doubt cr 6

[aditya8062]

Last week, an investigative journalist published an expose in the newspaper, demonstrating that many of the shoes sold in a certain department store were made overseas in sweatshops that are alleged to use child labor. This week, the department store experienced a drop in shoe sales, after twelve weeks of robust sales of shoes. The management team of the department store maintains that the unfavorable article in the newspaper last week had nothing to do with their drop in shoe sales this week.


Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the management team's position?
A.This department store regularly advertises in this particular newspaper, often offering coupons for a variety of products they sell.
B.Stores typically only acknowledge the adverse effect of new on their business if they experience a sudden decline in sales.
C.This was not the first time this journalist published an expose of some of the products sold in this department store.
D.According to customer surveys, the majority of customers who shop regularly at this department store have said that they always buy their shoes there.
E.Other department stores that sell only shoes manufactured in the United States have also reported a decline in shoe sales this week.


my doubt: my concern is with the proclaimed answer E. is not E assuming that "shoes manufactured in the United States" are manufactured by companies that DO NOT use child labor. what if they do so? suppose even companies in US are employing child labor then will it be wrong to conclude that the general sales have come down because of that article making that Expose?

[GMATGuruNY]

Last week, an investigative journalist published an expose in the newspaper, demonstrating that many of the shoes sold in a certain department store were made overseas in sweatshops that are alleged to use child labor. This week, the department store experienced a drop in shoe sales, after twelve weeks of robust sales of shoes. The management team of the department store maintains that the unfavorable article in the newspaper last week had nothing to do with their drop in shoe sales this week.


Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the management team's position?
A.This department store regularly advertises in this particular newspaper, often offering coupons for a variety of products they sell.
B.Stores typically only acknowledge the adverse effect of new on their business if they experience a sudden decline in sales.
C.This was not the first time this journalist published an expose of some of the products sold in this department store.
D.According to customer surveys, the majority of customers who shop regularly at this department store have said that they always buy their shoes there.
E.Other department stores that sell only shoes manufactured in the United States have also reported a decline in shoe sales this week.


my doubt: my concern is with the proclaimed answer E. is not E assuming that "shoes manufactured in the United States" are manufactured by companies that DO NOT use child labor. what if they do so? suppose even companies in US are employing child labor then will it be wrong to conclude that the general sales have come down because of that article making that Expose?

The management team of the department store maintains that the unfavorable article in the newspaper last week had nothing to do with their drop in shoe sales this week.
To support the conclusion of the management team, the correct answer choice must BREAK THE LINK between the NEWSPAPER ARTICLE and the DROP IN SALES at the certain department store.
E: Other department stores that sell only shoes manufactured in the United States have also reported a decline in shoe sales this week.
Here, stores selling shoes NOT DISCUSSED IN THE ARTICLE also suffered a DROP IN SALES, breaking the link between the newspaper article and the drop in sales at the certain department store.
Implication:
There was ANOTHER REASON that both types of stores -- the CERTAIN department store and the OTHER department stores -- suffered a decline in sales.

The correct answer is E.

This CR is modeled after CR19 in the OG13:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/q19-og-13th-cr-t117539.html
Interestingly, you had a similar objection to the OA to CR19.
I suggest that you take a very close look at both CRs to make sure you understand the justification for the OA in each case.

[kutlee]

The given statement is that "overseas in sweatshops that are alleged to use child labor". So the assumption is that shops in USA do not use child labor. We cannot contradict the statement given.

[src_saurav]

I agree with Mitch.The idea here is to break the assumption that other departmental stores also saw similar drop in sales because of the expose.E does that best.