The government recently released a study of drinking water, in which it was reported that consumers who bought bottled water were in many cases getting water that was less safe than what they could obtain much more cheaply from the public water supply. ██ █████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ █████████ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ █████████ ██ █████
After a highly-publicized study showing that bottled water is often less safe than cheaper public water, why are people buying even more bottled water? The correct answer will explain this confusing situation by giving us a compelling reason that people would act seemingly against their own interests this way.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ████████
Bottled water might ███████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████████████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████
This just elaborates on how specifically bottled water might be unsafe. But the details of what's wrong with bottled water don't explain why people are still buying it.
Most consumers who ██████████ █████ ███ ███████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ █████████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ████████
If anything, (B) makes the stimulus more confusing by eliminating a possible explanation. If consumers can't even tell the taste apart, why would they double down on drinking more expensive, less safe bottled water?
Increased consumption of ███ ████ ████████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ████ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ██████
Here's our explanation: the bottled water people are buying is actually more safe. Now the situation isn't paradoxical at all: people are spending more for the safest option available.
The rate of ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ██████ █████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████
But why is the rate still increasing at all? We can't ignore that the rate is increasing just because the increase has slowed. (D) still doesn't explain why so many people are buying bottled water, even after they learned it was less safe.
Government health warnings ██████████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ █████████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████████ ██████
If consumers are already on edge about food safety, why wouldn't they switch to the safer, cheaper option of public water? (E) could be a good option if it said that consumers doubted government warnings, but as it is, it just makes the situation more confusing.