Social observer: Advertising agencies

Answer choices

1. A

   Unrelated to Goal5% picked this

   Older people generally have larger incomes and have had longer to accumulate resources

   This doesn't have any language about "maximizing clients' profits", so it is functionally useless to us.

   5%
2. B

   Illegal Reversal / Opposite21% picked this

   No company can maximize its profits unless it markets its products primarily to a population segment that controls most of

   This says: max out profits → market mainly to [older people] But our conclusion is saying market mainly to [older people] → max out profits Unless = if it is not the case that. So one way to diagram this is, not marketing to won't population segment → maximize that controls most profits disposable income Our conclusion is the Opposite of that --- do market to will population segment → maximize that controls most profits disposable income (i.e. older people)

   21%
3. C

   Trap2% picked this

   Advertising that is directed toward the wealthiest people is the most effective means for a business to improve

   Unrelated to Goal Out of Scope = reputation This doesn't have any language about "maximizing clients' profits", so it is functionally useless to us. Also, the correct answer to Sufficient Assumption will not bring up any new ideas, such as "enhancing the reputation of products".

   2%
4. D

   Illegal Opposite17% picked this

   No advertising agency that tailors its advertisements mainly to an audience that does not control much of this nation’s personal disposable income

   This, like (B), is giving us an opposite/reversed version of the conclusion. It's saying: tailor ads mainly to segment of pop won't maximize that doesn't control → clients' profits much disposable income(i.e. not older adults) Meanwhile, this argument is saying, tailor ads mainly to segment of pop will maximize that does control → clients' profits much disposable income.(i.e. older adults)

   17%
5. E

   Correct55% picked this

   Any advertising agency that gears its advertisements mainly to a population segment that controls 50 percent or more of this nation’s personal disposable

   Why this is right

   We know that "older people" are a population segment that controls more than 50% of the nation's personal disposable income. There is another modern question (a Principle question about completing the space agency's current project, since the money we'd still have to spend on it is more than the money we've already spent) that uses this same mathematical rephrasing: if one chunk is bigger than the rest combined, then that first chunk is more than 1/2. Since older people control more than everyone else combined, they have more than half the disposable income. Pick any number for older people, make sure it's more than the combined total for non-older people, and you'll see why it's always more than half. Older people: 10 billion not older people: 9 billion nation's total: 19 billion (older people > 1/2) So since we know that this language of "pop segment that controls 50% or more" applies to "older people", this rule allows us to say that, If an ad agency gears its ads mainly to [older people], then it will maximize its clients' profits. Thus, we've derived the conclusion.

   Skill tested: Sufficient Assumption · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   55%