You’re in a department store and you see a couple of attractive young women looking at a sweater. You listen to their conversation:
“I can’t believe it—a Lorenzo Bertolla! They are almost impossible to find. Isn’t it beautiful? And it’s a lot cheaper than the one Sara bought in Rome.”
They leave and you go over to see this incredible sweater. It’s nice and the price is right. You’ve never heard of Lorenzo Bertolla, but those girls looked really stylish. They must know. So, you buy it. You never realize that those young women are employees of an advertising agency. They are actually paid to go from store to store, talking loudly about Lorenzo Bertolla clothes.
Every day we notice what people are wearing, driving and eating. If the person looks cool, the product seems cool, too. This is the secret of undercover marketing. Companies from Ford to Nike are starting to use it.
Undercover marketing is important because it reaches people that don’t pay attention to traditional advertising. This is particularly true of the MTV generation—consumers between the age of 18 and 34. It is a golden group. They have a lot of money to spend, but they don’t trust ads.
So advertising agencies hire young actors to “perform” in bars and other places where young adults go. Some people might call this practice deceptive (骗人的), but marketing executive Jonathan Ressler calls it creative. “Look at traditional advertising. Its effectiveness is decreasing.”
However, one might ask what exactly is “real’ about of young women pretending to be enthusiastic about a sweater? Advertising executives would say it’s no less real than ad. The difference is that you know an ad is trying to persuade you to buy something. You don’t know when a conversation you overhear is just a performance.
68. The two attractive young women were talking so that they could___________.
A. get the sweater at a lower price
B. be heard by people around
C. be admired by other shoppers
D. decide on buying the sweater
69. Lorenzo Bertolla is ___________.
A. a very popular male singer
B. an advertising agency
C. a clothing company in Rome
D. the brand name of a sweater
70. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
A. The two girls are in fact employed by the Lorenzo Bertolla Company.
B. The MTV generation tend to be more easily influenced by ads.
C. Traditional advertising is becoming less effective because it’s too direct.
D. Undercover marketing will surely be banned soon by the government.
71. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A. Two Attractive Shoppers
B. Lorenzo Bertolla Sweaters.
C. Ways of Advertising
D. Undercover Marketing