The following appeared in an article in a consumer-products magazine: “Two of today’s best-selling

brands of full-strength prescription medication for the relief of excess stomach acid, AcidEase and
Pepticaid, are now available in milder nonprescription forms. Doctors have written 76 million more
prescriptions for full-strength Acid-Ease than for full-strength Pepticaid. So people who need an
effective but milder nonprescription medication for the relief of excess stomach acid should choose
Acid-Ease.

The argument stated the fact that doctors have prescribed 76 million more prescriptions for full-
strength Acid-Ease than full-strengh Pepti Acid. Thus people should choose Acid-Ease in case if they
want to consume the drug for the healing of excess stomach acid without prescription. Stated in this
way, the conclusion is grounded on weak and unconvincing argument by manipulating fact and conveys
a distorted view of situation.

First, the fact that doctors have written PeptiAcid much more than the Acid-Ease as a medication for the
excess stomach acid can’t automatically be inferred that PeptiAcid is more popular among doctors.
Perhaps, Acid-Ease has been only established for 5 years, while PeptiAcid has been operated for more
than 20 years. Therefore, it is normal if the total number of PeptiAcid stomach drug sold in the market
far exceed that of Acid-Ease. Moreover, there is a chance that in the last 5 years, doctors prefer to
prescribe Acid-Ease rather than PeptiAcid, thus making the data of total prescription for both product
irrelevant for supporting the argument.

Second, also based on the data of total prescription for both product, the author assumes that
PeptiAcid is more effective compared to Acid-Ease, since doctors has been prescribed Peptiacid by 76
million more than Acid-Ease. However, there is no strict correlation between the effectiveness of certain
drug with the doctor’s preference of prescribing that drug. There are several other variables which
affect the willingness of the doctor to prescribe certain drug. For instance, doctors prefer to prescribe
Peptiacid since most of doctors have agreement with PeptiAcid to prescribe its medicine. In exchange
for that, doctors will receive commission for every PeptiAcid prescribed by them. Furthermore, perhaps
the supply of PeptiAcid in the drug market is always enough to meet the demand of stomach drug. Since
doctors don’t want to see their patients waiting for the drug, they prefer to prescribe PeptiAcid. Thus,
comparing the data of total prescription for both products is not conclusive enough to determine the
effectiveness of them.

Third, the author assumes that the effectiveness of PeptiAcid nonprescription is analogously related
with the effectiveness full-strength prescriptive medication, this not always be the case. Each medicine
has different chemical substances which differ it from other medicine, thus it must be treated
indepedently. Suppose that the effectiveness of PeptiAcid full-strength prescriptive medication has
proven by the reserarch, but on the other hand there is no research established for determining the
effectiveness of PeptiAcid nonprescription. As a result, there is no empirical evidence which become the
basis of concluding the effectiveness of the latter drug.

In conclusion, the argument used by the ad is flawed for the above-mentioned reasons and
consequently resulted in the unconvincing argument. In order to strengthen the argument in the
advertisement, the creator of this advertisement should back up his or her point with some conclusive
evidence such as the data of current year prescription for both products and the empirical evidence of
effectiveness of Acid-Ease nonprescription drug. By taking into account the previous recommendation,
the argument would have been more thorough and convincing.