obligation, as far as possible, to protect the public from “the wily arts of the insidious, advertiser”. A reversal of this attitude began during the 1880s and picked up momentum rapidly after World War I. Mass industrialisation produced an ever-increasing volume of goods for the public to buy. A few American and British publishers discovered that it was possible to increase circulation and to reduce costs by accepting advertising. One of the most successful early exponents of this view was Cyrus Curb’s, the owner of Ladies’ Home Journal. He bought the Saturday Evening Post in 1897, when it was about to cease publication. Through the extensive use of advertising and good articles, he made it a successful enterprise: By 1922, it had a circulation of more than 2 million. He, like many other publishers since, realised that it was possible to sell the public to advertising while selling reading material to the public.
1- As described above, in the mid-I800s, advertising was widely considered by publishers as ………. .
A) a great way to make large profits
B) a source of good reading material
C) a way of increasing readership
D) a way of reducing costs
E) harmful and deceptive to the public
2- The author explains that before the 1900s, one of the main aims of publishers was to ……… .
A) serialise novels
B) advertise consumer goods
C) make huge profits
D) provide information
E) entertain readers
3- Cyrus Curtis is mentioned in the passage as someone who bought a failing newspaper and made it a successful product by …………….. .
A) increasing his prices and reducing his costs
B) selling products directly to the public
C) changing its title to “Ladies1 Home Journal”
D) excluding advertising and including extensive political essays
E) combining advertising with quality reading material
1. E
2. D
3. E