Many buyers of fashion clothing are inclined to contribute to charitab

Question

Many buyers of fashion clothing are inclined to contribute to charitable organizations, and are more likely to purchase clothing from companies that donate a portion of their profits to charity. Next weekend, a variety of fashion clothing retailers will hold sample sales at a downtown event; the event’s organizers plan to hand out flyers listing which of the retailers donate to charity from their profits, in the hope of increasing those companies’ sales at the event.
 
Which of the following, if true, most calls into question the appropriateness of the organizers’ plan?
 
(A) The cost to the organizers of designing and printing the flyers is equivalent to half an average day’s worth of sample-sale profits for one of the retailers at the event.

(B) Many of the retailers who donate profits to charity do so in order to garner tax breaks, rather than for purely altruistic reasons.

(C) Among the retailers who will hold sample sales at next week’s event, those that donate a portion of their profits to charity far outnumber those that do not.
 
(D) Of the retailers at the event that donate a portion of their profits to charity, most have publicized those donations extensively in their advertising.

(E) Many of the retailers who donate a portion of their profits to charity vary that portion from season to season, allocating a greater portion of their profits to charity during peak sales seasons.

pqhai · Accepted Answer

Hello.

Very Gmat-like question.

THEORIES - WEAKEN QUESTION:

Weaken is one of the most popular question shown on the test. Basically,  there are three scenarios used in weaken question.

1. Incomplete information.   The argument concludes without sufficient information backed up. i.e. the murder rate in county X is highest in U.S., so county X is most dangerous place to live. 
 Ask yourself:  there are any researches or statistic for the murder rate? If yes, please show.

2. Incorrect comparison.   The argument concludes by using wrong comparison. i.e. in lab, diamond can be created under specific pressure and temperature, so we can use this temperature and pressure to determine how natural diamond created. 
 Ask your self:  the physical characteristics of natural diamond and artificial diamond are the same? If no, the comparison is wrong.

3. Qualified conclusion.   The argument’s conclusion is based on specific conditions, but we don’t know those conditions are valid or not. i.e. I can get 700+ gmat by studying 5 hours a day, so with that score I can be accepted in HBS next year.
 Ask yourself:  Key condition to get 700+ gmat is studying 5 hours a day. Whether he/she have enough time to stick with his/her plan? The condition is not solid.

From my experience, the third type – qualified conclusion – is the most difficult to realize in the test and is the most difficult one to weaken.

ANALYZE THE QUESTION:  
Fact: Buyers of fashion clothing are inclined to contribute to charitable organizations, and are more likely to purchase clothing from companies that donate a portion of their profits to charity. 
Fact: Next weekend, a variety of fashion clothing retailers will hold sample sales at a downtown event; 
Conclusion/plan:  Hand out flyers listing , which of the retailers donate to charity from their profits,  will increase those companies’ sales at the event .

Pre-thinking:   Clearly, this is qualified conclusion type. The conclusion based on a condition flyers will attract customers. If not, the plan is failed. So immediately ask yourself: this condition is valid, what if customers already know about information shown on the flyers. If customers are not interested, is the plan able to success?

ANALYZE EACH OPTION:

Which of the following, if true, most calls into question the appropriateness of the organizers’ plan?

A) The cost to the organizers of designing and printing the flyers is equivalent to half an average day’s worth of sample-sale profits for one of the retailers at the event.
 Wrong.  Out of scope. Nothing about costs of printing the flyers.

B) Many of the retailers who donate profits to charity do so in order to garner tax breaks, rather than for purely altruistic reasons.
 Wrong.  Out of scope. Nothing about “garner tax breaks”

C) Among the retailers who will hold sample sales at next week’s event, those that donate a portion of their profits to charity far outnumber those that do not.
 Wrong.  Not weaken. If customers are interested in retailer who donate a portion of their profits to charity, the plan is successful. It doesn’t matter how many retailer donating or not donating.

D) Of the retailers at the event that donate a portion of their profits to charity, most have publicized those donations extensively in their advertising.
  Correct.   If customers already know about the information shown on the flyers, the flyer does not help to increase sales.

E) Many of the retailers who donate a portion of their profits to charity vary that portion from season to season, allocating a greater portion of their profits to charity during peak sales seasons.
 Wrong.  Totally out of scope. The argument only talk about the effectiveness of the plan – hand out flyer – in the next week even. That’s it. Nothing about sales seasons or stuff like that

Hope it helps.

anilnandyala · Answer

in this q we have to show flyers dont help in boosting the sales. option d show this as the retailers already made adversting so the flyers dont help them

consider giving kudos if u like my post

anish319 · Answer

I think its A....but this question is weird with its "appropriateness" wording in the question stem.
A is the only one that addresses the organizers intentions or their flaw.

gettinit · Answer

totally unrelated. The question doesn't have any issue with when charity donations are made.

USCTrojan2006 · Answer

Is this from the test bank or question bank?

prasun9 · Answer

I think option C is a stronger contender than D.

C. Among the retailers who will hold sample sales at next week’s event, those that donate a portion of their profits to charity   far outnumber   those that do not.
This means most of the retailers donate to charity, in such a case having almost all the retailers listed on the flier would serve no purpose. What is the distinguishing factor.

D. Of the retailers at the event that donate a portion of their profits to charity, most have publicized those donations   extensively in their advertising  .
Is additional advertising bad for any business ? Even with all the advertising the retailers have done, there would be customers who have no idea which retailer donates to charity. Having a flier would help the retailers underline their donations and get more customers.

elizaanne · Answer

A) is irrelevant, because the plan is for increasing sales, not profit, and, so the cost is actually irrelevant
B) again is irrelevant as their reasons for donating have no bearing on the effectiveness of this plan
C) this one may seem tempting, however the plan is to increase sales at all the companies who donate, so the fact that there are far more companies who donate than do not does not have any effect
D) this one actually may call into question the effectiveness of the plan. If people already know who donates to charity then handing out flyers to tell them who does or not won't do anything
E) how they use their money to donate is irrelevant

Thus, the best answer is D

ssriva2 · Answer

D.It says that it is not flyers but advertising that helps to boost sales.

GGMU · Answer

I will go with D....
If already advertised the plan won't boost sales..

Alok322 · Answer

Hi,

I agree that opt D is better than others. But Opt D says that the retailers have already publicized heavily. But this does not ensure that the customers have gone through the advertisements already. But handing them the flyers will make sure that these guys know who is donating, increasing the chances of these retailers to sell more.

Can someone please help me understand where my thinking is faltering?

ramonguib · Answer

Hello,  Alok322 ,

I had the same doubt!

But Manhattan explanation made it clearer for me, check it: "If the retailers that do make donations have already given the donations heavy publicity, then   it is less likely   that the flyers will have an impact, as potential buyers might know this information already.".

Choice D shows that it is gonna be less likeky that the flyers are gonna have an impact. Just like  pqhai  said "if customers already know about the information shown on the flyers, the flyer does not help to increase sales".

For me, the key was to realize that the flyers are gonna be less likely to help.

Hope this helps you.

abrakadabra21 · Answer

Even if there is no distinguishing factor, does that mean sales will be less or same. 
Consider this : event doesn't go with flyers. In that case, buyer doesn't know anything about charity thing. Normal sales. 
2nd : flyers. effect - Buyers are more likely to purchase clothing from companies that donate a portion of their profits to charity. Higher sales than previous condition.

Sales will be up, no matter what is ratio between non charity retailers and charity retailers.

ravikrishna1979 · Answer

As per Option D, no where it is mentioned the advertisements are done in the city or location where sales are being considered. Also how many customers did actually know about the advertisements. Moreover there are various ways of advertisements and each has its own advantages/disadvantage. So just by advertisements in TV/Radio/banners cannot be sufficient and what ever flyers can do their best will do or increase the sales atleast increase 0.001%.

Option A clearly weakens, sales are done to increase profits and if profits are used to distribute flyers it is same as not doing at all and what ever increase happens is an extra profit.

Option D cannot be the right answer.

Option A clearly weakens, sales are done to increase profits and if profits are used to distribute flyers it is same as not doing at all and what ever increase happens is an extra profit.

Option D cannot be the right answer.

AbhinavBankhwal · Answer

While option D is convincing, isn't option C strong contender as well.
My reasoning - 
If almost all of the retailers at the event are the ones that donate to charity, then the sales are bound to get divided among all of them. This might not result in an overall increase in the sales.

Isn't the number of sales our major concern according to the conclusion provided here?

Please correct me where ever I am wrong!

nightblade354 · Answer

This is my thinking as well. MGMAT makes a connection I don't understand. I think (C) is better than (D), but i'm not the person who created the test. 
The OE:

(A) The cost of producing the flyers is irrelevant to the retailers' revenues. This would be true even if the retailers were paying for the flyers, but this answer choice talks only of the cost for the organizers.

(B) The organizers’ plan is not concerned with why the retailers donate to charity. Rather, it is concerned with whether the charitable retailers will earn more sales as a result of publicizing this fact to buyers.
 
(C) The relative numbers of retailers who donate to charity and retailers who don’t are irrelevant. The organizers’ plan is to help the retailers that do make donations, regardless of how many such retailers there are.
 
(D) CORRECT. If the retailers that do make donations have already given the donations heavy publicity, then it is less likely that the flyers will have an impact, as potential buyers might know this information already. This choice directly attacks the organizers' assumption that publicizing the information will cause buyers to change their buying behavior.
 
(E) The amount or proportion of profits donated to charity by the retailers is irrelevant to the argument. The only distinction made between retailers is between those that donate to charity and those that do not.

KarishmaB · Answer

Responding to a pm:

Plan:

Buyers are more likely to purchase clothing from companies that donate a portion of their profits to charity.
Many retailers will hold sample sales at a downtown event. Organizers plan to hand out flyers listing which of the retailers donate to charity

Aim of plan:
Increasing those companies’ sales at the event

We need to weaken

(A) The cost to the organizers of designing and printing the flyers is equivalent to half an average day’s worth of sample-sale profits for one of the retailers at the event.

The cost of the flyers is immaterial. The organisers are distributing the flyers to increase the sales of some retailers. Profitability of neither the organisers nor the retailers is in our scope. Even if the cost of flyers is more than the sales, note that it doesn't affect our plan. The aim of the plan is not higher profitability but higher sales for some particular retailers. We stick to our aim.

(B) Many of the retailers who donate profits to charity do so in order to garner tax breaks, rather than for purely altruistic reasons.

Irrelevant to our plan. The reason for donating to charity is out of scope.

(C) Among the retailers who will hold sample sales at next week’s event, those that donate a portion of their profits to charity far outnumber those that do not.

It doesn't matter how many of the participating retailers will be on the list in the flyer. The aim is to increase sales for those who donate to charity by advertising that they donate to charity. Whether it affects 10% of the retailers, 50% of the retailers or all the retailers, it doesn't matter to us. The competition is not between those that donate to charity vs those that do not donate. It is between the revenue that a relevant retailer gets without distributing the flyer vs the revenue he gets after distributing the flyer. 
 
(D) Of the retailers at the event that donate a portion of their profits to charity, most have publicized those donations extensively in their advertising.

This weakens our plan. The retailers donating to charity have already publicised it extensively. The flyers will likely not give any new info to the customers. Hence the flyers will likely have no impact on the sales.

(E) Many of the retailers who donate a portion of their profits to charity vary that portion from season to season, allocating a greater portion of their profits to charity during peak sales seasons.

We just need to mark out the retailers who donate to charity - when percentage, when etc is irrelevant.

Answer (D)

AbhishekDhanraJ72 · Answer

D I understand will not do anything for sales, but E where for some retailer summer is peak season so he will donate more in summer and for some winter is and if event is happen to be in winter then for summer retailer distribution of "listing" is loss of sale een though he might have donated more than winter retailers. So why cant E be the answer?

gmexamtaker1 · Answer

I chose answer choice C , for the same reason that has already been mentioned by other members, however I think that the reason why C is wrong is the following,

Let's say that we have 100 retailers and from these 100 , 80donate and 20 do not donate, let's also set that the average amount of money that each retailer would get is 10$ , so if the fliers work and people avoid those that do not donate , then 20*10=200$ will be divided between the 80 companies and their sales will increase even this 2.5$/retailer is considered an increase. (even if all the money goes to two retailers then again we have an increase.

Correct me if there is a flaw in the above reasoning.

MPRS22 · Answer

Hi Karishma,

I am having difficulty understanding your explanation for C. "The competition is not between those that donate to charity vs those that do not donate. It is between the revenue that a relevant retailer gets without distributing the flyer vs the revenue he gets after distributing the flyer." If this is the case then C is a clear weakener. In fact if say 90 out of 100 advertise that they donate to charity, I find it very hard to believe that the revenue after distributing the flyer will increase relative to before. On the the other hand, even if companies have previously advertised on TV, having the flyers might still help them by reinforcing this belief in people. I find C to be much more convincing

VeritasKarishma

Many buyers of fashion clothing are inclined to contribute to charitab

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Many buyers of fashion clothing are inclined to contribute to charitab

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