"Surprising" Phenomenon
Even though the summer is usually the best for soft-drink sales and Foamy Soda lowered its prices, sales of Foamy Soda dropped during the summer months.
Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that does not help to explain why sales of Foamy Soda decreased in the summer, even though the company lowered its prices and the summer months are usually the best for soft-drink sales.
A
The soft-drink industry as a whole experienced depressed sales during the summer months.
This contributes to reconciling the discrepancy because Foamy Soda’s low sales may be a result of an industry-wide decrease in demand. It could be that consumers just did not want as much soda this summer, regardless of the brand.
B
Foamy Soda’s competitors lowered their prices even more drastically during the summer months.
This contributes to reconciling the discrepancy. If Foamy Soda’s competitors lowered their prices more than Foamy Soda did, consumers may have decided to go with the more heavily discounted options.
C
Because of an increase in the price of sweeteners, the production costs of Foamy Soda rose during the summer months.
This does not contribute to reconciling the discrepancy. An increase in production costs does not explain why sales decreased, especially since Foamy Soda lowered its prices.
D
A strike at Foamy Soda’s main plant forced production cutbacks that resulted in many stores not receiving their normal shipments during the summer months.
The stores not receiving their normal shipments, and thus not being able to sell Foamy Soda as they usually do, could explain why sales of the product decreased during the summer months.
E
The weather during the summer months was unseasonably cool, decreasing the demand for soft drinks.
A decrease in demand for soft drinks could explain why Foamy Soda experienced a decrease in sales, even with lower prices.