PrepTest 148, Section 3, Question 25
Direct-mail advertising usually consists of advertisements for products(47 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(7 more words not shown)
- AAlthough the primary(37 more words not shown)
- BMost of the(15 more words not shown)
- CA person who(32 more words not shown)
- DUsually, a company(31 more words not shown)
- EProducts purchased as(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What about the paper and the delivery? Mailing advertisements could have environmental costs of its own. Pointing to one possible benefit doesn't settle the overall effect.
There's also a question about that benefit. Are people skipping purchases they would otherwise make by car, or are the ads persuading them to buy extra things? A purchase made from home doesn't save a shopping trip if the person would never have bought the item in the first place.
What we’re looking for
We're being asked to strengthen the argument, so we'd want to make the environmental benefit more convincing or reduce the concern about environmental costs. Keep that target in view. Showing that the ads are popular, persuasive, or profitable won't by itself show that they're good for the environment.
Working the answers
- A
Increased store purchases don't support the proposed benefit of replacing car trips with purchases from home. They might instead involve additional trips. A doesn't tell us those sales occur without extra driving or explain how they offset the other possible environmental costs of the mailings.
- BCorrect
Most of these purchases would happen even without the ads. Combine that with the premise that buying these products otherwise would require a car. Now the home purchases are largely replacing purchases that would involve driving, rather than simply creating extra demand. Imagine someone buying a coffee mug after receiving a mailer. If they would have bought that mug anyway, using a car as the passage specifies, the home purchase avoids that alternative. We shouldn't substitute a different scenario in which they would simply order it online without the ad; that isn't the alternative the premise gives us. B doesn't settle the costs of producing or delivering mail, but it strengthens the claimed reduction in car use.
- C
Being more persuasive than a magazine ad doesn't establish an environmental benefit. The extra purchases might replace car trips, or they might be things the person wouldn't otherwise buy. We need to know how the purchasing changes affect the environment, not just which ad wins more sales.
- D
Targeting people who are especially interested might make advertising more effective. It still doesn't tell us whether the resulting purchases replace driving or merely add consumption, and it doesn't address the mailings' environmental costs. A good sales strategy needn't be a good environmental argument.
- E
A growing share of purchases makes direct-mail advertising more significant, but it doesn't establish whether its effects are beneficial or harmful. An activity can become more common while remaining bad for the environment. We need support for the direction of the effect before its growing size would help the conclusion.
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