The company Slim-fit released its low-cholesterol oil substitute into

Question

The company Slim-fit released its low-cholesterol oil substitute into American Markets for the first time in history and gained no appreciable market share. Combatting this situation, company Slim-fit with a substantial marketing budget and a great fanfare scheduled the re-release of the oil, naming it the “new low- cholesterol alternative to oil.”

Which of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the effectiveness of the solution proposed above?

A. In many American countries, satisfactory taste and low-cholesterol content are believed to be entirely contradictory.
B. The market for oils such as coconut and palm has been slowly shrinking in many American countries due to the emergence of specialized cholesterol-free oils.
C. Company Slim-fit could only feasibly maintain such a marketing budget for 10 to 12 months before scaling down the campaign.
D. After Company Slim-fit attempted a similar marketing strategy in South Asia, sales of the new product greatly increased.
E. In California, the new low-cholesterol oil substitute achieved a market share of 10% within the first year – without any massive marketing campaign.

GMAT VERBAL Daily Challenge RC/CR/SC (2022) Project

ElninoEffect · Answer

A. In many American countries, satisfactory taste and low-cholesterol content are believed to be entirely contradictory.
 This shows that if people prefer taste over health the campaign will fail but we don't know the proportion of those people.
But it's a weakner for sure. Let's keep it for a while. 
B. The market for oils such as coconut and palm has been slowly shrinking in many American countries due to the emergence of specialized cholesterol-free oils.
 This statement is acting as a strengthener by saying there is a chance that new cholesterol-free oil will take others market share, we are looking for a weakner. 
C. Company Slim-fit could only feasibly maintain such a marketing budget for 10 to 12 months before scaling down the campaign.
 We don't know if that's sufficient time or not. So it's a neutral statement without proper backing. 
D. After Company Slim-fit attempted a similar marketing strategy in South Asia, sales of the new product greatly increased.
 Acting as a Strengthener we are looking for a weakner. 
E. In California, the new low-cholesterol oil substitute achieved a market share of 10% within the first year – without any massive marketing campaign.
 Again it is acting as a strengthener we are looking for a weakner.

So, we are left with A.

A. In many American countries, satisfactory taste and low-cholesterol content are believed to be entirely contradictory.
 This shows that if people prefer taste over health the campaign will fail but we don't the proportion of those people.
But it's a weakner for sure. Let's keep it for a while.

gloomybison · Answer

Hi  ElninoEffect

I have a question regarding A why do you think that taste would be a crucial decision point? we don't really have any information whether consumers would prefer taste over health in American markets. If we were given any info on taste being a differentiator than ı would blindly go for A, but since we don't have that data A doesn't sound that strong to me...
 
Also in B it says cholesterol-free oils are taking over so it may indicate that consumers prefer to purchase "cholesterol-free oils" rather than "generic" or "low- cholesterol", that would be a blow to the plan. Note that low-cholesterol still means it includes cholesterol whereas; free-cholesterol removes it utterly

Thanks for your reply

ElninoEffect · Answer

gloomybison

I have a question regarding A why do you think that taste would be a crucial decision point? we don't really have any information whether consumers would prefer taste over health in American markets. If we were given any info on taste being a differentiator than ı would blindly go for A, but since we don't have that data A doesn't sound that strong to me...

I totally agree with your point and I have mentioned the same in my explanation also but see this way is it a strengthener or a weakner.? 
also
 Sometimes an option is correct because the rest of all are wrong.!

Also in B it says cholesterol-free oils are taking over so it may indicate that consumers prefer to purchase "cholesterol-free oils" rather than  "generic" or "low- cholesterol",  that would be a blow to the plan. Note that low-cholesterol still means it includes cholesterol whereas; free-cholesterol removes it utterly

Everything is correct except the bold portion. 
How can you infer that.? When the statement says people prefer cholesterol-free oils over coconut and palm oils. 
How have you inferred that coconut and palm oils fall into the category of generic or low cholesterol oils.
These all are assumptions.!

Secondly, if people are preferring cholesterol -free oils there can be a market for low cholesterol oil as well.!(strengthener)  How.? 
We call it the  sweet spot  in marketing.

Example: 
Initially there was a market for Analog clocks. 
Then came the digital clocks - people started preferring digital over analog.

So what can be the sweet spot(low-risk, low gain) here.?
The hybrid the one which is both analog and digital because it captures both the markets. So it is definitely not a weakner.

Here with me uptil now.?

B is that sweet spot so now you tell me when we are looking for a weakner how it can be that.?

UMANGSURANA · Answer

The company Slim-fit released its low-cholesterol oil substitute into American Markets for the first time in history and gained no appreciable market share. Combatting this situation, company Slim-fit with a substantial marketing budget and a great fanfare scheduled the re-release of the oil, naming it the “new low- cholesterol alternative to oil.”

Which of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the effectiveness of the solution proposed above?

A. In many American countries, satisfactory taste and low-cholesterol content are believed to be entirely contradictory. : if people prefer taste more than the low cholesterol content, it gives us a good enough reason to believe that even if the slim-fit company re-releases the oil, sales may not increase. A weakener for sure!
B. The market for oils such as coconut and palm has been slowly shrinking in many American countries due to the emergence of specialized cholesterol-free oils.: we are not concerned with the markets of american countries in general.
C. Company Slim-fit could only feasibly maintain such a marketing budget for 10 to 12 months before scaling down the campaign.: Incorrect. just an extra piece of information. The plan may or may not work. 
D. After Company Slim-fit attempted a similar marketing strategy in South Asia, sales of the new product greatly increased.: Strengthener.
E. In California, the new low-cholesterol oil substitute achieved a market share of 10% within the first year – without any massive marketing campaign. : We are concerned with market share in the whole of America. We don't know whether market share share of 10% in california is appreciable or not.

The company Slim-fit released its low-cholesterol oil substitute into

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The company Slim-fit released its low-cholesterol oil substitute into

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