Skywalker18 wrote:
Veterinarians generally derive some of their income from selling several manufacturers' lines of pet-care products. Knowing that pet owners rarely throw away mail from their pet's veterinarian unread, one manufacturer of pet-care products offered free promotional materials on its products to veterinarians for mailing to their clients. Very few veterinarians accepted the offer, however, even though the manufacturer's products are of high quality.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the veterinarian's reaction to the manufacturer's promotional scheme?
(A) Most of the veterinarians to whom the free promotional materials were offered were already selling the manufacturer's pet-care products to their clients.
(B) The special promotional materials were intended as a supplement to the manufacturer's usual promotional activities rather than as a replacement for them.
(C) The manufacturer's products, unlike most equally good competing products sold by veterinarians, are also available in pet stores and in supermarkets.
(D) Many pet owners have begun demanding quality in products they buy for their pets that is as high as that in products they buy for themselves.
(E) Veterinarians sometimes recommend that pet owners use products formulated for people when no suitable product specially formulated for animals is available.
Pets & Vets
Step 1: Identify the Question
The words helps to explain in the question stem indicates that this is an Explain the Discrepancy question.
Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument
Vets get $ from pdts
mnf wants ads for pdt in mail
↑ qual pdt
BUT
vets refuse ads for pdt
Note: pdt stands for product and mnf stands for manufacturer.
Step 3: Pause and State the Goal
On Discrepancy questions, the goal is to find an answer choice that makes the unexpected result less surprising. In this case, why would veterinarians refuse to do something that could increase their profit, especially when the products in question are of high quality?
On Discrepancy questions, the most common trap answer will heighten the discrepancy. This is not the goal. Rather, you are trying to find something that will make the situation less surprising.
Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right
(A) If the veterinarians are selling these products already, then advertising could lead to more sales. This would increase the financial incentive to comply with the manufacturer's request, exacerbating the discrepancy.
(B) More promotional activity is likely to lead to more sales and therefore more profit for the veterinarians. If anything, this makes the discrepancy worse.
(C) CORRECT. If these products are sold in stores, pet owners could opt to buy them in regular stores, not vet offices. This explains why an increase in advertisement might not lead to an increase in profits for the veterinarians, in turn explaining why the vets would refuse to include the advertisements.
(D) The argument indicates that this product is high quality, so it would seem that the veterinarians would want to promote these high-quality products to their customers. If anything, this choice makes the discrepancy worse.
(E) The products in the argument are described as pet-care products. Products made for people are not relevant to this argument.
Evaluation of a Plan
Situation
Veterinarians generally derive some income from selling various manufacturers' pet-care products, but very few veterinarians accepted free promotional materials from one such manufacturer to mail to their clients.
Reasoning
What would most help explain why so few veterinarians accepted the free promotional materials to mail to their clients? The passage says that veterinarians generally derive income from selling pet-care products, which suggests that it should have been in many veterinarians' financial interest to accept and mail out the free promotional materials to increase sales. Any evidence that mailing out these specific promotional materials from this manufacturer would not actually have been in many veterinarians' financial interest could help explain why so few veterinarians accepted the materials.
(A) This suggests that most of the veterinarians should have had a financial interest in accepting and mailing out the promotional materials in order to increase their sales of the manufacturer's products.
(B) Even if the promotional materials supplemented the manufacturer's usual promotional activities, they could still have increased the veterinarians' sales of the manufacturer's products and thus generated more income for the veterinarians.
(C) Correct. If this manufacturer's products are available in pet stores and supermarkets but most other products sold by veterinarians are not, then distributing the manufacturer's promotional materials could have encouraged customers to buy this manufacturer's products from pet stores and supermarkets rather than to buy competing products from the veterinarians. Thus, the veterinarians may have been concerned that the promotions would reduce their profits.
(D) The passage says the manufacturer's products are of high quality, so we have no reason to suppose that clients' demand for quality products would discourage veterinarians from accepting the manufacturer's promotional materials.
(E) Presumably the manufacturer's products are specially formulated for pets, so any products veterinarians recommend only when no specially formulated pet-care products are available would not reduce the veterinarians' interest in promoting the manufacturer's products.
GMAT® Official Guide 2018 Practice QuestionQuestion No.: CR 656
Page: 541
• Veterinarians generally derive some of their income from selling several manufacturers' lines of pet-care products.
o A part of the income of veterinarians in general are from selling pet care products from many manufacturer’s lines.• Knowing that pet owners rarely throw away mail from their pet's veterinarian unread,
o A manufacturer of pet-care products knows that pet owners seldom throw away their pet’s veterinarian’s mail unread. (i.e. they read it)• one manufacturer of pet-care products offered free promotional materials on its products to veterinarians for mailing to their clients.
o So, they offered free advertising materials to veterinarians for mailing to their clients.• Very few veterinarians accepted the offer, however, even though the manufacturer's products are of high quality.
o The offered products are of high quality.
o But not many veterinarians took the offer.Question Stem AnalysisWhich of the following, if true, most helps to explain the veterinarian's reaction to the manufacturer's promotional scheme?
Even though high-quality materials are offered, veterinarians did not accept the offer. We need to resolve the paradox here.PrethinkingWe need to find some reason that will make the veterinarians reject the offer even though the offered materials were of high quality.
One reason could be that mails are sent only for important purposes and as doctors, the veterinarians stayed away from sending promotional materials/mails in general.
Another reason may be that even though the promotion is done through veterinarians, the product is sold through other channels, thus not benefitting the veterinarians.
With this prethinking in mind, let us check the answer choices.
Answer Choice Analysis(A) Most of the veterinarians to whom the free promotional materials were offered were already selling the manufacturer's pet-care products to their clients.
INCORRECT
If this statement is true, then the vets will benefit from advertising that manufacturer. This worsens the paradox.(B) The special promotional materials were intended as a supplement to the manufacturer's usual promotional activities rather than as a replacement for them.
INCORRECT
Whether the materials are a supplement or a replacement for the manufacturer does not impact the veterinarian’s behaviour. Therefore, this is an incorrect answer choice.(C) The manufacturer's products, unlike most equally good competing products sold by veterinarians, are also available in pet stores and in supermarkets.
CORRECTIf the veterinarians advertise these products through mail, chances are that the pet owners purchase these products from nearby stores, unlike the other products advertised by the vets. Hence, they will not receive the good effect of the promotion. Therefore, this is a valid reason for the behaviour.
(D) Many pet owners have begun demanding quality in products they buy for their pets that is as high as that in products they buy for themselves.
INCORRECT
The promotional materials are of high quality as stated; hence this option aggravates the paradox.(E) Veterinarians sometimes recommend that pet owners use products formulated for people when no suitable product specially formulated for animals is available.
INCORRECT
This option has nothing to do with the stated paradox. It is completely out of scope. _________________
Updated on: 24 Sep 2022, 04:58
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