PrepTest 126, Section 4, Question 7
Packaging is vital to a product's commercial success.(66 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AProper product packaging(9 more words not shown)
- BProducts generally succeed(15 more words not shown)
- CChanging the packaging(15 more words not shown)
- DTo succeed in(20 more words not shown)
- EAn improved version(21 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A nice box can make a product more appealing. Think of opening a carefully packaged phone. Still, the box isn't everything: you also care whether the phone works well. So I'm willing to accept that packaging matters without deciding it matters more than the product.
The drink example shows a more specific problem. People liked the new version in blind taste tests, but the familiar-looking can created expectations it didn't meet. Seeing what looks like the old drink can make you expect the old drink, even if the new formula tastes good on its own. The mismatch helps explain why a successful taste test didn't turn into sales.
What we’re looking for
We're asked what the information most strongly supports. Keep the answer close to what happened here. Packaging can create expectations that hurt a product's chances when the product doesn't satisfy them. Don't turn that lesson about one obstacle into a promise that better packaging guarantees success.
Working the answers
- A
“Matters” doesn't mean “matters more than quality.” The example shows that a good taste-test result wasn't enough to overcome a packaging problem. It doesn't rank packaging above product quality generally. A product could need both.
- B
Accurate packaging isn't a recipe for commercial success. Imagine a terrible drink packaged in a way that honestly communicates exactly what it is. Why would people generally buy it? The passage shows a cost of misleading expectations, not that accurately represented products usually succeed.
- C
This describes a different experiment: changing the packaging while leaving the product alone. Our example changed the drink while keeping the can almost identical. It doesn't show that changing packaging can never improve sales unless the underlying product changes too.
- DCorrect
The failed launch supports avoiding packaging that gives customers expectations the product doesn't meet. That mismatch was the main reason customers didn't buy the drink. D captures the practical lesson of the example without claiming that avoiding the mismatch will, by itself, make a new product sell well.
- E
This promises too much. Even with different packaging, the improved drink might fail for another reason. Perhaps customers wouldn't recognize the new can and wouldn't try it. We know what contributed to the failure of this launch; we don't know that every improved product will outsell its predecessor whenever its packaging changes. Removing one obstacle doesn't remove every obstacle.
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