The following appeared in a memorandum written by the vice president of Health Naturally, a small but expanding chain of stores selling health food and other health-related products.
“Our previous experience has been that our stores are most profitable in areas where residents are highly concerned with leading healthy lives. We should therefore build one of our new stores in Plainsville, which clearly has many such residents. Plainsville merchants report that sales of running shoes and exercise equipment 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 program called Fitness for Life, which emphasizes the benefits of regular exercise at an early age.”
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
The vice president of Health Naturally bases her argument on a perception held by Plainsville residents about their town’s residents. She apparently does not realize that her company’s retail locations typically fail to make a profit in areas where residents have no motivation to lead a healthy lifestyle. This failure stems from the fact that Plainsville residents often believe that junk food is cheaper than healthy food, and that junk food is tastier and more addictive. If Health Naturally really wants to succeed, it should place its stores in locations where residents are likely to make healthier choices.
Many towns, such as Plainsville, have incorporated gyms, health clubs, and other exercise facilities into their municipal structures in an effort to encourage residents to lead healthier lives. This type of support is commendable, but such facilities do not take into account the individual needs of their customers. If Plainsville residents want to exercise, they generally do so on their own. They may not attend classes offered by the local health club, but they will walk to nearby parks to exercise. Health Naturally should therefore not place one of its stores in Plainsville. Instead, it should locate its stores in neighborhoods where residents have easy access to exercise facilities. Perhaps this company would then see an increase in its sales.
The vice president of Health Naturally also assumes that Plainsville residents will purchase running shoes and exercise equipment from Health Naturally stores. This is based on the assertion, however, that the Plainsville population has suddenly become more health-conscious because of Fitness for Life. This is a dubious assumption that is unsupported by facts. It seems more likely that school district officials made Fitness for Life mandatory in an attempt to improve student health. Schools frequently make exercise mandatory for students who are overweight, or for poor students whose parents cannot afford to buy sports equipment. However, such issues are not reflected in statistics about the health of Plainsville’s population.
Health Naturally should also realize that Plainsville’s student population is shrinking. It is entirely possible that this is the result of decreased birth rates, or that Plainsville is losing its young people to the nearby city of Denver. These trends, along with the fact that Plainsville residents are generally older than those in the rest of the country, indicate that Plainsville’s population is not likely to increase in the future. If Health Naturally wants to increase its revenue, the company should refrain from investing in Plainsville.
When the vice president of Health Naturally makes references to Plainsville’s “running shoes,” she is likely referring to the popularity of racing and jogging among teenagers. This may be true, but the company should be careful about making the same assumption in other communities. For example, if a company expanded from a small chain of health food stores to include a national chain of sporting goods stores, it would be wise not to place one of its stores in the small town of Laramie, Wyoming. Laramie residents do not run long distances, nor do they jog. Even if they do, they are most likely to do so at the local high school track, rather than outside on public trails. The company would be wasting its money by attempting to compete with chain stores catering to runners, cyclists, and other athletes.
Health Naturally should realize that Plainsville residents will not purchase its products unless they make healthier choices. If consumers in Plainsville believe that junk food is cheaper than healthy food, or if they believe that they can lose weight by consuming less food, they will probably not purchase Health Naturally products. The company should therefore not invest in Plainsville. Instead, the company should open its stores in communities where residents believe that junk food is unhealthy and that eating smaller portions will help them lose weight.