12. The conclusion of this argument is that advertising the reduced price of selected 8 D! _# K3 i) {! f: s# A
items in the Daily Gazette will result in increased sales overall. To support it, the author 8 {3 c P4 r+ o+ I5 {
cites an informal poll conducted by sales clerks when customers purchased advertised
5 _6 g) j- a% Xitems. Each time one or more of the advertised items was sold, the clerks asked whether ; n5 \9 l" c: l# w k
the customer had read the ad. It turned out that two-thirds of 200 shoppers questioned 8 P, u" A3 l. `. i5 d+ W
said that they had read the ad. In addition, of those who reported reading the ad, more 0 z; y* ^: ~% |+ j; p
than half spent over $100 in the store. This argument is unconvincing for two reasons.( u" a2 j+ P" g; |# x0 o& T3 ]
To begin with, the author's line of reasoning is that the advertisement was the
# m* R7 Y% D- a' P$ ?: m6 G! ?cause of the purchase of the sale items. However, while the poll establishes a ion
) I: W& p& a6 X' ~& J% b; I; \between reading the ad and purchasing sale items, and also indicates a correlation, 8 Y- @4 b4 O2 p% d) q+ z) b' K
though less significantly, between reading the ad and buying non-sale t does not 5 d8 I5 o; {, d# I# G
establish a general causal relationship between these events. To establish this ' ^* M2 g. x! A3 }
relationship, other factors that could bring about this result must be 'red and eliminated. ) n5 ]/ G7 [) I# _1 J, s! c% w2 Q
For example, if the four days during which the poll was conducted preceded 7 ]4 a2 B6 t' l
Thanksgiving and the advertised items were traditionally associated with this holiday,
6 H- O6 T! t* d3 ~then the results of the poll would be extremely biased and unreliable.
) d' [" T1 s3 M9 c Moreover, the author assumes that the poll indicates that advertising certain sale
% y7 v4 ?0 g8 D5 V$ m$ rwill cause a general increase in sales. But the poll does not even address the issue of
, ?2 k. E# a: _, t$ Q6 Q, `increased overall sales; it informs us mainly that, of the people who purchased sales # V" E& v6 l2 ~ g7 u: I! b
items, more had read the ad than not. A much clearer indicator of the ad's effectiveness
8 v- U; E/ }% |! ]would be a comparison of overall sales on days the ad ran with overall sales on 7 h h7 z. t$ q7 n0 ]
otherwise similar days when the ad did not run.3 n. y5 Z# J: g' C# M
In sum, this argument is defective mainly because the poll does not support the
: c0 ^' }+ L" R+ l; e: c+ rconclusion that sales in general will increase when reduced-price products are
, \, K2 t! o4 T' oadvertised in the Daily Gazette. To strengthen the argument, the author must, at the very / q/ }2 G$ k+ w' c9 U
least, provide comparisons of overall sales reports as described above. |