LSAT (Law School Admission Test)Logical ReasoningMedium
Marketing Director: 'Our new advertising campaign, which focuses on emotional appeal rather than product features, has been a resounding success. Sales of our flagship product have increased by 20% since the campaign launched.'
- ACustomer surveys indicate that emotional appeal is generally more effective than feature-based advertising.
- BThe advertising campaign was significantly more expensive than previous campaigns.
- CThe company's main competitor experienced a significant product recall just before the campaign launched.
- DThe sales increase is concentrated in a specific demographic that was already inclined to purchase the product.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. The company's main competitor experienced a significant product recall just before the campaign launched.
The Marketing Director attributes the sales increase solely to the new advertising campaign. Option A introduces an alternative cause—a competitor's product recall—that could independently explain the rise in the company's sales, thereby weakening the director's conclusion about the campaign's success.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. This would strengthen the director's premise about the *effectiveness* of emotional appeals but doesn't address whether *this specific campaign* caused the sales increase.
- B. The cost of the campaign doesn't affect whether it caused the sales increase, only its profitability.
- D. While this might indicate a limitation of the campaign's reach, it doesn't offer an alternative cause for the *overall* 20% sales increase.
Alternative Cause (Weakening)
An argument is weakened if a plausible alternative factor, independent of the stated cause, could also explain the observed effect.
- Challenges the exclusivity of the proposed cause.
- Does not directly disprove the original cause, but reduces its certainty.
- Often presented as a confounding variable or a separate, co-occurring event.
Memory trick: Causal chains can break with other rains!