Directions: The short passage below is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.

There are two distinct vantage points from which a piece of work may be evaluated: according to the aesthetics of its medium, or according to its popularity in the market...That these distinctions are rarely made explicit causes no small mischief. As the economy grows more fiercely competitive, commercial evaluation (“Two thumbs up!”) can all but silence aesthetic criticism. Several decades ago, before competition began to intensify, there were arbiters of taste — art critics, reviewers, essayists, educators, and graybeards — within the professions who continually passed judgment on the quality of work being done. They presided over a continuing discussion about standards, which reminded society about the difference between the good and the popular. But in a world of intensifying competition in which consumers can get exactly what they want — where software can even analyse their past purchases and advise them on what else they will enjoy or find interesting — such standard-bearers seem increasingly irrelevant.

What is the theme of the passage?