PrepTest 111, Section 1, Question 25
A company that produces men's cologne had been(49 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(16 more words not shown)
- ATelevision advertising reaches(20 more words not shown)
- BThe general-circulation magazines(15 more words not shown)
- CMost men do(7 more words not shown)
- DWomen often buy(8 more words not shown)
- ESuccessful advertisements for(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The person who wears the cologne isn't necessarily the person who buys it.
Advertising men's cologne to men sounds reasonable at first. But what if a woman is choosing a bottle as a gift for her partner? The man will use it, while the advertisement needs to reach the person making the purchase. Moving all the ads into magazines read mostly by men could miss some of those buyers.
I'd also wonder whether a sports magazine is the right setting. A reader focused on a game might not be thinking about buying cologne. That's another possible concern about the new strategy, though we don't yet have evidence that it caused the drop.
What we’re looking for
The question asks why sales fell after the change in advertising. I'd look for something showing that the apparently better target audience left out important customers. We need to explain the change from the earlier years, not just explain why some people never buy cologne.
Working the answers
- A
The company didn't use television advertising before or after the switch. Its greater reach could be a reason to consider a different campaign, but it doesn't explain why moving from general magazines to sports magazines reduced sales. An unused option is not the change we need to explain.
- B
This suggests the company missed an opportunity to reach a growing general readership. But missing potential growth isn't the same as explaining a decline from its own earlier sales. B doesn't show why the readers reached under the new strategy were less likely to buy. The timing and size of circulation alone leave the relevant purchasing difference unstated.
- C
That could help explain why selling cologne to men has limits. It doesn't identify a new condition in the year sales fell. Most men could have worn cologne infrequently during the earlier, more successful years too. We need a reason the advertising switch made a difference.
- DCorrect
Women are an important potential buying audience even though the product is for men. If women often buy it as gifts, advertising exclusively in predominantly male sports magazines can reduce the campaign's reach among people who actually purchase cologne.
That connects the strategy change to the sales decline. The company focused on who uses the product and risked overlooking who buys it. We don't need to assume that all buyers are women or that no men buy cologne for themselves.
- E
Using an athlete in an advertisement isn't the same as placing an advertisement in a sports magazine. We don't know whether the company changed who appeared in its ads. Successful campaigns featuring athletes could also reach women buying gifts. E gives no specific reason the placement change would reduce sales.
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