OG Diagnostics - Q2

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OG Diagnostics - Q2

by sohrabkalra » Thu Oct 13, 2011 1:35 am
A year ago, dietz foods launched a yearlong advertising campaign for canned tune.last year dietz sold 12 million cans of tuna compared to the 10 million sold during the previous year,an increase directly attributable to the new customers brought in by the advertising campaign. Profits from the additional sales, were however substantially less than the cost of the advertising campaign. Clearly , therefore the campaign did nothing to further dietz economic interests

Which of the following if true, most seriously weakens the argument!

A) A less expensive advertising campaign would have brought in significantly fewer new customers for dietz canned tuna than did the campaign it launched lsat year
B) in each of the past 5 years , there was a steep , industry wide decline in sales of canned tuna

OA: B

My doubt is why not the other one ?
Last edited by sohrabkalra on Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by garima99 » Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:15 am
what is the ques stem

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by sohrabkalra » Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:21 am
Edited !

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by badpoem » Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:01 am
Well, the question is not about the expenses incurred or about a duel between an expensive and a less expensive one. The question is about the effectiveness of the campaign itself as suggested by the conclusion: Clearly , therefore the campaign did nothing to further dietz economic interests

Therefore B, by weakening the argument that the decrease in profits was because of an industry wise trend which continued for the past 5 years and NOT because the ad was ineffective, clearly takes the cake.

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by sohrabkalra » Thu Oct 13, 2011 6:14 am
Here is my perspective on this

The author clearly suggests that
1) The sales increased due to the campaign from 10 million cans to 12 million cans
2) The increases revenue however was less than the cost incurred for the campaign

and HENCE concludes

3) the campaign DID NOTHING to FURTHER THE ECONOMIC INTERESTS of the company

Now to weaken this argument , we can either look for an answer that disproves or weakens the conclusion or an answer that tears the logic used to reach that conclusion

A) SHOWS that without the campaign or with any other campaign, the sales would have definitely been lower - HENCE, the campaign contributes to more income from sales
B) SHOWS that the campaign increased sales when THE WHOLE INDUSTRY was facing decline in sales, hence the campaign contributes

So why do we disapprove A and choose B ?