Reading Comprehension

i can someone help me out, this is a really tough question for me.

It can be argued that much consumer dissatisfaction with marketing strategies arises from an inability to aim advertising at only the likely buyers of a given product.
There are three groups of consumers who are affected by the marketing process. First, there is the market segment—people who need the commodity in question. Second, there is the program target—people in the market segment with the “best fit” characteristics for a specific product. Lots of people may need trousers, but only a few qualify as likely buyers of very expensive designer trousers. Finally, there is the program audience―all people who are actually exposed to the marketing program without regard to whether they need or want the product.
These three groups are rarely identical. An exception occurs occasionally in cases where customers for a particular industrial product may be few and easily identifiable. Such customers, all sharing a particular need, are likely to form a meaningful target, for example, all companies with a particular application of the product in question, such as high-speed fillers of bottles at breweries. In such circumstances, direct selling (marketing that reaches only the program target) is likely to be economically justified, and highly specialized trade media exist to expose members of the program target—and only members of the program target—to the marketing program.
Most consumer-goods markets are significantly different. Typically, there are many rather than few potential customers. Each represents a relatively small percentage of potential sales. Rarely do members of a particular market segment group themselves neatly into a meaningful program target. There are substantial differences among consumers with similar demographic characteristics. Even with all the past decade’s advances in information technology, direct selling of consumer goods is rare, and mass marketing—a marketing approach that aims at a wide audience—remains the only economically feasible mode. Unfortunately, there are few media that allow the marketer (one that deals in a market; specifically: one that promotes or sells a product or service) to direct a marketing program exclusively to the program target. Inevitably, people get exposed to a great deal of marketing for products in which they have no interest and so they become annoyed.

8. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is true for most consumer-goods markets?
(A) The program audience is smaller than the market segment.
(B) The program audience and the market segment are usually identical.
(C) The market segment and the program target are usually identical.
(D) The program target is larger than the market segment
(E) The program target and the program audience are not usually identical

Is it D

it's actually E but i dont know why

Though I got it wrong, I will try to explain. I might be wrong.

Lets focus on third para for this question.

Most consumer-goods markets are significantly different. Typically, there are many rather than few potential customers. Each represents a relatively small percentage of potential sales. Rarely do members of a particular market segment group themselves neatly into a meaningful program target.There are substantial differences among consumers with similar demographic characteristics. Even with all the past decade’s advances in information technology, direct selling of consumer goods is rare, and mass marketing—a marketing approach that aims at a wide audience—remains the only economically feasible mode. Unfortunately, there are few media that allow the marketer (one that deals in a market; specifically: one that promotes or sells a product or service) to direct a marketing program exclusively to the program target. Inevitably, people get exposed to a great deal of marketing for products in which they have no interest and so they become annoyed.


See bold part says that Program Target is not defined.

A- See last 3 lines- Wrong
B- Not defined- Each represents a relatively small percentage of potential sales.
C- Same as B
D- Not defined.
E- Most consumer-goods markets are significantly different. Typically, there are many rather than few potential customers. Each represents a relatively small percentage of potential sales.

I agree that it's E.

Here's my take. Organize the 3 groups by hierarchy and then look at the question:

From largest to smallest: program audience > market segment > program target.

As a marketer, you ideally want to focus only on the last group, the program target, the most likely buyers.

To back this up, I quote from the article:

Rarely do members of a particular market segment group themselves neatly into a meaningful program target.

And:

Unfortunately, there are few media that allow the marketer (one that deals in a market; specifically: one that promotes or sells a product or service) to direct a marketing program exclusively to the program target.

So, that reiterates the point that it's best to aim for the program target.

The final point is that people get annoyed because they receive unsolicitied marketing. This means that these people are not part of the program target and the marketer missed its mark - the marketer did not send the product info to the right people. What can you infer from this?

That the program audience and program target are not identical. If they were, then the entire audience would be the "best fit" consumers and the marketer would have reached everyone it wanted to.

None of the other choices reflect this.

A: Audience < Market Segment. This contradicts the hierarchy established earlier by the article.

B: Audience = Segment. This is not necessarily true.

C: Segment = Program Target. This contradicts what's stated in the article.

D: Target > Segment. Contradicts hierarchy.

hope it helped

Go for E.

At the begenning of the third para. the author clearly shows that the 3 types are not usually identical, so we can rule out B and C. As for A and D, no such comparison stated in the passage, out of scope. We can get E from the content.

that was a beautiful explanation pras k, i doubt i would get that on test day or think that quickly lol