The following is taken from a memo from the advertising director of the Super Screen Movie Production Company."According to a recent report from our marketing department, during the past year, fewer people attended Super Screen-produced movies than in any

The author argues here that increasing the advertising budget will draw more movie- goers to attend Super Screen produced movies. Stated in this way the argument displays several instances of poor reasoning and makes a host incorrect assumptions, which degrades its cogency, thus rendering the argument rather unsubstantiated. Simply increasing the amount of advertising will not assure a greater footfall to any movie. A host of other factors including the date of movie release, the show times allocated, the number of theaters where the movie will be screened and several more, will have to be considered.

The most pertinent question one should ask while dissecting probable causes of poor attendance at any movie is the release date of that particular movie, and whether any other big- budget movies released during the same period. It may so happen that Super Screen movies always prefer to release their movies at specific holiday periods so as to maximize movie attendance. However a majority of high budget movies may also prefer to release their movies during the same periods with a similar objective. This may be a probable reason behind the poor attendance at movies produced by Super Screen.

Secondly, consider the statement where the author states how the movie reviewers have given positive reviews to specific Super Screen movies. The emphasis should be on the word specific. We do not know in reality, the actual number of movies which have indeed garnered positive reviews. The question immediately arises that what percentage of Super Screen produced movies have indeed generated a positive review among critics. It may be seven out of ten or even two out of ten. Since this is direct measure of the quality of movies produced by Super Screen, it is imperative that we know the answer to this question.

Finally, it may be so that the quality of movies produced by Super Screen have nothing to do with the attendance. One of the most gripping issues one must consider in this context is that related to piracy. Nowadays, majority of people choose to watch pirated movies in their homes, free of cost. Thus even if movies produced by Super Screen are of good quality, it does not mean that people will throng to the movie theaters to catch. To determine whether piracy is the culprit behind the meager sales of Super Screen movies, one can collect data related to movie attendance for the past five or ten years, and then inspect the trend to see whether it is a declining one or not. If the attendance to all movies have indeed declined, then piracy can be considered as one of the primary reasons behind it.

In conclusion it can be inferred that the lack of proper supporting evidence behind the author’s assumptions, the argument remains unpersuasive as it stands. To bolster this argument, the author must provide answers to the questions raised above, incorporating the results of some the surveys suggested. Only then can one draw a definitive conclusion as to whether lack of advertising is indeed the most relevant cause behind poor attendance at Super Screen movies, and whether increase in advertising budget is necessary.