Friday, December 27, 2019
Why You Should Use Table Topics in Your Adult Education Classroom
Teachers of adults, whether they are corporate trainers or adult education instructors, know that adults learn differently than children and come to the classroom with lots to talk about. These students have life experience and want meaningful conversation, not superficial chit-chat. When discussion is a big part of your reason for being in the classroom, use Table TopicsTM to break the ice and help people engage. Then you can move easily into your planned topic. There are several different versions of Table TopicsTM, each with 135 questions in a four-inch acrylic cube. Pass the cube around and ask your students to pick a card or two, or sort them in advance, choosing the cards that apply to your lesson plan. Pros Great questions that eliminate superficial chatter and start meaningful conversations.Conversation from just one question can last an hour. It takes a long time to work through one cube.The question cards are made of a sturdy cardboard, so theyll stay nice a long time.There are several versions in different categories.The acrylic cube looks modern, and maybe a bit hip, sitting on your coffee table at home or on your classroom shelf. Cons Each cube costs $25, a little hefty for some wallets.If youre a traveling trainer, the cubes are on the weighty side, two pounds each, but the company does make travel versions. Description Four-inch clear acrylic cube.135 conversation-starting questions.A variety of categories from which to choose. Expert Review I picked up my first box of Table TopicsTM on a whim while shopping in one of those funky little shops you see in the artsy parts of any city. A four-inch clear acrylic cube holds 135 cards, each with a provocative question that is sure to inspire lively conversation. I bought the Original cube. It has questions like: What would you most like to do for someone else if you had the money and time?What fashion trend you followed was very cool then, but now looks ridiculous?If you could have any view from your back porch, what would it be? Tim and I still talk about the conversations that were inspired the first evening we opened the cube. He talked about his most memorable meal at Mothers in New Orleans. Were heading back soon to recreate that experience. Since then, Ive purchased the Gourmet and Spirit cubes. The Gourmet cube is fun if youre a foodie like Tim. Its full of questions like: Do you have a food philosophy?To what degree do you eat local, organic, sustainably grown food?Which cooking shows do you watch? Some people can talk about food forever. This cube is for them. The Spirit cube has more questions that I would consider religious rather than spiritual, so there are some I put back without answering, which is usually against my own personal rules, but there are also some very good ones: What makes something sacred?Is there value in suffering?Would you like to know how and when youll die? The Original cube is clearly my favorite. Its scope is broader and its topics are ones more appropriate for a general group of people, especially those who are strangers. In the classroom, unless youre teaching a specific topic covered by Table TopicsTM, Id go with the Original cube. Be sure to check out the Table Topics ice breaker!
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Essay about Internal Accountants Report to Management
Running head: INTERNAL ACCOUNTANTS REPORT TO MANAGEMENT Internal Accountantââ¬â¢s Report to Management ACCT 556 Introduction As the internal accountant of the European Newspaper Company, I have to perform various financial operations, and I am considered the expert in this field. As we all are faced with preparation for the upcoming government contract bid, we need to have a better understanding of how our company runs the business and issues that we can face if we enter into this contract. It is vital to visualize the actual impact of occupational fraud and abuse in the company. We also need to know how the US government oversees the accounting fraud and abuse and its affect on the company. Whatâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦Every company is required to obey the rules, and can have criminal charges for any violations. If our company becomes a government supplier, once the bid is accepted, it will come under scrutiny of the Government Accountability Office. The Government Accountability Office is an agency; however, they work for Congress and have watchdog duties. It has jurisdiction over bid pro test rulings; it can issue legal decisions relating to government contracts, and investigates allegations of illegal and improper activities. Section III Potential corruption schemes to be aware of within the company It is very important to be aware of the potential corruption schemes within the company. The most common form of corruption that can occur within the organization is bribery where the vendors are bribed to get business. This scheme involves exchange of value to get a contract or secure a project. The illegal payments can be made to maintain business relationships. One of the widely known corruption schemes is a conflict of interest. A conflict of interest is usually occurs when a company or an employee is involved in multiple interests that can corrupts the motivation for in act in others. Extortion is another type of corruption which can occur in any company. In this scheme, a vendor is ordering to make a payment forShow MoreRelatedInternal Accountants Report to Management Essay829 Words à |à 4 PagesInternal Accountants Report to Management It is my opinion that a full financial status review would be in the best interest of the Company. We have taken pride in the fact that we qualify for Government contracts. We should not let anyone else find any fault within our Company. In conducting such a review, we would be able to thoroughly examine aspects of not only our control systems but our personnel and practices. Through a full financial status review we will also be able to determineRead MoreFinancial Analysis: Internal Accountantââ¬â¢s Report to Management1101 Words à |à 5 PagesInternal Accountantââ¬â¢s Report to Management As the company prepares to embark on this exciting opportunity there are a few things that need to be review, therefore in preparation for our upcoming government contract bid it is important to perform a full financial status review before placing the bid. This report will discuss the effects of occupational fraud and abuse, U.S. Government oversight and how it affects the company, potential corruption schemes, and recommendations of types of accountingRead MoreCorporate Governance : Walmart Inc.1544 Words à |à 7 PagesCorporate governance provides the structure on how the companies will establish their objectives. 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This section requiresRead MoreSarbanes Oxley : Corporate Responsibility For Financial Reports Essay760 Words à |à 4 Pagesimpacted both management and accountants although in mostly similar ways. The following exploration will compare and contrast these views held by management and accountants regarding Sarbanes-Oxley. According to Green (2004) Sarbanes-Oxley legislation is comprised of various sections, of which five are the most significant. These sections are Section 302, Section 401, Section 404, Section 409, and Section 802. Section 302 pertains to Corporate Responsibility for Financial Reports. 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AdditionallyRead MoreFunctional Areas of Business1020 Words à |à 5 PagesFunctional Areas of Business Laââ¬â¢Kisha Thomas University of Phoenix Management MGT 521 Greg Luce February 11, 2013 Functional Areas of Business The functional areas of business are management, law, human resources management, leadership, accounting, finance, economics, research and statistics, operations management, marketing, and strategic planning. Although, all of the functional areas are essential to the success of a organization, two areas stand out as key to getting the business startedRead MoreComptronix Corporation Case Study2354 Words à |à 10 PagesAn accountant must establish an understanding with the client in an engagement letter. b. An accountant must obtain an understanding of the clientââ¬â¢s internal control when performing a review. c. A review provides an accountant with a basis for expressing limited assurance on the financial statements. d. A review report contains an accountantââ¬â¢s opinion of the financial statements taken as a whole. 2. Which of the following procedures does a CPA normally perform first in a review engagementRead MoreThe Role Of Management Accountants And The Past And Recent Years1365 Words à |à 6 PagesThe role of management accountant has been attracting a lot of interest since the principle of scientific management was published by Frederick Winslow Taylor in 1911, which marked the birth of management accounting theory. When researching the roles of management accountant in both past and recent years, it is obvious to find that things have changed a lot. This essay is going to briefly introduce both the past and the recent roles of management accountants first. Then discuss the reasons for managementRead MoreEssay about Role of Managerial Accounting1112 Words à |à 5 Pagesgovernments. Indeed, they have great professional technique in a rule of accountancy that government are able to measure and report financial information as organizations. This can also provide a lot of positive impacts in the running of a business. Research shows there are three main ways accountants can keep business costs down which involve internal and external actions. For internal control, the accountant has a responsibility to monitor finances of a company. Other responsibilities include keeping
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Factors Impeding Ethical Consumption Pepsico - Free Sample Solution
Questions: Write an analytical business report on what ethical consumerism means for businesses. Choose a company and explain and analyse how they operate ethically. This must take into account the ethics and values of the company you choose to focus on. The report must be written in business report format and include the following six numbered sections: An executive summary which gives a brief overview of the argument in your report including key findings and conclusions. A contents page which lists the sections and the page numbers. An introduction which gives an overview of the structure of your report. A brief overview and analysis of ethical consumerism, identifying the examples of some of the products which fall into the ethical category. You must include a definition of ethical consumerism and arguments as to why it is a good strategy for businesses to adopt. A detailed review of one company claiming to operate ethically. Discuss the approach(es) they have used to become a more socially conscious business, linking this with their ethics and values. The results of a short opinion survey on what influences consumer buying behaviour, carried out by you from a small sample of 10-15 students at GSM London. You need to conduct primary research for this section. A conclusion which includes critical evaluation of ethical consumerism based on the evidence that you have gathered both from your primary and secondary research, focusing on the company you have chosen for detailed review. Recommendations as to how your company could become more ethical. You must include a references list after the main body of the report. Remember to use Harvard referencing where appropriate. A copy of your opinion survey should be included in an appendix. Answers: Introduction Ethical consumerism is the current trend among the customers of the UK. Almost 80% customers prefer to buy those products sourced in an ethical way. The definition of ethical consumerism is supporting the fact that only products or their quality is not associated with the sense of ethical consumerism whereas the business practice of the company is also a factor. Many companies is using child labor, some are not paying properly to their employees, some are harming the environment and some are exploiting the society (Carrington, Neville and Whitwell 2014). All these factors are related with the ethical consumerism that customers are looking for. Looking at the sector growth in this segment most of the companies have started ethical practices within their organization. However, only practice will not increase the awareness therefore companies are promoting their initiative of ethical business to attract the ethical customer to increase the business (Katz 2011). The objective of this rep ort is to understand the ethical practice of PepsiCo within their business organization. The study also ascertains how, they are promoting such ethical consumerism. The company had a bad record in the past therefore the report will analyze how they are able to increase the ethical customer base. Ethical consumerism Ethical consumerism is the latest concept of the current business environment. Ethical consumerism refers to the preference of the customer to buy a product sourced and distributed ethically that may be as simple as choosing. According to Bray, Johns, and Kilburn (2011), ethical consumerism can be viewed from two different perspectives one is the customers perspective and the other is the organizations perspective. From the customers perspective it can be assessed that the companies that are well aware about the ethical responsibilities towards the society, will be benefiting more, therefore supporting those organization is better to develop an environmental safety assurance. On the other hand, White, MacDonnell, and Ellard (2012) have stated that organizations are viewing it as one of their strategies to get more business. The preference of the ethical product is growing among the global customers as well as the customers of the UK. Therefore, many organizations are emphasizing to p romote their product from the ethical point of view so that more customers prefer to buy their products with the ethical sentiment. Two categories of products are operating their businesses that are ethical and unethical. Many companies do their business by practicing a wrong way (Shen et al. 2012). It may so happen that few companies that do not pay properly to their employees come to the list of unethical business. This happens because employees are providing the material of business and the company is not looking after them. PepsiCo is one such company that operates their business in the food sector, which has changed its image from few unethical practices to become one of the ethical companies in the world. The company has changed their strategy of product that is associated with the health concerns of the customers (Yeon Kim and Chung 2011). The company is diversifying their business from the carbonated drinks to the natural and organic drink. Tropicana is one such brand from PepsiCo that is produced keeping in mind the health concerns of their customers (Papaoikonomou, Ryan and Ginieis 2011). Looking at the environmental aspect, the company is also trying to build their manufacturing units that are environmentally friendly so that they get maximum mileage in the industry. Since the preferences of the customers are increasing towards the ethical products, therefore implementing this strategy is producing better results for them. Companies that are practicing ethical business through their products and processes are emphasizing to increase the awareness towards the ethical product and they are conducting several programs to make customers understand that use of such product will help them to contribute for the betterment of the environment (Singh, Iglesias and Batista-Foguet 2012). Company review of PepsiCo PepsiCo is adopting an ethical business throughout various processes so that they can also get the benefit of ethical consumerism. The company has changed their strategy by implementing several sustainable approaches to their business. The company has taken a target to increase the use of recycled plastic for their packaging by 50% within 2018. The company is currently using 34% recycled plastic for their packaging. To implement this strategy PepsiCo is conducting several awareness programs for the customers so that they help to gather plastic instead of throwing it here and there. More adoption of the recycled plastic will help to reduce the cost of packaging by the company. To get success in the recycling of the bottles the company has collaborated with the Dream Machine recycling initiative for their waste management (Davies, Lee and Ahonkhai 2012). The project structure shows that there will be kiosks in different locations. Consumers will scan the barcode of the can or bottle an d put them into the collection box. If consumers are maintaining this process then they will get reward points that can be redeemed for movie ticket, coupons, and many others (Solomon, Russell-Bennett and Previte 2012). Ethical packaging also includes several information printed on the sticker, therefore, the company is also emphasizing on the information part to provide the consumer right to their customer. The company is also emphasizing on the health of their customers because most of the customers are concerned of the effect of the soft drinks. Looking at this concern, the company is initiating several healthy products that are low in fat and sugar and will not increase the calorie intake (Bucic, Harris and Arli 2012). The main product of the company was associated with the carbonated drinks and many consumer forums are raising the question of health concerns with the carbonated product. PepsiCo has launched Tropicana brand that is a 100% natural with no synthetic ingredient added to it (Lewis and Potter 2011). PepsiCo is promoting this brand to those customers who are concerned with the health aspect and who would not want to intake anything unnatural. Looking at the health benefits of their customers the company has also introduced various potato chips that are low in calorie such as baked potato chips. To provide a good healthy product to their customers it is important that the c ompany get good raw materials. In order to achieve this they are working with their suppliers to provide the best and natural ingredients for their production (Brunk and Blmelhuber 2011). Quality of each product undergoes thorough checking so that customers get the best product. The company is adhering to the food safety laws and regulations that are applicable to avoid any problem in the future. PepsiCo is also emphasizing on responsible marketing of their product so that they do not put any adverse effect on the society. The company has involved several celebrities throughout the globe to send a good message to their customers so that customers feel better about the product they are consuming (Erwin 2011). The company has made a lot of profit from the society. Thus, they have introduced the PepsiCo foundation that helps many non-profit organizations to make better contribution to the society. The company proposes to promote the philosophy of the PepsiCo to foster healthy, vibrant, and self-sufficient communities worldwide through global partnerships that improve the quality of life across communities in areas of need. Not only the company itself involves with the community welfare program but it also encourages their employees to make good contribution to the society so that they can help every human being to live a better life (Littler 2011). The company has made their mar k by donating good amount to the disaster relief foundation. The company introduced the We Inspire campaign, which provides a platform to empower women throughout the globe. All these activities of the organization encourage building a healthy society and PepsiCo being a global organization they have tried to provide the facility to all the country where they make their business (Joy et al. 2012). Opinion survey The opinion survey conducted took place in one of the busy supermarkets in the UK. The customers in that supermarket are very brand conscious and they try to buy ethical products as much as possible. For this opinion survey, a sample size of 10 consumers was s taken. There was a short questionnaire where customers have given their opinion in the form of ratings about various factors of the PepsiCos business. The ratings range from 1-10. The questionnaire asked about several aspect of ethical business for PepsiCo. During the survey, most of the samples were well aware about the activity of the organization that is associated with their business. The factors of the rating were social responsibility, child labor, consumer health and environmental responsibility. Most of the consumers are well aware about all the aspect of ethical consumerism and they were of the opinion that there was some problem in the initial stage with PepsiCo. The company was unable to produce products that are hea lthy for the consumers. Therefore, the company has changed their strategy and initiated many healthy products in the recent time. According to the customers, PepsiCo has made a good mark in prohibiting child labor and they have taken many initiatives to prevent the same. The average score given by the customers are 9.1, which is very good. The next best score is in the social responsibility that is 7.4 and customers know the initiative of providing a platform for womens empowerment. The third segment that customers spotted about the ethical consumerism is the environmental responsibility. All the customers are well aware of the collaboration of PepsiCo with Dream Machine project. Customer appreciates the initiative of environmental sustainability and average score in this segment is 7.3, which is more than the best. The last segment that was consumer health has made very poor score from the consumer perspective. The score is as low as 4.4. This says that PepsiCo is not providing a h ealthy product to their consumers. Ethical consumerism should emphasize in this aspect also because customers want good product from the organization. PepsiCo still managed to score 4.4 in this segment because of their initiative to provide good product like Tropicana that is 100% natural with no added sugar. The company also introduced diet Pepsi and Mountain dew in the segment of carbonated drinks to minimize the calorie intake by the customers. Conclusion In conclusion, from this report we understand that the current market of the business environment is changing rapidly. Customers are becoming aware about their products and they want to support those companies only who make ethical business. Particularly in the UK 80% of consumer, emphasize on buying ethical product. The definition of ethical consumerism is also associated with the ethical responsibility of the organization. Most of the time the consumers prefer ethically processed products. Therefore, most of the organizations are emphasizing to produce the ethical product for their customer to get the maximum preference. The initiative like recycling plastic for their packaging, providing better platform to empower women in the society and increase the health and safety factor within their product. The company is also providing relief fund to the disaster victims, which are the example of ethical responsibility. The average score of ethical consumerism is high because customers rea lize that the organization is changing their strategy to become one of the ethical organizations in the world. Recommendations Health and safety PepsiCo should emphasize more on the health and safety features for their product. They should be more responsible because their brand value is high among the customers. Products those are bad for health need withdrawal and substitutes needs greater promotion in the markets for better health. More environmental responsibility Company is using recycle plastic for their packaging whereas company should use biodegradable plastic that is much better for the environmental sustainability. Child labour PepsiCo is not allowing child labour in their business. This alone is not enough. They should make more campaigns to prevent child labour so that every country gets the benefit of the project. Reference List Bray, J., Johns, N. and Kilburn, D., 2011. An exploratory study into the factors impeding ethical consumption.Journal of business ethics,98(4), pp.597-608. Brunk, K.H. and Blmelhuber, C., 2011. One strike and you're out: Qualitative insights into the formation of consumers' ethical company or brand perceptions.Journal of Business Research,64(2), pp.134-141. Bucic, T., Harris, J. and Arli, D., 2012. Ethical consumers among the millennials: A cross-national study.Journal of Business Ethics,110(1), pp.113-131. Carrington, M.J., Neville, B.A. and Whitwell, G.J., 2014. Lost in translation: Exploring the ethical consumer intentionbehavior gap.Journal of Business Research,67(1), pp.2759-2767. Davies, I.A., Lee, Z. and Ahonkhai, I., 2012. Do consumers care about ethical-luxury?.Journal of Business Ethics,106(1), pp.37-51. Erwin, P.M., 2011. Corporate codes of conduct: The effects of code content and quality on ethical performance.Journal of Business Ethics,99(4), pp.535-548. Joy, A., Sherry Jr, J.F., Venkatesh, A., Wang, J. and Chan, R., 2012. Fast fashion, sustainability, and the ethical appeal of luxury brands.Fashion Theory,16(3), pp.273-295. Katz, M.A., 2011. The politics of purchasing: Ethical consumerism, civic engagement, and political participation in the United States. Lewis, T. and Potter, E., 2011.Ethical consumption: A critical introduction. Routledge. Littler, J., 2011. 2 Whats wrong with ethical consumption?.Ethical consumption: A critical introduction, p.27. Papaoikonomou, E., Ryan, G. and Ginieis, M., 2011. Towards a holistic approach of the attitude behaviour gap in ethical consumer behaviours: Empirical evidence from Spain.International Advances in Economic Research,17(1), pp.77-88. Shen, B., Wang, Y., Lo, C.K. and Shum, M., 2012. The impact of ethical fashion on consumer purchase behavior.Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal,16(2), pp.234-245. Singh, J.J., Iglesias, O. and Batista-Foguet, J.M., 2012. Does having an ethical brand matter? The influence of consumer perceived ethicality on trust, affect and loyalty.Journal of Business Ethics,111(4), pp.541-549. Solomon, M., Russell-Bennett, R. and Previte, J., 2012.Consumer behaviour. Pearson Higher Education AU. White, K., MacDonnell, R. and Ellard, J.H., 2012. Belief in a just world: Consumer intentions and behaviors toward ethical products.Journal of Marketing,76(1), pp.103-118. Yeon Kim, H. and Chung, J.E., 2011. Consumer purchase intention for organic personal care products.Journal of consumer Marketing,28(1), pp.40-47.
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Tacit collusion Essay Example
Tacit collusion Essay In any oligopoly structure there is a conflict between individual incentives and joint incentives. In Bertrand competition, for example, each firms individual incentive is to capture the whole market by setting lower price than its rivals. That leads to pricing at marginal cost and zero profits earned by all the firms. This equilibrium is not desirable by any of the firms their joint incentive is to earn positive profits by fixing price at some other, higher than marginal cost level. Because of this Prisoners Dilemma nature of any oligopoly structure, in equilibrium firms earn lower total profits than they could if they acted as a single monopolist. By behaving as a monopoly they could maximise total profits. It is therefore natural for the firms to establish agreements between them to enforce alternative solution such that all firms are better off than in equilibrium (Luis and Cabral (2000), p127). This type of behaviour is referred to as collusion. Collusion is an agreement among a group of firms designed to limit competition among the participants. If all firms follow the agreement, buyers will face higher prices, giving the firms profits above the normal competitive level. From the welfare point of view collusion is not desirable. The optimal outcome that maximises total welfare is for the firms to price at marginal cost. Collusion allows companies to deviate from pricing at marginal cost and to transfer some consumer surplus into producer surplus. As a side effect dead weight loss occurs that reduces total surplus. In fact, this is the main consideration of regulators and policymakers against collusion in whole and price fixing in particular (Luis and Cabral (2000), p144). We will write a custom essay sample on Tacit collusion specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Tacit collusion specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Tacit collusion specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In this work we shall consider different forms of collusion, which can be implemented by firms in practice. Each of the forms of collusion considered in this work can set the objective to control any aspect of production: buying or selling price, quantity supplied, advertisement expenditure, level of quality, each firms territory or the level of competition with the firms that are out of the agreement. Starting with the strongest, the most powerful and most stable ones, each form will be discussed in connection with legal remedies restricting its use. Particularly, an assumption will be tested that more powerful and stable forms of collusion are more difficult to enforce and use in practice because of greater antitrust restrictions. Forms of collusion There are three main forms that collusion between firms can take: cartels, secret agreements, and tacit collusion. Each type will be discussed here one by one. Cartels Oxford dictionary provides the following definition of a cartel: a national or international association of independent enterprises formed to create a monopoly in a given industry1 There are many varieties of cartels. Full cartel is behaving very much like monopoly, controlling all aspects price, output, investment, product mix and profits. Less complete cartel, often called the marketing cartel controls all its members sales and revenues (Shepherd (1979), p307). The most well known example of cartel is the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). It is an international organisation consisting mainly of oil-rich Middle East Arab countries2. It has a significant power in determining the world oil prices by controlling its members joint oil production. It first achieved success in 1973 by raising the world oil price from $3 to $11, and then to about $30 in 1979. The Diamond Cartel, DeBeers, is another well-known example. It has a significant power of control over world diamond industry. Now more than 80% of the worlds diamonds are processed through DeBeerss Central Selling Organization. In 1981, it flooded the diamond market to punish one of its members for defecting from the cartel and managed to reduce the price form $3 to $1.80 3 Among all types of collusion cartel is the strongest and most stable one. It is the most powerful in terms of determining the price or any other aspect a cartel controls. For this reason cartels are largely illegal (in Europe by Article 85 of the Treaty of Rome; by Sherman Act in the United States). So, if firms want to communicate directly, they may do so secretly. Secret agreements Secret agreements are illegal also, but these agreements are less obvious than cartels. It takes a great deal of effort to detect if a price change, for example is a result of agreement between companies or it is just due to the demand change. Secret agreements are easier to implement than to form a cartel. For this reason, firms have an incentive to make secret agreements to fix the price that would maximise their joint profits or to control any other aspect like quantity, advertisement etc. One recent example of secret agreements is a case of credit card firms colluding to compete against debit card rivals. Visa and MasterCard actively discouraged the use of rival debit cards to push the use of their own more expensive versions, raising costs for merchants and customers (see Appendix 1). If this anticompetitive behaviour is proved, firms will be heavily penalised. Another recent example of illegal secret agreement is commission fees fixing by two well-known auction houses. A fine of à ¯Ã ¿Ã ½20.4 million has been imposed by The European Commission on the auction house Sothebys for colluding with its rival Christies. The EU case against the auction houses follows action in the United States where Sothebys was sentenced to pay $45 million. Christies escaped both EU and US fines because it provided evidence to European and American investigators that enabled them to prove the existence of the agreement.4 Secret agreements are very risky in the sense that once the existence of such agreements is detected and proved, it may result in fines or jail time. In real world, a lot of firms seeking to collude do not want to bear such a risk. Therefore, they have to find some other ways to communicate with each other.
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Pressures of society on celebrities free essay sample
My topic focuses on societal pressures on celebrities and people. While research may confirm that both celebrities and people have the same problems, you canââ¬â¢t help but notice that celebrities are more judged. This is a highly controversial topic because we are so quick to judge someone based on their actions without really knowing them. While some people think celebrities are a bad influence some still think they can also have some benefits to the community. People and celebrities go through some of the same problems, the only difference is celebrities have no privacy in their personal lives and they are put on a higher pedestal. However, we may never know if the high pressures of society will ever change and be more open minded before judging people based on their outside appearance and mistakes. Jack Marshallââ¬â¢s article, ââ¬Å"The Sexualization of Teen Celebrities Is Ethically Questionable,â⬠discusses young teens that idolize stars and want to be just like them so they dress and act the same. We will write a custom essay sample on Pressures of society on celebrities or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Similarly, Julie Mehta article, ââ¬Å"Celebrity Culture Promotes Unrealistic Body Images,â⬠discusses how the younger generations want to look like celebrities and view that their bodies are not as fit or thin enough. Despite the fact that the articles bring up different questions about how we look up celebrities too much, the authors both argue celebrities are idolized too much. Marshall does this by stating, ââ¬Å"The early sexualization of TV actresses whose fans are young teens and pre-teens has a strong rippling effect across the culture, encouraging girls to go where their idols appear to be goingâ⬠. This statement points out that the younger generation wants to be their idols so much that they start mocking what they do. Mehta begin her argument by saying, ââ¬Å"Perfect images of perfect celebrities are everywhere, and itââ¬â¢s enough to make anyone feel insecure or envious. â⬠(Mehta. ) The article describes the flawless images of celebrities in the media can disturb oneââ¬â¢s thought about body image and self-esteem.. She goes on to state, ââ¬Å"Seeing all those artificially perfected images can hurt your body image- the way you see and feel about your body and the way you think others see you. I feel like that will get us closer to the glitz and glamor of their life. Another source that talks about the pressures of society is Chris Hedgesââ¬â¢s article, ââ¬Å"Celebrity Culture is Harmful. â⬠He discusses how celebrity culture only results to self absorption and materialism. This also connects to the main point of Emily Stimsonââ¬â¢s article, ââ¬Å"Celebrity Culture Harms Teens. â⬠Their article sheds light on the obsession of celebrities and how dangerous their influence really has on the younger generation. Both articles talks about celebritiesââ¬â¢ fame disturbing our society. Hedges and Stimson both talk about starââ¬â¢s lives as only the matter about wealth, fame and donââ¬â¢t have a touch of reality. He states that, ââ¬Å"gossip and chatter dominate what really matters in the nation â⬠(Hedges. ) With this statement one could say he is right, people are more bound to watch television talking about the latest sandal with down spiraling celebrities than watching Fox 4 news talk about the war in Iraq. Stimpson states that, ââ¬Å"American teenagers are obsessed with celebrities and becoming famous, which has negative emotional and social consequencesâ⬠. The authors go on to fully detail what is wrong with our community and their reasons they think that celebrity culture has ruin our society. In conclusion, this research may be used to support that celebrities are idolized too much and once they make a mistake, we throw it out of proportions, and we criticize them for it. While some of the articles focus more on celebrity obsession, the other articles take into consideration that maybe it isnââ¬â¢t their fault that they are so corrupted, but because of the pressure of being perfect that corrupts them. When will we realize that we put too much pressure of stars? How will they be able to make a mistake, when to them it feels like they are walking on eggshells? And once they make a mistake we are there to judge them and talk down on them, because they got caught. No one is perfect, so why do we have such high standards for them to be? We yearn to be center of attention, to be noticed and admired. We build social media sites only for the sole purpose to present our image in the world. Why are willing to give up our privacy to become famous? We have become so infatuated with celebrities and their fame that we watch everything they do so we can do our best to be just like them. Has our society become so obsessed with money and power that we have lost track on what is really important in the world? That is a better question.
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Sometimes All You Need Is Yourself Professor Ramos Blog
Sometimes All You Need Is Yourself Everyone has at least one person who has someone who has helped them throughout their life. Maybe they have quite a few. For me those people would be myself, my mom, my aunt semida, and my fiancà © Bobby. Throughout my whole life itââ¬â¢s been a constant roller coaster. To this day I am still learning and applying what I was thought to my daily life whether itââ¬â¢s at school, work, or on my free time. Sometimes, all you need is yourself to help learn certain things others might not be able to help you on. Let me tell you a little bit about my sponsor, my mom. Sheââ¬â¢s an extraordinarily amazing, strong woman. She is about 5ââ¬â¢6 with long dark brown hair with these hazel eyes. When she was 17 à ½ she got electrocuted to 20,000 volts of electricity. At the age of 18, my grandparents, my mom and her siblings all came to the United States from Romania for a better life. My mom has been through so much in the past 48 years. She has always told me ââ¬Å"be kind, to love, and always wish well upon those who do you wrongâ⬠by the age of 12. She taught me how to read, write and speak English before I went to kindergarten. My mom helped me understand what itââ¬â¢s like to appreciate the little things in life without having that luxury. She has not stopped helping me grow into the woman I am today. Another sponsor in my life would be my aunt. She is my momââ¬â¢s younger sister. She is about 5ââ¬â¢7 with short brown hair and light hazel eyes. My aunt Semida has been through enough to help me understand quite a few things. Sheââ¬â¢s always been like a second mom to me. When I would go through some problems I couldnââ¬â¢t talk to my mom about, she was my go to. Semida, helped me deal with depression, break ups and broken hearts, and simply giving me advice. When I was about 15 my aunt helped me practice my driving skills without a permit. She taught me how to drive a manual transmission car when I finally got my permit at 18. Yeah big gap to finally get my license. At the age of 20 going into 21 she helped me understand to see and read the red flags in a relationship, to get out before it was too late. By the time I turned 21 she also taught me and said ââ¬Å" you donââ¬â¢t need a man to make you happy, just yourself and doing what you love.â⬠Finally, my last sponsor would be the love of my life, my fiancà ©, Bobby. He comes from a family of law enforcement. Heââ¬â¢s strong and independent. Bobby is about 5ââ¬â¢10, built with tattoos all over with light brown eyes. When I met him, I was going through quite a lot. Dealing with anxiety and constantly trying to find someone to complete my heart. He taught me that women are not just for sex and to take advantage of but women need to be loved, cherished and given the world. He always has a way with words. Bobby and I have our own knowledge on certain things and in certain areas. In some areas he knows more about law enforcement than I do and in certain areas I know more about the medical field. I know how to speak more than one language when he only knows two. At the age of 21 I took an English class and had to write about racism. I ended up writing about how a majority of the cops are racist. When we discussed the essay, he opened my eyes to realize and say ââ¬Å"You are misinformed about what actually happens in and during certain situations that involve police shootings. The media has its way to draw in audience by giving them what they want to see and hear.â⬠So to get my facts checked and to actually see what goes on I watch Live PD. Apart from that, he has also showed me what love is from someone who truly cares about you. I know he gets busy with work and has a lot on his plate but he never fails to tell me ââ¬Å"I love you. No matter how busy I get, I love you.â⬠He has shown me how to be treated with respect and to always be there for each other. In a relationship you donââ¬â¢t always have to be serious. Sometimes you cannot always put in 50/50. Sometimes you need to give 80/20 and be there to pick up your significant other. Now, enough about my sponsors. A little bit about myself. I am a 22 year old college student with a story. I am 5ââ¬â¢6 with long brown hair, hazel eyes with what most will say, ââ¬Å"a perfect smile.â⬠At the age of 3 or 4 I began to draw. Put a piece of paper and crayons or a pencil and I would just doodle. For about 19 years I never stopped drawing, mastering my skills. Around the age 18 I taught myself how to be confident.I wake up every morning and tell myself ââ¬Å"Girl, you look gorgeous! You are a queen.â⬠I also taught myself that everyone will have an opinion about you. Became confident to where others opinions about me donââ¬â¢t matter because I know myself and Iââ¬â¢m comfortable in my own body. When I turned 21 I got my first tattoo to cover my scars, to help boost that confidence. Most people have one person who helps them, to teach them certain things in life. Some might have more. I have more than what I wrote but these sponsors, these important people in my life have made me the person I am today. From self teaching, to my mom helping me and teaching me, from my aunt Semida helping me understand, to finally my fiancà © opening my eyes. Sometimes in life you donââ¬â¢t just need people close to you to help you learn or to teach you new things or subjects or possibly new ideas, maybe we teach ourselves new things nobody else could have taught us.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Causes and effects of teenage pregnancy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Causes and effects of teenage pregnancy - Essay Example The daycare authorities did feed him with bottled milk; however, David insists that he needs his mother more than food. Unfortunately, the daycare management people are not calling his mother but trying to divert Davidââ¬â¢s attention towards other stuff and until yet they have been unsuccessful since David seems to be seriously stubborn and is ready to compromise. Daycare authorities cannot call his mother despite the fact that Michelle is in the first building from the right on the next street. Michelle is actually busy giving her algebra exam for which she has been preparing for the past few days. If all goes well then she would end up getting a B in algebra and would become the first one in her family to hold a graduate degree in her hand but she would also have to hold David in the other hand as well. No one knows what would be the future of Michelle and David. However, a couple of things are for sure. Firstly, the upcoming years would not be a piece of cake for both of them. Secondly, David and Michelle are not the only ones who are such a situation but there are many reported cases of teenage pregnancy everyday all around the world. This paper focuses on the causes and effects of teenage in attempt to examine it with a boarder perspective. Since teenage pregnancies is a growing trend, happening in almost all parts of the world, more prominently in western societies, therefore there are several and diverse reasons that lead to the occurrence of teenage pregnancy. However, before discussing that, it is important to understand that this paper does not regard teenage sex as the main reason since not all teenagers have sex and even if they have sex does not always result in pregnancies. In fact, to prove this point, a study conducted in the United Kingdom reveals that more than two third of young people under the age of 16 do not have sex (Gillham, pp. 64-79). It is important here to note that
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Fundamentals of Job Satisfaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words
Fundamentals of Job Satisfaction - Essay Example In contrast, top-down theory lays emphasizes on global propensity1. In other words, all individuals have a desire to be happy and this attitude will be the major influence on their lives. Thus, feelings about job satisfaction are generated any one of the two ways: from the bottom up by adding positive effects and subtracting negative ones, or from the top down by the diffusion of one's desire to be happy (Diener & Eunkook, 1999: p.276). III. Methodology. Survey design was utilized for gathering data, for sample purposes the researcher used randomised probability sampling and a sample of 20 employees from different age, gender, nationality, occupation and place of work were chosen for the survey as follows:1. Age: - Between 25 >= 35 - Between 36 >= 45 - Between 46>= 70 2. Gender: - Men - Women 3. Nationality: - Kuwaiti - Arab - Non Arab 4. Occupation and place of work: - Owners of a real state company - Company employers - Managers in a real state company - House workers Each was then required to rank several questions as shown below: Rank from 1-5 your job satisfaction (1=Very dissatisfied, 5=Very satisfied) Gender: Age: Nationality: Occupation and place of work: 1 - Participate in decision making. 2 - Relationship with coworker. 3 - Feel you are respected. 4 - Have a highly routine job. 5 - The job gives you no stress. 6 - The manger appreciates the job you do. 7 - Satisfied with your pay. 8 - Satisfied with raises. 9 - Good training opportunities. 10- Feeling of security in the job. IV. Results Discussion and Analysis Age Gender Nationality It was found that, decision making for Kuwaitis people was very high, their participation in...Participants in the survey were randomly in consideration of the following factors: There are two common social theories of job satisfaction: the "bottom-up theory" and the "top-down" theory. The bottom-up theory basically states that, individuals have needs whose fulfilment brings about happiness. This theory uses the sum of positive and negative effects to define happiness. If the positive effects are greater than the negative effects, individuals will judge their life as happy. In contrast, top-down theory lays emphasizes on global propensity1. In other words, all individuals have a desire to be happy and this attitude will be the major influence on their lives. Thus, feelings about job satisfaction are generated any one of the two ways: from the bottom up by adding positive effects and subtracting negative ones, or from the top down by the diffusion of one's desire to be happy (Diener & Eunkook, 1999: p.276). Survey design was utilized for gathering data, for sample purposes the researcher used randomised probability sampling and a sample of 20 employees from different age, gender, nationality, occupation and place of work were chosen for the survey as follows: It was found that, decision making for Kuwaitis people was very high, their participation in decision making was
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Ford vs Toyota Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Ford vs Toyota - Essay Example rds protecting the environment Ford has often been categorized as one of the leaders in terms of innovating fuel efficient vehicles in the current automotive market Ford has expanded its business activities to several developing countries including the European, Asia Pacific, Middle-Eastern, African and American regions Weaknesses Ford has been noticed to significantly depend upon the automobile sector restricting itself from expanding to other segments. In this regard, it can be stated that Fords is likely to lack in diversification strategy The company has also been criticized on the basis of its efficiency in establishing sustainable markets for high end cars The company can be witnessed to face the limitation of continuously declining market share in its global market, especially in the Asia Pacific region owing to the increase in competition level Ford can be witnessed to consider defensive competitive strategies in most instances to cope up with the competition in the internati onal arena Financial stability of Ford is significantly impacted by the economic fluctuations of that particular region Opportunities Ford has introduced hybrid cars which runs on electrical energy and is forecasted to have great opportunity in the near future The demand for fuel efficient vehicles of Ford has been notably increasing opening up significant opportunities for its future growth The increasing sales revenue evidently depicts that Ford has been well accepted in the global market by its customers The automobile sector has been noticed to demonstrate a growing trend in the small and medium markets Introduction of fuel efficient cars, such as ââ¬ËFocus ECOneticââ¬â¢ of Ford in the European market, are likely to have significant opportunities for the growth of the company in its future Threats The sales volume of cars has been noticed to decline to a certain extent in various places such as US, Canada and UK among others imposing a market risk to Ford The company has b een facing significant competition from the Japanese automotive companies operating within the Western regions The company faces difficulties as a result of the strict emission norms in certain nation such as US and Europe causing an obstruction on its marketing operations Ford has been facing a problem in capturing the Asian markets owing to the presence of automobile giants such as Toyota which in turn hampered the growth of the company in terms of its market share Economic fluctuations tend to impose a major threat to Fordââ¬â¢s financial stance in that particular region (Ford Motor Company, 2012; Richter, A. & Pahl, 2009) Toyota Motor Corporation Strengths Toyota is among the leading manufacturers of automobiles in terms of production capacity as well as sales volume Toyota is recognized as a company which is dedicated towards producing environmentally safe vehicles and technologies, since its inception Toyota is the manufacturer of worldââ¬â¢s most excellent selling hybri d car, Prius which evidently rewarded the company a leading position in the inter
Friday, November 15, 2019
Postmodernity And Brecht In Contemporary Theatre Film Studies Essay
Postmodernity And Brecht In Contemporary Theatre Film Studies Essay This essay will demonstrate the postmodern theory and how playwright, Bertolt Brecht has influenced postmodernity with contemporary theatre. I shall analyze how Brechts styles and techniques have influenced postmodern theatre and the comparisons he had with Aristotle. By doing this, I shall discuss Frederic Jameson, Jean Baudrillard and Jean-Francois Lyotards respective ideologies. References are evident from the sources from the bibliography. What is postmodernism? Postmodernism is a broad phrase that is realistic to various cultural texts like beliefs, skill and writing amongst others (Bertens, 1995: p.63). It is mainly a response to the exact anticipated belief, idea and determination in clarifying realism. In other words, it stops from an acknowledgement which realism is not basically represented in peoples beliefs but alternatively, it is very creative as the belief attempts to appreciate its individual certainty and subjective realism. Postmodernism is extremely uncertain of reasons that argue to be acceptable for every nation, practices and civilizations (Rosenau, 1992: p.113), (Sarlak, 2010: p.32). It alternatively involves every individuals comparative realities. To identify postmodernism, analysis is significant and realism simply explains peoples understanding of what humanity represents to them independently. Postmodernism furthermore trusts actual encounter upon conceptualizing cultures which understands that peoples aftermath encou nter will unavoidably be comparative and imperfect before general and definite (Sarlak, 2010: p.32). Postmodernism additionally rejects several basic reality beliefs and it requires the logical enthusiasm and methodical reality that will describe entirely for everyone with a supposed contemporary representative approach. The postmodern contradiction view is that it should understand that the individual beliefs are still not past searching when identifying every belief below the disbelief analysis (Sarlak, 2010: p.32). There are three key theorists of postmodernism and they are Frederic Jameson, Jean Baudrillard and Jean-Francois Lyotard. Jameson is very judgmental of the contemporary past circumstances as he believes postmodernism has changed it into a sequences of meaningless conventions of what he calls, pastiche that can then be used up and produced (Buchanan, 2006: p.95). He conflicts this postmodern situation with the modernist circumstances which was discontinued. Postmodernis m has absorbed an advantage of several differences of culture and realism. Jameson explains that postmodernism has extended to a huge opening of cultures area of interest massively and traditionally in regards to the creative sophistication of realism. Jameson defines his concept of pastiche as a postmodern parody without any political problems (Buchanan, 2006: p.95). According to Jameson, parody was changed by pastiche in the postmodern stage of development. In his own words he said, Pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or unique, idiosyncratic style, the wearing of a linguistic mask, speech in a dead language. But it is a neutral practice of such mimicry, without any of parodys ulterior motives, amputated of the satiric impulse, devoid of laughter. (Hill and Fenner, 2010: p.82) People have failed to link to the olden times that changes the directions into a sequence of techniques and discontinued categories like Simulacra and Simulations. Simulacra and Simulations is coined by another postmodern theorist, Jean Baudrillard. Baudrillard is allied with the concept of what is generally known as The loss of the real. This is an interpretation which in modern life, the general stimulus of fantasy from television, film and advertising has directed to a failure difference of depth and surface, illusion and reality and imagine and real (Bishop, 2009: p.32-35, p.95). The outcome is a culture of hyper realism that differentiates the connections is wearing down. Jean-Francois Lyotard also contributed a lot to postmodernism. The term postmodernism was employed in the 1930s but its present style and views can be assumed to have started with Lyotard (Barry, 2002: p.86). Lyotard believes he should get rid of the discontinued task of modernism, that of the enlightenment ideology (Gabrielle and Ilcan, 2004: p.77). Contrast with Enlightenment Ideology Its characteristic engages with the theory of which style is understandable (Marshall, 2004: p.50). Differences of opinions work as interpretations of beliefs but they do not have a meaning past that at all. Modern cultures look to the theory which people continuously direct to their own suggestions and developed it. In postmodernism, there are just influential people (Klages, 2006: p.169). There is no constant reality. There are only faces with no seriousness. This is carefully associated by means of what Baudrillard advices in his theories with reference to simulacra as there are no fundamentals and just duplicates. Contrast with Modernism Modernism on the other hand, is a general appealing actions of the twentieth century and it relates to a group of moral, diplomatic and theoretical beliefs that give the foundation for the modernism artistic view (Zafirovski, 2011: p.265). However, postmodernism gives out comparable appeals with modernism as they eliminate limits of high and low cultural styles. They point out that pastiche changes theatrically in its view in direction of these styles and developments. Modernism shows peoples partial disintegration as a little dreadful although postmodernism never weep this position but observes it instead. One of the majority important arguments of postmodernism and modernism is the matter for the entirety and shared quality. Postmodernists have forbidden these objectives as Meta-narratives despite the fact that modernists tried to catch the entirety and shared quality in certain point (Strinati, 1995: p.215). Semiological Factors Structuralism advancing to post-structuralism has also had certain control on postmodernism (Taylor and Winquist, 2001: p.265). One of the post-structuralists focal influences theories is that every importance is a subtext (Strinati, 1995: p.116). Therefore, people are left with reality collected of interpretation methods. Moves in semiotics have resulted in a bigger intertextuality impression which applies to the clues certainly having to do with each other. The content is interpreted in connection to different content and that is why a stylistic series suggestion is taken to accept on the content. Baudrillard gives the term simulacrum that is a certain significance in semiotics perspective which gives from a usual one that is a duplicate of another duplicate that has been so immoral in its regards to the unique that cannot be a duplicate anymore (Klages, 2006: p.169), (Sandlin and McLaren, 2010: p.45). The simulacrum rests on its own as a duplicate lacking a representation and it i s not a difficulty of repetition and pastiche anymore. On the other hand, simulation is the creation by representations of common sense without foundation and actuality which is called, Hyper-realism (Baudrillard and Poster, 2001: p.149). Baudrillard has established more on the simulation view as he disputes that the simulation judgment had gone beyond allegations to a main common reality to the idea where such simulacra amounts to represent realism itself (Baudrillard and Poster, 2001: p.181). However, pastiche consists of the disintegration and creation of common procedures as it explains the neutral reference of primary creative ways in postmodernism production. Technological Factors According to Jameson, the area under this discussion turns out to be further incomplete as it deals with a society inside the one that discovers the conclusion of the notable history in the postmodern period (Jameson, 1998: p.73). Postmodernism and Theatre Traditional theatre is represented by the importance identifying within the story and the devotion to Aristotles theatrical theory concept (Styan, 1965: P.60). Hegelian ideology has furthermore categorized into contemporary theatre alongside the persons actions at the theatre lead (Chemers, 2010: P.42). Aristotles art representation is additionally engaged in the naturalism pinnacles as convinced by the Darwinian rule of contemporary drama performance. Drama practices include approaches like dancing, singing, stage blocking and symbolic speaking that required theatrical aim progresses. Raymond Williams commented the calamity achievement in contemporary theatre where the isolated persons difficulty in a favourably developed sphere is emphasized (Williams, 2006: P.10). He highlighted how theatre principles are distinguished by its audiences suitability and its interactions to certain principle values. He emphasized how theatrical styles are argued as characterizations over which playwr ights, audience and actors correspond to encounter. Therefore, the production could be continued. Postmodern theatre is motivated to appear on artistic and past perspectives for communications to express itself alongside the common closure style (Nash, 1996: P.153). A similar representative is seen in various cultural types. Postmodern theatre views separate past and artistic cultures as an infinite motion basis. Theatrical approaches depictions and new features are reserved since various perspectives. Postmodern theatre acquires technique choices and general development with the style confinement failure (Wallis and Shepherd, 2004: P.139). This is considered in many methods in performance. Additional significant postmodern theatre approach is the inter-text where different versions are employed to describe on one another (Wallis and Shepherd, 2004: P.159). However, postmodern theatre is differentiated by agreeing and conflicting with the parallel modernist failed concept of Aristot le and Hegelian ideology judgements. While performing, actors wait for their cues and when they come in front of an audience besides learning their lines. Modernism and its features are not only seen in how messy the story is (Wallis and Shepherd, 2004: P.91). Actors also go across various portrayals and presentation aspects in the exact time and space while they are in their characters. Actors and their characters supports from one another because when actors are in their characters concurrently, they are in distinct worlds because they anticipates their cues but are not basically featured in the performance deliberately, substantially and instantly, although in actual reality, they are there. Postmodern theatre is furthermore distinguished from the modern theatre with the type of styles (Wallis and Shepherd, 2004: P.52-P.60). The industry separation, media beliefs and modernization influences drama performances (Wallis and Shepherd, 2004: P.60). This innovative theatre performance standard needs a distinct opinion from the audience but in postmodern theatre; Aristotles liberating idea revives radical unimportance. Artistic knowledge also develops entirely relating to the meaning-making development (Kershaw, 1999: P.12). Postmodern audience is furthermore appealed to go past this meaning-making development like how postmodern theatre is obligated to go past discussion advancements in demonstrating ideology into routine and back to ideology for it to be capable to articulate itself. Postmodern theatre compels the audience to continually assume an important attitude in observing. Meaning-making and communication invention in postmodern theatre is never a basic individual connection awareness form. Postmodern performances are then demonstrated with habitual interruptions in the audiences rational development with a careful attitude regarding communication partiality. Brechtian Aesthetics, Language and Post-Modernity Bertolt Brecht was perhaps a highly symbolic individual in dramatic artistics during the last century. His analysis of Aristotles extended recognized example and his later investigation and invention of the alienation effect or the distancing effect as people sometimes call it as well as his innovative style of theatre called, the Epic Theatre has modernized the style to dramatic custom and many statuses when it comes to creative talents. It has turned out to be idolized in its personal claim during the course of the sphere (Banham, 2000: p.261). Jameson shortens the alienation effect as The V-Effect as it is originally known in German as Verfremdungseffekt (Jameson, 2000: p.11, p.85). Jameson has specified certain elements in the alienation effect as it is most importantly implied as an inner experience where the creative show gets the audience into understanding the sphere in odd traditions. The methodical element of the alienation effect is situated in the show presentation and it s dramatization where the engagements of items and the positioning of performers are structured to dismay what the audience looks forward to in the theatre. Another element of the alienation effect and imaginably the highly alienating is carried out across the effort to separate the audience from the drama by shutting down and turning down support and compassion (Jameson, 2000: p.39). The reason for this is because it is aimed to make a vital gap so that the audience is capable to imagine throughout the show presentation in order for them to take action once it finishes. For Jameson, the doubt around the objective of denying and disagreeing the affecting link includes a different stage of alienation to Brechts work (Jameson, 2000: p.52). The reviewers along with the audience are incapable of making their minds up of the alienation effect objective and they are so alienated from their knowledge theory protection. So here situates with the instructive carries across of the alienation effect that is primary to what Brecht called the, instructive theatre (Willett and Brecht, 1964: p.71). The instructive theatre is when the audience is stimulated of finding for additional communications of understanding, explanation, criticisms, narratives and further critically to make the sphere once again. That is why it pours out of the previous constitutions of the alienation effect which is possible as the instructive revelation that has peoples requirement is beyond the past. Everything is not normal, destined, fixed or emotional characteristically in direction of a permanent conclusion in particular when every practical characteristic of peoples lives makes the stage up for their individuals show presentations which have to do with organizations providing educations that are variable. The particular character appears on or after following the disguise of the independence as soon as the sphere is formed oddly to people such as the demonstration of theatre that is made by the moving of sets on stage. It was looked as constant some time ago as it is recently established as curtailed, fragmentary, hypothetical and crucial. To run through and sum up, alienation is another word for estrangement and Brecht said, Estrangement means to historicize, that is, consider people and incidents as historically conditioned and transitory. (Ewen, 1967: p.222) That means the audience will not see the characters on stage anymore as they are not stimulus, unchangeable and vulnerable in bringing above to their outcome. The radical objectives of Brechtian alienation that puts across around instructive theatre must be compared with the acceptance of a natural past that permits no other course of action and in that way introduces the forthcoming events as a present unlikelihood. Instructive theatre separates the daily petrified and insensible reality (Willett and Brecht, 1964: p.71). The practicality of Brechts alienating effect holds people to the instructive characteristic o f performance that has the realistic outcome of separating that philosophical explanation of the modern public realism. For Brecht, the alienating work characteristic is exactly its proposal to the idea which the sphere could be otherwise (Jameson, 2000: p.39). When it comes to alienation, people carry on and finish a helpful ancient story through uncovering the likelihood of revitalizing, restructuring and modernizing the sphere (Philosophy of Education Society, 2002: p.186). Splitting the times that have gone by across extracts is one example and that is why it is unsuccessful when it never found the impression for the influence of the likely undevelopment in the constant contemporary. Jameson has ran through the checking development amount which consists of dividing the times that have gone by in that modern performances are designed simultaneously from elements of the previous performances where the entire surface objective of an era outwardly further than history and alteration as it gives in to an initial logical unstructured one prior to succeeding at a genuine modern and common united modernization reestablishment (Buchanan, 2006: p.42). The importance is on the modern drive unclassified and unconfined by the alienation effect which is articulated in the artistic influence of extracting, dividing, classifying and transplanting the frightened and fixed sphere. However, Brechts disputes and peoples importance have collapsed further down the analysis by famous postmodern cultural critics and mass media philosophers with the information time of life start and its influential issues on the topic of how about they corresponds. Culture and civilization can decide the Brechtian artistics and visuals importance by supporting the contemporary interpretation and the social and literary creation styles. The dramatic artistics and visuals main rule was credited to Aristotle in the middle of others up to Brecht and it is particularly in Brechts poetics (Bennett, 199 7: p.24), (Suvin, 1984: p.115). Aristotle had a very particular introduction for popular theatre that consists of the three unities of time, action and place (Brockmann, 2010: p.295). Aristotle thought that theatre ought to keep a life experience in its substance for the audience to recognize by means of it and remain stimulated by way of it afterwards. He also wanted this idea to have a successively feeling to the changed pardoning of catharsis. Brecht appeared during the 1920s and as he grew up, he established his artistic and visual in the course of the 1930s that opposed a lot of Aristotles extended recognized unities (Thomson and Sacks, 2006: p.209, p.212). Brecht alternatively chose to look theatre over as a modern type and not a changeable knowledge beyond catharsis but instead to some degree is increasingly crucial to work the audience into reacting by moving themselves away after the performance to imagine and believe rather than feeling. Brecht advised that the mental stat e of disappointment and understanding represented as difficulties to an important manifestation while Aristotle disputed that a central character must be an understanding character who has power over an unfortunate error with the purpose of bearing for them (Shaffer, 1992: p.123), (Hiltunen, 2002: p.46). Furthermore, Brecht reflects on the public procedures and understanding despite the fact that Aristotle asserts that the plays central point is a particular characters hamartia (Shaffer, 1992: p.120-p.121). Brecht supports his alienation effect as a method that upsets the audience by way of an ostensibly surprising and odd action and image whereas Aristotle highlights the poetic continuity categorization. Brechts aim and objective is to have the audience vitally separate themselves from the play and estimate the public and shared perspective. He also wanted them to achieve in addition of an extra demand to action than a passionate liberation. Culture and art was very influenced by t he scientific developments in interaction very remarkably with the television and the knowledge era over the last four decades. Cultural critics have asked issues of how reality was represented in the simulation era as these skills and scientific developments turned out to be more and more dominant. Jean Baudrillard was one of the many theorists who believed that a move in the realistic realism style had followed. This claim has been introduced even though it is not clearly to a standard and natural Brechtian artistics and visuals significant analysis that disputes that the representation is a traditionally represented clue and it is itself an Aristotle contradiction idea which explains that a representation is an unchangeable reality. Reality is additionally a variable unit and it is needful on certain elements which are only observed highly by the media with Baudrillard along with his contemporaries (Baudrillard and Poster, 2001: p.149). The realitys pastiche is no longer an indic ation and it is made aware by its clear difference of the formation and the initial analogue. The interpretation in the knowledge era is not so evident in an affiliation anymore if it is to find Aristotles concept of peoples facts or Brechts concept of public fact while theatre in Brechts time and period was evidently defined as an expression means for the factual. Baudrillard also thought that representation does not happen to be present anymore and it also does not influence an allusive characteristic anymore as that is all people have to behave (Pawlett, 2007: p.87). This contradicts Brechts artistic and visual ideas that are centred on confronting public realism as the result of the characteristic imaginable of representations made on stage. Brecht could not have quite estimated these theatrical variations in the manner that people have to do with reality. The postmodern condition uniqueness and distinctiveness is important to this argument after it advances itself through the s cientific era beginning. Certain concepts and suggestions have claimed the postmodern condition artistic and visual unique and distinctiveness but there are several that constantly reverberate which consist of analysis and critique as an aesthetics search and the philosophy analysis. On the other hand, analysis and critique is an ideology that generally links with grammatologist (Taylor and Winquist, 2003: p.164). Jean-Francois Lyotard also disputes that culture was additionally unified by political hegemony (Strand and Le Hir, 2000: p.149). Brechts artistic and visual is clearly established on a distinct set of beliefs. His epic theatre and alienating effect theory are entirely embedded with Marxism and this not just a political basis but it is one of the majority generalizing theories of contemporary Western concept (Reis, 1993: p.136). The Marxist artistic and visual is very consolidated and it is political and diplomatic as it is against the market as an important aspect in peop les works. This aim and objective is similar to Brechts aim and objective as it has to do with basic transformation which brings a technique down and replaces it with a pristine conceptual and philosophical theory and traditions. The alienating effect supports this theory by establishing a theatre type which carries out the surprises to reduce the vital distance that is centred on the theory of the reality in an understandable point and focus in mental reality (Jameson, 2000: p.84). The philosophy, aesthetics, analysis and critique tradition and presentation dispute this idea to distancing and not engaging to support a different purpose and theme which additionally continues critical hegemonic probabilities such as fascism. The connection, purpose and theme mix altogether and as the result of that, it eliminates their double reality which confuses the view but it eventually directs an extra gentle and genuine judgment (Jameson, 2000: p.21). On the other hand, it is not necessary to entirely ignore Brechts theories as they support importance contemporarily in spite of the basic move in the purpose and theme connection, interpretation, philosophical and moral basis. There are also some tactics and approaches for Brechts theatre which really appear to suit very suitably in the postmodern condition and its artistics method (Wright, 1989: p.135). Brechts leftover utilization can be clearly linked to the suitable movements of the scientific era and the market culture and civilization even if it is used with the focused of essential distancing. The point that Brecht employs a dramatic plan that breaks itself for the alienation effect can presently be recontextualized to fulfil the postmodern artistic range (New Observations Publications Incorporated, 1985: p.47). If the alienation effect is secluded, it could clearly be accredited to Brechtian techniques. The artistic could clearly be disputed as postmodern even if his dramatic techniques are centred on theories with reference to entirety but unfortunately Brechts dramatic custom would turn out to be very contradictory if this were the issue (Trussler and Barker, 2002: p.326). It would also not stimulate public engagement anymore but only satisfy a culture and civilization which are driven for strong media and reducing the characterless. Dramatic performances in media should be reconsidered with television and digital media on the internet as the main source of interaction in the postmodern age. The creativities determining the amount rupture, the reality investigation and the theme loss could appear to reduce Brecht and every theatre conventions. However, this is just the start of the era and by way of it occurs in every basic and principle; the theories are predominant and forceful just as similar as Brechtian theatre. Maybe a further explained contemporary media outcome result will appear from the sense of modification and the remnants of it will be capable for directing the theatre role as well as Brechts theatre in the future. Fantasy Brecht views performers as a suitable representation because they market and promote an invented dignity set to the audience that feels an emotional blast causing a demonstrative climax but however, the audience has previously felt the utmost demonstrative finish at the end of the performance. This involves the recollection which follows by the certain plot outcome. The audience has no alternative but to avoid the fast diminishing recollection of their theatrical stimulation and revert to the small actual representation which looks out for them beyond the theatre inside. This is Brechts critical style of Aristotles catharsis. Brecht also wanted the audience to see the characters as part of a bigger issue rather than revolving around the specific difficulty (Heinen and Weber, 2010: p.13). His alienation effect ideology was made to stop the audience from understanding the characters on stage and it would make his aim and objective realistic. In his own words, Brecht said, Estrangement means to historicize, that is, consider people and incidents as historically conditioned and transitory. The spectator will no longer see the characters on stage as unalterable, uninfluenceable, helplessly delivered over to their fate. He will see that his man is such and such, because circumstances are such. And circumstances are such, because man is such. But he in turn is conceivable not only as he is now, but also as he might be that is, otherwise and the same holds true for circumstances. Hence, the spectator obtains a new attitude in the theatre. He will be received in the theatre as the great transformer, who can intervene in the natural processes and the social processes, and who no longer accepts the world but masters it. (Ewen, 1967: p.222) Aristotelian theatre has understood the well designed theatrical production, advanced character occurrence and delay of doubt. Brecht created Epic Theatre which consist the plot viewed in a sporadic manner as there is very insufficient cause and effect of the character progress and scene sequences is collective (Benjamin, 2003: p.6). On the other hand, the alienation effect identifies with explanation, impartiality, neutrality and it gets around feelings. Brecht attempted to succeed distancing in so many ways as he made the action representative, cruel and complete. The action for Brecht is direct which lacks the conclusion as every scene sequence is conclude inside it and it is dramatically understood to stop the misconception feeling (Jones, 1987: p.105). So as a result in Brechts Epic Theatre adaptation, Brecht not only aimed to aggravate the audience into changing culture by reconsidering mutual theory. He also wanted the audience to see the characters in the theatre performance as part of a bigger and further essential unity. He used his Alienation Effect ideology to that influence. For Brecht, the difference of theatre and existence and the performer and observer is unclear and constricted which makes it eas ier for the theatre production conclusion to be left in charge of every audience participant (Reis, 1993: p.136). Furthermore, the audience is left in sensitive condition height at the theatre production conclusion in Brechts catharsis style. The audience have to furthermore do something in opposition to the public issue which was introduced to them for finishing the demonstrative purification (Barranger, 2006: p.123). The move from realism to hyper-realism happens when the representation interpretation succumbs to simulation. The simulation scene is a distancing exterior that permits for no theatre production representation of comparison and the entire sphere it provides and characterizes. The essential world, its very infinity and hugeness is nothing more than the simulation of these importances that is a simulacrum which present a limitation approach as it controls and restrains the spaceless understanding and the partial procedure sphere from a Brechts point of view. The distanc ing fades away into closeness and existence turns out to be a simplicity and simultaneity condition. People might still come across something similar to Lyotards theory of passibility (Crockett, 2001: p.49). Lyotard expresses this conflict as an effort to change modernity to move complication and purpose by transcribing beyond the theories of its telos (Holmes, 1997: p.175). He suggests a concept he called, Working Through as opposed to modernitys guided creation which is a free theatre performance as opposed to tactical theatre performance (Malpas, 2003: p.119). Brecht and Lyotard had one thing in common. Both of them agreed that the appeal to avoid the control of a complete method pushed in direction of its individual beliefs and ahead of it whilst being in different realms in numerous concerns. In Lyotards own words, he said, Being prepared to receive what thought is not prepared to think is what deserves the name of thinking. (Williams, Crome and Lyotard, 2006: p.277) Neverthele ss, modernist works are limited and separate units for every free theatre performance in them that is just what the conventional culture organization empathizes (Murphy, 1999: p.30). The innovative modernity that is existent to this problem was overcome by political and diplomatic historical past. However, postmodernity is encountered with these circumstances and will then take the separate exit (Frascina, 1992: p.97). If the culture work is surely a commodity then it may also confess on it because the commodity as the instinctively copy argument forces the commodity out. Postmodernist culture will end its individual limits and turn out to be comparable by means of normal commodified existence in an ironic explanation on the modern work whose constant arguments and changes in any circumstances understand no recognized limits which are not continuously doing wrong (Bell and Le May, 1993: p.175), (Eagleton, 1986: p.141). If every work of art can be corrected by the decision direction, then it is boldly better to anticipate this outcome rather than reluctantly enduring it which by this time is a commodity that can keep from commodification. Postmodernist culture will give a downgraded respond to certain selectivity by fixing itself in the ground if the elevated modernist work was established in the concept (Harris and Frascina, 1992: p.97), (Eagleton, 1986: p.141). However, Brecht has commented this theory as a beginning after the bad new things instead of a beginning after the good old
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Child Abuse and Neglect Essay -- Violence Against Children
When thinking about statistics on child abuse, itââ¬â¢s very helpful to know that the idea of ââ¬Å"child abuseâ⬠is very controversial. Recently, in particular homes and cultures, child abuse has come to be seen as a major social problem and a main cause of many peopleââ¬â¢s suffering and personal problems. Some believe that we are beginning to face the true prevalence and significance of child abuse. There is more to child abuse than just the physical scars; children are affected socially, mentally, and emotionally. According to the American National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, in 1997, neglect represented 54% of confirmed cases of child abuse, physical abuse 22%, sexual abuse 8%, emotional maltreatment 4%, and other forms of maltreatment 12%. Physical abuse is defined as physical aggression directed at a child by an adult. It can involve kicking, striking, shoving, slapping, burning, bruising, pulling ears or hair, stabbing choking or shaking a child. Child neglect is when the responsible adult fails to provide adequately for various needs. These may include; physical, mental, educational, and medical. Out of all the possible forms of abuse, emotional abuse is the hardest to define. It could include; name-calling, ridicule and degradation, destruction of personal belongings, torture or destruction of a pet, excessive criticism, inappropriate or excessive demands, withholding information, and routine labeling and humiliation. Most abused and neglected children never come to the attention of government authorities. This is true for neglected and sexually abused children, who may have no signs of harm. In the case of sexual abuse, secrecy and intense feelings of shame may prevent children, and adults aware of the abuse the c hild undergoe... ...and destroyed newly-formed neurons. The areas of their brains responsible for the "management" of their emotions were 20% to 30% smaller than in other children of the same age. It would be logical to conclude that this damage can result in any child (not only Romanian) who suffers such abandonment and maltreatment (Dr. Alice Miller, 1998). Works Cited â⬠¢ Dr. Alice Miller, Childhood Trauma, presented as a lecture to the YWHA, New York City, 1998 â⬠¢ Jim Hopper, Ph.D. ââ¬Å"Child Abuse: Statistics, Research, and Resources for Recovery." 1996 â⬠¢ Lowenthal, 1996, p. 22 â⬠¢ Nelson, D., G. Higginson, and J. Grant-Worley. "Physical Child Abuse Effects." Child Abuse: Effects, Statistics, Types and Stories of Abuse. Nov. 1995 â⬠¢ "Scientists at University College Target Child Abuse." Pediatrics Week 5 Feb. 2011: 324. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 8 Feb. 2011.
Sunday, November 10, 2019
Ipad’s Integrated Marketing Communications Report
Table of Contents Introduction1 Appleââ¬â¢s Integrated Marketing Communications Programme for iPad. 2 Brand Positioning2 Target Audience3 Target market and segments4 Evaluation of the productsââ¬â¢ Integrated Marketing Communications plan:4 Conclusion7 Recommendations7 Bibliography8 Introduction This report will discuss Appleââ¬â¢s Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Programme for their iPad product and how this is coordinated to communicate the iPadââ¬â¢s product positioning strategy.Appleââ¬â¢s iPad is a tablet computer adding a new genre to their mobile devices. The report will discuss the brand positioning and any recommendations for future IMC planning. Appleââ¬â¢s corporate headquarters are based in California in the US in the heart of the Hi-tech industry. They are global in terms of computer electronic consumable sales. Apple position themselves as a top of the range brand with pioneering innovations and consumer needs and wants in mind.Steve Jobs, for mer co-founder, chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. , made a compelling positioning statement during his introduction of the iPad at a conference in January 2010, he stated that the iPad is ââ¬Å"so much more intimate than a laptop, and itââ¬â¢s so much more capable than a smartphone with its gorgeous screenâ⬠(STONE, 2010). Apple is committed to remaining in the forefront of innovation and quality, and therefore will sustain their competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving market.This report will also highlight the importance of media for Appleââ¬â¢s brand and how Apple have used this to reach itsââ¬â¢ target audience and increase brand awareness. It will also question if Apple is focusing on the Marketing Communications Mix or are they relying more on the desire of the ââ¬Ëbrandââ¬â¢? The theory behind IMC is to use all aspects of marketing communication such as Advertising, Public Relations, Direct marketing and Personal selling to attain and sustain long-term cu stomer relationships while strengthening brand awareness and increasing profits.Appleââ¬â¢s use and effectiveness of the IMC campaign and their success from it will be discussed further in this report along with what message Apple are trying to deliver in their advertising of the iPad. Appleââ¬â¢s Integrated Marketing Communications Programme for iPad. The Apple brand is instantly recognisable throughout the world due to the companyââ¬â¢s positioning strategy of their product line by way of product features, quality and ease of use to name a few. Their leadership in innovation gives the brand competitive advantage and this has fed the want and desire for the brand by consumers.Therefore the iPad having the Apple brand already created a certain am The Apple brand is instantly recognisable throughout the world due to the companyââ¬â¢s positioning strategy of their product line by way of product features, quality and ease of use to name a few. Their leadership in innovation gives the brand competitive advantage and this has fed the want and desire for the brand by consumers. Therefore the iPad having the Apple brand already created a certain am Apple is no different to most organisations for using promotional and advertising tools to gain customersââ¬â¢ interest and the desire for their products.However, their marketing on innovation and design of the iPad also catches the attention of new potential consumers. To many the technology was not totally new, but the concept was and Apple focussed on that. Previous products from Apple put their brand in the limelight and made any new product launch a much anticipated one. amount of reputation, awareness and prominence in the marketplace before it was even launched. So how is Appleââ¬â¢s Integrated Marketing Communications organised to communicate the iPadââ¬â¢s positioning strategy? Firstly, we should look at the brand positioning and how the iPad fits in.Brand Positioning Brands and the management of brands have become very important elements of culture and the economy. A brand can increase the product's perceived value and therefore brand management and the marketing techniques used are seen as vital to increase brand equity and the positioning of their products. Marketers see a brand as an implied promise of the level of quality consumers have come to expect from the brandsââ¬â¢ products and that future products will meet those expectations. Apple is seen as an ââ¬Ëiconic brand that delivers revolutionary, beautifully designed and incredibly profitable products. (Daye, 2012). The ââ¬ËAppleââ¬â¢ brand is in fact Number 1 in brand value according to Forbes, saying it is worth $87. 1 billion, up 52% from two years ago (Forbes, 2012). The master of the Apple brand was Steve Jobs who was an excellent brand marketer and core to what Apple is today. He saw the future for Apple which was going beyond computers, therefore his first step was to remove the word ââ¬ËCom puterââ¬â¢ from their logo. Doing this allowed the company to diversify and expand into the world of mobile devices and more. Doing this allowed the company to diversify and expand into the world of mobile devices and more.Just as the products are very important for competitiveness, the brand is too, and the Apple brand certainly has succeeded in building up a very valuable good: an instantly recognizable and universally respected brand. This makes it easier to promote and sell the iPad. In fact, some brands over time become cult brands: consumers become passionate about the brand and levels of loyalty go beyond reason (Roberts, 2004) and Apple has become a cult brand in some respects. As mentioned in Steve Jobsââ¬â¢ compelling positioning statement in the introduction, he made two important statements about the product.They were that the iPad was between two already highly successful mobile devices, the laptop and the smartphone, and very importantly that the iPad had competi tive advantages over each. Apple brand followers were instantly excited and could not wait for the release of the iPad so they could be the first to have it, whether they needed such a device or not! The iPad was a game-changer in the tech world when released in April of 2010 and some believe it may end the personal computer era such is the strength of the brand. Target AudienceThe iPadââ¬â¢s target audience is not as clear as one would think, it turns out that it is very broad. The initial thought on the iPad by the media was that it was just a big iPhone that could not be used for regular phone calls, so who would want something like that? Apple believed, like for the iPod, that the iPad was for everyone. They got this perception when a year after the iPod was released many consumers still believed the device was for ââ¬Ëtechies and celebritiesââ¬â¢. The task, therefore, was to use communications to inform world audiences that the iPod (and now the iPad) was for everyone, not just a select few (Fill, 2009).The fact that many features and programs on the iPad were inherited from the iPod and iPhone it meant that users would be familiar with the devicesââ¬â¢ capabilities and have the advantage of mobile computing too. The iPad had the potential to target music lovers of all ages and denominations, it was a learning tool for both students and professionals with the addition of thousands of applications (apps) available. The variety of apps could attract consumers who love to read, share photographs, stay in touch through forms of email, forums, virtual meetings, social media and Applesââ¬â¢ ââ¬ËFacetimeââ¬â¢ to name a few.This made the iPadsââ¬â¢ audience vast and diverse. Target market and segments Segmentation is necessary because a single product is unlikely to meet the needs of all customers in a mass market (Fill, 2009). This should be the case for most products, however the iPad is satisfying many needs and desires. For example, du e to the variety of applications available, the iPad becomes an educational tool, a recreational tool, a business tool and a communication tool, all of which the iPad was designed for. It is clear the device is equally good for home use as well as business for both genders.But the competitiveness of the product is strengthened by Appleââ¬â¢s award winning dedicated music store, iTunes, which delivers seamless downloading of not just music, but books and movies too, which widens the target market and covers several market segments. The need to communicate through channels such as social media, example is Facebook, and websites specifically designed for mobile devices such as iVillage for women, make the iPad a very attractive device as it is stylish, light weight and now trendy to own one.Consumers of all ages and backgrounds can potentially own one as the price of the base model is relatively acceptable in terms of technical devices is concerned. Because of the potential to incre ase productivity businesses are scrambling to purchase the iPad, students and colleges want them, and they are seen being used by news broadcasters and presenters not to mention government representatives. Apple do not appear to target markets like other companies do, they tend to target people.They use elements of IMC and AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action) to achieve and maintain customer loyalty and increase brand awareness. They managed to present complex technology in an easy, user friendly and fun way, a key to their success in many markets. Evaluation of the productsââ¬â¢ Integrated Marketing Communications plan: Apple continued on the successes of previous products when launching their iPad product, using images and reminders of what those previous products have done for the world. Their marketing communications for the iPad very much focused on what the company has done and what they are best at.In the keynote presentation of the iPad, the company reminded us that in October 2001, Apple revolutionised the way people listen to music with the iPod, in April 2003 Apple revolutionised the way people buy music, videos and games with iTunes. In October 2007, they revolutionised the world of mobile communications with the iPhone, and now with the iPad, Apple will ââ¬Ërevolutioniseââ¬â¢ the world again. Steve Jobsââ¬â¢ enthusiastic description of the device during his Keynote in January 2010 makes the individual user feel that it was made for them, that they will ââ¬Å"hold the internet in their hands and it is an incredible experience. Steve Jobs on many occasions has stated that he loves Apple products and their customers. This shows in the customer support Apple has invested in. The company internally is well briefed on how Apple wants to be perceived, again this shows in how secrecy shrouds products prior to their launch. Their communication mix is very much audience focused and always consistent. The message for iPad is clear, it is a device for the individual who could personalise it and bring it anywhere. Applesââ¬â¢ marketing objectives were quite simple for the iPad.Their approach has always been the same, but different to other organisations, their introduction was somewhat spectacular due to the fact that products prior to launch were always successfully kept a secret. This made Apple brand fans excited and other consumers intrigued. Applesââ¬â¢ marketing strategy is ââ¬Å"Itââ¬â¢s better to be simpleâ⬠and it shows in their marketing communications as they keep their advertising minimalistic and product information in simple language. The main forms they use are social media, online advertising, presentation keynotes and sometimes viral marketing!Either way, the message is clear and simple; the product is exciting, fun and easy to use. This is unusual, as traditionally, technical products were always described by their systemsââ¬â¢ statistics and technical terminology which the avera ge consumer does not understand. Brand awareness is increased because of the hype. The communication mix or marketing mix involves the implementation of a marketing plan consisting of: i) Promotion, ii) Product, iii) Price and iv) Place. The Apple brand is an incredibly strong brand hence ââ¬ËPromotionââ¬â¢ is mentioned first.Apple, surprisingly, do not spend as much on advertising as one would think. Media such as television and magazines are their main choice but what Apple did and did best were product launch press releases. As mentioned before, keynote presentations were what Applesââ¬â¢ former CEO was extraordinary at. And people who mattered most to promote and place the new product in the media through public relations press releases, were present at these presentations. Secrecy of a product generated interest and added to that the Apple brand which created hype, resulted in enthusiastic anticipation of the iPad launch.Commercials were simplistic but visually pleasin g and this enhanced the beauty and simplicity of the design and features of the iPad, exactly what Steve Jobs himself loved about Apple products. This is also mirrored in their shop designs featuring simple but sophisticated look just displaying the Apple products promoting their features. More recently, the iPad has been placed in most good computer electronic stores around the world and of course Applesââ¬â¢ own e-commerce website. It is now as easy to purchase the iPad as it is to buy shoes.The iPad, like other Apple products, is designed and manufactured to the highest standards as always maintained by the former CEO Steve Jobs. The Product is probably Applesââ¬â¢ most important ââ¬ËPââ¬â¢ in the communication mix as they believe they have the most a product can offer. ââ¬Å"Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings. â⬠(Apple, 2004). The products and the brand will push the other ââ¬ËPsââ¬â¢ of the mix for Apple.Price was not as important for Apple as their products. With their iPad they have competitive advantage with innovation, they also have control with materials, such as touch screens and flash memory to keep costs down over their competitors. Most electronic goodsââ¬â¢ prices generally fall as the product nears the end of its PLC, (Product Life Cycle). Not so much with Apple products. Apple manages to get people hooked on their products from an early age. The iPad, like other Apple mobile devices, are very easy and fun to use and have the capability of adapting to the user by means of applications and personalisation.Therefore, as the user grows older the device can contain more ââ¬Ëmatureââ¬â¢ applications. For example, games and early learning apps can entertain children while music and movies are a must for adolescences, and productivity and new s may be important for adults. Today we cannot live without social networking and weather information! This is a very clever way of reaching a varied target audience that is not confined to gender, demographics, interests, or even age and Apple use ââ¬Ëappsââ¬â¢ to promote the iPad.The effectiveness of the IMC campaign is hard to measure for the iPad as an individual Apple product, as much of the interest is down to the loyalty of the brand also. Critics will always point to the negatives, but there is without doubt, evidence to show the iPad is a huge success. Promoting the iPad to young users, for example, in schools and colleges and images of celebrities and peers using them means it generates the desire to own one. Apple can also lock the consumer into the brand by linking their products and services so that they continue to use the brand through life.Conclusion Their advertising and in-store presentation of the iPad gives the product a prestigious image, but the ability t o allow the consumer to try it or ââ¬Ëplayââ¬â¢ with it in their stores shows the confidence the company has for their productsââ¬â¢ capabilities and quality, and that is what consumers inevitably pick up on. For effective marketing there needs to be effective communication of the information of the product. Apple does it well, but they do it simply and that seems to work. The desire they have generated for the consumer to want a fun and productive device is unquenchable.Apple may not follow all the rules of Integrated Marketing Communications, but they are careful in the planning of a product entry into the market. Secrecy, hype, presentations and image are key to their success it seems and the Apple brand remains powerful and resilient. Recommendations Apple as a company must be transparent to remain credible and sustainable in todayââ¬â¢s business climate. This will also aid in the expansion into emerging markets. The success of the iPad has been a cornerstone for the company roven by sales of nearly 40 million iPads at the end of 2011, according to Forbes, and they expect 73 million in sales by the end of 2012. This can be over confident and risky as they lack new innovation since the iPad 2 launch. To continue growth into 2013 Appleââ¬â¢s marketing strategy will need to focus on brand positioning, promotion, customer service and estimate a competitive price of iPad with additional features linking to research and analysis of the environmental forces to compete in the global market. A continual S. W. O. T. analysis would benefit to understand the companyââ¬â¢s position.Promotion development and strategies can be extremely effective if Apple continues to focus on its strategic human resource management and by making consistent attempts to remodel its marketing plan to continue successfully. Bibliography Apple, 2004. Apple Press Info. [Online] Available at: http://www. apple. com/pr/library/2004/01/08HP-and-Apple-Partner-to-Deliver-Digital- Music-Player-and-iTunes-to-HP-Customers. html [Accessed 27th March 2013]. Daye, D. , 2012. Weakness In The Apple Brand?. [Online] Available at: http://www. brandingstrategyinsider. com/2012/12/crunch-time-for-the-apple-brand. html#. US860jAqyCl [Accessed 28th Feb 2013].Fill, C. , 2009. Marketing Communications. Fifth Edition ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Forbes, 2012. Apple Tops List Of The World's Most Powerful Brands. [Online] Available at: http://www. forbes. com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/10/02/apple-tops-list-of-the-worlds-most-powerful-brands/ [Accessed 24th March 2013]. Roberts, K. , 2004. The Future Beyond Brands: Lovemarks. New York: Powerhouse Books. STONE, B. , 2010. New York Times. Inside Technology. [Online] Available at: http://www. nytimes. com/2010/01/28/technology/companies/28apple. html? _r=0 [Accessed 12 Feb 2013]. ââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬âââ¬â
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