Critical Reasoning

Executives at the Fizzles Beverage Company plan to boost profits in Country X on their range of fruit-flavored drinks by introducing new flavors based on tropical fruits that are little known there. The executives reason that since the fruit drinks of other companies have none of these flavors, Fizzles will not have to compete for customers and thus will be able to sell the drinks at a higher price.

Which of the following, if true, presents the most serious potential weakness of the plan?

A. The new fruit drinks would be priced significantly higher than other Fizzles fruit drinks with more conventional flavors.
B. In a telephone survey, at least one of the consumers contacted said that they preferred many of the new flavors to all of the more familiar flavors.
C. To build widespread demand for the new flavors, Fizzles would have to launch an advertising campaign to familiarize consumers with them.
D. Consumers choosing among fruit-flavored drinks of different brands generally buy on the basis of name recognition and price rather than the specific fruit flavor.
E. Few consumers who are loyal to a specific brand of fruit-flavored drinks would willingly switch to another brand that costs more.

D

Source: Official Guide 2020