Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publications, 2021
Test Bank
PART IV: ADVERTISING AND CONSUMER CULTURE
Multiple Choice
1. For all its popularity, the shopping mania provokes considerable disease: ______.
a. many Americans worry about our preoccupation with getting and spending
b. all Americans are obsessed with self-expression and presentation
c. some Americans devote all their income to be seen as higher in the social standing
d. Americans in general are not concerned with the effects of their actions but instead
are only interested in experiencing the newest trend
2. The new consumerism has also set in motion another dynamic: ______.
a. it leads resources into other sources that could be used for social change
b. it takes monetary resources from the rich and sends that to programs for lower class
Americans
c. it diverts economic resources that could be used for government consumption
d. it siphons off resources that could be used for alternatives to private consumption
3. With its emphasis on luxury, expensiveness, exclusivity, rarity, uniqueness, and
distinction, “new consumerism” reflects and perpetuates structures of ______.
a. empowerment
b. economics and capitalism
c. inequality and power
d. class relations
4. According to the Bogost article, without a privately controlled industry jockeying to
compete with one another for consumer dollars, there’s no need for ______.
a. large corporations
b. advertising
c. consumerism
d. the study of economics
5. In the Bogost article, the author talks about how the ironic, contra Coke GIFs couldn’t
help but become transformed back into brand-compatible Coca-Cola messaging. This
issue shows that ______.
a. capitalism is an immensely resilient institution
b. economics rarely behaves predictably
c. capitalism only produces increasingly powerful corporations
d. advertising can have unexpected outcomes
6. As the author of the Pepsi ad article describes, for some, the answer comes in
dreaming of a near future in which all that anxiety melts away, but for others, the answer
to such distress is ______.
a. anger and revolt
b. doing nothing
c. calm discussion of the issues
d. protest and agitation
7. Gloria Steinem states that when Ms. began, they didn’t consider not taking ads. She
says the most important reason was keeping the price of a feminist magazine low
enough for most women to afford. But the second and almost equal reason was
______.
a. getting the magazine seen by the maximum number of women
b. creating an advertising dependent reader base that relied on the ads for discovering
new products and services
c. providing a forum where women and advertisers could talk to each other and improve
advertising itself
d. to make as much money off the magazine quickly so they could expand
8. Steinem expresses that the fact that Ms. was asking companies to do business in a
different way meant their saleswomen had to make many times the usual number of
calls—first to convince agencies and then client companies besides—and to ______.
a. provide exceptional customer service
b. constantly validate their credentials to new clients
c. present endless amounts of research
d. seek out only high-profile clients
9. As Steinem states, no matter how much never-to–be-recovered cash is poured into
starting a magazine or keeping one going, ______ seem to be all that matter.
a. appearances
b. finances
c. readers
d. corporate backers
10. Objectification’s centrality to the feminist critical lexicon lay in its ability to speak to
the ways in which media representations help to justify and sustain relations of ______.
a. equity between men and women
b. romantic involvement between men and women
c. partnership and codependence between men
d. domination and inequality between men and women
11. Midriff advertising is notable not only for its success in selling brands but also–much
more significantly–for its effective rebranding or reconstruction of ______.
a. the ideas and the work involved in creating the objectifiable through the visuals of sex
and power
b. the anxieties and the labor involved in making the body beautiful, through a discourse
of fun, pleasure, and power
c. the pleasures and the intensity involved in making a body powerful through a
campaign of images and visuals
d. the experiences and the process in making the body visually stimulating through
advertising and media
12. A feminist semiotic analysis suggests that, under a guise of corporate altruism that
democratizes female beauty, Campaign for Real Beauty endorses ______.
a. culturally accurate representations of women
b. progressive pop culture views toward women
c. socially responsible ideas of womanhood
d. global postfeminist citizenship
13. The Murray article advances that the Campaign for Real Beauty is a cause branding
strategy that merges messages of corporate ______.
a. “concern and commitment for a cause”
b. “worry but don’t lose money”
c. “care as long as it benefits the company”
d. “care only about the cause, keep the people first”
14. Like cause marketing, this cause branding strategy “is merely a cleverly disguised
ploy to mask some of the fundamental problems for which the very same marketing
forces are directly or indirectly responsible.” Within this consumer context, commercial
connotations are attached to ______.
a. pop culture messages
b. cultural heritage and commercial pandering
c. subtext and topical philosophy
d. popular messages and practices of philanthropy
15. The phrase “conspicuous consumption” can best be illustrated by which of the
following scenarios:
a. Jim is wealthy but buys cheap jeans to fit in with some of his working-class friends.
b. Frank is a minimalist and buys only the absolute essentials to survive.
c. Jane is upper middle class and buys expensive handbags and a higher end vehicle to
drive around her town.
d. Fred is homeless but has a nice car.
16. What Is American exceptionalism?
a. The idea that America has the biggest standing Army.
b. The idea that America is a unique character among (and should be lauded above)
other nations due to its perceptions of personal liberty and determined work ethic.
c. The idea that America is an equal player on the world stage.
d. The idea that America has the biggest economy and therefore should be given
favorable treatment by foreign banks.
17. By using western female celebrities as ambassadors, organizations like the UN are
essentially reinforcing notions of ______.
Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publications, 2021
a. Marxism
b. Socialism
c. Communism
d. Patriarchal capitalism
18. What is the inherent problem of “celebrity motherhood” and “celebrity
humanitarianism?”
a. It trivializes or outright ignores the lived reality of many underprivileged or oppressed
women.
b. It positions traditional notions of western heteronormative femininity as ideal or
preferred.
c. It results in being a greater vehicle for a celebrity’s career and personal pursuits
rather than the cause they claim to support.
d. All of these.
19. Which of the following statements best describes the concept of the “internet of
things?”
a. A washing machine that has on-board internet connectivity to allow users to start and
stop loads from their mobile device.
b. Someone does all of their holiday shopping on their phone.
c. Apple Computer’s Sidecar feature which turns an iPad into an extended display.
d. The use of Zoom as a technology for teaching classes during the COVID-19
pandemic.
20. In a measuring instrument called “The Quality of Life Surveys,” respondents
overwhelmingly indicated that having ______ was the most important aspect for them to
live a happy life.
a. expensive cars
b. secure employment
c. autonomy over their life
d. a healthy plan for retirement
Yousman, Gender, Race, and Class in Media 6e
SAGE Publications, 2021
True/False
1. The Buick Ad Nosy Neighbors mentioned in the McAllister and Aupperle piece would
be a textbook example of class-shaming in which upper-class people are clearly coded
as superior to working-class people.
2. The UN’s use of women celebrity ambassadors runs the risk of watering down
serious issues into pieces that are considered “safer” or more likely to gain increased
readership.
3. In the contemporary era, advertising only makes up about 10% of what is on
Essay
1. What are two strategies for attracting audiences covered in part IV of the readings?
2. What are some changes in media culture over the last 50 years as discussed in part
IV of the readings?
3. Consider the Emirates advertisement discussed in the McAllister and Aupperle piece
that features Jennifer Aniston. As a future member (if not one already) of the traveling
public, does this unabashed display of class make you want to fly Emirates or avoid the
airline? Why?
4. What does the term “soft news” mean? Please provide an example of soft news.
5. In late 2011, General Motors launched the “Keep America Rolling” campaign which
offered prospective automotive buyers up to five years of interest-free financing.
Knowing what you do from the Jhally article, do an analysis on the motivations behind
this campaign. Was it to truly stimulate the American economy? Would the purchase of
a new Chevrolet truly help Americans recover from the trauma of 9/11? If a large
multinational company created a campaign like this to stimulate the economy after the
COVID-19 pandemic, would it work? Why or why not?