Tipsy Beverages, the best selling soft drink nationally among soda drinkers aged 20 to 35, recently completed an expensive and successful ad campaign. The makers of Fresh Beverages, a less popular soft drink that has been on the market for many years, claim that without the recent ad campaign, Tipsy would be no more popular than Fresh Beverages.Which of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the assertion of the makers of Fresh Beverages?  

As per the claim made by Fresh Beverages, it is solely because of the recently popular advertising campaign of Tipsy Beverages that it has become so popular in the market. This argument can be best weakened by proving that Tipsy was popular even without this advertisement campaign. Option (b) says that prior to the recent campaign, Tipsy had never advertised but had significantly outsold all other soft drinks on the market for several years, and thus, the claim made by Fresh cannot be accepted here.Thus, option (2) is the right answer.