Advertising and Society

Advertising and Society Introduction: Advertising is said to be like glue that holds cultures together. It allows us to share a common experience incorporated by brands, images, logos, and even silly jingles. We define who we are by what we buy and wear because we know that others judge us by what we buy and wear. And advertising influences those judgments. Today because of advertisements conditioning and trendsetting, judgments are made on what clothes people wear, what shampoo and kitchen cleaner they use, not on whom we really are.This leads to a certain degree of social discrimination and emotional insecurity especially in younger population. In advertising, socio-cultural dimensions came in 1920’s. Agencies and publicists no longer sought only to convey objective facts about the products but they also link products with a lifestyle, permeate them with glamour and prestige, and persuade consumers that purchasing an item could be, as historian Alan Brinkley describes it, â €Å"a personally fulfilling and enriching experience. †(Alan Brinkley, 1991; 648. ) Historical background:If we recall the history of advertising the first thing that came into our mind is the old papyrus from Thebes dating back about 3000 years ago. History of English society showed that the spread of information in an organized way began with the development of newspaper. Newspaper started carrying advertisement in mid 1600’s. The industrial revolution in 19th century resulted in great commercial growth and provided a great support to advertising. With the development of the technology after the Second World War many changes took place in advertising.As more and more advanced systems got introduced, they changed the whole scenario of the society. Although these developments in advertising are of great value but on the other hand they also generated huge criticism. The aim of advertising in society is to sell the goods in a particular kind of economy. It is because of advertising which is a major form of modern social communication that one can understand his society in new ways. Overview: In this chapter on advertising and society, the author aimed to examine ifferent critiques and key concepts related to advertising and its impact on society. To support his argument author used different theories and researches that supports or negates advertising’s impact in relation to society. The main approaches that the author discussed in the chapter are pluralistic positions, Neo Marxist positions and cultural critiques. According to author the pluralistic positions focused on the usefulness of consumptions and options available for the consumers and the economy.Neo-Marxist views argued that advertising flatters to deceive. It undermines use value into exchange value. Its representations incorporate the meanings of the dominant ideology. On the other hand cultural approach emphasized on the harmful effects of commodifications. To discuss about th e main critiques that he took in order to fulfill his objective the author examined studies by different researchers about these approaches. The first study mentioned was by Sinclair who saw the critiques in terms of an opposition between optimistic and pessimistic views.According to Optimistic view advertising is used as a tool for functioning of economy while pessimistic saw the advertising in relation to economy as a destruction of social and cultural values. To further support his argument two more important perspectives were discussed in the chapter i. e. , Capitalist pluralism and political economy Theory. Capitalist pluralism argued that advertising is an optimistic tool for providing information about goods and services where as Political economist regard advertising as working tool under the power of media institution or in other words media monopoly.These perspectives of capitalistic pluralism and political economy were further discussed by Doyle in 2002 who pointed out th at there exist a strong relationship between the advertising expenditure and economic wealth by arguing that although advertising contributes to economic growth it doesn’t mean that it also contributes to the well-being of the society. Then he discussed about the role of advertising in developing ideas about the imaginary world. To elaborate his point the author added the analysis by Cronic in 2000. who argued about the imagination of audience and their relationship and said that they cannot be discovered.Moreover he discussed the post modern and cultural critiques of advertising which were based on the modes of consumption. Then he put studies by Matterlart in 1991 and Kenway and Bullen in 2001 which emphasized on the domination of public space and consumption of advertising where as Jameson in 1991 and Baudrilland in 1988 argued about post-modern ways of criticizing advertising. They said that there is a lack of distinction between the real and imaginary world. The main cru x of their studies was that advertising creates hyper reality.In order to relate advertising with other different phenomenon’s he discussed about discourse, ideology, myths and representations. According to author there is an interrelationship between discourses, ideologies myths and representations. For discourses he took the example of car advertisement that how they used technology as a discourse in relation to different environments Moreover he added myths as false ideas about consciousness of ideology as in advertisements of beauty products. According to him advertising not only affects our consciousness but also alter our perceptions about the social world.Fantasy is also an important factor in advertising which is all about idealization and mythmaking. In view of author female representation is an important factor in advertising. To highlight he took the example discussed by Goldman and Papson in 1998 on women representation in advertisements of Nike. They argued that most of the advertising comprised of the representation of women as a sexual object or product. In Advertising stereotyping of genders are also found. At last author has put a light on the children advertisements when there is gendered representation.According to different studies particularly by Johnson and Young (2002) in this chapter argued that gender differentiations increased market targeting. Analysis: Ever since the dawn of advertising, many complaints and concerns have been spreading everywhere and cannot be controlled. Several questions arise in the minds of the people regarding the influence of advertising. For instance does advertising has have a strong impact on society? Does it obviously influence the millions of people? The information related to the birth and growth of the media, have provoked society to think about the consequences of new technology.The emergence of media has given us great power and knowledge even then we see its consequences in our lives and in wh ole society. However, many people feel that advertising has had great negative consequence. The present chapter which is on advertising and society provided in depth analysis on role of advertisements in relation to society. The literature provided in the chapter revolves around the various studies and approaches which linked with the different aspects of advertising and its consumption effects over society.Moreover we came to know about the changing historical perspective of the advertising. The main critiques regarding advertising and society which were included in whole section (Neo Marxist positions, pluralist positions and cultural critiques) formed the base for rest of the researchers who further worked on it. Although these positions were very authentic to describe his argument about pessimist and optimistic views. It would be more clarified if the author put more different perspectives like Modernization theory.Modernization theory is more related in the sense that it deals with mass media that plays a very important role in transforming of the societies. As advertising â€Å"contact with the media helped the process of transition from ‘ traditional’ to a ‘modernized’ state, characterizing the mass media as a mobility multiplier which enabled individuals to experience events in far off places forcing them to reassess their traditional way of life. Exposure to the media made traditional societies less bound by traditions and made them aspire to a new and modern way of life†. Daniel Lerner, 1958; 56) When ones discussed about the different perspectives regarding advertising and its impact on society one has to take into consideration gradual changes in its culture. This can be explained in a way that culture of advertising has switched from information to a more abstract way to communicate with consumers. Previously in 1970s more informative advertisements were shown to the consumers which helped them in making decisions by identifying the positives and the negatives of competitors and their products.Then in 1990s focused was on emotional advertisements and in 2000 with the emergence of internet advertising industry experienced a boom. With the internet traditional informative advertising got changed by encouraging interaction with consumers by clicking on various sites and links. Eventually these methods of advertising offered a new way for consumers to become more interactive in the process of marketing. This was the lacking point of author, he should have to mention about this changing shift in advertising in relation to society after discussing the main critiques.In his studies there was a lack of link between the pessimist and optimistic views. All of them were presented in such a perplexed way that one can’t comprehend what the author actually wanted to communicate. The major studies he took to support his argument depicted that advertising has got an adverse effects on our society as h e related the terms like monopoly, deceive, imagination and commodification and mentioned that advertising is playing key role in diminishing our social and cultural values etc.On the other hand some of the studies were showing advertising as a positive tool towards the information and education of the society as mentioned in the capitalistic pluralism that saw advertising as an information provider. Although the author has provided many good theories to explain what actually advertising is and what role it is playing in society but it failed to provide a strong link between advertising and norms of the society.To support this argument we can take the example from social communication in Advertising which provides a clear` debate on advertising and society† where a survey of the controversies on advertising. Here the authors viewed advertising as an influential form of social communication. Another important contribution that author should have mentioned in order to explain th e positive role of advertising in society is by â€Å"Leiss/Kline/ Jhally† who worked on role of social communication in advertising (1978), described the origin of consumer culture and how the shift from industrial to consumer took place.Moreover they clearly pointed out that advertising agencies played a vital role in modern advertising industry and advertising is the central institution for the market-industrial economy. One of the shortcomings of this literature was not to highlight media monopoly while discussing about political economy and the power of media institutions because the concept of media monopoly by Bagdikian’s played a very vital role in history even till now dominating the advertising.Critical researches play a very important role to study effects of advertising in relation to society as they address the social and cultural effects of communications and its role in propagating unfair social order. In the previous discussion author failed to mentione d the importance of persuasion of consumers regarding advertising in relation to society. Another missing point while discussing about the consumer behavior is related to the buying behavior because most of the advertisements aim to affect the purchasing decision of the consumer in the market.Moreover it is proven that advertising has become a powerful force in terms of persuading society to support the product, service, or idea. So, consumers tend to buy it to make them feel good and beautiful. Two most important contributions in critical researches are by Williamson’s Decoding Advertisements and Ideology in advertising (1986). They have examined the content and structure of advertisements for their distorted communications and ideological Impact. Employing of semiotics played an important role in examining how advertising persuade consumers.At one point author discussed discourses, myths, ideologies and representation. There he failed to mention about semiology and content analysis because these four are basically the derivation from semiotic and content. Because semiology is all abut the study and importance of language for the communication of message. To support this point a study was done on â€Å"The Theatre of Consumption† by Jhally in 1987, in which the researcher examined the structure and content of advertisement using semiotics and their social and cultural impact using Content Analysis.The conclusion drawn from study clearly showed that advertisers use different codes and strategies to appeal different audiences. The codes are beauty, female relations, romance and fraternity for both males and females. Both the studies on social communication and advertising and on codes by Jhally are very important studies that provide a very useful analysis of how advertising play a vital role in producing consumers and how the consumers reshaped themselves in the society.If author included such studies in his chapter, it would provide a strong arg ument regarding discourse, ideology, myths and representations. As far as discussion by author regarding gendered representation in advertisements is concerned he did a tremendous job by describing the huge effect which is related to a persons dissatisfaction of the body by stereotyping women and men, that if ladies wanted to be beautiful they have to show such qualities like fair color, long and beautiful hair, skin tone, etc. , and for men if they want to be handsome they have to hold the worked-out body, etc.Also, portrayal of women as sex objects in most of the commercials changes the perception of people on women as homemakers. Some major points that author should include in his literature are related to various advertising trends. Most of the important trends of advertising related to consumers need to be mentioned when one is discussing about economy, markets and their relationship to customers. As we know that advertising costs a lots of money and that money comes from the c onsumer. For example hidden costs, lying to customers and censorship etc.Almost all advertising companies bend and curve the truth for their personal benefit and for promotion and advertising of their product. Even the Companies exaggerate certain features of their products. One of the true purposes of advertising is to set trends that the customers will follow. One of the draw back of advertising is not to focus on censorship even the author didn’t mention any positive suggestions regarding this. Because element of censorship played a very important role in the inception and elimination of any phenomenon.Conclusion: Although the author has been successful in highlighting the changes in society caused by advertising but on the other hand his study was highly abstract and failed to provide deep insight into the actual phenomena of the society because most of the researches taken by author were not analyzed in detail. Moreover he didn’t mention any useful suggestions reg arding how a society can be organized with the meaningful use of advertising and reduction of the unnecessary exaggeration of the products.Finally, it is being concluded that advertising has got a positive as well as negative impacts over society. There is a need to focus on the balance that what should be necessary and what should be not. On the other hand advertisements can create contentment and discontentment simultaneously. The marketing of products and our society depend so highly on advertising that even its negative effects on society cannot offset its positive socio-economic impacts.

My Favorite Food Essay

For many people, the history of their most favorite food takes source from their childhood. I am not an exception, and when I think about the most delicious and memorable food, I always remember amazing chocolate cakes with juicy cherries that my grandmother used to cook for me when I was a child. She lived in a small town in Kansas, and together with my mom and sister, we used to visit her several times a year for holidays. And every time our grandma was treating us with those amazing cakes! There is no child who does not like chocolate cakes. I guess, my grandma knew this so well, that is why she was glad to spend a full day in the kitchen cooking those cakes in order to make us happy. It is hard to find the words to express the feelings I was experiencing when I used to receive a plate with those divine brown cakes topped with huge juicy cherries and wrapped in dark-brown chocolate cream. I used to think that I could eat not less than a dozen of them at once! They were so sweet, delicious and amazingly delicate! I am not sure about the way she used to cook them, but I can say that the secret of the cakes was a special chocolate pastry cream. It was enough dense not to flow down from the cakes and tightly wrap the cherries on the top of every cake. But at the same time, this delicious chocolate souse was as soft and creamy as pure hot chocolate, and it was an extreme pleasure to feel its taste in my mouth and on my lips. Many years have passed, but every time I eat chocolate cakes with berries, sweet and blissful memories and feelings from my childhood come back to me. I feel myself like a little child again, waiting for miraculous doors to open and breathtaking smell of my grandma’s cakes make my head go round. Since those times, the taste of chocolate cream remains the sweetest and the most pleasant for me, no matter what kind of desert it is used for. So, whenever I want to travel in the past, â€Å"chocolate gates† become the gateway to my most precious memories. References â€Å"Warm Chocolate Torte with Seasonal Fruit. † (n. d. ). Pastry Wiz. Retrieved November 4, 2008: .

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TMA04_B200B - Essay Example Weber saw all large organisations as bureaucratic in nature and the need to control and regulate work routines. Emile Durkheim was much less concerned with matters of work and organisation than Weber and Marx (Lincoln, 2004) but did write substantially on culture, which has an indirect significance for the study of organisations. Weber argued that organizations are means of coordinating human activities and what they produce in a systematic way, and emphasized the role of controlling information in developing organisations as well as written rules related to its functioning. In short, his concept of the bureaucratic organisation is characterised by a clear hierarchical structure, rules and regulations, division of labour and specialisation etc. In a bureaucracy, roles and relationships are clearly defined, and it is based on a legal-rational type of authority derived â€Å"from the belief in the legitimacy of law† (Nickinovich, 2000, p. 267). Also in a bureaucracy, offices are clearly specified and officials are appointed on the basis of a contract being subject to a unified control and disciplinary system (Salaman reader, p. 98-99). Weber regarded bureaucracy as â€Å"the most efficient way of running large organisations† (Buchanan, 1997, p. 366) because of its rational basis, and likened them to sophisticated machines. He also associated it with precision, reliability and speed. It is the standardisation in terms of rules and procedures to govern employee behaviour and decisions taken according to set criteria, that gives bureaucracy its strength. This is because â€Å"rules serve to direct individual action in ways that promote the technical efficiency of the organisation† (Nickinovich, 2000, p. 268). Contrary to Weber regarding bureaucracy as efficient, in practice it is also considered to be inefficient, so much so that the term ‘bureaucracy’ now has some negative connotations as it did

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Antiperspirants and Deodorant Market and Evolution - Research Paper Example As the paper stresses it is natural for a healthy human being to sweat. Amount of perspiration depends on weather conditions, personal health, hygiene and physical activity level. Sweat is wet and odorless in its pure form. It only stinks after reacting with the bacteria on human skin .Sweat regulates body temperature irrespective of the outside weather conditions. Be it topical or below zero outside, human body temperature remains constant. While exposed to extreme heat, sweat glands excrete a watery substance that cools down the body. It is a thermoregulatory mechanism which makes the body capable of adapting to hottest climates. This discussion declares that the apocrine glands are comparatively large but only in size as in number they are few. These glands end in the follicles of body hair and become active after puberty. Apocrine glands respond to hormonal secretions and get triggered by emotional factors, for instance, stress and sexual excitement. Sweat produced from both types of glands is odorless. The main culprits for odor are bacteria which ferment on sweat. By products of this activity generate odor, therefore, daily shower is suggested to be a natural way to avoid odor. However, despite the fact that both eccrine sweat and apocrine sweat are nearly 99 per cent water, apocrine sweat contains some oil which is more favorable for bacterial growth. Therefore, apocrine sweat is prime reason for sweat odor while eccrine sweat makes us wet. (Blumenthal). External Factors Other than sweat glands, some external factors also contribute to sweating, such as hot weather, some particular food, smoking or drug use. According to studies by the Gillette Co, foods including garlic, onions, hot spices and beer have been detected to contribute in more body odor. Contrary to yesteryears’ belief about fighting sweat, regular bathing and killing or inhibiting bacterial growth by deodorants and antiperspirants is frequently suggested today. The approach is far improved and effective as compared to masking the odor by perfumes in past (Blumenthal). Deodorants and antiperspirants Antiperspirants are available in sprays, creams, pads, powders,

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Social Thought & Social Change - Essay Example There has been a â€Å"social change† in United States (Cornish, 1993, pp. 162). Various sociologists belonging to different school of thoughts have interpreted social change differently. In particular, notion of Social Change will under evaluation according to the works of Karl Marx and Max Webber. Marx simply defined social change as something, which emerges from class conflict, and this social change might be in the form of revolutions and not necessarily peaceful (Tischler, 2007, pp. 14). Weber’s ideas on social change were not economically based like that of Marx, but he emphasized that social change is brought about by ideas and ideals (Denhardt, 2004, pp.26). Society has undergone various transformations; the theories of Marx and Weber highlight how social change brought about these transformations. The paper explains the theories of Marx and Weber to explain the concept of â€Å"post industrialist† society. Bell does not really define post industrialist s ociety as a transition into service industry. Bell places great emphasis on scientific knowledge in this era and this scientific knowledge is a catalyst for social change (Mackay, Maples, Reynolds, 2001, pp. 24). Postindustrial era emerged after the Second World War that saw immense technological developments some of which included the transformation of matter into energy, atom bomb and the first digital computer (Bell, 1973, pp. 339). The character of ‘knowledge’ itself stands out in postindustrial societies. The main features of a postindustrial society include that of an increase in the size of the service industry, extensive use of machinery, an increase in the amount of information technology and knowledge and creativity standing out (Society, n.d, n.p). Karl Marx was particularly focused on the inequality perpetuated by capitalism. He argued that a particular technology did not define capitalism, and was the relation of social forces within the capitalist society that was significant. In the sense, that the people who owned the means of production and the workers who worked on these means of production had an important relationship. Although technology was vital to the process but it resulted only â€Å"as consequence of the relationship between those who produce surplus value and who appropriate it† (Jordan, Pile, 2002, pp.102). The works of Marx itself were based on the industrialist society. However, various contemporary Marxist theorists have identified that the conflicts within the framework of work, which occurred in industrial society have still not been removed with the introduction of the post industrialist era, also widely known as Information Communications Technology (ICT). In addition, even Bell has identified that the landowner and soldier were central figures in pre-industrial society and the businesspersons in industrial society, largely scientists and researchers dominate the postindustrial society (Cornish, 1993, pp. 162). Marxists therefore would emphasize that the scientists and researchers have the ‘elite’ knowledge, which is in the hands of the powerful few. Hence, there is inequality in the society. Furthermore, there has been an integration of ICT into the manufacturing world. This is an addition of modernity to the trend, which Marx had established. Therefore, according to Marxists, ICT is a ‘

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Experiencing Performance Management and Performance - Essay Example From this discussion it is clear that  effective performance management gives information for the day-to-day decisions and promotes the developmental aspect of performance where a manager establishes the employees’ needs to improve weaknesses and make employees aware on their strengths. The main sources of performance can be the managers or instructors, peers, direct reports from employees, self-assessment and feedback from customers. There can be, however, certain limitations in evaluation of employee’s performance by the manager or the instructor as one cannot see the employee frequently and thus the evaluation will be based on the third party influences. Despite that, the modern ways of managing employees such as virtual management or internet-linked office make it possible to conduct the performance management of an employee. Peers can be other types of source for evaluation one’s performance.  This research highlights that  the assessment of my perform ance was done in collaboration with my instructor and other students, who have established my strengths and pointed on the fields for my further development. For me, as an industrial engineering student, the main strengths were identified as my ability to focus on the activities and the effective use of my knowledge in acquiring new processes. This knowledge in turn enables me to be a good strategist with the emphasis on research and collaboration with others.

Career Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Career Plan - Essay Example The quote emphasizes the fact that a proper career plan is needed for any student to achieve success in any field of study. From childhood every individual holds a dream deep down in his heart, to achieve some goal that completes or rather summarizes the meaning of success for him/her. But when faced with the harsh realities of the very real world his dreams are susceptible to change with a view to obtain a better life ,to make the world a better place to live. He/She now nurtures his/her dreams based on practical grounds. His/Her search to achieve and fulfill his wants leads him to take up a career option that will provide him/her with both job satisfaction and a better living . This is a choice that each individual should be allowed to make on his/her own, probably with a bit of useful guidance from parents/teachers as once a choice is made one cannot rethink and change it in most circumstances. A wrong choice might rob one’s life of ‘all the lovely things’ tha t he/she deserved. I made a choice for myself, a choice I still stand by . I chose Mechanical Engineering as my field of study . The obvious question that the read must be being haunted with is a broad ‘Why?’ .Well, as I grew up I felt sincere inclination towards maths and papers relating to natural sciences. There is an urge to discover, an urge to know the intricacies relating to force, power and momentum which makes me want to take up Mechanical Engineering as my field of study. Engines always had a lot of appeal to me . I wanted to know more about the ways they function, their utility which makes life so much easy for all of us in this big world. Over and above all, a need to serve mankind, a need to make life more comfortable, a need to satisfy my hunger for knowing the intricacies of the mechanical world propelled me to take up the challenging career of a Mechanical Engineer . A career as a civil Engineer, however, stands fine for me but as a second choice ofcours e . A Brief on what Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering are all about . Mechanical engineering plays a dominant role in enhancing economic vitality, safety and overall quality of life. Mechanical engineers are concerned with the principles of force, energy and motion. They are professionals with expert knowledge of the design and manufacture of mechanical systems, thermal devices and processes. Products and processes developed by mechanical engineers include engines and control systems for automobiles and aircraft, electric power generation plants, lifesaving medical devices and consumer products ranging from air conditioners to personal computers and athletic equipment. They also design the machines that mass-produce these products. Virtually every aspect of life is touched by mechanical engineering. If something moves or uses energy, a mechanical engineer was probably involved in its design or production. Civil engineers design and supervise the construction of roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, dams, bridges, and water supply and sewage systems. They must consider many factors in the design process, from the construction costs and expected lifetime of a project to government regulations and potential environmental hazards such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Civil engineering, considered one of the oldest engineering disciplines, encompasses many specialties. The major ones are structural, water resources, construction, environmental, transportation, and geotechnical engineering. Many civil engineers hold supervisory or administrative positions, from supervisor of a construction site to city engineer. Others may work in design,