Many Caliovian consumers are committed to using products containing

Question

Many Caliovian consumers are committed to using products containing recycled materials. Caliovia's government is about to publish a book that will help consumers identify such products. The book offers a comprehensive listing, by product type and brand, of goods sold in Caliovia that contain recycled materials. However, consumer advocates predict that the book will not lead to a significant increase in Caliovia in the use of products containing recycled materials.

Which of the following, if true, provides the best grounds for the consumer advocates' prediction?

(A) Caliovia does not require product labels to specify whether the product contains recycled materials.

(B) For the most frequently purchased product types listed in the book, all the brands available in Caliovia contain recycled materials.

(C) In many cases, manufacturers that have used recycled materials in their products have done so in order to keep costs low.

(D) New brands of products coming on the market in Caliovia that are made with recycled materials will be at a disadvantage

(E) The book does not specify the exact composition of any of the products it lists.

chesstitans · Accepted Answer

yes, this is a common pattern in gmat. That is, the conclusion is about why a plan may not work. The answer will be something about the result is already achieved before the plan is carried out.

" that contain recycled materials" is the key word -> B wins.
In C, the scope shifts to "low cost"

GMATNinja · Answer

Let's start by nailing down the author's conclusion: "consumer advocates predict that the book will not lead to a significant  increase  in Caliovia in the use of products containing  recycled materials ."

Note that the author reaches this conclusion  despite  some evidence to the contrary. More specifically, the following are some reasons we might  expect  an increase in "the use of products containing recycled materials":

"Many Caliovian consumers are committed to using products containing recycled materials" 
 A book will be published with a comprehensive listing of the goods sold in Caliovia that "contain recycled materials."

Yet despite all that, the author still thinks there will NOT be an increase in the "use of products containing recycled materials." Our job is to strengthen this prediction.

Let's now consider (A):

We are trying to  strengthen  the conclusion that there will NOT be an increase in the "use of products containing recycled materials,"  despite  the fact that a book will be published that lists all the products with recycled materials. How does (A) impact this conclusion?

Well, the book  on its own  should allow consumers to identify products with recycled materials. So it doesn't matter whether or not the products have labels "to specify whether the product contains recycled materials," because these products should  already be listed in the book .

In other words, even if the consumer products don't have these special labels, we'd still expect the book to allow consumers to identify which products have recycled materials. And as a result, it would still be reasonable to expect that use of products with recycled materials would  increase.

Since it doesn't strengthen the argument that use of products with recycled materials will NOT increase, we can eliminate (A).

Let's consider (B):

If the most frequently listed products in the book all have recycled materials, then the book wouldn't provide a  reason  to choose one brand over another. In other words, no matter what brand you choose, you'd still be buying something with recycled products.

So if (B) were true, the book would NOT affect what products consumers buy, since it would NOT provide a reason to buy one brand over another. And if the book does not affect consumers' behavior, it probably won't cause an  increase  in the use of products containing recycled materials.

Because (B) strengthens the argument, it's correct.

I hope that helps!

Nevernevergiveup · Answer

The question is pretty simple and I doubt if it is 700 level question.
The question asks for a reason that forms basis for consumer advocates' prediction on why why the book may not lead to a significant increase in use of products containing recycled materials.

simple............why don't you need a new thing or why doesn't new thing help you. The reason can be either it does not share good info or you are choosing the same products mentioned in the book before also.

Only option B accounts for this reason.

meenakshimiyer · Answer

The question asks for a reason that forms basis for consumer advocates' prediction on why why the book may not lead to a significant increase in use of products containing recycled materials.
The reason could be either people don’t read books or the all the products available are recycled. 
Here, nothing has been given about the reading habits of people of Caliovian. So, the possible reason is that all the products available are recycled. Hence, B is the answer.

dcummins · Answer

The argument is a prediction made by Consumer Advocates, stating that the book won't increase consumption of products containing recycled materials and we are asked to support this "justify".

The evidence used to support the argument is that:
1. Consumers are committed to using recycled material products
2. The book that is to be published by the Govn't contains a comprehensive listing of products containing such recycled materials.

POE
A is incorrect because the book covers this. Even if the labels don't contain information about whether the recycled materials are inside of them, consumers will still be able to identify goods that contain such recycled materials
B is correct because it indicates that consumers, who are in fact committed to using recycled materials, are already enacting the plan by purchasing goods that already contain recycled materials
C is incorrect because the motives of manufacturer's in producing the recycled materials is not conducive to whether the plan will succeed
D is incorrect because the book does not differentiate between new or existing brands, and the fact that new brands will be at a disadvantage does not indicate why the plan won't be successful per prediction.
E is incorrect because the composition is irrelevant. Unless we are explicitly told "consumers only buy recycled products that list out the composition of each product" then this information is useless.

SUNNYRHODE002 · Answer

Why is A " not implying that the sales will not grow " { the desired answer}

It says the effort is futile to make people buy more.

This is what we need no ?

Need Advice .

aarkay87 · Answer

Hi experts,

As per the question tag, this is an "inference" question, however, question-wording is "which of the following, if true..." says otherwise.

Could you please confirm the question type?

egmat · Answer

Here the passage is an argument, and we need support for the given prediction. Since we are asked to find an option which supports the passage and not an option that is supported by the passage, this cannot be an inference question. We are bringing in new information that increases one's confidence in the argument. Hence this is a strengthen question.

vibhor4sharda · Answer

I was stuck between options A and B. For option A even if products don't need a label, the book will at least provide you the go-to list of the products that contain recycled materials. On the other hand (in option B) people are already using the products which are made up of recycled material, so there is no value addition by that book.

aditijain1507 · Answer

egmat  In option A, it tells us that the city does not any new label to identify recycled products, isn't that a good enough reason to strengthen the fact that the book will not increase sales?  GMATNinja   GMATNinja 2  ExpertsGlobal5

kaptainklutz · Answer

Hey GMAT Ninja (more like Grand GMAT Sensei tbh), great explanation, but I had a slight doubt. Wasn't the rationale of the book's publication to increase the "use of the products with recycled materials". Even if a consumer doesn't buy one product over the other, the overall use of recycled products still increases as long something is bought right ? Would I be right in thinking that the book doesn't really add any value since for the featured product type every store in the city has products with recycled materials? So irrespective of the book, the customer would have ended up buying a recycled material product and the book didn't necessarily cause any increase as the argument suggests?

GMATNinja · Answer

"Grand GMAT Sensei" does have a nice ring to it.

Thank you for the kind words, kaptainklutz ! And you're on the right track -- the book would be pretty useless if all brands of the most frequently purchased products already contain recycled materials. Even without the book, people have no choice but to buy those products! So, the book really wouldn't change much. That's essentially what we've said in our previous explanation: the book wouldn't actually change anyone's behavior. We're on the same page about why (B) is the correct answer. I hope that helps a bit!

jabhatta2 · Answer

Hi  avigutman   IanStewart  - I eliminated B because i thought there is a big gap.

- Lets say the book has the following 20 featured product types (screenshot below) 
- The first 5 featured product types are what option B, terms as "Frequently purchased" - colored Red 
- The rest 15 are "NOT Frequently purchased"

B doesnt talk about the other 15 product types what so ever.

If consumers are influenced by the book and start using recyclable products for the 15 featured product types, could that lead to  signficant  increase ?

I think it could (Even if the 15 product types are NOT FREQUENTLY PURCHASED)

EACH of the 15 PRODUCT TYPES is NOT FREQUENTLY PURHCASED (but this is on a per product type basis)

BUT , if you  combine the impact for the 15 PRODUCT TYPES   -- on a 'sum total' level, it could lead to a "Significant increase".

Thus , i eliminated B because i didnt know the impact when you COMBINE the 15 not-frequently purchased product types

avigutman · Answer

Is it possible that your use of the word  influenced  here coloured your thinking,  jabhatta2 ?

The book isn't supposed to influence anyone. It's supposed to help consumers   to identify such products. Our job here is to explain the surprising prediction that:
the book will not lead to a significant increase in Caliovia in the use of products containing recycled materials

When I read B, I ask myself: does this help to explain the prediction? Keep in mind,  jabhatta2 , it doesn't have to FULLY explain the prediction. It just has to make the prediction less surprising.
Does B  reduce your level of surprise ?

jabhatta2 · Answer

avigutman  - thank you so much avi for the response. Did have a quick follow up

Will be referencing the screenshot above in my response. In my screenshot 
- 5 (marked in red) are frequently purchased
- 15 (no colored) are NOT FREQUENTLY purchased

Follow up question on your post -

jabhatta2 · Answer

I think what you are saying is …whatever happens to the   15 product types (marked as non-frequent)   is irrelevant. Laid out three extreme scenarios for the   15 product types (marked as non-frequent )   specifically

All three scenario could be going on and still option B would correct ?

Just knowing that the book is  not  going to help when it comes to  5 product types specifically (marked as frequent)  is good enough to explain the paradox

I thought we needed to know about the   15 product types (marked as infrequent)   because perhaps scenario # 1 is taking place and is ENOUGH TO COMPENSATE for nothing occurring with regards to the  5 product types (marked as frequent)

avigutman · Answer

I wouldn't exactly say that what happens to the 15 product types is irrelevant,  jabhatta2 . Our job is to find the answer that provides  the best  grounds for the consumer advocates' prediction. Scenario #3 provides better grounds than scenario #1, to be sure.
But even scenario #1 provides  some grounds  for the consumer advocates' prediction.

The word compensate implies that there are forces operating in opposite directions. If there's no change with regards to the most frequently purchased product types, it stands to reason that the increase in the use of products containing recycled materials is  not going to be as great as  one would have otherwise expected  . 
To compensate, answer choice B would have had to tell us that the less-frequently purchased products will lead to a  greater than expected  increase in the use of products containing recycled materials. But this answer choice doesn't say anything about those products one way or the other.

dameili · Answer

Hi experts. Could you explain why D is wrong? Thanks.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

The idea is that the book will work by helping consumers to know which products contain recycled materials.

However, consumer advocates predict that the book will not lead to a significant increase in the use of products containing recycled materials.

What (D) says indicates that the book will not help consumers to know about  new  products containing recycled materials.

Notice, however, that the book will still help consumers know about current products and that the fact that it won't help consumers to now about new products doesn't reduce its ability to help consumers identify the products it already helps them to identify.

So, (D) doesn't take anything away from what the book does and thus doesn't provide support for the consumer advocates' prediction.

Many Caliovian consumers are committed to using products containing

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