Argument Essay 4
The following appeared in a memorandum written by the vice president of Nature's Way, a chain of stores selling health food and other health-related products. "Previous experience has shown that our stores are most profitable in areas where residents are highly concerned with leading healthy lives. We should therefore build our next new store in Plainsville, which has many such residents. Plainsville merchants report that sales of running shoes and exercise clothing are at all-time highs. The local health club, which nearly closed five years ago due to lack of business, has more members than ever, and the weight training and aerobics classes are always full. We can even anticipate a new generation of customers: Plainsville's schoolchildren are required to participate in a 'fitness for life' program, which emphasizes the benefits of regular exercise at an early age."
The given argument is a part of a memorandum written by the vice president of Nature's Way, a chain of stores selling health-related products. The aim of the memorandum is to identify a feasible market that will sustain a new Nature's Way store. The vice president specifically refers to the town of Plainsville, and indicates a few pointers that he believes makes Plainsville a suitable target for a new store within its environs.
On prima facie examination, the one glaring problem seems to be the irrelevance of many of the points that the vice president raises. She refers to a local health club and its variation in business, and also talks about a health program that is being practised in the schools of Plainsville. The problem, though, is that there appears no valid relation between these two factors and the feasibility of a store selling health products. The arguments do not seem to strengthen or refute the possibility of a new store in Plainsville being a success - they add no information that can be utilized to make a decision either way.
A health club's variations in fortunes has no direct bearing on the marketability of health products in an area - the market for both could differ significantly. A health club may have people in the age range of 20-30 trying to stay trim and fit, as its primary attendees. A health store, on the other hand, probably would rely on an age group more in the 40-80 years region, because this age group of people would suffer from problems such as diabetes, hypertension, etc. which are diseases that are primarily controlled by good eating habits and regular exercise, rather than a heavy regimen of fitness training.
The health club's details are very vague. Sufficient information has not been provided as to why the health club's fortunes had dipped half a decade ago; no information has been provided as to why its fortunes have improved either. It is very possible that rather than a change in the mindset of the residents of Plainsville, it could have been a change in the health club's policies such as pricing, or even a change in its management, that could have resulted in its sudden performance increase.
A hasty generalization is made in the extract - the vice president states baselessly in the memorandum that Plainsville has "many such" residents, referring to residents who are highly concerned with leading healthy lives. This presupposes that there exist many areas where the residents are *not* concerned with leading healthy lives. It is a verity that everybody is concerned with their health; the only question is whether or not anybody takes any concrete steps about improving it. Being "highly concerned" does not imply that the residents will actively utilize a health store.
A reference to a "new generation" of customers in Plainsville is also made in the memorandum. The example indicated is that of the "fitness for life" regime launched in the schools of Plainsville. It is not know how this scheme is in any way beneficial to the presence of a health store in the area. Also, when the vice-president refers to these children as a potential market, he is being at least a little impractical. The children will not be a part of the potential market of a health store for at least 20 years, on average. It is also debatable as to whether these children will remain in Plainsville in 20 years time, or will migrate to bigger or better places due to circumstance. Also, the 'fitness for life' program may backfire on a Nature's Way store - if the program is very successful, it may redundate the need for a health store in the area due to the overall good health of all the residents there.
The overall impression of the given section of the vice-president's memorandum is that insufficient information is provided for a valid judgement to be made on the issue of a new store. On this basis, the conclusion made is that the given argument is not sufficiently well reasoned for a concrete decision to be based on it.