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Ramirez: The film industry claims that pirated DVDs, which are usually

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08 Sep 2020, 06:43

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AjiteshArun

E. Current purchasers of pirated DVDs are aware that those DVDs are not authorized by the film industry.

If we negate this option:

Current purchasers of pirated DVDs are not aware that those DVDs are not authorized by the film industry.

This means when the legitimate DVDs are sold customers may still buy the Pirated DVDs, so the affect conclusion that plan will mitigate piracy negatie effect breaks down.

can you help me with my thinking.

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08 Sep 2020, 23:02

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hero_with_1000_faces

Hi hero_with_1000_faces,

It's that last statement "This means when the legitimate DVDs are sold customers may still buy the Pirated DVDs..." that we need to look at. Sure, customers may still buy pirated DVDs, but does that really mean that all of them (the people who currently purchase pirated DVDs) will continue to buy pirated DVDs? The word mitigate just means ~"make a bad situation better". Even if people are not aware that pirated DVDs are not authorized, we can still expect some people to switch to legitimate DVDs if prices are lowered and DVDs are released sooner.

In other words, if (a) prices are lowered and DVDs are released sooner and (b) people are not aware that pirated DVDs are not authorized, we cannot expect a zero "increase" in legitimate profits.

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06 Oct 2020, 05:17

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Option (D) suggests that if some businesses would 'likely' discontinue their business. Thus, we are probably cutting out the source from where people can buy DVDs. In other words, by lowering prices of DVDs and releasing them sooner we are mitigating piracy's negative effect on film industry profits. Where am I going wrong? Kindly explain

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12 Oct 2020, 04:49

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Can someone explain why option C is not an assumption?

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14 Oct 2020, 11:55

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sagarsangani123

Hi Sagar

The key word in your explanation is "probably". In other words, it is only possible that the supply of pirated DVDs would reduce if the measures given in the stimulus were undertaken. By corollary, it is also possible that such a fall in supply would not occur, for example, if new sellers come in to replace the ones discontinuing their businesses or if the remaining sellers increase the supply. This option does not say anything about the demand for pirated DVDs going down. The stimulus makes it clear that this is a demand driven business.

On the other hand, option (B) gives a much cleaner underlying assumption and is hence the better answer. Hope this helps.

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17 Oct 2020, 09:54

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sssanskaar2

Can someone explain why option C is not an assumption?

An assumption is something that must be true in order for the conclusion to be properly drawn. With that in mind, take a look at (C):

Quote:

If the film industry will be able to produce DVDs more cheaply in the future, then it will likely be able to sell DVDs at lower prices and maintain its profit margin. But we’re not looking for an answer choice that merely strengthens the argument. Rather, we’re looking for an assumption. So, does it have to be true that the film industry will be able to produce DVDs more cheaply in the future in order to mitigate piracy’s negative effects on industry profits?

No, it’s possible that the film industry could continue to produce DVDs at the current price, and the increased demand from consumers who would otherwise purchase pirated films will more than make up for the cheaper price at which DVDs are sold. For that reason, (C) is not an assumption, and we can eliminate it.

I hope that helps!

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28 Feb 2021, 07:37

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statement B says "Some people who would otherwise purchase pirated DVDs would be willing to purchase legitimate DVDs if they were less expensive and released earlier than they are now" my query is that some mean at least 1 so IMO it does not give legitimate information as to how many people will be willing to but legitimate DVD's whereas statement A says that releasing DVD's will not cause any reduction in revenue so isn't this should be the answer? GMATNinja

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vishvendra97
For Assumption questions, you want to go the other way: cross out the extremes and favor the milder answers. An assumption is something that is needed in order for the argument to work, and we don't need to know that there would be zero loss of revenue. If cutting down on piracy created a spike in revenue for film companies, they could stand to lose at least some revenue in other places and still mitigate the profit loss from piracy.

Now how do we tell that B is necessary? Take it away and see what happens. If we negate B--"NO people who currently buy pirated DVDs would buy legitimate discs if these changes were made"--then the argument completely falls apart. The author is relying on the assumption that there are AT LEAST SOME people who would switch to buying the official product.

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11 May 2021, 09:22

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AjiteshArun
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I chose the correct option B, but I am having a tough time in eliminating Option C here.

C. The film industry will in the future be able to produce DVDs more cheaply than is currently the case.

If I negate it, then it says that the film industry would not be able to lower the prices of the DVDs in the future. So, if they can not lower the prices, the conclusion fails. Because, the cheaper pirated DVD market would thrive due to this price gap between the two.

Please, resolve this.

Thank you in advance.

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11 May 2021, 21:48

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MissBong

Hi MissBong,

Let's take another look at what Ramirez is saying:
1. The spread of piracy indicates that consumers want lower prices and faster DVD releases. ← This is the support.
2. Therefore, "lowering prices of DVDs and releasing them sooner would mitigate piracy's negative effect on film industry profits". ← This is the conclusion.

Now we need to figure out what Ramirez's argument relies on. Option C is "The film industry will in the future be able to produce DVDs more cheaply than is currently the case." But there is no reason to think that the only way to reduce DVD (consumer) prices is to reduce the price of manufacturing a (physical) disk. That is, even if the cost of manufacturing a DVD does not fall in the future, Ramirez's plan will still work.

Here's another way to think about this: the film industry (a large customer) is most likely getting far better prices from DVD manufacturers (or the film industry controls the manufacturing process, which may be even better) than the people who make pirated DVDs (small, fragmented). The price difference is almost certainly due to factors other than the cost of manufacturing a DVD. Sure, if the cost of manufacturing a DVD falls (and nothing else changes), we'd expect the film industry's profits to go up, but Ramirez's argument does not rely on such a reduction in manufacturing costs. That is, there is no reason to think that the only way to reduce the (consumer) price of a DVD is to cut the manufacturing cost of a DVD.

Option B is a great fit for the conclusion (mitigate piracy's negative effect on film industry profits) because if it is true, then some people who would otherwise purchase pirated DVDs would purchase legitimate DVDs, thus mitigating piracy's negative impact on film industry profits.

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14 May 2021, 23:25

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GMATNinja How to apply the Negation test In option D here?

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04 Jun 2021, 13:50

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gagan0303

GMATNinja How to apply the Negation test In option D here?

We actually don't recommend using negation, because it can be difficult to apply with 100% accuracy.

Here's another way to think about (D): the question asks us which answer choice is an assumption on which the argument relies. In other words, the correct answer choice MUST be true in order for the author to reach his/her conclusion. So, does (D) absolutely have to be true to conclude that "lowering prices of DVDs and releasing them sooner would mitigate piracy's negative effect on film industry profits"?

Here's (D):

Quote:

D. Some current sellers of pirated DVDs would likely discontinue their businesses if legitimate DVDs were released faster and priced lower.

The author's argument doesn't rely on current sellers of pirated DVDs closing up their businesses. For example, these pirates could just sell fewer DVDs (because people shift to buying the new cheaper/faster legitimate DVDs), without going out of business. So, even if every single pirated DVD salesperson stays in business, the film industry could still accomplish the goal of mitigating piracy's negative effect on profits.

Because (D) doesn't absolutely HAVE to be true, it's not an assumption on which the argument relies. Eliminate (D).

I hope that helps!

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15 Jan 2024, 09:54

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sssanskaar2

Can someone explain why option C is not an assumption?

An assumption is something that must be true in order for the conclusion to be properly drawn. With that in mind, take a look at (C):

Quote:

Hi GMATNinja AjiteshArun

I got this one correct, but while going through several of your explanations, i started doubting whether my reasonings to remove (A) and (C)were correct.
Below is my evaluation for the two options, please guide:

Premise: consumers want lower prices and faster DVD releases.
Conclusion: Lowering prices of DVDs and releasing them sooner would mitigate piracy's negative effect on film industry profits.

My emphasis was on the ''Piracy's negative effect''. I thought: it doesn't matter whether the company is losing money in any other way as long as it is mitigating Piracy's negative effect.

Quote:

A. Releasing legitimate DVDs earlier would not cause any reduction in the revenue the film industry receives from the films' theatrical release.

Even if legitimating the DVDs causes severe damage to the revenue, my conclusion still holds, right? I am still mitigating the piracy's negative effect.
Or is it wayy toooo linear logic?

Quote:

C. The film industry will in the future be able to produce DVDs more cheaply than is currently the case.

Even if industry losing money while selling cheap DVD's, my conclusion still holds true? I am NOT LOSING MONEY through Piracy way now.
Yes i am bleeding the way other but my conclusion still holds true!

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16 Jan 2024, 00:08

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Contropositive

Hi GMATNinja AjiteshArun

I got this one correct, but while going through several of your explanations, i started doubting whether my reasonings to remove (A) and (C)were correct.

Hi Contropositive,

Here are my thoughts on your questions.

Contropositive

My emphasis was on the ''Piracy's negative effect''. I thought: it doesn't matter whether the company is losing money in any other way as long as it is mitigating Piracy's negative effect.

Even if legitimating the DVDs causes severe damage to the revenue, my conclusion still holds, right? I am still mitigating the piracy's negative effect.
Or is it wayy toooo linear logic?

I like how you've locked on to the phrase piracy's negative effect. That shows you're reading the question very carefully. However, I would not remove A for that reason. There are two reasons for this:

1. Firstly, let's understand what the word mitigate means. Mitigate means to make something less harmful, less unpleasant [1], or less serious (reduce its impact) [2].

In other words, when we wish to mitigate something, we can (a) reduce it and/or (b) offset it. For example, if the impact of piracy is $-10$ on profits of $100$, we can mitigate the effects of piracy on profits by (a) making the $-10$ something like $-5$ or $-2$ or (b) increasing profits to something like $150$ or $200$. Either approach (or a combination of both) will make the impact of piracy less serious.

Effectively, because we don't want to restrict ourselves to the "reduce" meaning of mitigate, I recommend taking option A out for another reason: If a reduction in theatrical release revenue is more than offset by an increase in DVD revenue, we don't (necessarily) need theatrical release revenue to not go down.

In other words, Ramirez's plan is fine as long as {$R_{TR}$↓} is smaller than {$R_{DVD}$↑}.

2. I generally don't hold exam questions to a very high standard. Have a look at the discussion here [6:26]:

Contropositive

I don't think I follow. Can you explain your reasoning here?

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05 Jun 2024, 23:45

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Bunuel

Ramirez: The film industry claims that pirated DVDs, which are usually cheaper than legitimate DVDs and become available well before a film's official DVD release date, adversely affect its bottom line. But the industry should note what the spread of piracy indicates: consumers want lower prices and faster DVD releases. Lowering prices of DVDs and releasing them sooner would mitigate piracy's negative effect on film industry profits.

The argument above relies on which of the following assumptions?

A. Releasing legitimate DVDs earlier would not cause any reduction in the revenue the film industry receives from the films' theatrical release.
B. Some people who would otherwise purchase pirated DVDs would be willing to purchase legitimate DVDs if they were less expensive and released earlier than they are now.
C. The film industry will in the future be able to produce DVDs more cheaply than is currently the case.
D. Some current sellers of pirated DVDs would likely discontinue their businesses if legitimate DVDs were released faster and priced lower.
E. Current purchasers of pirated DVDs are aware that those DVDs are not authorized by the film industry.

CR53631.01
OG2020 NEW QUESTION

Show Spoiler

Argument Construction

Situation
Pirated DVDs of films are released earlier than the film's official DVD release day. They are also sold more cheaply. These practices cut into the revenue expected from a film's official DVD sales. According to Ramirez, the prevalence of piracy indicates that consumers want lower prices and earlier release. He concludes that if the official DVDs were sold more cheaply and released earlier, the impact of piracy on film industry profits might be reduced.

Reasoning
What must Ramirez assume for his argument to be logically correct? Suppose none of the current purchasers of pirated film DVDs were to purchase the official DVDs even if these were released earlier and at a significantly lower price. If that were to occur, then the measures Ramirez suggests would not mitigate piracy.

(A) This does not have to be assumed for Ramirez's reasoning to be logically good. Earlier release of the official DVDs at a lower price could somewhat reduce revenue from movie theater showings of the films. But if the revenue from official DVDs released earlier and priced lower were greatly boosted through greatly increased official DVD sales, overall revenue for each film could be higher than would be the case with widespread piracy.

(B) Correct. If all existing purchasers of pirated film DVDs continued to purchase such DVDs even after implementation of the changes Ramirez advocates, then the changes would not mitigate the destructive consequences of piracy. Thus, Ramirez's reasoning must assume that the changes he recommends would cause at least some former purchasers of pirated DVDs to begin purchasing the official DVDs.

(C) This might improve profits provided revenue did not also decline. Ramirez's argument does not depend on the assumption that the cost of producing DVDs will decline. His reasoning assumes that total sales volume for official DVDs would increase if piracy were reduced.

(D) Ideally this would occur with the change Ramirez recommends, but it does not have to be assumed for his reasoning to be logically good. For example, the result Ramirez predicts could occur if all existing sellers of pirated DVDs continued to sell them but sold fewer.

(E) This is likely true but is not an assumption that Ramirez needs to make for his reasoning to be logically good. Even if some DVDs sold by DVD sellers were pirated without the sellers being aware of it, e.g., if they purchased them from a fraudulent wholesaler, the fact that the pirated DVDs are sold more cheaply and before the release of the official DVD would reduce the filmmakers’ total revenue.

Premises:
The film industry claims that pirated DVDs, which are usually cheaper and become available well before a film's official DVD , adversely affect its bottom line.
But this means consumers want lower prices and faster DVD releases.

Conclusion: Lowering prices of DVDs and releasing them sooner would mitigate piracy's negative effect on film industry profits.

An assumption must be true for the conclusion to hold. An assumption that comes to mind immediately is that lowering prices will have a net positive impact on profit. But let's look at the options.

A. Releasing legitimate DVDs earlier would not cause any reduction in the revenue the film industry receives from the films' theatrical release.

Sounds promising but note that it says "would not cause ANY reduction..." What we are looking for is an overall gain. Even if there is some reduction in the revenue from theatrical release, if the DVD early release more than compensates for it, the profit can still increase. Hence it is not necessary that there should not be any reduction in the revenue from theatrical release.

B. Some people who would otherwise purchase pirated DVDs would be willing to purchase legitimate DVDs if they were less expensive and released earlier than they are now.

Correct. This is necessary. Some people who would otherwise purchase pirated DVDs should be willing to purchase legitimate DVDs (if price decreased and release date pulled up). If not, then profit cannot increase for sure. Those who buy pirated will continue to buy pirated only. Decrease in price will decrease revenue and nothing will compensate for it.

If you must, you can negate it to confirm:
No one who would otherwise purchase pirated DVDs would be willing to purchase legitimate DVDs if they were less expensive and released earlier than they are now.

This breaks our conclusion. Decreasing the price will not increase profit.

Note that in some questions, they give an option like:
Everyone who would otherwise purchase pirated DVDs would be willing to purchase legitimate DVDs if they were less expensive and released earlier than they are now
This will not be assumption because it is not necessary that everyone should make the switch. As long as enough people are makign the switch, we are good.

C. The film industry will in the future be able to produce DVDs more cheaply than is currently the case.

We are talking about how to increase profit by increasing the number of units sold.
We don't need to assume that cost will go down in future.

D. Some current sellers of pirated DVDs would likely discontinue their businesses if legitimate DVDs were released faster and priced lower.

This is not an assumption. Our assumption is that their pirated DVD business will reduce. They may or may not discontinue.

E. Current purchasers of pirated DVDs are aware that those DVDs are not authorized by the film industry.

This is irrelevant. If they are aware, will they want to switch? We do not know. So no point evaluating it.

Answer (B)

Videos on Assumptions: https://youtu.be/O0ROJfljRLU

A pair of difficult assumption questions: https://youtu.be/ZQnhC4d5ODU

A Hard Assumption Ques: https://youtu.be/0j4tovGifIg

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21 Jun 2024, 07:45

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Hey,
Can someone help me with why Option C might be the wrong answer choice?
On negating option C we get :
C. The film industry will in the future NOT be able to produce DVDs more cheaply than is currently the case.

If this is the case it does break the conclusion also right?

Whereas with option B:
B. Some people who would otherwise purchase pirated DVDs would be willing to purchase legitimate DVDs if they were less expensive and released earlier than they are now.

We only know about maybe SOME people, that might be 1% or 100% so there is uncertainty.

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AP5300

The negation of C doesn't break the argument because we don't know anything about the current markup. For all we know, the cost of DVDs is not a significant factor in their pricing, so studios might easily benefit from following the author's advice, even if cost doesn't go down. (In fact, in real life we know that the cost of making a DVD is extremely low and would make little difference to the argument--that's why people are able to make money selling low-cost pirated editions in the first place!)

As for B, the trick is that the negation of SOME is NONE. So if we negate B, it says that NONE of the people who purchase pirate editions would purchase the early, legit releases the author is suggesting. This is a rare negation that 100% obliterates the argument, rather than just making the conclusion seem unlikely.

To see why the negation of SOME is NONE, consider what the original is saying: there are people who would do X. ("Some" really just means "more than zero" or "at least one.") So what's the negation? There are NOT people who would do X. If we just put the NOT later, it isn't a negation at all. For instance, if I say that some people are tall, it isn't a negation to say that some people are short. Both kinds of people can co-exist. However, it IS a negtation to say that NO people are tall.

A good rule of thumb is that mild modifiers tend to have extreme negations, and extreme modifiers tend to have mild negations:

Original: Everyone is blind.
Negation: Not everyone is blind. (OR) Some people are not blind.

Original: Most puppies are cute.
Negation: Most puppies are not cute. (OR, if you want to be very precise: "Half or fewer of puppies are cute" or "Half or more of puppies are not cute.")

Original: It sometimes rains in Hollywood.
Negation: It never rains in Hollywood.

Original: No one loves me.
Negation: Someone loves me. (i.e. At least one person loves me.)

Notice that we could switch the labels on all of these examples. If you start with the "Negation" line, its negation is the "Original" line. The negation of "It never rains in Hollywood" is "It sometimes rains in Hollywood."

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GMATNinja

Europa12

I am not sure how B is an assumption.

It is already inferred from the passage that people want quicker and cheaper DVDs hence if film makers are able to this - people would buy them. Therefore I can't see why we need to assume whether people will buy DVDs when they are cheap because we already know they will.

On the other hand, if top line revenue is affected by earlier release, this kills the whole film industry profit argument.

Let's make sure we're clear about the argument in the passage before answering your question.

We're told that piracy is affecting the film industry's profits because pirated DVDs "which are usually cheaper than legitimate DVDs and become available well before a film's official DVD release date" cut into sales.

Ramirez suggests that this shows "consumers want lower prices and faster DVD releases" and that meeting these demands would "mitigate piracy's negative effect on film industry profits".

To find an assumption required by this argument, we're looking for something that helps explain how piracy's effects on profits can be reduced by cheaper DVDs with earlier release dates.

Let's look at (A) first to see why it is not the correct answer:

Quote:

A. Releasing legitimate DVDs earlier would not cause any reduction in the revenue the film industry receives from the films' theatrical release.

This tells us that industry revenue would from showing the film in theatres would not be affected by changing DVD release dates. This doesn't help us explain how changing the release date would mitigate piracy's effect on industry profits.

We need something that links the earlier release and lower price of DVDs to a reduction in piracy's effects on film industry profits. (A) gives us more information about the industry as a whole but is not an assumption required by the argument -- this is why (A) is not the answer.

When looking at (B), you're right when you say the passage tells us that people want cheaper DVDs with faster release dates but you need to consider who would buy these DVDs.

(B) tells us:

Quote:

B. Some people who would otherwise purchase pirated DVDs would be willing to purchase legitimate DVDs if they were less expensive and released earlier than they are now.

If the only people purchasing the cheaper DVDs with an earlier release date are the people who would have bought them even with a higher price and with a later release date then this could decrease the film industry's profits further.

Piracy's effects on the film industry's profits are only mitigated if the people currently buying pirated DVDs switch to buying legitimate DVDs. If these people would not purchase legitimate DVDs, even if they were cheaper and released faster, then making these changes would not make a difference to film industry profits.

This is why the assumption in (B) is necessary -- the film industry needs to convert some of the people who currently purchase pirated DVDs to purchase legitimate DVDs to mitigate piracy's effect on their profits. So, (B) is the answer to this question.

I hope that helps!

But what about the modifier "Some" in statement B "Some people who would otherwise purchase pirated DVDs would be willing to purchase legitimate DVDs if they were less expensive and released earlier than they are now."

The statement here is only talking about a few people and not everyone so how does is this correct option?

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28 Jun 2024, 23:39

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adgarg, see my post immediately above:
"As for B, the trick is that the negation of SOME is NONE. So if we negate B, it says that NONE of the people who purchase pirate editions would purchase the early, legit releases the author is suggesting. This is a rare negation that 100% obliterates the argument, rather than just making the conclusion seem unlikely."

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12 Jan 2025, 02:24

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Hi
Can someone pls explain why D is incorrect?

Some current sellers of pirated DVDs would likely discontinue their businesses if legitimate DVDs were released faster and priced lower. Suppose the current sellers of pirated DVDs DO NOT discontinue their business. Then however lower the legitimate DVDs are priced, the pirated ones will be priced even lower (cuz that's how the piracy business will have to be sustained ; in other words, NOT BE DISCONTINUED ). If that's the case, then people would continue buying pirated DVDs...won't they?

Anyone?