When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enac

Question

When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enacted requiring that manufacturers use the term “imitation butter” to indicate butter whose butterfat content had been diminished through the addition of water. Today, it is known that the high cholesterol content of butterfat makes it harmful to human health. Since the public should be encouraged to eat foods with lower rather than higher butterfat content and since the term “imitation” with its connotations of falsity deters many people from purchasing products so designated, manufactures who wish to give reduced-butterfat butter the more appealing name of “lite butter” should be allowed to do so.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument?

(A) The manufacturers who prefer to use the word “lite” instead of “imitation” are motivated principally by the financial interest of their stock holders.

(B) The manufacturers who wish to call their product “lite butter” plan to change the composition of the product so that it contains more water than it now does.

(C) Some individuals who need to reduce their intake of cholesterol are not deterred from using the reduced-butterfat product by the negative connotations of the term 
“imitation.”

(D) Cholesterol is only one of many factors that contribute to the types of health problems with which the consumption of excessive amounts of cholesterol is often associated.

(E) Most people deterred from eating “imitation butter” because of its name choose alternatives with a lower butterfat content than this product has.

Source: LSAT

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

It looks like  0akshay0  and  niteshwaghray  have identified why (E) is the best choice and why (A) doesn't do anything to weaken the argument. Nice work on this one!

I'll add a reminder that it's very important to clarify the conclusion that you're trying to weaken before you begin eliminating answer choices.

In this case, the author concludes that manufacturers should be allowed to label reduced-butterfat butter with the name "lite butter." The author implies that if the label change is allowed, then the public will stop avoiding reduced-butterfat butter. And once they start buying reduced-butterfat butter, they will be eating fewer foods with higher butterfat content.

However, (E) introduces evidence that most people who are avoiding reduced-butterfat butter are in fact eating alternative foods with  lower  butterfat content. Switching over to "lite butter" won't lead to a reduction in the consumption of higher butterfat foods. So if (E) is true, then the whole point of this conclusion turns out to be moot.

Choice (A), on the other hand, runs away from the point of this conclusion. We just spent precious moments of our lives reading about how butterfat content impacts the health of people who consume it. The conclusion focuses on the effect of a label change on consumer decisions about what butter to buy. Why, then, would we care about the motivations of butter manufacturers?

Well, we don't. That's why we eliminate (A).

This choice tells us that  some  people who need to eat less cholesterol look at "imitation" butter and buy it anyway. So these people are already ending up where the author would like everyone to end up: eating reduced-butterfat butter.

This  sounds  like it weakens the argument. But let's take one more look at that argument:

OK, so:

The argument tells us up front that the term "imitation"  deters many  people from buying "imitation" butter. 
  Choice (C) tells us that the term "imitation"  fails to deter some  people from buying "imitation" butter.

Wait, what? Is choice (C) really telling us anything new? When we read closely, we see that (C) is really just re-phrasing part of the argument that we already know. And the conclusion is pointed at the  many  people who have been deterred, not  some  people who haven't been deterred.

If (C) is true, the argument isn't really affected at all. That's why it's a much poorer choice than (E).

On a more personal note, I hope all of this clarification didn't reduce your appetite for delicious, delicious butter. Especially clarified butter. Mmmmmmm, clarified butter...

PriyankaPalit7 · Answer

The conclusion states that manufactures should be allowed to rename "Imitation butter" to "Lite butter". Any option that gives us a reason that renaming the product would result in a misconception that the product is healthier is or answer choice.

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

(A) No. This is irrelevant. The argument is about health, not profits.

(B) No. This would strengthen the argument. The argument’s intent is to lower the public’s intake of butterfat, and increasing the water content in a product would decrease the amount of butterfat.

(C) No. Although this does weaken the argument, there is a stronger answer-choice that applies to most, not just some, individuals.

(D) No. This is irrelevant.

(E) Yes. The purpose of the recommendation is to lower the amount of butterfat that people eat. But “ Most people deterred from eating ‘imitation butter’ because of its name choose alternatives with a lower butterfat content than this product has. ” So if the labeling change prompted people to return to the original product, they would actually increase their butterfat intake.

0akshay0 · Answer

The argument says "public should be encouraged to eat foods with lower rather than higher butterfat content but the term “imitation” with its connotations of falsity deters many people from purchasing products so designated" option E weakens the argument by saying that people who deterred from eating “imitation butter” because of its name choose alternatives with a lower butterfat content than this product has. Hence option E is correct Hit Kudos if you liked it 8-)

gmatexam439 · Answer

Source: LSAT practice test 9;

According to me answer is "A". Can anyone explain why is it wrong? I understand OA is also correct but why not A?

niteshwaghray · Answer

As per my understanding of the question, the conclusion is that the manufacturers should be allowed to use the name "lite" instead of imitation and the argument that the author uses is that imitation butter, even though it has less fat and is healthier to consume, is not being purchased by the public because of the connotations of falsity associated with the term "imitation".

The question is which option undermines the argument most
E renders the health argument used by the manufacturers of imitation butter invalid. it states that the public chooses a healthier product than the imitation butter. 
A on the other hand does not touch this at all. It just states what the reason for the manufacturers to want to change the name is. Which is irrelevant to this particular question.

manjot123 · Answer

GMATNinja  sir please explain why e and not a?

auradediligodo · Answer

When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enacted requiring that manufacturers use the term “imitation butter” to indicate butter whose butterfat content had been diminished through the addition of water. Today, it is known that the high cholesterol content of butterfat makes it harmful to human health. Since the public should be encouraged to eat foods with lower rather than higher butterfat content and since the term “imitation” with its connotations of falsity deters many people from purchasing products so designated, manufactures who wish to give reduced-butterfat butter the more appealing name of “lite butter” should be allowed to do so.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument?

Weaken question

Pre-thinking

Our task here is to find a reason for which hanging the name of the butter won't give the expected result, that is encouraging people to choose food good for their health.
  What if the imitation butter has some hidden negative consequence to the health of people?   
The argument is assuming that   the imitation butter does not have hidden bad consequences to health

POE:

(A) The manufacturers who prefer to use the word “lite” instead of “imitation” are motivated principally by the financial interest of their stock holders. 
 Irrelevant

(B) The manufacturers who wish to call their product “lite butter” plan to change the composition of the product so that it contains more water than it now does. 
 Strengthener

(C) Some individuals who need to reduce their intake of cholesterol are not deterred from using the reduced-butterfat product by the negative connotations of the term 
“imitation.” 
 Was tempted but when confronting C&E  most in choice E sounded stronger

(D) Cholesterol is only one of many factors that contribute to the types of health problems with which the consumption of excessive amounts of cholesterol is often associated. 
 irrelevant

(E)   Most people deterred from eating “imitation butter” because of its name choose alternatives with a lower butterfat content than this product has.
 This option weakens the argument as it states that if the name were to change, people would make a choice more detrimental to their health hadn't the name not changed.

Source: LSAT

sharathnair14 · Answer

Hey  GMATNinja   nightblade354  egmat 
Does E present an alternate reason why people weren't buying imitation butter? 
Tricky one, this.

nightblade354 · Answer

Ninja and others have explained (E) above. Let me know if these explanations are insufficient.

VerbalBot · Answer

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When butterfat was considered nutritious and healthful, a law was enac

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