Critical Reasoning

Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft drink had a good chance of commercial success. A sample of consumers was asked to compare the flavor of the new soft drink to that of an established brand without knowing the true identity of either beverage. Overwhelmingly, the consumers preferred the taste of the proposed soft drink to that of the established brand. Clearly, Company X has a good chance of commercial success with its new soft drink. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument above?

"¢ Some of the consumers in the taste test preferred the flavor of the established brand.
"¢ The other soft drink used in the taste test is also manufactured by Company X.
"¢ The new soft drink will cost more than three times as much as any other soft drink on the market.
"¢ Company X has not yet designed a label for the new soft drink.
"¢ The name of the new soft drink is very close to that of the established brand.

[spoiler]OA: Will be posted later. Please discuss each answer choice in detail[/spoiler]

Company X conducted a taste test to determine whether its new soft drink had a good chance of commercial success. A sample of consumers was asked to compare the flavor of the new soft drink to that of an established brand without knowing the true identity of either beverage. Overwhelmingly, the consumers preferred the taste of the proposed soft drink to that of the established brand. Clearly, Company X has a good chance of commercial success with its new soft drink. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument above?

"¢ Some of the consumers in the taste test preferred the flavor of the established brand. - OUT(Some consumers may prefer the established brand but the author never says that all the consumers liked the established brand. therefore this does not weaken.

"¢ The other soft drink used in the taste test is also manufactured by Company X. -OUT (Irrelevant as this does not have any bearing on the success of the new cold drink)

"¢ The new soft drink will cost more than three times as much as any other soft drink on the market. CORRECT - The argument assumes the success of the cold drinks based on the sample of consumers who liked the taste of the proposed one. But when the consumers find the same cold drink sold at a price thrice the price of other cold drinks, they might decide against purchasing the higher priced ones, thus affecting the author's argument.

"¢ Company X has not yet designed a label for the new soft drink. - OUT (the samples of cold drinks given to the consumers when they were being tested, did not bear any identity. Thus label has no role play and the author's conclusion is not weakened.)

"¢ The name of the new soft drink is very close to that of the established brand. OUT- Irrelevant.

IMO C.

"¢ Some of the consumers in the taste test preferred the flavor of the established brand. --> Some could be as few as 2 in 200. So not a concern.

"¢ The other soft drink used in the taste test is also manufactured by Company X. --> irrelevant. Let anybody manufacture it. We are concerned about the taste here.

"¢ The new soft drink will cost more than three times as much as any other soft drink on the market. --> possible weakener. Attacks the assumption that the pricing or any other factor shall not affect consumers.

"¢ Company X has not yet designed a label for the new soft drink. --> irrelevant.

"¢ The name of the new soft drink is very close to that of the established brand. --> At best a strengthener. Consumers may go by the taste and similarity in name and make it a success.

IMO (C).

So facts:
1. Survey was conducted for two drinks one established and one new.
2. New taste was preferred.

Conclusion: Hence, new soft drink will succeed in market.

A. Some of the consumers in the taste test preferred the flavor of the established brand. 'Some' preferred old one, but majority preferred the new one, hence the new drink is better and should have chances of success. Not a weakener. Reject.

B. The other soft drink used in the taste test is also manufactured by Company X. If new is also manufactured by company X we can expect it to meet similar quality standards as the old established one. This may be a strengthener. Definitely will not weaken. Reject.

C. The new soft drink will cost more than three times as much as any other soft drink on the market. Cost is a huge parameter which determines sales of a product, and consumers tend to prefer less costly products. Hence if price increases 3 times the good taste might not be enough for the drink to be a success. CONTENDER.

D. Company X has not yet designed a label for the new soft drink. IF a label is not designed, it will be. No information is given if it will be released without label, thus affecting its sales. Reject.

E. The name of the new soft drink is very close to that of the established brand. This can be a strengthener, if the new drink is trying to utilize the already established success of the older drink, and can be a weakener if its thought that the enhancement of taste will not be reflected if similar names. Anyways its ambiguous. Reject.
[spoiler]
C is the answer.[/spoiler]

IMO C

IMO B
explanation only if my hunch is right

Company X motive: Commercial success with its new soft drink.
IMHO Bdefeats that motive. B'cos with this new drink the company would hamper revenue of established brand.
OA Pls.

IMO B new taste will replace the established taste in the market..as tested on the sample people.So it will be no gain for the company..

coderversion1 wrote:So facts:
1. Survey was conducted for two drinks one established and one new.
2. New taste was preferred.

Conclusion: Hence, new soft drink will succeed in market.

A. Some of the consumers in the taste test preferred the flavor of the established brand. 'Some' preferred old one, but majority preferred the new one, hence the new drink is better and should have chances of success. Not a weakener. Reject.

B. The other soft drink used in the taste test is also manufactured by Company X. If new is also manufactured by company X we can expect it to meet similar quality standards as the old established one. This may be a strengthener. Definitely will not weaken. Reject.

C. The new soft drink will cost more than three times as much as any other soft drink on the market. Cost is a huge parameter which determines sales of a product, and consumers tend to prefer less costly products. Hence if price increases 3 times the good taste might not be enough for the drink to be a success. CONTENDER.

D. Company X has not yet designed a label for the new soft drink. IF a label is not designed, it will be. No information is given if it will be released without label, thus affecting its sales. Reject.

E. The name of the new soft drink is very close to that of the established brand. This can be a strengthener, if the new drink is trying to utilize the already established success of the older drink, and can be a weakener if its thought that the enhancement of taste will not be reflected if similar names. Anyways its ambiguous. Reject.
[spoiler]
C is the answer.[/spoiler]

Hello Codeversion1,
one question in your reasoning for C
Cost is a huge parameter which determines sales of a product, and consumers tend to prefer less costly products.
is italic part is your assumption or in general? Maybe some people prefer to tasty-costly beverage.
What you think?

yah i too go for option c which gives comparison of cost.cost is the prime factor in deciding a product's market future.

M09 wrote: Cost is a huge parameter which determines sales of a product, and consumers tend to prefer less costly products.
is italic part is your assumption or in general? Maybe some people prefer to tasty-costly beverage.
What you think?

Nice point M09, but common understanding says as a product price goes up, sales go down. This far i have been assuming the same for various CR and verbal questions. Overall the general phenomenon is considered right than the rare ones. Also, as u said "may be some people prefer tasty and costly beverage", true but 'some' is not all, success of the drink will be affected by the majority, not a small group.

But i won't be surprised if C is rejected based on this. There might be a point which i am missing out in other choices. but IMO - C is most appropriate.

coderversion1 wrote:

M09 wrote: Cost is a huge parameter which determines sales of a product, and consumers tend to prefer less costly products.
is italic part is your assumption or in general? Maybe some people prefer to tasty-costly beverage.
What you think?

Nice point M09, but common understanding says as a product price goes up, sales go down. This far i have been assuming the same for various CR and verbal questions. Overall the general phenomenon is considered right than the rare ones. Also, as u said "may be some people prefer tasty and costly beverage", true but 'some' is not all, success of the drink will be affected by the majority, not a small group.

But i won't be surprised if C is rejected based on this. There might be a point which i am missing out in other choices. but IMO - C is most appropriate.

I understand your point.Thanks!
See what I meant was the argument does a generalization that based on a sample(group of people say 100) and concludes that if people like the taste ->(hence) commercial success.What if 1000 people like to spend more money.
Anyway, I would request aspirant2011 to quote the source and an expert to comment one this Q

Hi All,

OA given is C............I was between C and E but went for E because I thought costs in C is out of scope and nothing is mentioned about the cost part and moreover, if the names of both the products are same then it can create a confusion in the buyer's mind and he doesn't get new product.

Above as few of you mentioned that E is ambiguous, I now realise where I went wrong ......

Thanks to you guys

I would go for B.
Since both the products belong to same company and for SURE, one product is going to expand at the EXPENSE of other so the company is cannibalising its own product and so the EXPECTED success wont be as much.

Cheers
Ami/-

aspirant2011 wrote:Hi All,

OA given is C............I was between C and E but went for E because I thought costs in C is out of scope and nothing is mentioned about the cost part and moreover, if the names of both the products are same then it can create a confusion in the buyer's mind and he doesn't get new product.

Above as few of you mentioned that E is ambiguous, I now realise where I went wrong ......

Thanks to you guys

Bandying the "out of scope" label about is dangerous, as introducing a new issue/alternative explanation is a common practice in weakening questions, particularly for causal arguments such as the one above. If the premises introduce a phenomenon, and the conclusion is that the phenomenon will directly lead to a certain result, the author is assuming that there is no other cause for the result OTHER than the phenomenon - an assumption that is actually weakened by introducing an alternative cause / explanation of the result.

The argument's premise is that the taste test was successful - people like the taste of the new product better than an established brand.

The conclusion is that the new brand will be a commercial success.

We are asked to weaken this, so we need to think of ways why this is NOT true - why would the brand fail commercially, despite the fact that it tastes better?

The assumption behind the conclusion is that taste ALONE is a guarantee for commercial success - in other words, that no factors other than taste determine the product's commercial success. In order to weaken this assumption, the answer choice needs to point out another factor not considered in the argument - in other words, the answer choice MUST deal with something that seems "out of scope". Answer choice C above does just that - it says that while the taste is indeed a good selling point, the new beverage falls short in another factor for commercial success - it is much more expensive than its competition. If C is true, then the product's chances of becoming a commercial success are much reduced, its taste advantage notwithstanding.