While Envy-Based Marketing is a Popular Tactic Among Brands GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading passage question

While envy-based marketing is a popular tactic among brands seen as status symbols, new research suggests that its results may be mixed depending on the psychology of the customer. Among potential customers who have high levels of self esteem, envy-based marketing serves to motivate them to attain the brand in order to prove that they are as good as or better than their neighbor. Among customers with lower levels of self-esteem, however, envy-based marketing can backfire and lead users to identify less with the brand. Researchers believe that seeing others who potential customers view as more successful can further lower the customers’ self esteem. Rejecting the brand when they believe it is out of their reach can then be seen as an act of ego preservation: if the item wasn’t worth pursuing in the first place, then the customer’s self image is preserved if they are unable to gain the product.

Based on this research, scientists suggest that luxury brands that know that their average potential customer has high self-esteem can effectively utilize pure envy-based marketing, but that brands that either don’t have the market research to understand the psychology of their potential customers or that have a mixed market may need to try a different tactic. Instead of only using envy-based marketing, researchers recommend a mixed approach. Marketing materials should first work as an ego boost for potential customers before concluding with an envy-based message.

“While envy-based marketing is a popular tactic among brands GMAT Reading Comprehension.”- is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 4 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analysing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

Question 1
Which of the following, if true, would most call into question the validity of the researchers’ recommendation?

1. Envy-based marketing only works when dealing with luxury brands; for brands that are not associated with status, it is ineffective.
2. While envy-based marketing does alienate some potential customers, overall it is successful with more customers than is any other strategy.
3. Luxury brands with mixed markets that use envy-based marketing strategies have consumer bases that are relatively stable.
4. The need for ego preservation decreases as individuals get older, indicating that envy-based marketing could increase in effectiveness as consumers age.
5. Boosting potential customers’ ego before utilizing an envy-based marketing strategy tends to increase self-image.

Question 2
What is the purpose of the last sentence of the first paragraph in the context of the paragraph as a whole?

1. It explains why most low self esteem individuals reject luxury brands.
2. It gives support for a suggested course of action outlined within the passage.
3. It refutes a claim made by the author elsewhere in the passage.
4. It provides an explanation for a behavior mentioned in the paragraph.
5. It serves to criticize a particular marketing choice discussed in the paragraph.

Question 3
Which of the following, if true, would most support the researchers’ claim about ego preservation in the last sentence of the first paragraph?

1. Individuals with low self esteem responded more positively to a mixed approach to marketing than they did to envy-based marketing alone.
2. Envy-based marketing does not lead to a decrease in self esteem in individuals with already low self esteem if those individuals reject the product.
3. Marketing specialists who do extensive research into the average self esteem of a brand's potential customers tend to have fewer individuals reject the brand than those who do not.
4. Individuals with low self esteem tend to frequently reject luxury brands following exposure to envy-based marketing techniques.
5. Brands that use a mixed approach tend to experience an increase in sales if the majority of potential customers are individuals with lower-than-average self esteem

Question 4
The author uses the words “luxury” and “status symbols” in order to

1. clarify that the conclusions of the research are only about specific types of brands.
2. emphasize that these brands are out of reach for many participants.
3. remind readers why potential customers’ self esteem may have been lower.
4. explain the implications of the research within the marketing industry.
5. make an argument for why customers might reject these brands.

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