PrepTest 159, Section 3, Question 7
Last year a local advertising agency produced many(75 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(11 more words not shown)
- AMost viewers turned(14 more words not shown)
- BPeople are more(18 more words not shown)
- CMost of the(16 more words not shown)
- DNot all of(14 more words not shown)
- EMost of the(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Maybe the bad commercials were the ones people remembered.
An ad with sound that doesn't match the picture can be irritating, especially when someone appears to be talking out of sync. But irritation and effectiveness aren't the same thing. A viewer might complain about the ad, tell someone about it, and still remember the dealership when it's time to buy a car. The polished commercial from a different dealership might disappear from memory.
That would explain the surprising result: dealerships using this agency tended to have larger sales increases, despite the production problem. We're comparing increases, not being told which dealerships sold the most cars overall.
What we’re looking for
The question asks us to explain that difference. Memorability is my first guess. Another possibility is that this agency is expensive and attracts dealerships that spend heavily on advertising in general. That could create an advantage unrelated to the sound problem. Either route would need support from an answer; we shouldn't assume it just because we can imagine it.
Working the answers
- A
Turning off the sound might keep viewers from noticing the mismatch. That could explain why the problem didn't hurt these dealerships. But why did they have greater sales increases than dealerships using other agencies? Removing a possible disadvantage doesn't by itself explain the observed advantage.
- BCorrect
This supports the memorability prediction. The mismatched sound makes viewers more likely to recall the commercial. When someone later thinks about buying a car, the dealership from that memorable ad may come to mind. So a defect that prompts complaints could also help the ad do its job. B doesn't guarantee a purchase, but it gives us a plausible route to the larger sales increases.
- C
The studio's mix of clients doesn't explain the difference between the two groups of car dealerships. It could work mainly for dealerships or mainly for other businesses, and we'd still need to know why its dealership clients saw larger increases.
- D
The mismatch was particularly noticeable when people were talking, so ads without talking might make it less conspicuous. Again, that could reduce the damage from the defect. It doesn't explain why these dealerships did better than dealerships using other agencies.
- E
The broader local market could rely little on television while the dealerships described in the passage relied on it. We still need to explain the comparison among those using television commercials. This fact about most local dealerships doesn't provide an advantage for this particular agency's clients.
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