GMAT ISSUE类作文范文-86

Topic:

Whether promoting a product, an event or a person, an advertising campaign is most effective when it appeals to emotion rather than to reason.

Instructions:

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations or reading.

Sample Essay

There are two traditional advertising tactics for promoting a product, event, candidate, or point of view. One is to provide reasons; the other is to bypass reasons altogether and appeal strictly to emotion. Considered in isolation, emotional appeals are far more effective. But many of the most influential ads combine slim reasons with powerful appeals to emotion.

To appreciate the power of emotional appeals we need only consider the promotion of sodas, beer, cigarettes, cosmetics and so on. This advertising is the most successful in the industry; and it trades almost exclusively on the manipulation of our desires, fears and senses of humor. In fact, it wouldn't make sense to offer up arguments, because there really aren't any good reasons for consuming such products.

Even so, some of these products are advertised with at least superficial reasoning. For instance, in the promotion of facial moisturizers it has become popular to use the image of a youthful woman with fresh, unlined skin along with the claim that the product "car reduce the signs of aging." This is indeed a reason, but a carefully couched one that never really states that product users will look younger. Still, countless middle-aged women will pay twice as much for products that add this claim to the expected image of youthfulness that trades on their fears of growing old.

One of the most clever and ironic combined uses of reason and emotion is seen in the old Volvo slogan, "Volvo, the car for people who think." The suggested reason for buying the car is obvious: it is the intelligent choice. But the emotional snare is equally clear; the ad appeals to one's desire to be included in the group of intelligent, thoughtful people.

In conclusion. I agree that appeals to emotion are more powerful tools than arguments or reasoning for promoting products. It is no coincidence that advertising agencies hire professional psychologists, but not logicians. Still, in my view the most influential advertisements mix in a bit of reasoning as well.

 

GMAT ISSUE类作文范文-87

Topic:

As technologies and the demand for certain services change, many workers will lose their jobs. The responsibility for those people to adjust to such change should belong to the individual worker, not to government or to business.

Instructions:

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations or reading.

Sample Essay

As technology and changing social needs render more and more jobs obsolete, who is responsible for helping displaced workers adjust? While individuals have primary responsibility for learning new skills and finding work, both industry and government have some obligation to provide them the means of doing so.

I agree that individuals must assume primary responsibility for adjusting to job obsolescence, especially since our educational system has been preparing us for it. For decades, our schools have been counseling young people to expect and prepare for numerous major career changes during their lives. And concerned educators have recognized and responded to this eventuality with a broader base of practical and theoretical coursework that affords students the flexibility to move from one career to another.

However, industry should bear some of the responsibility as well. It is industry, after all, that determines the particular directions technological progress and subsequent social change will take. And since industry is mainly responsible for worker displacement, it has a duty to help displaced workers adjust—through such means as on-site training programs and stipends for further education.

Government should also assume some of the responsibility, since it is partly government money that fuels technological progress in industry. Moreover, government should help because it can help—for example, by ensuring that grants and federally insured student loans are available to those who must retool in order to find new work. Government can also help by observing and recording trends in worker displacement and in job opportunities, and by providing this information to individuals so that they can make prudent decisions about their own further education and job searches.

In conclusion, while individuals should be prepared for future job changes, both government and industry shoulder obligations to provide training programs, funding and information that will help displaced workers successfully retool and find new employment.

 

GMAT ISSUE类作文范文-88

Topic:

Each generation must accept blame not only for the hateful works and actions of some of its members but also for the failure of other members to speak out against those words and actions.

Instructions:

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Sample Essay

The issue at hand is whether each generation is blameworthy for the hateful words and actions o' some of its members, and for the failure of others to denounce those hateful words and actions, in my view, it does not make clear sense to hold a vague abstraction like a generation responsible for anything. Nevertheless, each person has a duty to resist hateful words and actions, and to speak out against them.

Admittedly, up to a point we have no legal obligation to resist hateful words. Given our First Amendment right of free speech, we are entitled to say whatever hateful things we wish, as long as our words do not harass, slander, libel, incite to riot, or otherwise cause significant harm. Even so, this legal entitlement does not absolve us of deeper moral duties. For example, all persons are morally bound not to harm others, and to se helpful where it is important and within our capacity. The rhetoric of hate violates both these duties by promoting attitudes and social climates in which those who are hated are refused help and often harmed.

Not so clear is the issue of whether we also have a moral duty to denounce the hateful rhetoric and conduct of others. I believe we do, for silence is perceived as tacit approval or at least indifference. Seen this way, silence helps foster hateful attitudes and related harm. In other words, not speaking out is just another way to fail in our obligations to be helpful and not harmful. Moreover, as individuals we are able to speak cut against hateful words and actions, in a variety of ways. By teaching tolerance to our children, for example, we can help them understand and appreciate differences among people, and therefore understand that hate-based responses to difference are simply wrong.

In sum, while it makes no sense to hold a generation responsible for anything as a group, I agree that every individual bears responsibility for speaking out against hateful words and behavior, as well as for resisting them.

 

GMAT ISSUE类作文范文-89

Topic:

The study of history is largely a waste of time because it prevents us from focusing on the challenges of the present.

Instructions:

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations or reading.

Sample Essay

The speaker suggests that studying history is a waste of time because it distracts us from current challenges. Posed this way, the question carries the assumption that the study of history has no bearing on present problems or their possible solutions. On the contrary, history can provide examples, perspectives and insights that are directly relevant to contemporary challenges.

One way that studying history can help us face new challenges is by showing us inspirational examples of success. For instance, we can learn from the experience of the great inventor Thomas Edison that sometimes a series of apparent failures is really a precursor to success. Also consider the journey of Lewis and Clark into the Northwest Territory. Understanding the motivations needed to overcome adversities they faced can help to inspire modern-day explorers and scientists.

Studying history can also help us avoid repeating mistakes. For instance, we can learn from the failure of Prohibition during the 1930s that it can be a mistake to legislate morality. And future generations might learn from the 1997 indictment of the tobacco industry that it is bad policy to trade off the well-being of consumers in order to secure profits.

Finally, the study of history is important because we cannot fully appreciate our present challenges without understanding their historical antecedents. Consider the issue of whether California should be officially bilingual. The treaty that transferred California from Mexico to the United States stipulated that California must embrace both Spanish and English as official languages. Those who view the current bilingual debate as purely a contemporary issue might bring to the debate a more enlightened viewpoint by appreciating this historical fact and the events that led to the treaty.

In sum, though the past might seem distant, it is far from irrelevant. Studying history can inspire us to achievement, help us avoid costly mistakes, and help us simply appreciate that in most cases we've been down this road before.

 

GMAT ISSUE类作文范文-90

Topic:

People often complain that products are not made to last. They feel that making products that wear out fairly quickly wastes both natural and human resources. What they fail to see, however, is that such manufacturing practices keep costs down for the consumer and stimulate demand.

Instructions:

Which do you find more compelling : the complaint about products that do not last or the response to it? Explain your position using relevant reasons and/or examples drawn from your own experience, observations or reading.

Sample Essay

This topic raises the issue of whether, on balance, consumers are damaged or benefited by quality-cutting production methods. Indisputably, many consumer products today are not made to last. Nevertheless, consumers themselves sanction this practice, and they are its ultimate beneficiaries -- in terms of lower prices, more choices, and a stronger economy.

Common sense tells us that sacrificing quality results in a net benefit to consumers and to the overall economy. Cutting production corners not only allows a business to reduce a product's retail price, it compels the business to do so, since its competitors will find innovative ways of capturing its market share otherwise. Lower prices stimulate sales, which in turn generate healthy economic activity. Observation also strongly supports this claim. One need only look at successful budget retail stores such as Walmart as evidence that many—and perhaps most—consumers indeed tend to value price over quality.

Do low-quality products waste natural resources? On balance, probably not. Admittedly, to the extent that a product wears out sooner, more materials are needed for replacement units. Yet cheaper materials are often synthetics, which conserve natural resources, as in the case of synthetic clothing, dyes and inks, and wood substitutes and composites. Moreover, many synthetics and composites are now actually safer and more durable than their natural counterparts—especially in the area of construction materials.

Do lower-quality products waste human resources? If by "waste" we mean "use up unnecessarily," the answer is no. Many lower-quality products are machine-made ones that conserve, not waste, human labor—for example, machine-stitched or dyed clothing and machine-tooled furniture. Moreover, other machine-made products are actually higher in quality than their man-made counterparts, such as those requiring a precision and consistency that only machines can provide. Finally, many cheaply made products are manufactured and assembled by the lower-cost Asian and Central American labor force — a legion for whom the alternative is unemployment and poverty. In these cases, producing lower-quality products does not "waste" human resources; to the contrary, it creates productive jobs.

In the final analysis, cost-cutting production methods benefit consumers, both in the short-term through lower prices and in the long run by way of economic vitality and increased competition. The claim that producing low-quality products wastes natural and human resources is specious at best.

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