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cigarette smokers

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by gmatmachoman » Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:07 am
Surveys show that every year only 10 percent of cigarette smokers switch brands. Yet the
manufacturers have been spending an amount equal to 10 percent of their gross receipts on
cigarette promotion in magazines. It follows from these figures that inducing cigarette smokers to
switch brands did not pay, and that cigarette companies would have been no worse off
economically if they had dropped their advertising.

19. Of the following, the best criticism of the conclusion that inducing cigarette smokers to switch
brands did not pay is that the conclusion is based on
(A) computing advertising costs as a percentage of gross receipts, not of overall costs
(B) past patterns of smoking and may not carry over to the future
(C) the assumption that each smoker is loyal to a single brand of cigarettes at any one time
(D) the assumption that each manufacturer produces only one brand of cigarettes
(E) figures for the cigarette industry as a whole and may not hold for a particular company


20. Which of the following, if true, most serinously weakens the conclusion that cigarette
companies could have dropped advertising without suffering economically?
(A) Cigarette advertisements provide a major proportion of total advertising revenue for
numerous magazines.
(B) Cigarette promotion serves to attract first-time smokers to replace those people who have
stopped smoking.
(C) There exists no research conclusively demonstrating that increases in cigarette advertising
are related to increases in smoking.
(D) Advertising is so firmly established as a major business activity of cigarette manufacturers
that they would be unlikely to drop it.
(E) Brand loyalty is typically not very strong among those who smoke inexpensive cigarettes


OA after explanation!! :D
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by mehravikas » Mon Aug 24, 2009 12:40 pm
19. IMO - C (Not too sure on this one).

But I think option is a valid criticism because the argument concludes that inducing smokers to switch brands did not pay off. So the argument assumes that each smoker sticks to only one brand of a cigarette at one time.

20. IMO - B

Option B clearly weakens the argument because it points out that advertising is just for not smokers, advertising targets first time smokers.
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by pandeyvineet24 » Mon Aug 24, 2009 3:16 pm
19) D
20) B
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by arorag » Mon Aug 24, 2009 3:52 pm
i WILL GO WITH FOR bOTH B
B and B
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by ssbhowmick » Mon Aug 24, 2009 5:53 pm
I would go for

E -

and

B
Peace
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by arorag » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:14 pm
ssbhowmick wrote:I would go for

E -

and

B
SSbhowmick---What is reason for you selection of 1st questions
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Re: cigarette smokers

by umaa » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:47 pm
gmatmachoman wrote:Surveys show that every year only 10 percent of cigarette smokers switch brands. Yet the
manufacturers have been spending an amount equal to 10 percent of their gross receipts on
cigarette promotion in magazines. It follows from these figures that inducing cigarette smokers to
switch brands did not pay, and that cigarette companies would have been no worse off
economically if they had dropped their advertising.

19. Of the following, the best criticism of the conclusion that inducing cigarette smokers to switch
brands did not pay is that the conclusion is based on
(A) computing advertising costs as a percentage of gross receipts, not of overall costs
(B) past patterns of smoking and may not carry over to the future
(C) the assumption that each smoker is loyal to a single brand of cigarettes at any one time
(D) the assumption that each manufacturer produces only one brand of cigarettes
(E) figures for the cigarette industry as a whole and may not hold for a particular company


20. Which of the following, if true, most serinously weakens the conclusion that cigarette
companies could have dropped advertising without suffering economically?
(A) Cigarette advertisements provide a major proportion of total advertising revenue for
numerous magazines.
(B) Cigarette promotion serves to attract first-time smokers to replace those people who have
stopped smoking.
(C) There exists no research conclusively demonstrating that increases in cigarette advertising
are related to increases in smoking.
(D) Advertising is so firmly established as a major business activity of cigarette manufacturers
that they would be unlikely to drop it.
(E) Brand loyalty is typically not very strong among those who smoke inexpensive cigarettes


OA after explanation!! :D
First question: IMO C

If each smoker is loyal to a single brand of cigarettes at any one time and only 10% of them are switching companies, then the cigarette smokers switch brand didn't pay.

2nd question: IMO B.
What we think, we become
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by stayingcalm » Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:50 pm
i think C and B
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by gmatmachoman » Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:55 am
OA
19 : E
20 : B

I know 19 C was tempting..even I too did the same mistake...
If someone can post Explanation for 19 ,it will be great..
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by mehravikas » Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:06 pm
E makes more sense now (after knowing the OA :-) )

IMO -

The argument says that advertising costs are up to 10% yet only 10% of the smokers switch brands. The 10% figure is taken for a cigarette industry as a whole but for individual companies this figure could not be the same.

For example, for brand A only 1% of the smokers might have switched but for company B it could 20%.

gmatmachoman wrote:OA
19 : E
20 : B

I know 19 C was tempting..even I too did the same mistake...
If someone can post Explanation for 19 ,it will be great..
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by gmatmachoman » Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:53 pm
From the above results for 19, i could understand the "mindset" of the aspirants.
We all felt 19 C wuld be a greater option instead of E but E turned out to be the OA.
And same scenario exists for us in GMAT exam also.Now I realised y its very tuf to cross 43+ in Verbal..
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by kris77 » Sun May 15, 2016 3:43 pm
Cannot decide between E and B. Can anyone brake down these two choices for me please
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