Debates on Advertising Essay

In the text , introduction to mass communication media literacy and culture, Stanley Baran states specific complaints about advertising. He states that advertising is intrusive , deceptive, exploits children, and demean and corrupts culture. Ads can be intrusive because they are everywhere and interfere with and alters our experience. It can be deceptive because the ads implicitly and sometimes explicitly says that it came improve someone’s lives through a purchase of a product. Ads also exploit children because they are targeted. There are ads that are specifically mind blowing go them. Finally, ads demanding and corrupts culture by appealing to human values and needs. Advertisers accomplish this goal by using the AIDA approach and consumer culture. The AIDA approach is used to persuade consumers and the consumer culture is used to impose new definitions that serve the advertiser and not the cultures important aspects of our lives. The disagreements that are shown by Baran in Chapter 12 are legitimate. The arguments that are provided supports the complaints given. I believe the accusations that support advertising are tolerable. Advertising is everywhere and interferes with and alters our experience. Advertising is all over the world. Ads does not have to be actual billboards or commercials on television. The clothes that we wear and the products that we use are also advertisements. This is also called 360-marketing. Advertising can also be deceptive. There are many products in our society where it is supposed to change out lives. For example, â€Å"AXE† , a male shampoo, is supposed to attract more women if you wear it. These products can be deceiving to our culture because of this. The advertisers know that people in society want an excitement in their lives , so to improve that they create products that excite the consumers. I also think that advertisements do exploit children. Ads specially create ads for children because they are the influence on their parents. This means that the advertisers will use the children to their advantage to get their products brought. For example , when children see a product that’s eye catching to them , they will beg their parents to buy that product which will eventually happen because the parents would not want to keep hearing their children beg. Lastly , advertisements does demean and corrupt our culture. I believe this is true because advertisements come about to seek products that we need. They attract us by producing products that we use everyday. For an example , we use soap everyday to wash our bodies. The advertisers will produce many soap ads to intrigue us to buy a particular soap. Also, producers create many soaps , with different scents to give us the idea that it will make you smell better which leads back to the idea of advertisements being deceptive. This shows that advertisers do demean and corrupt our culture.The article â€Å"Boosting Smoking Among Children† supports the complaint of advertising exploiting children. In the article RJR Nabisco created a new campaign for its camel brand cigarettes. Anti smoking groups accused the company of attacking young smokers as they saw Joe Camel repeating the same path as to smoke go an† untapped market†. It was stated by Dr. Joseph DiFranza that,† children as young as 3 years old could recognize Joe, and more kids could identify him than could identify Mickey Mouse†(page 335). DiFranza researched that Joe camel was the single most recognizable logo in the country. This shows that advertisements connect to children because they can realize a character at the age of 3. The children do not understand what is going on , but the advertisers know that the parents will buy their cigarettes because of the children. Also , when the children get older , the camel on the cigarette box will be more common and if decided to smoke they would buy only that product because they are used to seeing it. The Ad Council and Media Foundation does challenge common practices of the advertising industry by creating â€Å"uncommercials†. Uncommercials are commercials ,at no cost if used, challenge known actual commercials. In the article ,†Challenging Advertising: Ad Busters and Uncommercials† it is stated that ,†those who wish to use them to , as the Media Foundation likes to call it, â€Å"culture jam,† or challenge the prevailing commercial culture†(page 336). This shows that the uncommercials are used to show that the advertisements demean and corrupt out culture. This is done by showing and telling us that we need to buy a certain product to live. It also connects to the complaint that advertisements are deceptive. This is because seeing that we supposedly need a certain product in our life makes us want to buy the product not knowing that it is just for money.In the documentaries â€Å"Consuming Kids† and â€Å"Killing Us Softly 4† shows us the specific complaints against advertising. In â€Å"consuming kids† it was showed that children are targeted in many wa ys. This connects to the idea that advertisements exploit children because in the documentary it is shown that the children do influence parents. For example, a new car was brought because the children were attracted and begged their parents to buy it because of what was inside. The parents do not realize that the children are why their money is spent on unnecessary things. In â€Å"Killing Us Softly 4† it was shown that advertisements demean and corrupts our culture because women are portrayed and used as an object to sell products. Also in the documentaries they tell the society how to prevent the unbalanced advertising. In â€Å"Consuming kids â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. In â€Å"Killing Us Softly 4 † lady name stated that the society should , † become aware and pay attention , teach media literacy in school, protest and speak out about the problem , deface ads, and get involved and change the attitudes that are presented for us†. This shows that there are ways that we can maneuver around the pile up of advertisements. In conclusion , the advertising industries received many complaints on the ways they attack consumers. The reasons stated were because of advertisements being intrusive , deceptive, exploiting children and demeaning and corrupting our culture. AIDA approach and consumer culture helped these complaints conquer their goal. This created a controversy between industries and social groups. The social groups were the ones who complain about these problems.

Antigone: Beliefs, Opinions, and Moral Views Essay

Antigone and Creon, from â€Å"Antigone† by Sophocles, encounter a philosophical war based on their moral views. A conflict arose when the principles that backed up their actions disagreed with each other. Antigone’s side of the conflict held a gods’ law is the way approach, as opposed to the â€Å"I am king† approach Creon chose to follow. The variation in the beliefs, opinions, and moral views of Antigone and Creon were constantly disputed through out the play. Antigone felt that Creon was disregarding the laws of gods through his law. After she was captured and brought to Creon, she told him, â€Å"Your edict, King was strong, but all your strength is weakness itself against the immortal unrecorded laws of God. They are not merely now: they were, and shall be, operative for ever, beyond man utterly.† Antigone’s opinion is one that supports the Gods and the laws of heaven. Her view is set by her belief that if someone is not given a proper burial, then that person would not be accepted into heaven. Antigone was a very religious person, and acceptance of her brother by the Gods was very important to her. She felt that â€Å"†¦I will bury him; and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me.† Creon’s order was personal to Antigone, as she saw his law as invading her family life as well as offensive to the Gods. In Antigone’s eyes, Creon betrayed the laws of the Gods by not allowing her to properly bury her brother, Polynices. She believed that the burial was a sacred ritual, and Creon did not have the authority to refuse Polynices his entitlement. Antigone’s strong belief towards the burial of her brother is what led her to her death by the hands of Creon. Since Creon was ruler, whatever he said was the law, and since Antigone broke his law, Creon was in a sense to blame, because if that law wasn’t put into effect then Antigone wouldn’t have hung herself. Nevertheless, she did not stop defending what she thought was proper. Right before her death, Antigone exclaimed, â€Å"†¦ you see me now, the last unhappy daughter of a line of kings, your kings, led away to death. You will remember what things I suffer and at what men’s hands, because I would not  transgress the laws of heaven.† She feels that Creon is abusing his power as king and dealing with her task on a personal level. Creon’s actions were based off of the fact that, â€Å"†¦ no ruler can expect complete loyalty from his subjects until he has been tested in office.† Polynices’ body left unburied is a symbol of Creon’s action to achieve the loyalty that he desired. â€Å"As long as I am King, no traitor is going to be honored with the loyal man.† Leaving the body unburied was done to show respect for Thebes, not in spite of the family. After all, how could the ruler of a kingdom honor a man who attempted to invade and conquer what is now his kingdom. This was far from the beliefs of Antigone. She believed that everyone deserved the right to have a proper burial, no matter what wrong doing that person may have done, and that the gods’ are the authorities that judge the afterlife. Due to this belief, Creon turned Antigone into his prisoner, and not the public’s. The general population actually supported Antigone, but though they were too scared to stand against Creon. Haimon knew of this and told his father, â€Å"Died so shameful a death for a generous act: ‘She covered her brother’s body. Is this indecent? She kept him from dogs and vultures. Is this a crime? Death? – She should have all the honor that we can give her!’ This is the way they talk out there in the city.† Creon was exercising complete domination of political power. By not allowing Antigone to perform her religious ceremony of burying her brother is interfering with religious affairs. This act denied Antigone of her religious freedom. Creon had to weigh each factor carefully, and had to decide between his morals and his beliefs. He was torn, trying to choose what was just. â€Å"†¦ Oh it is hard to give in! But it is worse to risk everything for stubborn pride.† The conflict of beliefs was what led to Antigone’s, Haimon’s, and Megareus’ death. Both sides were just, but Creon was forced to decide and determine right from wrong when there was no clear answer. In the end, the Chorus’ opinion was the determining factor and they convinced Creon to set Antigone free, but it was already too late. The conflict between the beliefs of Creon and Antigone are layered throughout the play. Both have logical arguments, but neither dominates the other. Antigone is motivated by her strong religious feelings, while Creon is trying to be lawful and do what’s right for his kingdom. Neither won this battle, as Antigone took her life, the lives of Creon’s wife and son followed, leaving Creon with nothing but his precious kingdom.

The Power of Social Media and Its Impact on the Current Business Environment

The number of internet users has increased over the last decade due to the development of new technologies, internet availability and improved connectivity. Various online communications platforms have been invented and are widely used for both personal and business purposes world wide and social networking is the latest communication platform helping people connect to each other across different places. Its introduction has changed the way groups of people are connecting and communicating in business via online communities and professional networks. In business, many multi-national companies are currently moving beyond traditional media channels and using social network sites as a medium to reach their targets consumers instead. There is no argument that social networking is the key player driving new media communications in the digital era and its benefits and functions are impacting business considerably. There are hundreds of social networking platforms that have been introduced to the market but currently there are only two major sites recognised as the world's most powerful platforms attracting millions of users to participate. Firstly there is Facebook, a social network service that allows users to create their own profile, status, interest and preferences and also share information with friends and contacts. According to Trimpe (2011), reported that Facebook's active user base is 519 million which equates approximately to 1 in 13 of every person on earth. In the Facebook world millions of pieces of content, links and event invitations are shared every 20 minutes indicating the enormous power of Facebook as a social media tool. Secondly there is Twitter, a social network platform that allows users to generate and share messages, or â€Å"Tweets†, up to a maximum of 140 characters. According to Chiang (2011), claimed that there are nearly 200 million Twitter's users worldwide. The most common use is to promote business information about products and services or sometimes to educate industry on a business products or services. Due to the fact that these two social networking services possess millions of people's profiles, demographics and personal interests, thousands of multinational companies have turned their focus on new social media strategy to reach their target online. The term ‘social media’ has become the most recent area focused on by marketers, advertisers and public relations professionals in various business sectors and many experts have studied and tried to understand the benefits and functions of the term social media. According to Turner (2011), the Chief Content Officer of the 60 Second marketer reported that social media is about creating and having conversations among networks in online forums, blogs, and social networking sites. The key fundamental function is to use them as a medium for contacting, sharing and promoting data and contents. But when it comes to business, the main objective of operating social media is far beyond that. In business, social media is currently claimed to be the best tool in helping a company gain larger numbers of their target consumers just by providing a digital experience related to their products and services. Social media is also playing an important role in driving consumers brand engagement. According to Schmitt (2009), studied about digital brand experience and the result indicated that consumers who have a chance to engage with a brand in social networking sites can evolve from passive reactors to support the brand almost instantaneously. Creating a brand presence in social media can create not only opportunities for a company to gain more customers but also help marketers to understand more deeply what their potential target customers think towards their products and services thanks, for example, to Facebook that first invented the â€Å"Like† application that allows users to express their interest towards other websites, links or even competitors brands and share across networks. Thanks considerably to the advantages of social media, and its large numbers of potential target consumers, it is no surprise that many global companies have selected social networking as a key medium to start launching their campaign. According to Parsons (2011), reported that recently, Kellogg’s, the cereal manufacturer, launched a new range of Krave cereal and used Facebook as a medium to communicate and offer free sample packs to around 80,000 consumers on their Facebook fan page. The brand also developed video content to engage their 16-24 year old target age group to create interaction in Facebook. Additional examples show that Dell also gained a major success generating $3 million in sales after it launched its online outlet through Twitter and Starbucks has achieved the top ranking of Facebook brand pages, with nearly 4 million friends, by just offering fans coupons for free pastries and ice cream. Additionally, Whole Foods has topped Twitter with 1. million followers by broadcasting weekly specials and shopping tips (Schmitt 2009, p. 26). Companies in the FMCG industry are not the only sector that is involved in social media. Currently Honda, the Japanese automotive manufacture, is implementing their new marketing initiative from budget-led to customer-led by moving beyond traditional advertising and using social media as a tool to understand, manage and encourage open communication and conversation among their customers (Fisher 2011). In this point, the decision to buy a durable good like a car is a lengthy process, so to ensure that their brand will be in front of mind of consumers, Honda then focuses through a combination of data analytics using, and social influence methodologies, to engage and change consumer perception and increase brand awareness at the same time. In other words the role of social media, in this case, is to help maximise the goodwill and favourable mentions of company and brands. Moreover, not only can a platform of social networking provide a benefit to communicate with customers but it also enhances the capability of internal communications amongst staff as it has benefits of real-time discussion, response and speed to spread out information or opinions internally and reduce the time spent in meetings and it is enormously useful for companies with teams/staff members who working in different locations or time zones. For instance, according to Willson (2011) reported that AT&T, a US telecommunications company, launched a new tool aimed at providing their staff the opportunity to have discussions, brainstorm and refine ideas through its own internal social media platform. Employees have opportunities to be involved by voting their opinion on the company's ideas and strategies. As a result of this implementation, and in just 6 months, there are more than 200 topics that have been discussed with great outcomes and many fresh ideas generated without wasting time in meetings. Undoubtedly, social media platforms help a company communicate to both customers and staff faster and easier, however, the easy access of shared data can be a risk to a company’s confidential products and information. Many companies to date have suffered from the secret leaking of their products before its launch to market and it is not only bloggers or online journalists who cannot keep the information secret but also staff who are caught, sometimes by mistake, sharing confidential information. As recent examples, Coggan (2011), reported that Renault has suspended three senior executives allegedly for passing on blueprints for electric cars, Facebook’s corporate privacy settings went wrong when some of the social network’s finances were published and a strategy document from AOL came to light revealing that the internet and media firm’s journalists were expected to write five to ten articles a day. As a result of this type of leak information many companies, especially in the USA, do not allow employees to use their own computers or use memory sticks for certain online services. Accordingly Robert Half Technology also found in 2009 that more than half of chief information officers in America blocked the use of networking sites such as Facebook at work to prevent leaking of information. In the digital era, today's business is borderless with mobile devices, smartphone and computers helping the world connect with the internet. Social networking is a new communications platform that enhances this borderless world providing users with an ability to contact one another and spread information. Many companies use these social networks as a key strategic media to reach their target consumers or adapt its platforms for internal communications purposes to enhance the productivity of its members. However, with its easy access and ability to disperse information rapidly, social networking is becoming a big challenge for todays businesses on how to control data leaking and to protect information assets whilst, at the same time, sharing data without affecting the company's competitiveness. Ultimately, the challenge of gaining benefit from social media is to operate it in a balanced way and in the same way a company has always managed its confidential information. A company must know what it wants to achieve from spreading information about its products and services and also what information it needs to protect . A businesses staff who are involved in the management, operation and control of these platforms should be trained to know how to add accurate data in an online social context and be able to understand what information is acceptable to share.

Obama and US-Israel Relations Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Obama and US-Israel Relations - Article Example In fact, there has come the time when the sovereign state of Israel will be accountable for its actions and the continued pressure from the US for the peace-keeping process in the region will receive more momentum. The significance of Obama is that he has set the right passage for the state of Israel to join the community of peace seeking nations and to recognize its responsibility for the long-standing stalemate in this region. Significantly, this state has been responsible for political and social stalemate in the region and only the regressive reactionary forces of fundamentalism have gained and continue to gain from this state of affairs. Thus, there has come the time for Israel to come of age in this respect and the U.S role is critical. From the radical and critical standpoint of the several critics of Israeli policies it is essential for America to be firm about more than freezing settlements on freshly-grabbed land. For them, Obama has the better chance of doing something mea ningful in the region than any president since Israel's founding. "No wonder, then, that the Obama administration is already reverting to the old pre-Bush assumptions that have repeatedly been discredited in practice: that Israeli "intransigence" is the main obstacle to ending the conflict with the Palestinians; that "restarting" the "peace process" therefore requires putting the onus back on Israel; and that this in turn necessitates forcing Israel back to the 1967 borders." (Podhoretz) Therefore, it time for Israel to stop finding fault with the other side with charges of anti-Semitism and it is for the US to ensure that the peace-process in the region is not affected. The election of Barack Obama to US Presidency has a major impact on the peace process in the Middle East and it is the best thing to happen to the State of Israel since its founding. Whereas it is obvious that the role of the US president Barack Obama in brining the State of Israel back to the global peace process is generally accepted, there are critics who do not believe in this phenomenon of peace-keeping. Ben-Dror Yemini, who has been a fierce critic of the view that Obama can bring about any progress in the matter of Israel and according to him the West remains indifferent to the situation. "And where are the world's leaders Where is the wondrous rhetorical ability of Barack Obama Where has his sublime vocabulary gone Where is the desire that is supposed to be built into all American presidents, to defend and act on behalf of freedom seekers around the globe What is this stammering" (Caspit and Yemini) Yemini, along with Caspit, has been too critical about the abilities of Obama in bringing about peace in the region by forcing Israel to move in the path of peace process. However, it is obvious that the critical arguments made by Yemini do not give an exact explanation of the context of U.S Israel relations under Obama. According to him, "The voices being heard from Obama elicit concern that we are actually dealing with a new version of Chamberlain. Being conciliatory is a positive trait, particularly when it follows the clumsy bellicosity of George Bush, but when conciliation becomes blindness, we have a problem." (Caspit and Yemini) The Ma'ariv correspondents Ben Caspit and Ben-Dror Yemini harshly criticize the limited role of Barack Obama in responding to the needs of the region, especially in checking the

Sustainable management futures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Sustainable management futures - Essay Example iv) The employee involved in whistle blowing should have stumbled with credible documentary evidence that convinces observers of the correctness of the circumstance where the product brings grave harm to the public. iv) The whistle blower should have a valid reason in believing that by informing the public, the necessary corrective measures will effected. v) The situation involving death or serious body injuries should be treat as severe than non physical harm and that the whistle blower is ready to take responsibility. Loyalty and integrity: The role they play in whistle blowing Personal loyalty is steadfastness of an individual in asserting allegiance, perseverance and upholding faithfulness to others. Integrity on the other hand refers to consistency of truthfulness to ones value system and moral principles by showing this consistency in ones day to day life. Loyalty informs the power of mutual respect, being confidential and keeping promises. In some cases, loyalty can be misplac ed or blind so that it diminishes from being a virtue as harm and not good emanates. Loyalty puts the profit motive of a firm in collision with loyalty to values, beliefs and ethos. Whistle blowing is not a capricious issue as it can cause an end to organizations or a person’s existence. ... It comprises employee protection for disclosing some information including evidence of activities that are illegal or adverse to the environment.They also protects employees from employer retribution like dismissal and promotional blackmail. The victimised individuals can obtain a remedy in the courts for compensation. The prescribed persons are the registrar for data protection, executives for health and safety, environmental agency, certification officer, and trade and industry secretary of state. Is â€Å"Whistle blowing a negative or positive force within society?† Whistle blowing has been a useful force to the society since many employers have started to constitute internal processes of reporting emerging issues. There is a new desire by companies to solve problems internally before they become public. Employers would find it apprehensive when employees choose to use the Act and not the internal processes created. Though it does not force employers to come up with policie s regarding disclosures, many do not know the existence of such policies. Examining the extent the ethics of lying in business transactions Lying in most situations is indispensable. It is the only way to keep the business moving when the stocks and profits are crippling. Investors would hear none of the failures that is shouted truthfully. Robert Diamond the CEO of Barclays Group did not acknowledge the deception that the bank gave to the London Interbank Offered Rate which affected the transactions of a huge amount. They had misreported interest rates. Even the bonuses to be paid to employees were clawed back. Mr. Diamond was forced to resign. Lying is unethical and results in poor business practices as seen the case