Argument101 =so what=小组第五次作业 by ZhouPYF

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不好意思交晚了

ZhouPYFUID: 2633778

TOPIC: 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."

ZhouPYFUID: 2633778

WORDS: 441          TIME: 00:54:03          DATE: 6/30/2009 10:14:23 PM
In this argument the president claims that since a recent study shows the soybean has played an essential role in lowering the cholesterol level, they should add soy protein in the cereals, by doing which can they boost company's profits and improve the health of the customers. However, although this conclusion seems reasonable at first thought, a series of unsubstantiated assumptions and several logical flaws have seriously undermined this proposal.

To begin with, the credibility of the study is under doubt, we can not simply conclude the result from the comparison. We do not know the background of the study and the detail information of the subjects, nor does he show us the original cholesterol levels of the subjects, it is entirely possible that the two groups of subjects had different cholesterol levels, maybe the lower group is originally lower than the other group. So the function of the soy protein can not be generated from such a false analogy.

Moreover, even if we concede the soybeans can help people lower the cholesterol level, it is still uncertain that whether the action of fortifying the cereal with soy protein can promote the sales or not. Whether the customers will buy the products for the purpose of being healthy is under doubt. Perhaps the consumers who are concerned about health do not buy cereals often. Maybe the health is not the most important factor that will affect the sales of cereals, customers are more concerned of prices and brands of the cereals, thereby the efforts of adding soy protein is useless and will not increase the sales of the cereals.

Finally, the cost of new version of Wheat-O, into which extra soy protein is added, is unclear, so the additional profits can not be guaranteed. The company will surely have to spend lot of money on the promotion and the technology for adding the soy protein into the normal cereal, consequently, the prices of the cereal will raise, but we are not sure whether the we still have the same margin as we had before, not to mention consumers may not accept the higher price and turn to buy cereals of other brands.

In sum, the conclusion lack the reliability and credibility because the evidence cited in the study does not lend strong support to what the arguer maintains. To strengthen the argument, the arguer should provide more about the detail information of the subjects of the study and the percentage of consumers who are concerning about their health. To better evaluate the argument, we would need the cost of promoting a new kind of cereal and the technology of adding soy protein.