Fashion Executive: Last year, our company had $5 million in revenue, and was featured in 8 major articles in the fashion press. This year, our company's revenue has practically quadrupled, so we should expect to be featured in at least 20 major articles in the fashion press.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the fashion executive's reasoning in the above argument?
A)A competing fashion line was featured more often in the fashion press after its revenues increased.
b)Five years ago, the company's revenue was less than $1 million, and the company was not featured in any major articles in the fashion press.
c)The company's revenue nearly quadrupled because of the introduction of a fashion line geared for sale in the European fashion capital of Milan; however, most of the fashion press is headquartered domestically in New York.
d)A major automaker in the region was the subject of twice as many features in auto industry press when the automaker filed for bankruptcy.
e)The company's revenue increased dramatically because of the introduction of lower-priced lines sold in nationwide discount chains, greatly reducing the brand's cachet among fashion journalists.
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[spoiler]
why the answer is E instead of C?[/spoiler]
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diebeatsthegmat
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This argument attempts to show a causal relationship between revenue and major articles.diebeatsthegmat wrote:Fashion Executive: Last year, our company had $5 million in revenue, and was featured in 8 major articles in the fashion press. This year, our company's revenue has practically quadrupled, so we should expect to be featured in at least 20 major articles in the fashion press.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the fashion executive's reasoning in the above argument?
A)A competing fashion line was featured more often in the fashion press after its revenues increased.
b)Five years ago, the company's revenue was less than $1 million, and the company was not featured in any major articles in the fashion press.
c)The company's revenue nearly quadrupled because of the introduction of a fashion line geared for sale in the European fashion capital of Milan; however, most of the fashion press is headquartered domestically in New York.
d)A major automaker in the region was the subject of twice as many features in auto industry press when the automaker filed for bankruptcy.
e)The company's revenue increased dramatically because of the introduction of lower-priced lines sold in nationwide discount chains, greatly reducing the brand's cachet among fashion journalists.
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[spoiler]
why the answer is E instead of C?[/spoiler]
C is a pretty good answer, except we don't know what happened last year. Perhaps last year's fashion line was also introduced in Milan. If both fashion lines were introduced in Milan then we might expect a commensurate number of major articles.
E suggests that last year the company had great cachet among fashion journalists,and this resulted in 8 major articles. Now that the company is selling to discount stores, the company's cachet is reduced and this will result in fewer major articles.
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
