Book Three Unit Twenty-six

Advertisements have wielded so enormous influence on the purchase of the product
that people are no long free to choose what they want. It is due to the close study of
human nature and the classification of human's little weaknesses that advertisers have discovered that people love to get something for nothing. Therefore not only free
samples are offered to customers, but also free cars, free houses and free trips round
the world are granted them. Moreover, hundreds of competitions are devised to enable people to win huge sums of money. Radio and television have made it possible for
advertisers to capture the attention of millions of people in this way. During a radio
program, a company of biscuit manufacturers once asked listeners to enter for the
biggest biscuit competition and would pay $10 a pound for the biggest biscuit baked by a listener. The response to this competiton was tremendous for biscuits of all shapes
and sizes began arriving at the factory. The largest biscuit had been made by a college student who had used over 1,000 pounds of flour, 800 pounds of sugar, 200 pounds of
fat, and 400 pounds of various other ingredients. The amount of money was larger than the manufacturers had anticipated for they paid $24,000 for such a colossal biscuit.