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ad agency

by satishchandra » Tue Dec 27, 2011 1:49 am
If the ad agency that created the television ad for Tough-As-Nails Tools had thoroughly researched customer demographics, then they would have realized that the majority of frequent tool users are men. Yet the ad was shown during a cooking program targeted to women. However, if the advertisers had not researched customer demographics, then the ad would not have incorporated images depicting the use of tools in home improvement projects as an activity that men enjoy. Yet the ad did so. Therefore the ad agency made some sort of mistake: either the agency did not understand the demographics of the cooking program's audience or the ad was intended to be shown during a different program.

Which one of the following statements, if true, would most weaken the argument above?

(A) The purchasers of products given as gifts are not the ultimate users of those products.
(B) Many women, including those who watch cooking programs, occasionally use tools for home improvement projects.
(C) The ad agency had never previously aired an ad during a program other than the one intended.
(D) Some men, including some who use tools frequently, occasionally watch cooking programs.
(E) The ad agency has a reputation for conducting high quality demographic research.

[spoiler]OA:A[/spoiler]

I think D ALSO weakens the conclusion/argument.
I had troubles in choosing between A and D
Last edited by satishchandra on Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by hoji » Tue Dec 27, 2011 3:01 am
pay attention to the following

premises:

-> the ads are shown during the program which is targeted to women;
-> the ads says that the tools are favored by man;

conclusion:
the author states that the agency made a mistake, showing the ad during the program designed for women

our task:
to weaken the author's argument, by doing so, we support the agency namely that it did't commit mistake, but did so(showed the ad in the lady program) intentionally;

A follows the suit:
the ad is directed to woman who in turn make gifts for men
and D, what is the benefit of showing ad to somebody who occasionally watches it?
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by satishchandra » Tue Dec 27, 2011 8:44 pm
hoji wrote: the ad is directed to woman who in turn make gifts for men
I think the above sentense is your assumption. I can ALSO assume that No one is in mood of buying any gifts at present.
What is the benefit of showing the add to someone who is not interested to buy a gift at all?
hoji wrote:and D, what is the benefit of showing ad to somebody who occasionally watches it?
In this case, there a little proof that THERE ARE MEN(can be a few) WHO USE TOOLS FREQUENTLY WATCH THE COOCKING PROGRAM AND MIGHT ACTUALLY GO FOR BUYING.

"some men" and "Occationally" are the words that pull 'D' from becoming the best choice. However, I would NOT accept 'A' as the IDEAL choice here.
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by lunarpower » Mon Jan 16, 2012 2:22 am
i received a private message about this thread.

choice (d) does not weaken the argument. in fact, that choice is a very common type of ineffective argument: specifically, saying that there are some exceptions to a generalization doesn't really weaken the generalization, unless the argument actually relies on the idea that the generalization is true for absolutely everyone.

for instance,
young people tend to be involved in more automobile accidents than older people. therefore, auto insurance premiums should be higher for younger people than for older people.
you CANNOT argue against this argument by pointing out that "some younger people" or "many younger people" are responsible drivers who don't get in accidents; the existence of such people doesn't negate the validity of the general observation.
the same is true for choice (d) here. if the audience for a show consists largely of women, then the presence of some token number of men in the audience doesn't negate the general fact that the audience is predominantly female.

choice (a), on the other hand, does act to weaken the argument -- because it calls into question the association between the viewer of the commercial and the end user of the product being advertised. the argument depends on the notion that these are the same person; by invoking the possibility that they might not be the same person, choice (a) weakens the argument.
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by pemdas » Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:47 pm
Ron, to weaken the conclusion here we need to prove that the agency did understand demographics of the cooking program's audience or the ad was not intended to be shown during a different program.

Choice A) seems totally unrelated to our argument, as the present claim which is brought tells us about demographics of the program and the intended show of add on selected program

The argument's claim and answer choice A) do experience a huge gap between each other
don't you find this weird, is it GMAT question at all? I don't remember seeing such a pattern even in LSAT log/r section.
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by satishchandra » Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:00 pm
lunarpower wrote: for instance,
young people tend to be involved in more automobile accidents than older people. therefore, auto insurance premiums should be higher for younger people than for older people.
you CANNOT argue against this argument by pointing out that "some younger people" or "many younger people" are responsible drivers who don't get in accidents; the existence of such people doesn't negate the validity of the general observation.
If we use "some younger people, it might not weaken the generalisation much. I agree.
But,
1)Many younger younger people are responsible drivers who don't get in accidents
2)Most younger people" are responsible drivers who don't get in accidents
Can you explain why these above two sentences dont weaken the claim?
I think these two statements call the data taken into consideration into question.
pemdas wrote:The argument's claim and answer choice A) do experience a huge gap between each other
Hi pemdas,
Ron's explanation given under seems to explain about how 'A' attacks the conclusion directly.
lunarpower wrote: because it calls into question the association between the viewer of the commercial and the end user of the product being advertised.
The conclusion of the argument is
Therefore the ad agency made some sort of mistake: either the agency did not understand the demographics of the cooking program's audience or the ad was intended to be shown during a different program
If the advertisement is indended for the people who buy gifts, it appears to us that the agency understood the demographics of the cooking program's audience, and the ad was intended to be shown during a same cooking program

However, what bothers me most about this option is that there has to be a strong assumption for this option to be valid.
The assumption is: THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO BUYS GIFTS
OR
WOMEN WHO WATCH COOKING PROGRAMS BUY GIFTS FOR MEN WHO USE tough as nails TOOLS
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by tanviet » Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:41 pm
I miss this question.

I want to discuss this one carefully. Pls, experts, members, help.

though I understand the explantion immediately, I miss this question. This case happens to me frequently.

After reading argument and identify its conclusion and evidence. I anticipate the assumption that maybe there is another cause for the incorrect time of the ad.

if I anticipate the assumption that incorrect time means error and the weakener that the incorrect time means no error, I can realize A when going to answer choices.

So, the key for success here is the prediction.

If my prediction is good, I can realize the trap answers such as B and D and the correct answer.

My problem and question is how should we make prediction.

for assumption based questions, some experts advise us to anticipate an assumption before going to answer choices. Other experts advise us to anticipate the answer before going to answer choices. Even some experts advise us to anticipate 2-3 assumptions. We should anticipate the assumption even if the asssumption we found dose not coincide with the assumption on which the weakener/strengthener is based.

What should I do, anticipate assumption or the answer? pls, comment.

who can state the goal correctly will realize the correct answer. How do we do this process.

in all the question I miss, I can not anticipate the assumption/answer before going to answer choice and so I choose the trap answer. In all the questions I miss I can understand the explanation.

but, understanding why a trap answer is wrong is different from realizing the trap answer when comparing the answer choices. we can realize the trap answer and correct answer when our anticipation/prediction is good.

I think the the process of anticipation/prediction of assumption/answer is what gmat test us and I want expert, member explain more of this process.

We should not focus on the explanation of the answer choices. Instead, we focus on the prediction/anticipation process.

Is my thinking correct?
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by ArunangsuSahu » Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:52 pm
(A)..Think that women will see and will inform men
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