MamtaKrishnia wrote:
vdhawan1 wrote:
i think E is the correct answer on this one
because it might be possible that the figures ( as in our example) for one company might not reflect the status of the industry
vdhawan1,
The argument says
'manufacturers have been spending' . This means the industry in general not one company.
Also what option E states is
figures for the cigarette industry as a whole and may not hold for a particular companyWhich means the concepts that apply to the whole may not always apply to the parts.
This is what confused me too. Because the other way around it makes sense.
In any case OA is E.
But i still understand why
Let me try and explain this to you.
Surveys show that every year only 10 percent of cigarette smokers switch brands. Yet the manufacturers have been spending an amount equal to 10 percent of their gross receipts on cigarette promotion in magazines. It follows from these figures that inducing cigarette smokers to switch brands did not pay, and that cigarette companies would have been no worse off economically if they had dropped their advertising.
Of the following, the best criticism of the conclusion that inducing cigarette smokers to switch brands did not pay is that the conclusion is based on
(A) computing advertising costs as a percentage of gross receipts, not of overall costs
(B) past patterns of smoking and may not carry over to the future
(C) the assumption that each smoker is loyal to a single brand of cigarettes at any one time
(D) the assumption that each manufacturer produces only one brand of cigarettes
(E) figures for the cigarette industry as a whole and may not hold for a particular company
Break this down.
Conclusion : Inducing cigarette smokers to switch brands did not pay dividends.
Evidence 1 : Surveys show that every year only 10 percent of cigarette smokers switch brands.
Evidence 2 : Cigarette companies would have been no worse off economically if they had dropped their advertising.
What really links the evidence to the conclusion?
1. That the surveys are accurate and that they can be generalised.
2. The companies sales are dependent on the survey(no matter what the company does).
What can turn this around??
Option 1 : Surveys are not accurate
Option 2: Companies sales are not dependent on the survey and they can influence customers to change brands by different strategies.
Option 1 is not there in the answer choices
Option 2 is what E talks about...hence E.
C was close (if 'at any one time' was not present in the answer choice), what it does is weakens what the survey tries to prove, and thus strengthens option 1.