When purchasing a new automobile, consumers are generally wary of car

+1 A

My explanations are in red and blue:

C

Argument states :
Consumer perceive Sales People dishonest
CEO declares Sales People honest

So if CEO himself perceived to be dishonest, whatever he says would also be considered dishonest, which in-turn means CEO statement would not help either.

Hi VeritasKarishma

I understand C is a winner but please clarify a doubt in A.

A says:Consumers pay less attention to television and radio advertising campaigns than they did before the widespread use of the internet

Consumers: It doesn't say : less or more or some . so in particular all in general ( e.g. consumers prefer to watch movies at home due to social distancing .( so a movie would not benefit if people don't go to watch movies in theaters )

Shall we understand as below:
less attention : so some consumers may still notice CEO speech and would have at least some influence to some people ( some people who pay attention) . hence reject A

please clarify

thanks

Lets break down the argument -

1. Car salespeople have a reputation for being dishonest and customers are aware of this.
2. A CEO of a car company wants to change this perception/tackle this problem, at-least for his own company.
3. For doing that, he is running certain advertisement campaigns in which he personally guarantees that all his salespeople are 100% honest.

Conclusion - This strategy may fail to achieve its desired result.

Lets look at the options keeping only this in mind and NOTHING ELSE. What could be the reason that this strategy won't achieve the desired result?

A - Consumers pay less attention to television and radio advertising campaigns than they did before the widespread use of the internet - This option compares the effectiveness of television and radio advertising campaigns now vs before the popularity of internet. How does that help us? - Do we know for certain that CEO's plan won't work? - We don't. Even if the effectiveness has reduced some people are still looking at these advertisements and may end up believing the CEO.
B - Consumers favor compact cars over SUV's and HOffpeck motors has failed to align its vehicle offerings with this changing market - This options says that consumers prefer SUVs and Hoffpeck's offering of cars may not appeal to people. How does this help us? - Does this option say anything at all about the new advertisement campaigns around the honesty/dishonesty? - No. Irrelevant.
C - Consumers are likely to view the CEO of Hoffpeck motors as dishonest, himself, in light of his presence in a campaign to sell cars - This option says that consumers will also assume that the CEO is dishonest, due to this new campaign. This gives us a very solid reason as to why the campaign won't work. Lets keep C and move on.
D - Consumers view prominent business people as more trustworthy than salespeople - This would mean that the campaign would be effective and its the opposite of what we want.
E - Consumers rank affordability and style ahead of showroom experience as the primary factors in their decisions to purchase new cars. How does this help us? - Does this option say anything at all about the new advertisement campaigns around the honesty/dishonesty? - No. Irrelevant.

Option (A) says consumers pay less attention today to tv and radio than they did yesterday. But the attention they pay may still be enough. Hence we reject (A).

Had an option said that consumers do not pay enough attention (enough to make the plan work) to radio and tv today, then we could have said that the plan will not work.

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