III. Read the text and say who made America great.

One can buy anything in America, but it takes a great deal of mastery to sell anything there. Millions of people are engaged in promoting products (goods and services). There are millions of methods to do it. The most primitive one is to deliver goods to a shop and then wait until it is sold out. In this case the main task is to get people into the shop and make them interested in what you offer.

To attract customers, some shops organize regular sales at discount prices. This does not mean that the goods sold at a discount are of an inferior quality.

Several years in a row, taking my 20-minute lunch break, I have seen free of charge distribution of goods from cigarettes to popcorn, crackers or candies. These were samples of new goods which the producer companies wanted the customers to get acquainted with. This is one type of advertising.

Another type is showing a product in action. Once we got a call from a company selling vacuum cleaners with a suggestion that we have a look at their new model. We agreed to see it and in the evening of the same day a woman came to our place and cleaned half the house. We liked the vacuum cleaner.

Another way of advertising is the distribution of gifts. From time to time you are mailed strange notices: "Congratulations. You have wonone of the following prizes.^’’ Then comes a list of prizes which may include a car, a million dollars, a TV set, a camera, etc. To find out what exactly the prize is and to get it, you have to call the enclosed number: most of the mоnеу spent on the intercity сall goes to the organizers of the whole thing. You may spend $10 or more. Some of my friends called the magic number only to know they had won a оne-dollar piece out of the list. This business has nothing to do with advertising or selling it is simply a trap for the gullible.

Other gift notices are mоrе serious. Often I get invitations to visit car salons. My time to get there and to test-drive anew car is compensated by a gift, such as a portable radio, a beauty set, a turner's kit, etc.

Selling by catalogue is very popular. Every day you are mailed several catalogues. The most popular of them come in the form of colorful big booklets containing pictures of goods_, their regular price, the price in the shop belonging to the firm, and the price of selling by mail. Big companies may also offer you credit on goods they sell.

The art of selling is for the persistent. Without persistent sellers America wouldn't be what it is now.

Commercials, especially television ones, are very expensive and not all companies can afford them. Usually the sellers of similar goods pool their funds to buy one ad. Often producers pay for ads.

Advertising expenditures in the US are comparable to the budgets of some countries. However, it is not for nothing that society undertakes such spending. It helps to move goods more quickly and efficiently. This means that the funds spent on the manufacturing of goods return to circulation more quickly which, in turn, accelerates economic growth.

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