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8 2A1 This mock press release from The Onion effectively satirizes the ways in which products are marketed to consumer by lauding a product called MagnaSoles. The author employs the techniques of endorsement by so-called experts who lack credibility, overstatement, and use of confusing but authentic sounding scientific terms. First of all, the MagnaSoles article uses quotations from so-called experts in order to lend credence to the effectiveness of the product. By quoting a “pseudoscientist” and a “biotrician who discovered Terranometry,” the article suggests that companies often use testimonies of experts who are either biased toward the product with investment in its success, of inaccurate sources who lack credibility. Clearly, these “scientists” lack objectivity toward the product because they helped design it, and the fact that they are referred to as “pseudoscientist” and “biotrician” illustrates that often testimonies come from sources who lack knowledge or expertise on the subject for which they provide information. Secondly, the article satirizes methods of advertising through overstatement. This hyperbolic language represents the fact that advertisements may exaggerate the benefits of a product. When this article mentions that a foot sole has the ability to “heal your entire body as you walk,” the author is satirizing the often-improbable outcomes an advertisement may promise. Another example of this strategy is in the article’s reference to crystals that have the power to regenerate dead cells. Clearly, this is an impossible feat. Yet the author is pointing out how appeal marketers appeal to consumers by exaggeration or fabricating a product’s merits. Another strategy used to satirize how products are marketed to consumers is the use of difficult words to lend credibility to the testimony. This terminology, however, may not actually have scientific or relevant meaning. For example, the articles references “special resonator nodules” and the “vibrational rate of 32.805 kilofrankels.” This complex-sounding terminology is included to impress the reader and give the article an air of credibility. In actuality, however, these terms lack meaning. The author furthers this point by mentioning “scientific-sounding literature trumpeting the new insoles,” to insinuate that more difficulty vocabulary does not necessarily lend credibility to a statement. This technique is often employed by marketers hoping to impress a consumer. In conclusion, this article from The Onion effectively identifies misleading information that advertisements may present to the public: testimony from “experts” lacking true credibility, overstatement with hyperbolic language to exaggerate a product’s merit, and difficult vocabulary and scientific terminology that in fact lacks real meaning and relevance to the product. The numerous strategies by which these fallacies are presented accurately represent how products are marketed to consumers. AP Central Comments: Succinct, but does not linger Don’t pound one idea to death Need diversity of examples Strongly implied global Good vocab