"By far the most famous of these dramatic advertisements of the Post-war Decade was the long series in which the awful results of halitosis were set forth through the depiction of a gallery of unfortunates whose closest friends would not tell them.'Often a bridesmaid but never a bride....Edna's case was really a pathetic one.' ...'Why did she leave him that way?' ....'That's why you're a failure,' ...and then that devilishly ingenious display which capitalized on the fears aroused by earlier tragedies in the series: the picture of a girl looking at a Listerine advertisement and saying to herself,'This can't apply to me!' Useless for the American Medical Association to insist that Listerine was 'not a true deodorant,' that it simply covered one smell with another.Just as useless as for the Life Extension Institute to find 'one out of twenty with pyorrhea [gum disease],rather than Mr.Forhan's [a mouth product] famous four-out-of five.' ...Halitosis had the power of dramatic advertising behind it,and Listerine swept to greater and greater profits on a tide of public trepidation." What attitude did Frederick Lewis Allen take toward Listerine's advertising campaign?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The author's tone suggests that he is skeptical of Listerine's advertising tactics and the lack of scientific evidence supporting its claims. He suggests that the success of the campaign was due to the power of dramatic advertising and public fears. Therefore, option A is the most appropriate answer.

"By Far the Most Famous of These Dramatic Advertisements of the Post-War