Accenture: wrong or just sloppy?

Accenture is a major consulting firm, but has laid off a number of people in recent years -- evidently including final editors. The report they prepared with GMA (Grocery Manufacturers Association) called “CPG Innovation and Growth” contains a basic logical/statistical error in its first paragraph: you can’t say things have changed if you only have one period of data.

The report notes “Consumers have adjusted their free-spending ways very quickly … consumers are less likely to try new products, with recent research revealing that 75% of consumers are choosing five or fewer new, entirely unique items.” 

But how many did they choose before? We don’t know. There would be plenty of room, since the enclosed graphic could easily accommodate a comparison to, say, 2006.

 I can't find an ungated version of this new report yet.