GMAT Verbal Reasoning Practice Test 4

Question : 38 of 100

Marks: +1, -0

Surveys show that every year only 10 percent of cigarette smokers switch brands. Yet the manufacturers have been spending an amount equal to 10 percent of their gross receipts on cigarette promotion in magazines. It follows from these figures that inducing cigarette smokers to switch brands did not pay, and that cigarette companies would have been no worse off economically if they had dropped their advertising.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion that cigarette companies could have dropped advertising without suffering economically?

Cigarette advertisements provide a major proportion of total advertising revenue for numerous magazines.
Cigarette promotion serves to attract first-time smokers to replace those people who have stopped smoking.
There exists no research conclusively demonstrating that increases in cigarette advertising are related to increases in smoking.
Advertising is so firmly established as a major business activity of cigarette manufacturers that they would be unlikely to drop it.
Brand loyalty is typically not very strong among those who smoke inexpensive cigarettes.

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