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.