PT70.S4.Q03 - humorous television advertisements

sweezyseason

Hey guys would really appreciate some help with this question

I chose C during my timed test and blind review and I'm pretty confused as to why its incorrect and I've searched all over for an explanation that makes sense to me but haven't found anything

Thanks in advance!
https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-70-section-4-question-03/

Stevie C

I got this wrong the first time, and it was because I didn't identify the conclusion properly.

The conclusion is the first sentence and it translates to "Effective Ads ---> Humorous"

Our premises translate to "Humorous --> Convey Message" and "Effective Ads ---> Convey Message"

C is wrong because the argument never takes a necessary condition and treats it like a sufficient condition. That would be like taking our premises and concluding "Convey Message ---> Humorous" or "Convey Message ---> Effective" -- and our conclusion is doing neither.

But look closely: the sufficient condition in our conclusion (Effective) was also a sufficient in the premises.

If anything, the argument treats a sufficient condition like a necessary condition. Humor is sufficient for "Convey Message" but not necessary. There could be a lot of other ways of conveying a message. To properly conclude "Effective ---> Humor" we would need humor to be necessary for conveying a message i.e. "Effective ---> Convey Message ---> Humor"

And that's why C is wrong. It's flipping around the actual flaw. Meanwhile, A is stating the actual flaw but in plain language.