Self-study
A television commercial argued as follows: Support both the product advertised and its competitor contain the same active ingredients, but Support the product advertised contains them in higher concentrations; Support tests show that the higher concentrations are completely safe; since Support a product that provides faster relief is always preferable, Conclusion one should use the product advertised.
Summarize Argument
The commercial concludes that consumers should choose their product over the competitor’s. As support, the commercial states that both products use the same active ingredients, but their product contains the active ingredients in higher concentrations. Higher concentrations have been proven to be safe, and faster relief is better, so people should use their product.
Identify and Describe Flaw
From the fact that their product contains a higher concentration of an active ingredient, the commercial makes the assumption that the product will provide faster relief. The connection between concentration of active ingredients and speed of relief is unsupported.
From the argument, we know that faster relief is preferable, but we don’t have a reason to believe that the advertised product will be faster.
9.
The television commercial's argument is ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██
a
takes for granted ████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ██████████████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ █████ ███████████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The argument does not assume a connection between higher concentrations of active ingredients and product effectiveness. Rather, it assumes a link between higher concentration and faster relief.
b
attempts to establish ███ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██ ████████
This is descriptively inaccurate. None of the evidence used in the argument is impossible to prove.
c
dismisses its competitor's ██████ ███████ ██ █████ ██████ ██████ ████ █████ ███████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The commercial does not attack the source of the competitor’s claims. The commercial just tries to establish that their product is preferable to their competitor’s product.
d
attempts to manipulate ███ ████████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██████ ████ ██████████ █████████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██████████
This is descriptively inaccurate. The commercial isn’t making an argument based on emotions; the argument is based on factual information.
e
takes for granted ████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████████
This is the assumption made in the argument. We know that their product has a higher concentration, and we know that faster relief is always better, but there is no reason to believe that their product will provide that faster relief.