Dear GMAT Club,
I have written some essays before, but they have neve been assessed. Could someone do it here. I would be very grateful. For sure, I will give some kudos in response
“A recent study of viewers’ attitudes toward prime-time television programs shows that many of the programs that
were judged by their viewers to be of high quality appeared on (noncommercial) television networks, and that, on
commercial television, the most popular shows are typically sponsored by the best-selling products. Thus, it follows
that businesses who use commercial television to promote their products will achieve the greatest advertising
success by sponsoring only highly rated programs—and, ideally, programs resembling the highly rated
noncommercial programs on public channels as much as possible.”
The argument claims that businesses using commercial television to advertise, achieve the greatest success in promoting
their products by sponsoring only highly rated programs or similar programs to highly-rated ones. In the argument the reason
for this is the fact that the most popular shows are sponsored by the best-selling products. Hence, the author of the argument
assumes that the most popular shows are those which are highly rated. However, this reasoning is flawed and the whole argument
is unconvincing.
Firstly, the assumption mentioned in the last sentence does not have to be true. The assessment of quality by the audience does not mean the
popularity of the programs, so in the result also the amount of the audience watching the program. There are many programs, which
can be described as of the low quality, but they are attractive to watch them and many people watch them.
Secondly, the most popular programs have a very the greatest audience, hence companies can reach many people by their advertisment,
but they are very expensive and it is possible that the author did not take into considaration that the best-selling products can
be best-selling not because of these advertisments. Companies which advertise the best-selling products can have enough money to
pay for such advertisments. Maybe, not the most popular programs made the-best selling products the best-selling, but they were the
best-selling before. The argument provides no evidence for that.
Finally, the argument assumes "the greatest advertising success" is when the product is teh best-selling one. It forgets, that the
costs of the advertisement also counts and it can be not profitable to run such advertising campaing. The reasoning here is flawed.
In conclusion, the argument above is flawed and has the flawed assumptions. It could be strengthen if the author gives the evidence
that the highly-rated programs are those the most popular and the biggest audience gives the biggest avertising success. It is
essential to know whether argument is right or not.