argument101(SPRING第12次作业)

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Argument101 The following appeared in a memo from the president of a company that makes breakfast cereals. "In a recent study, subjects who ate soybeans at least five times per week had significantly lower cholesterol levels than subjects who ate no soy products. By fortifying our Wheat-O cereal with soy protein, we can increase sales by appealing to additional consumers who are concerned about their health. This new version of Wheat-O should increase company profits and, at the same time, improve the health of our customers."




The speaker asserts that to make more money the company should add soy protein to the cereal product. However, careful examination of the supporting evidence reveals that it cannot support the claim successfully.
To begin with, the claim is based on that consumers are concerned about health. However, the speaker does not offer evidence to illustrate it. Therefore, it is too haste for the speaker to be sure that the sales would increase by taking consumers as healthy-concerned. It is very likely that since cereal is only breakfast so not that much buyer care about it. Moreover, even consumers do pay enough attention to their bodies; it is still to early to say more new consumers would guarantee more profit. Since fortifying soy protein would doubtless raise the cost, inevitably, the price would go up. As a result, some of the old buyers who choose it simply because of its low price would switch to another brand. If, possibly, the number of disappointed consumers weighs that of new buyers, the sales volume would decrease rather than increase as expected.
Secondly, since the added soy protein in the product may change its taste, which are inevitable, consumers may not enjoy it and the profit would be affected negatively. Evidence is that the low-sodium salt is healthy for it helps to reduce hypertension but it does not sell well for its strange flavor. Like the healthy salt, it is very possible for the company to enjoy a increased sale for a while and then find it dropped dramatically.
Lastly, some details in the research would make the buyer hesitate before purchasing the fortified product. In the study, the soy protein works only if taken more than 5 times a week. Nevertheless, not every consumer can do so. They may not have the opportunity to have breakfast for 5 times and, most importantly, have the same thing every week is dull and sounds unattractive, which would reduce the selling volume. Additionally, refer to the research, soybeans only help to lower cholesterol levels. Nevertheless, cholesterol levels are not the equivalent to health. As a result, no one would be interested in the new product if his cholesterol level were normal. In addition, the research subject is soybean, not soy protein. Therefore, there is no evidence to believe that adding the latter material would have the same effect.
As discussed above, the claim is unconvincing as it stands. To strengthen it, the speaker needs to provide more evidence to show that fortified products would sell well.

字数:430
思路:

1加入大豆可能影响口味,顾客变少.

2加入大豆可能盈利的前提是,人们对健康比较关注.否则,价格的上涨很可能导致收入和利润的减少.

3提高顾客健康的前提是,他们至少一周吃5次,这个不太可能.

4有可能吸引到的新顾客比流失的老顾客少

5 可能消费者的cholesterol levels并不高。

6 soybeans和soy protein是不一样的。可能没有那个功效了。