An appeal has been made by the managers of a department store to its marketing director, citing a need for a marketing approach that instead of focusing on increasing brand awareness, will advertise particular products and services offered by various departments separately. The director responded by stating that almost all industry professionals firmly believe that brand awareness is directly linked to the increase in sales experienced by department stores. Even if the effect of brand awareness and separate department advertisements have the same influence on the sales performance of the store, the company should remain with a brand awareness strategy since because advertising costs are calculated per portion of media, brand awareness strategies are cheaper than departmental advertisements.
In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

A) The first is evidence offered in support of the argument's position; the second is additional data presented as the basis for an explanation of that position.
B) The first is support for an objection that has been raised against the position taken by the argument; the second is data that has been presented to further contradict that position.
C) The first is a judgment that has been presented in support of an objection; the second is data supporting an explanation that contradicts that objection.
D) The first is a point of view expressed to offer support to the argument's position; the second is evidence that calls that position into question.
E) The first is a judgment presented in support of the argument's conclusion; the second is factual information justifying the preference expressed in that conclusion.


OA E

Source: Economist Gmat