Passage Summary: Ebsen sent out a small batch of diverse ads and spent a lot of money checking the results, leading the author to believe this was a trial run rather than a full-scale blitz.

Conclusion: The purpose of Ebsen's recent campaign advertisements was to test how well those ads could sway public opinion.

Reasoning: The ads reached too few people to be a standard influence campaign, covered many topics, and were followed by expensive research to measure their impact.

Analysis: The word 'evidently' is a major clue here, signaling the author's inference. The first two sentences set the stage by ruling out the 'normal' purpose of campaign ads, while the final sentences provide the evidence for the 'testing' theory. Focus on the claim that is being supported by all these observations—the idea that the ads were a pilot study.