Argument Task: According to a recent report from our marketing department, during the past year, fewer people attended Super Screen-produced movies than in any other year.

. Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.



The author claims that fewer people attended Super Screen-produced movies than in any other years. He also states that if the company did more advertising, their attendance records would vastly improve. The author makes multiple assumptions throughout his argument, and his reasoning to support his claims are not sufficient. Therefore, this argument can be considered incomplete and obscure.

To begin, the author quickly assumes that the reason fewer people attended his movies was because of the lack of advertising. He points out that the number of positive reviews increased, but not enough people knew about these reviews. The author claims that if more people saw the positive reviews about the movies, the number of views would increase. The author is making a very substantial assumption in this reasoning. However, the decrease in viewers could be a result of other factors, not just the lack of advertising. For example, people could be seeing the advertisements and positive reviews, but they just might not be interested in seeing that particular movie. The company should consider changing the types of movies they produce instead.

Another flaw in the authors argument is that he makes an assumption that the problem will be fixed with one solution. He states that if the company increases their advertising, the number of views will automatically increase. However, the author should not make this hasty assumption. Even if the company does advertise more, it does not necessarily mean the number of views will increase directly. The company might need to change some other factors. For example, maybe the director needs to make some changes to the quality of the movies he is creating. The author sounds very arrogant in stating that, "the problem lies not with the quality of our movies but with the public's lack of awareness that movies of good quality are available." In fact, the problem of the companies' viewing numbers could very likely be a result of the quality of the movies. Therefore, the author should consider looking at the negative reviews of his movies to see what he could improve upon. This could likely help the companies' lack of attendance to the movies.

In conclusion, the author claims that in order to increase the number of viewers, the company needs to advertise more. The author makes multiple assumptions within his argument, and the reasoning also lacks significance. Therefore, this argument can be considered insubstantial.