English Written Test - 11th grade

I. Read the following text, please.

Marketers plant the seeds of brand recognition in very young children, in the hopes that the seeds will
grow into lifetime relationships. According to some researchers, babies as young as six months of age can
form mental images of corporate logos and mascots. Brand loyalties can be established as early as age
two, and by the time children head off to school most can recognize hundreds of brand logos.

5 The situation evolves to an older target - according to No Logo author Naomi Klein, in the 1990s
corporations discovered that the youth market was able and willing to pay top dollar in order to be "cool."
The corporations have been chasing the vague cool factor ever since. In other words, corporations take
advantage of the age-old insecurities and self-doubts of teens by making them believe that to be truly cool,
you need their product.

10 Teenagers have become top consumers in today’s society and advertisers view them as a
constant changing generation with optimistic outlooks. In advertisers’ point of view, teenagers
want to show individuality by their clothes and possessions, yet fit in with their peers; they like to
feel good about themselves, so they buy new materials to produce that feeling. Teens are
continuously purchasing new items to keep up with the changing trends. Therefore, advertisers
use their view of teens to create ads. According to the Market Research Bureau of New York
City, teens bought 25% of all movie tickets and 27% of all videos, totalling $6.6 billion. In 1998,
teens spent $1.5 billion on jeans, almost twice as much as in 1990, and $3 billion on sneakers,
almost four times more than the amount spent in 1997 – numbers that are giving advertisers
more reasons to target them, because winning teens over as customers today means possible
long-term customers.

21 The challenge for marketers is to cut through the intense advertising in young people's lives.
One of the many ways possible is "buzz marketing"—a new twist on the tried-and-true "word of
mouth" method. The idea is to find the coolest kids in a community and have them use or wear
their product in order to create a buzz around it. Buzz, or "street marketing," as it's also called,
can help a company to successfully connect with the savvy and elusive teen market by using
trendsetters to give their products "cool" status.

Buzz marketing is particularly well-suited to the Internet, where young "Net promoters"
use newsgroups, chat rooms and blogs to spread the word about music, clothes and other
products among unsuspecting users.

Some companies also find it useful to hire "cool hunters" or "cultural spies" to infiltrate the world
of teens and bring back the latest trends. Trying to stay ahead of the next trend can be a tricky
business however, as cultural critic Douglas Rushkoff explains. "The minute a cool trend is
discovered, repackaged, and sold to kids at the mall—it's no longer cool. So the kids turn to
something else, and the whole process starts all over again."

It's getting harder to tell what came first: youth culture, or the marketed version of youth culture.
Do the media reflect today's teens, or are today's teens influenced by media portrayals of young
people? Is this millennium generation a product of consumerism or its main creator? It's
important that people discuss these issues, and challenge the materialistic values promoted in
the media.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/marketing/issues_teens_marketing.cfm (Abridged and

adapted)

A) Say what the following words refer to.

1) Their (Line 9) _______________________________________________________________

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3) It (Line 24) _________________________________________________________________

B) Find synonyms in the text of the given words (par. 1 and 2).

1) Leave ___________________________________________________

2) Develops ________________________________________________

3) Aim _____________________________________________________

4) Blurred __________________________________________________

C) Find evidence in the text of the following statements.

1) Infants are able to recognize emblems used by a company to advertise its products.

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2) Marketing campaigners have realized that youngsters want to have a unique look and belong to a group
(whose members wear the same kind of clothes) at the same time.

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D) Answer the questions about the text. Use your own words as far as possible.

1) Why have teens become the main target of advertisers?

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2) How does “Buzz marketing” work?

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3) In your point of view, “Do the media reflect today's teens, or are today's teens influenced by media
portrayals of young people?”

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II

A – Complete the following sentences with an adequate Phrasal Verb.

1) There used to be an amazing bookshop on the corner but it __________________ a year ago
because of a famous huge bookshop that opened in that Mall, over there.
2) Sorry, I _________________. I really can’t answer this question about designer’s clothes.
3) Shh… you’re hysterical and everyone’s looking at us. You must ____________________ if you
don’t want people to call you a shopaholic.
4) __________________ this coat; it’s your size and I bet it will suit you.

B) Match the underlined expressions with their meaning.

1. "He ended up paying through a) To finish, use or sell all of

the nose for that car." something, so that there is 1 -- ________
none left.
2. - Which sweater may I keep? b) To pay too much for
- Oh, take your pick. something. 2 -- ________

3. I’ve to go to the supermarket. c) Something on sale at a

We are running out of butter. lower price than its true value. 3 -- ________

4. This coat was a real bargain. d) To choose one item out of

several. 4 -- ________

C) Rephrase the following sentences.

1) “My friends naively believe that celebrities in some ads really use the products they are
advertising”-

Janice stated ___________________________________________________________________

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2) “I saw a Nike ad and I thought: tomorrow I will buy a pair of these trainers”.

A teenage boy confessed _________________________________________________________

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3) Previous generations didn’t always buy the advertised products.

The advertised products __________________________________________________________

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 4) They gave her a very good advice on advertising.

She___________________________________________________________________________

5) He saw the ad on TV, so he purchased the sweater.

If he had not __________________________________________________________________

III Choose ONE of the topics and write no less than 130 words on it.

A) Advertisements are always around us – in magazines and newspapers, on TV, on the Radio and
on the Internet or on buses and buildings.
Write about the role advertising plays in your life and your habits as a consumer.

B) Advertising agencies hire famous people to advertise their products. Why do you think that
happens? Give your opinion on the role of celebrities in advertising (describe some ads to illustrate
your points of view.)

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