Democracy in the USA Essay

Text of the US Constitution does not contain the word â€Å"democracy†. The U.S. Constitution was not a perfect document. Originally it contained provisions that are can be recognized as ambiguous. â€Å"The US Founding Fathers† did not create democracy in the modern sense of the word, but the republic. They did not fully trust the wisdom of the American people and their ability to make sound decisions. For many years America was considered to be an ideal democratic country, however in recent years the situation has drastically changed. Among the most important challenges facing America today is the growing social inequality, discrimination on racial, ethnic or religious grounds, practice of indefinite detention of prisoners without charges, judicial bias, operating outside the law in prison, use of torture, the impact of government agencies on the trials, weak penitentiary system, infringement of freedom of speech, Internet censorship, legalized corruption, limiting of citizens’ voting rights, acts of intolerance based on race and ethnicity, the violation of the rights of children, extraterritorial application of the U.S. law, leading to human rights violations in other countries, kidnapping, tracking dissidents, disproportionate use of force against peaceful demonstrators, application of the death penalty to minors and the mentally ill, etc. At the same time, the international legal obligations of the United States, continues to be reduced to participation in only three of the nine core human rights treaties, providing control mechanisms. The USA has not yet ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1979, Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, 1990, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006 and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 2006. At the same time, Americans continue to wrongfully position themselves as an absolute authority and unquestioned leader in the field of democracy and human rights. They are engaged in mentoring, trying to teach others how to build their democracy and ensure human rights. Of ten they do this roughly, ignoring the basic international law principle of state sovereignty. Often their attempts to take care of human rights in other countries is bordering on outright interference in the internal affairs. At the same time, in the USA the situation with human rights remains very complicated. Fundamental political rights of Americans in today’s society, are not only exempt from the archaic elements, but they become even more vulnerable. Elections cause the most serious complaints. The U.S. president is still not elected by direct popular election, and by the Electoral College. Many rightly believe this system obsolete and undemocratic. With it, in particular, the voice of a resident of Delaware or North Dakota has mathematically much more weight than the voice of the voters in the larger states, such as California or New York. With this system, three times in the history of the U.S. the candidate with fewer votes than his opponent was elected the President (George W. Bush in 2000). And Gerald Ford has never been elected. At first, he was co-opted by the Republican National Committee instead of thieving Vice President Spiro Agnew, and then automatically took place of Richard Nixon who departed from his position because of the Watergate scandal. In general, the U.S. political system is based on the absolute monopoly of the two political parties which is far enough from the European-style multi-party democracy. More than 5.8 million Americans (2.5% of all potential voters) are deprived of voting rights because of a criminal record. This means that in general every 40th American citizen has no right to vote, among them every 13th African American (7.7% of total), and in some states, such as Kentucky, Virginia and Florida, more than 20 % of black Americans are deprived of voting rights. According to the Census Bureau, of the 75 million eligible citizens who did not use this right in the presidential election in 2008, 60 million were not able to do so due to lack of registration, which is associated with many cumbersome procedures. Currently only the states of Missouri, South Dakota and New Mexico, as well as the District of Columbia have laws that allow the access of international observers during the elections. In other regions, the issue of the activities of foreign observers is in the competence of local authorities. The implicit control over the population is being enhanced. The current U.S. law, in effect, allows the intelligence community to carry out a total censorship of all electronic communications of foreign and U.S. citizens without a warrant. It also requires telecommunications companies to assist the Government in gathering intelligence about foreign objects and to keep the information gathered in secret. Currently under consideration in Congress, the Cyber ​​Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act – CISPA, according to human rights activists, practically does not limit the possibility of the U.S. government to monitor web browsing of individuals. Freedom of speech is being limited. For attacks on journalists covering the action of the Occupy Wall Street movement, NGO â€Å"Reporters without Borders† in January 2012 lowered its rating of the U.S. in its annual global press freedom index for 27 items at once and put the U.S. on the 47th position (57th with the territories in which Washington exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction). According to an investigation of the Coalition of Independent Lawyers (Protest and Assembly Rights Project), only in New York from September 2011 to July 2012 at least 18 accredited reporters have been arrested. The site WikiLeaks was the subject of persecution by the U.S. administration in retaliation for the publication of the diplomatic dispatches. According to the latest Google report on the availability of services of the company, during the period from July to December 2011, the amount of requests for removal of content received by it from the U.S. government has increased by 103% compar ed to the previous reporting period. U.S. law enforcement agencies requested removal from YouTube video sharing hosting of 1.4 thousand videos that â€Å"contain insults.† 6.3 thousand queries required disclosure data of more than 12.2 thousand users of this company. 93% of these requirements were met. Quite specific topic is absolutely abhorrent practice of extrajudicial killings abroad. As part of the â€Å"war on terror† in Washington highly specific approaches have been developed, the application of which caused not only massive violation of many international legal norms, but also killing thousands of innocent people. Crimes against humanity committed by U.S. soldiers abroad often do not receive proper legal assessment of the national judicial system. Illegal abduction and detention of people remain in the arsenal of U.S. intelligence. In September 2006, President Bush acknowledged the existence of secret CIA prisons. As it became known later, in 2002-2003. secret services built about ten such detention facilities, including in foreign countries – Afghanistan, Iraq, Thailand, Morocco, Djibouti, Romania, Lithuania and Poland. In January 2012, a special prison at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) â€Å"celebrated† its 10th anniversary. U.S. President B arack Obama, despite his campaign promise, failed to close it because of counteraction of Congress. The practice of torture condemned by most countries of the world remains legalized in the United States. April 6, 2009 the Department of Justice published four memorandums, prepared in 2002-2005 by the lawyers of this agency. They thoroughly substantiated the legality of application of harsh interrogation techniques to prisoners of CIA prisons in terms of U.S. and international law. Along with other human rights violations in the United States numerous cases of police brutality have been recorded. Human rights activists note that the level of sexual crimes among American police is much higher than among the U.S. population as a whole. Mass practice in the United States have become systematic violations of human rights in detention. Business, which uses the prisoners’ labor flourishes in the USA. One in 10 prisoners in this country is contained in a commercial prison. The other fact demonstrating the low level of democracy in the USA are as follows: 1. In 33 U.S. states the death penalty is still permitted and applied; 2. Hundreds of thousands of children in the U.S. are abused which results in some cases (in 2010 – 1.6 thousand) to a lethal outcome; 3. In the U.S., social and economic rights are seriously disrupted. In the country there are 12.8 million unemployed, 40 million people do not have health insurance, 14.5% of families are experiencing food shortages; 4. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the USA has one of the highest levels of income inequality; 5. One of the most rightless segments of the population of America are migrants, who make up at least half of all those employed in the agricultural sector of the country; This brief review shows that the issue of human rights, facing all of humanity, is acutely relevant for the modern United States. All claims of the United States to be the moral leader in this area require a lot of preliminary work to clear own American â€Å"Augean stables.† Works Cited Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Study on Targeted Killings, Human Rights Council, 9-11, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/14/24/Add.6 (May 28, 2010).

Massey-Fergusion Case Study Essay

1. Net sales for Massey-Ferguson actually increased between 1979 and 1980. Despite this, net  income and income from continuing operations both dropped sharply in 1980. Which item  on the income statement was most responsible for this drop in income? The item on the income statement most responsible for this drop in income was the rise in cost  of goods sold due to currency risk exposure. The pound appreciated strongly against currencies  that Massey sold its products. Especially since engine production was highly concentrated in the  United Kingdom. Cost of goods sold rose from $238.18 million to $2568.5 million from 1979 to  1980 because of the rise in strength of the British pound. 2. Why would the Canadian government have any interest in helping Massey-Ferguson  refinance its debt? A bulk of Massey’s operations were centralized in Canada which meant that a large portionof Canada was employed by Massey (6,700 in Ontario) and without the help of  the Canadian  government these jobs would be loss and they would need to pay out unemployment. Also,  Argus Corporation, a stock holding company in Canada, had a 16.5% stake in Massey and was a  conservative supporter who wanted more support for Massey. 3. Why would it be difficult for Massey-Ferguson to conduct an equity issue to pay down its  debt?   It would be difficult for Massey to conduct an equity issue to pay down its debt because of how  much debt Massey accrued and their consistent inability to pay it. Also, Argus refused to take  a block of preferred share issues Massey intended to issue in 1980. Since Argus was Massey’s  largest shareholder, if they lacked confidence in Massey it shows a lot. Massey also fell behind  with dividends to both preferred and common shares due to covenants on their outstanding loans.  So equity capital was out of the question.

Appreciation of Shakespeare’s sonnet 18

His early plays were mainly comedies and istories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights . Shakespeare's reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century.The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called â€Å"bardolatry†. In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.His plays have been translated into ev ery major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Of Shakespeare's sonnets in the text, Sonnet 18 is one of the most moving lyric poems that I have ever read. There is great use of imagery within the sonnet. This is not to say that the rest of the poems in the ook were not good, but this to me was the best, most interesting, and most beautiful of them. Sonnet 18 Shall I compare thee toa summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed, And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed: But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,

Interviewing a Member of a Hospital-Based Ethics Committee Essay

Interviewing a Member of a Hospital-Based Ethics Committee - Essay Example The questions asked in the interview require the following information; name and credentials of the interviewee, purpose and mission of the committee, general composition of the committee. Moreover, the interview found out the number of times meeting were adjourned, the typical meeting agenda, number of committee members and their roles, and lastly how emergent issues were handled. Introduction Hospital-Base Ethics Committee is a system in medical centers that controls the behaviors and characters of health workers in providing services to patients by applying moral principles. The ethics committees vary in diverse forms such as research-based committees that determine whether intended researches are ethically sound and safe. Case-oriented committees’ role involves giving advice on issues disturbing tranquility in medical centers (Derr, 2009). I conducted an interview to a member of the Ethical Committee in Yale-New Hospital on issues concerning the committee. Interview I conducted an interrogation with one of the members of Hospital-Base Ethics Committee, Dr. Kelvin Smith, a senior and esteemed doctor in Yale-New Haven Hospital situated in US. He is also the chairman of the Hospital-Base Ethics Committee, and has apt information for my answers. Dr. Smith is an enthusiastic and friendly individual who welcomed me comfortably and in a relaxed manner. The interview was conducted in his office at around ten o’clock in the morning. I had previously asked him to put forward 1 hour of his busy schedule for my interview, which he fortunately accepted. The following were the questions I asked and answers he replied; 1. What is your name and credentials? My name is Dr. Kelvin Smith, and I have admirable credentials because of my hard work I put in everything I carry out. I have a PhD in Medical Science from Harvard Medical University and two masters in Public Health and Business Administration. Moreover, I have a degree in Information Technology (IT) that I learnt earlier in my youthful years. One of the achievements I have made is being the best and influential doctor in Yale-New Haven Hospital. I also came second as the most successful doctor in the whole country in medical career. The above mentioned accomplishments are the esteemed achievements I have made, though there are other minor attainments since I started my career. 2. What is the purpose and mission of the committee? The purpose of the Hospital-Based Ethics Committee is to vet all the researches conducted in the hospital by ensuring that they are secure for the health workers and patients. The Ethical Committee also ensures that hospital programs and services are run ethically. This ensures that an intimate relationship exists between patients and health workers (Derr, 2009). The mission of the Ethical Committee states that â€Å"The Hospital-Based Ethics Committee aims at protecting the rights of the health workers and patients by implementing relevant ethical pri nciples.’ 3. How often does the committee meet? The Hospital-Based Ethics Committee holds meeting 2 times in a month. The first meeting is held in the first week while the second meeting is held at the last week of the month. The Hospital-Based Committee members’ ensure that all the issues affecting the hospital progression are discussed and handled amicably. 4. What is the typical meeting agenda? The typical meeting agenda of the meeting involves reshaping ethics structures in the hospital. The agenda always aims at improving and implementing the ethical principles in running the Yale-New Haven Hospital programs. The basis of the agenda is to ensure that health officers, workers, and patients understand the significance of

Lifes too Short to Miss an Opportunity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lifes too Short to Miss an Opportunity - Essay Example My friends in school, teachers and my parents recognized my potential early on to visualize things in the least bit of detail and helped me hone this skill. I traveled to many places in Russia where I got the opportunity to look at the country's history, its magnificent architecture, its various cultures and the recent developments. After completing my high school in Russia, I came to the US at the age of 15 in pursuit of higher education but due to differences in standards, I had to complete my High School in the US as well. Pursuing a higher education career in Public Relations, I had to discontinue my education due to personal reasons and hence took an indefinite break from studies as a result. My life changed all of a sudden when at the age of 25 I was diagnosed with cancer. Looking at the bleakest time in my life, I realized that I should have done what I wanted rather than a career that I could never complete. Recovering from cancer was like living in another life, a never-endi ng journey resisting and fighting cancer all the way. Eventually, as I started getting better, I realized that all is not lost yet. My hardest time in my life had made me stronger. My will and devotion to my thoughts were firm when I finally decided that I needed to continue my education. This time I followed my heart and chose a field that I had an 'eye' for, not to mention my interest and passion.

Assigment 7 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Assigment 7 - Assignment Example aware and hiding it for the sake of company profits, I would approach the boss and failure of co-operation from him would lead to approaching the press. This is because there are already measures in place to deal with global warming, which makes it irrational to risk killing 200,000 annually in Hover-Vehicle accidents even though they will eliminate global warming. My personal ethical philosophy stems from the concept of doing unto others as you would they to you, guided by the biblical teaching of loving one’s neighbor as you love yourself. Therefore, if I had the second ring, the first thing I would think about is what another person would do to me if they had it. Not wishing harm upon myself, I would, therefore, not harm anyone with the ring. The concept of ethics informs on the defense and recommendation of right conduct as opposed to wrong (Vendemiati, 2004). This helps to explain this fictitious

Australian Accounting Philosophies and Theories Essay

Australian Accounting Philosophies and Theories - Essay Example Clearly, the â€Å"Within the discourse of CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY, various concepts are used to express the rights and obligations that corporations have, to those they work with and work for† corporate responsibility had been accomplished through the compliance of SAC no. 1 and accounting pronouncements by the International Accounting Standards Board. SAC no 1 states that general purpose financial reports like the balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows should be prepared when there are users. The Australian corporation is responsible for the proper periodic recording of daily business operations and presenting them in audited general purpose financial reports in accordance with the International Accounting Standards Board. The IASB accounting pronouncements had superseded the Australian SAC 1 to 5 in the year 2005 yet. These IASB authoritative pronouncements are being followed in most countries of the world. The IASB’s main purpose is to facilita te communication and understanding among the different users of the financial statements by using the same accounting procedures. The implementation of these accounting pronouncements in the audited recording of the assets, liabilities, capital, revenues, expenses and net income of all Australian corporation is in compliance with its corporate responsibility to all its stakeholders. The stakeholders include the stockholders, employees, managers, customers, suppliers, creditors, community, investors, banks, loan institutions, etc.government regulating agencies and other interested parties. The corporation must comply with government’ anti- air pollution laws, anti-water pollutions laws, zoning regulations and other city and state laws and regulations. Also, the government tax agencies will continuously monitor if the Australian companies paid the correct amount of taxes by scrutinizing the corporations’ audited financial statements. Furthermore, the corporations’ board of directors will use the financial statement to determine if the company’s actual performance for the entire year exceeded their pre-planned goals and objectives. In addition, the other stakeholders will use

The Drivers of Chinese Businesses Strategy for Expansion into Nigeria Dissertation

The Drivers of Chinese Businesses Strategy for Expansion into Nigeria - Dissertation Example The political and economic hardships that faced China at that time qualified it to be an implausible partner of development. Moreover, subsequent to the policies of Deng Xiaoping of the 1970s and1980s, Chinese spectacular innovation and intensification, industrial attendant and demands of market expansion, plunged it into inevitable contact with the African continent (Utomi 2012:1). Its fresh extended presence provided a relationship viewed by several stakeholders as a substitute and replica of Western partnerships. In fact, the augmenting presence of China in Africa, and particularly in Nigeria has elicited a lot of issues concerning the rising relation’s model. A national discussion across sectors upon that relationship would be a practice which is healthy and may impel additional scrutiny (Taylor 2012: 111). In point of fact, viewpoints in Nigeria are far from forming a balance between the motives of China, the budding rivalry with Western associates or renewed collaboration possibilities between new and old partners. The focus of this proposal is the drivers of Chinese business strategy for expansion into Nigeria. The study is grounded on cross-examining the officials of the Nigerian government, business people, and the private sector. The broad purpose of this research proposal is to explore the drivers of Chinese business strategy for expansion into Nigeria. In this scenario, China uses clever tactics to create room for expanding business operations in Nigeria. On the other hand, Nigeria benefits when the Chinese involve themselves in foreign direct investment. In comparison to Nigeria’s conventional Western business partners, China seems to have better terms, thus gaining more ground in Nigeria.

EFFECTIVE RESEARCH & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE + ISM Case Study

EFFECTIVE RESEARCH & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE + ISM - Case Study Example This can act as a delimiting factor at times. However, I feel that with a little bit of push I can make it to the top. I don’t feel that I possess any kind of threat. There are immense opportunities which I can cash upon. My curious nature, my cognitive thinking skills and my ability to work under pressure. All this will ensure that I produce high quality work in less time. The article is an empirical study on the role and scope of knowledge management systems in organizations. The article’s aims were well defined and chalked out. The article tried to test hypothetical the belief that the technologies used for information purposes in organizations and to lend support to business operations need to more in sync with each other. The focus was to redefine and reanalyze the purpose of KMS in light of the ways most organizations perceive Knowledge management. The study made use of findings from Delphi study and various in-depth interviews were conducted by them. Eventually, it concluded in a suggestion for developing organizational knowledge management systems. It was a qualitative analysis that came to the conclusion that knowledge management systems should be better integrated with the overall technology used in the firm. Thus instead of using a Knowledge Management system as a distinct entity the focus should be put the KMS in context with the prevailing technologies and enhancing their potential through the KM capabilities. The quality of the article was good. It was well researched, well explained and well substantiated. The limitations of the study were clearly indicated in the end and the discussion of the findings was very comprehensive. I believe that a qualitative study should be conducted for this research. As explained by many researchers, a qualitative study is more helpful when complex human behavior need to be researched and studied. In this study, current human behavior towards tutorial systems, prospect attitude towards them and a complex

Vitamin D and Cancer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Vitamin D and Cancer - Research Paper Example There are some studies which showed that increase intake of foods and dietary supplements containing high vitamin D content is associated with decrease incidence of different malignancies for instance colorectal carcinoma, the fact whether vitamin D decreases the incidence of other cancers for example breast, pancreatic or prostate cancer is still unclear. [1] Calcitriol, the hormonally active form of this vitamin have been tested and proven in many of the animal models that it has got growth inhibitory as well as favorable effects on the differentiation of the tumor cells resulting in the slowing down of the tumor cells. ... which were living in the areas with increase sun exposures suffered from a skin cancer usually Squamous Cell Carcinoma (S.C.C) which is not a fatal one usually due to its less likelihood to metastasize but these people showed decrease incidence of serious internal malignancies like breast, prostate or colorectal cancers which supported the fact that vitamin D has a protective effect by decreasing the incidence of malignancies. The role of the vitamin D remains unclear until in the late 1980s when two epidemiologists named Garland brothers stated that adequate sunlight decreased the incidence of Colon Cancer. They also observed that women who were exposed to adequate sunlight have fifty percent less mortality from breast cancer then the women who has relatively less sun exposure and afterwards another researcher named Gary Schwartz observed the same to be true for the prostate cancer and they all were of the view that vitamin D is the main agent behind this observation. The Garlands a lso showed that low levels of vitamin D also relates with the development of colorectal cancers which also explained their earlier observation in which they showed that people who developed S.C.C were at decreased risk of developing cancers like prostatic carcinoma or colorectal carcinoma and it is due to the increase blood level of Calcitriol in these patients owing to increase exposure to sunlight. Figure 1: chemical structure of vitamin D [20] 1.1.1. Vitamin D and the Colon Cancer: The colon cancer is one of the deadliest and the prevalent form of solid malignancy. In 1980’s Garland Brothers showed that colon cancer has got a decreased incidence in people living in the sunny areas and this was possibly due to increase concentration of Calcitriol in their blood. In 1985, scientists

The Role of Media on Emergency Contraception Essay Example for Free

The Role of Media on Emergency Contraception Essay The purpose of this paper is to examine the role media has played in shaping public perception of emergency contraception. Some of the major issues found in the key findings of empirical studies and current cognition, and the relevance for everyday life will all be discussed. Media such as news and internet represent the most easily remediable influence on people and their views even down to their sexual attitudes and behaviors. â€Å"In 1922, Lippmann argued that mass communication could become the basis for people’s views of the world† (Perse, 2001). After much empirical research, ninety years later there is no disbelief that the media can be very influential on many issues. The media has influenced popular opinion in many controversial matters and one of the most controversial is emergency contraception. What has been the role of the media in shaping public perception of emergency contraception? That very question is what this paper will address. Before examining the role media has played on the public’s perception it is important that a general understanding about what emergency contraception is be established. Emergency contraception (EC) or the morning after pill is a contraception that prevents pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse due to contraception failure, non-use or rape. EC may work in two ways: 1) by inhibiting ovulation or 2) by preventing the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus; however, it cannot work if you’re already pregnant. EC is not an abortion pill. Furthermore, use of EC can reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy by up to 75%-89% if taken within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse or ontraception failure. According to the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) â€Å"unintended pregnancy continues to be a major public health issue in the United States. † Out of the 6-million pregnancies in the United States each year about one-half are unintended. (See Figure 1) Figure [ 1 ] Annual Pattern of Pregnancies in the United States: Intended versus unintended (6. 3million pregnancies totals). Data Source: Association of Re productive Health Professionals October 16, 2012. After several years of petitioning by various officialdoms the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally approved EC for over the counter (OTC) sale to women 17 years of age and older in 2009. However, recent research has shown that EC seems to be underused. Whereas access to EC has been improved â€Å"its success is linked to the dissemination of accurate information about EC via trusted informational sources, such as family, friends, healthcare providers, and the media† (Vahratian, Patel, Wolff, Xiao, 2008). Today information is gained from many different sources types, news stories which are ranked second according to how reliable they are generally perceived to be, the Internet and television; but not all sources convey accurate information. In 2010 the World Health Organization (WHO) put out an official report discussing the effects of media’s coverage on emergency contraception. According to the authors muck raking news analysis was most likely connected to why use of EC pills were still low and pregnancy rates still high. The WHO listed BBC as one of the news organizations inaccurately reporting on EC. Reports that â€Å"regular usage of emergency contraception may cause infertility and in some instances increase the risk of cancer† (Westley Glasier 2010) had only alarmed women and may have kept some from using the method when they needed it most. Sometimes these stories are picked up by Internet bloggers, reporters etc. and circulated like an illness. Today, the echo chamber that is the Internet can quickly spread and amplify media stories, particularly if they are sensational. An e-mail circulating for several years describes a true story of a woman who died of a stroke while on hormonal birth control; recently, this story morphed and now states the cause of death continuously taking the morning-after pill (Westley et al. , 2010). Stories such as that are then picked up by the populist and the disease of misinformation continues. Stretching half-truths to the point where people believe them . Education on EC continues to be very important aspect on perception and use. However, even in places where knowledge of EC is higher like in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, use stayed low. A big reason for this is that education on fertility, contraception and pregnancy risk is poor. Further compounded by factually incorrect media coverage, which Westley et al. considered to be motivated by concerns over sexual irresponsibility, and was hidden behind false scientific validation. Given that EC is now accessible OTC in the US to women who meet the age limit, proper public health messages should be established to increase women’s awareness of, dismiss myths about, and encourage correct use of emergency contraception as an instrument to help avoid unintended pregnancy and birth. â€Å"Accurate media coverage has played an important role in spreading the news about health risks, healthy behaviors and new products; sensationalist and frightening coverage can have the opposite effect†( Westley Glasier 2010), hence the significance of factual information. Subsequently media coverage that paints a negative light with inaccurate information has given sensationalists with an agenda fuel against EC use. This is often seen from politicians, religious groups and other activist. Essentially the right for a woman to choose has been tossed in the political ring. Thus the media jumps all over it playing it up. Some of these individuals believe that because EC pills may work by stopping the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus, that this is abortion. â€Å"The moral equivalent of homicide,† as Dr. Donna Harrison, is quoted, the director of research for the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Republican Party Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have also made similar statements recently calling EC â€Å"abortive pills. † However, according to an article published recently in the New York Times theses qualms maybe unfounded. â€Å"It turns out that the politically charged debate over morning-after pills and abortion, a divisive issue in this election year, is probably rooted in outdated or incorrect scientific guesses about how the pills work† (Belluck, New York Times, 2012). It maybe that package labeling is the root to the fertilized egg debate. Leading scientists are saying that studies have not proven that EC pills inhibit fertilized eggs from implanting in the uterus. Rather they postpone ovulation, release of eggs from ovaries that happens before eggs are fertilized, and others â€Å"thicken cervical mucus so sperm have trouble swimming† (Belluck, New York Times, 2012). Obviously there is a need to re-educate policy makers (who hold women reproductive rights in their hands) on EC and advance their knowledge about EC. In addition, it’s also been reported that EC has slashed abortion rates but James Trussell, a Princeton population researcher said â€Å"The impact is still too small, considering that each year million American women have unintended pregnancies more than a million of which end in abortions† (Health Study, 2002). There were 47,000 fewer abortions that can be explained by the growth in EC use from 1994 to 2000 a forty-three percent drop. Figure 2 shows nationwide, the number of abortions. Similarly, the abortion rate declined 29 percent over the same period, from 27. 4 per 1,000 women aged 15-44 to 19. 4 per 1,000. Figure [ 2 ] Data Source: Ms. Magazine. com October 16, 2012 The chief concern in all of this and the relevance for everyday life is the health issues linked to unintended pregnancy. Now a common problem in the US approximately 1 in 20 women between the ages of 15 and 44 reported an unintended pregnancy in 2001. This epidemic of unintended pregnancy can have negative health repercussions for both the newborn and mother. Unintended pregnancy has been associated with delays in obtaining early prenatal care (sometimes connected with delays in pregnancy recognition) and delays in curtailing or ceasing tobacco and alcohol use, all of which can adversely affect fetal development. Women who have an unintended pregnancy are less likely to take vitamins and, consequently, have an increased risk of a neural tube defect in the fetus. Infants born to women who had not intended the pregnancy are more likely to be of low birth weight, premature and/or small for gestational age. In addition, there is some evidence that unintended pregnancy is associated with child abuse and neglect suggesting that unintended pregnancy can have long-term adverse health implications for the infant† (Goldsmith, 2008). Conclusions There is hardly any question if media influences not only views but behaviors of people. However, sometimes those influences may be factor on half-truths and misconceptions. Success or failure depends on the information received. Even though EC has been approved by the FDA research has still shown an under usage, and no expected impact on unintended pregnancy. According to WHO inaccurate muck raking reports are linked to why usage of EC is low. The Internet is also a place where misinformation is widely spread. Sensationalist, politicians and religious groups follow the misinformation as a platform to the agendas. This is hidden behind false scientific justification, and powered by the want to control a woman’s choice to reproductive health. While countering every health-related rumor on the Internet and inaccurate story in local newspapers and magazines is surely a fools errand, it is increasingly important to be ready with the facts when reporters, community members and patients voice concerns† (Westley et al. , 2010). It is important that accurate media coverage is conveyed not to ward off women if they are in need of EC. There are times and situations as rape or incest where access to EC can be better than the alternatives such as abortion. In addition, the general public must be informed of the attributes, side effects, and availability of EC. Based upon my research I found that EC maybe an underutilized resource because the big impression media leaves on people and their views. Lack of knowledge about EC continues to be a barrier to its use. It is my personal opinion that use and access to EC is better than the alternative of unintended pregnancies. Many people have their opinion on this matter case in point one I don’t agree with that of Richard Mourdock. Quote: â€Å"I’ve struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God. And even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen† he says that he struggled with this issue, but he really has not, and never will. Policy makers who have never struggled to keep a rapist from violating their body, nor will ever grapple with the decision to end a pregnancy should not be the one deciding what should happen as a next step.

IMC Plan Essay Example for Free

IMC Plan Essay Executive summary The strategy of this IMC plan is to extend Abercrombie Fitch target audience, young generation, to the senior segment; the reason by doing this strategy is because there are more potential customer that haven’t been discover yet, so if we can reach to those people, the brand can expand its market and gain more profit. Furthermore, the current image that AF holds in people mind might be a brand that provides casual luxury products or a brand that is only for young people, but if the brand can have the opportunity to upgrade its image to compare with those high-end brands, the brand value will increase dramatically. And so by, we must add the element of maturity into our brand image and appeal senior customer to purchase our product. In order to carry out this strategy, this IMC plan will use different marketing communication tools such as product placement, event marketing, advertising and public relationship to accomplish this goal. Eventually, after execute this new strategy for AF, more and more senior will consider AF is a brand not just for teens but also for them. Business situation review * Brand introduction: Abercrombie Fitch, also known as AF, is a renowned worldwide fashion brand that provides people the sense of causal luxury; it has a variety of product from the shoes that you wear on foot to the hat wear on the top, even fragrance and those exquisite accessories you can buy one at the store as well. Nowadays, AF has more than 300 branches within the U.S, and several stores around the world. The reason why AF is so popular recently is because the style of the product is unique and modern; furthermore, the products also possess high quality as well. Additionally, another reason that AF has such high popularity is because the affordable price, take the T-shit for instance, the average price is 25 to 30 dollars, if we compare AF to those famous brand such as Armani, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, we can find out the price that AF stands is much friendly than the others. * Target market: The main market of AF is target at those young adults, from the age 18 to 25, different nationalities, color and characteristic, and those people who love fancy stuff but can’t afford extremely expensive brand. One of the things that AF attract people is the image that displays the personality of vivid, young but a great sense of mature. Many people might consider a brand that is for young population as premature, the massage that, however, convey from AF is the sense of fashion and the high-class feeling. Furthermore, due to the affordable price, young adult Can have the ability to buy such a brand that provides the sense of fashion and distinguish themselves among others. * Competitive Among the retail-clothing industry, there are various of brand that possess almost the same brand image as AF, but the reason why AF still can distinguish from those brand is because the unique brand equity that it stands. Therefore, although there are some attributes that similar with AF, we still can scrutinize into those nuance and seek out some different between each others, and that’s quite important to execute before doing our own IMC plan. Therefore, those brand listed below are similar with AF, and all in the same category. 1. HM HM (Hennes Mauritz AB) is an international fashion brand, which comes from Swedish. The target market of HM is for men, women, teenagers and children, and those people who love fashion products. The feature of this retail-clothing company is to provide fast-produce product that provides consumer the fast pace of trend, it means that the time from the design process to the product been displayed in the store is short. Because of that, consumer can enjoy those fashion products at the very first hand. The company has more than two thousand chain store around the world. Meanwhile, HM often co-branding with other fashion designer such as MARNI, VERSACEï ¼Å' LANVINï ¼Å'JIMMY CHOOï ¼Å'ROBERTO CAVALLI, etc. This strategy makes the product more valuable than before, and triggers the collecting enthusiasm among those consumers. 2. ZARA ZARA is one of the most famous fast-fashion brands in the world now, it owns by Inditex Group, a giant Spanish closing retail company. The company claims it only takes two week from producing a new product to any chain store. One of the marketing strategies that ZARA possess is that they don’t execute any commercial advertisement, instead of doing that; they transfer the capital to set up another branch. The target audience is those people prefer enjoying fast pace fashion product, and want to be distinguishes from other people. 3. Forever 21 Forever 21 is a fashion brand that from the U.S., and it has many branches in major cities around the world. The brand offers trendy clothing and accessories to those people who love exquisite product, especially the female market. The price position that the brand stands is quite friendly compare with those high-end fashion brands such as Armani, Gucci, LV, etc. 4. GAP GAP is a brand that owned by The Gap, Inc., an American clothing and accessories retailer. The target market that the brand focus at the first place is only on blue jeans and T-shit, but later the brand expands its product category to suit the needs of men, women and children. The personality of GAP is more general than those others brand such as HF, AF, Forever 21, and the spectrum of age for using GAP’s product is much broader as well. * SWOT analysis for AF STRENGTHS: 1. Acceptable price The price strategy is a very essential factor that determines the brand position. One thing that makes AF so popular is the affordable price; more people can enjoy certain level of luxury or fashion based on a friendly price. Because of the affordable price, fashion is not a privilege hold by those rich people. Take the price of a pair of jeans for instance; compare with a 190 dollars jean that DIESEL sale, the price of the jeans that AF is only around 70 dollars. Therefore, the friendly price is a factor that can strengthen this brand, and make more people interest in it. 2. Specific market audience Abercrombie Fitch creates a very specific target segment that helps the brand to focus on certain consume. The target audience consists of various people, but the most important factor is all about the young generation. Meanwhile, due to the specific marketing segment, the brand can come out with more specific strategy that makes them easier to reach through the consumer. 3. Strong distribution strategy There are several ways for AF to distribute its product; the first one is the brick and mortar store, such as those stores inside Macy’s. Second, the consumer can purchase the product online due to its own online store, allowing those busy people to shop instead going to the store. Meanwhile, some times there are some special promotion only carries out on the online store. 4. Unique atmosphere for shopping in store The atmosphere within the store provides consumer a really pleasant circumstance to shop, moreover, the unique decoration and the aura makes the brand distinguish from the others. 5. Stylish design The image that shows on AF’s product is simple but stylish. However, maybe there are fewer picture or character on the product, but the design that shows on all product convey a sense of modern and fashion, and that’s the reason so many people get appeal on this amazing brand. WEAKNESS: 1. Few branch chain store in the Asia and Europe market The number of the chain store within Asia and Europe market is way below the number in the U.S. First of all, during the past ten years, the closing market in Asia has growing extremely, and due to AF is an international fashion brand, the distribution strategy should emphasize on this booming area more in order to generate more profit and enhance the brand awareness and loyalty. Furthermore, when talk to fashion; the first place that pops out in your mind will definitely be Europe, such as London, Milan, Paris, etc. Thus, in order to strengthen AF fashion image, letting more people aware of this brand is necessary. 2. Provoking image In order to make the advertisement more attractable; AF usually use the idea of sex to appeal consumer. Lots of advertisement or picture imply some kind of sexual implication that some times makes people feel unpleasant especially those conservative. 3. Untruthful information via on-line advertising When AF is doing some kind of promotion via the on-line store, some time the information is not clear and not congruent with the information that they promoted in the brick and mortar store. 4. Similar design concept with the competitor Some time is a little bit hard to distinguish AF’s product from those competitor, not because the design but also the attributes of the brans parity, especially when the target audience is similar with each other THREATS: 1. Losing senior market Because the target market that AF holds is focus on the young generation, therefore, senior might not consider AF as the brand when they want to shop for garment. 2. Generate negative brand image The advertisement that AF usually conduct is by using sexual appeals to attract people, or using macho male or sexy female to enamor consumer. This, however, tactic might creates some negative feeling among the brand, the consumer; especially those parents might deems AF as a bran which is not ethical. 3. Losing market share due to brand parity There are several brands that possess similar product or design with AF. Therefore, how to distinguish each other will be the most important things that the brand needs to take into consider. Otherwise, the consumer can’t recognize the difference between AF and the others. 4. Losing market share due to few chain store oversea There are over 300 stores within the U.S, but just couple branches in the international market. In comparison with AF, many brand expand their chain store all over the world, letting more people enjoy the pleasure of shopping their products, such as HM, ZARA, GAP, etc. The sake of setting branches around the world is not just generate company’s revenue but also build up brand awareness in people’s mind, forcing people to familiar with the brand image and strengthen the brand loyalty. OPPORTUNITIES: There are many possible opportunities that AF can deal with, and each opportunity can set up different positive consequence that will provides somewhat benefit to AF and give the brand various direction to manage their strategy and fulfill the mission they possess such as adding the â€Å"Green† concept to the product, offer free modification among all pants, enhance the on-line system that gives more access for customer to shop or some special event like Issuing limited products. However, within this IMC plan for Abercrombie Fitch, the main idea that I want to express the most is the target market exist some certain possibility to generate more profit or brand awareness by playing more attention on those seniors. Based upon this idea, there are several opportunities that we can follow: 1. Make AF more suitable to senior by redesign the products The reason that redesign the product can appeal more senior customer is due to the style or graphic that display on the product might be deemed premature by those senior. Therefore, if the brand can place more effort on designing the right style senior likes, the brand can expand its target market to a higher level. 2. Change the stereotype that AF is a brand for young generation In the mind of people who love fashion product, AF always be considered as a brand for young people, not because the product itself, but also the image that the commercial present to the public. Thus, AF should dedicate more on the image, the image that convey more maturity. As a result, it will attract more senior customer to purchase AF’s product. 3. Positioning AF as a brand to senior Abercrombie Fitch can be the brand that provides not just the casual feeling but also the high level of exquisite perception. Expanding the product category to more mature product might be a way to strengthen the image of maturity. Meanwhile, AF can make itself be seemed as the level of those high level fashion brand such as Gucci, LV, PRADA, etc. This move will give the massage to the consumer that AF can also suit the need of their desire for the product that is fashion and also possess the personality of mature. Marketing objective According to the 2010 Form 10-k, Abercrombie Fitch Co. provided by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the revenue of AF is $ 3.469 billion, and it’s getting better compare with those previous years. In order to, however, make the company generate more profit and brand loyalty, we must scrutinize into those potential opportunities and carry out the best one, therefore, the marketing objective within this IMC plan is that Abercrombie Fitch will increase the revenue and develop more potential customer from expand the target market which is from the young generation to those senior consumer, by three years later. As we know, the target customer for AF is focus on those young generations, especially from the age 18 to 25. Thus, by extending the target audience, AF can attract more potential customer and gain more profit. 1. Product Within this IMC plan, we are not selling any particular products or item but rather the brand or any products that associated with AF. The idea of this plan is to expand the age segment in order to attract more senior customer than before. Therefore, how to make the products appealed to those older customers is the concept that me need to take into account, in addition, putting more mature element in the design process will give the final product a sense of maturity and a bit more fashion. Thus, the marketing objective at this part will be adding more mature flavor to the product and strengthen the product image to a high level that indicate the sense of maturity. After the fulfillment of this objective, Abercrombie Fitch will not just the brand only focus on young people but also justify the reason why the brand suit the senior as well. 2. Price Sometimes the price is the hardest part to decide in the process of setting objectives. Different brand price range from cheap to outrageous high, one of the reason that why AF is so popular is due to the affordable price, the price that most of the people can afford it. However, affordable price is not equal with the normal quality, adding value to the price, make the price value beyond the price itself. There is several ways to accomplish this concept such as providing a higher quality of customer service in order to enhance the relationship between both sides, or strengthen the brand image by making people believe AF is a brand that provides high quality merchandise. Eventually, the goal is to convince consumer the value of the price is way beyond the actual one. 3. Place Most of the time when shopping in the store, it’s obviously that the majority of customers are teenager, and one of the reason might be the environment is designed to attract the target market (young people), therefore, all the decoration or the aura inside the store is more like a young generation style, such as the picture on the wall usually are those macho men and sexy female; the perfume inside the store is so strong that you can smell it after you leave the store and the light is a little bit gloomy that some time make people feel dizzy. As a result, all the reason that I mentioned above might be the causes that hesitate senior to shop in the store. Therefore, the marketing object of this part is to create a better and comfortable environment for senior. Meanwhile, it’s important not just to provide a suitable circumstance to shop but also an understandable way to reach through. 4. Promotion One of the problem that we need to solve with the promotion is to break through the generation gap, this gap might seems nothing seemingly, but it sure does matter the way that the promotion take place. The reason that I mention it is because the way senior see through the promotion process is totally different than young people, therefore, the marketing objective is to concentrate on the meaning of the promotion, providing information that will attract senior customer to the store and also form the knowledge that AF is a brand not just for kids but also for adult. As a result, by using the proper promotion, AF can attract more people to generate more reputation, and boost the revenue as well. The central strategic idea Among those fashion brands, AF is the one that focus on the casual luxury segment, many people willing to buy its product due to the quality product and the fashion brand image, because of that, AF become one of the most popular apparel brand among the world nowadays. However, when talking about the position that AF stands, most of the people will consider AF as a brand that only suit for young people, most of the product that display in the store are hoody, T-shirt or jeans, those product usually deem as for children, but that is only the stereotype among all of us, if AF can attract more people that is older to purchase the product, the image will eventually change, and the brand will be widely consider as a mature brand such as Ralph Lauran, Tommy or Calvin Klein. As far as I’m concerned, the reason why I think expand the target market from young people to senior is a proper strategy for Abercrombie Fitch is because there still exist a great amount of potential customer th at can bring a huge profit to AF; having a bunch of young loyalty customer is not enough, the best way to build up a phenomenal reputation is to provide service to both junior and senior, make the brand broadly acceptable. Furthermore, when talk to those renowned brands such as LV, Gucci, Armani, we won’t consider them as a premature brand or a bran that is only suit for young generation or some certain group but a brand that provides high quality of exquisite product. The purpose of this strategic idea is not putting Abercrombie Fitch at the same position as those fashion brands that I mentioned above. The reason of this strategy is to elevate the brand to a higher level that provide the mature feeling that can attract senior customer, meanwhile, when more and more senior customer enjoy AF’s products, the brand image will become more solid and convince people that AF is a brand that not only suit for teens but also for adults. However, before starting this strategic idea, there are several thing that we need to reconsider, such as the communication situation, how’s the current communication channel looks like? What’s the tactic that Abercrombie Fitch utilized to reach through customer? Is the current tactic suit for our new customer? Those questions are the one we need to elaborated, and come out with a more specific plan that can appeal more people, especially senior, to purchase our product. Furthermore, we have to redefine our customer, make sure me know the attributes of their shopping behavior or even the style that those senior prefer, this effort will give us the knowledge to know our customer deeper and better. Communication situation analysis According to this strategic plan for Abercrombie Fitch, the main problem for senior to shop for AF’s product is the wrong cognition that the brand is only suit for young people, and because of this reason, most of the senior will rather choice other brand that will provides them the sense of maturity and possess the fashion feeling at the same time. Therefore, based on this obstacle, we need to convey the right information to the right person. Thus, the information must be via the right channel and the massage must be tailor to match what seniors needs. Nowadays, most of the information exposed through different media, and it’s easy for people to see. However, there is no such a No.1 option, different media has its own function, it can’t just apply to every one’s need. For AF, we can grab the message from various ways, such as the commercial lunched on the TV, the picture issued inside the magazines, the image display on the giant billboard, the store that we shop on-line or even the massage within the store. Those channels all can make a very well impression on us; therefore, the detail inside those channels will be the key factor to change people’s attitude. Take the magazine for example, in order to appeal senior customer, the picture inside the magazine can’t just use young people as model, it has to show some grownup that is mature enough to bring out the specific feeling. Target audience analysis When speak to Abercrombie Fitch, the first image or feeling that pop out consumers’ mind is the perception of vitality and youth, thus, the target audience for AF is focus on those young generations from the age18 to 25. Meanwhile, except the age, there are several attributes that possessed by those people, such as the tendency of collecting fashion products, or owning the ability to purchase fashion items to make themselves looks better. However, based upon the new marketing strategy, the final goal is to extend the age segment and bring more senior customer to this market, therefore, the new target audience among this marketing plan is the age from 30 to 50 and possess the following characteristics: 1. Self-Independent on the economic status Generally speaking, most of the young customers can’t afford to purchase a great amount of products at the same time because they are not self-independent on the economic status; they still rely on parents’ income to supply their daily cost, and subject to parents’ order. However, if the target audience is focus on those seniors who have a greater power of consumption than those youth, they can purchase more products and make the purchase decision by their own. Moreover, due to this customer characteristic, there will be more consumption either inside the store or the on-line purchase, and the revenue will have a sharp increase as well. 2. Live in the urban area There are several good parts that benefits the customer that live in the urban area, the first one is the people can have more access to purchase AF’s product. Although the Internet is so popular now, we can even purchase the product at the on-line store just for a click, but we still can’t have the virtual contact with the products. For customers, sometime is better for them to see the product by itself and give the product a try to make sure whether the item fits the person or not. Furthermore, most of the population lives in the urban area, and the majority of AF’s store locates at the central of the city. Therefore, the people lives in the city can have more opportunity and convenience to reach its products. Second, the latest trend and fashion info often starts from the urban area; the people lives inside the city can gain the first-hand information about the latest fashion trend. 3. Care about personal image No matter male or female, the target audience must have somewhat narcissism in her or his personality. They believe that wearing good-looking cloth and the right brand can creates the sense of confidence, and that’s the reason why they choice AF to be the brand they want. 4. Interesting in the fashion domain People who love fashion tend to pay more focus on the apparel industry, because there is a strong connection between each other. Every time there is a new product release or a product co-branding with a famous designer, the person will follow the news and try to participate in the event, and there’s a high percentage that the person will purchase the product. Positioning strategy analysis Positioning Statement: Among all the people from age 30 to 50, who love fashion products and enjoy wearing casual luxury apparel (Target audience) Abercrombie Fitch (Product/Service name) Is one of the most famous causal-luxury apparel brands in the fashion industry (Competitive set) That performs confidence, vitality and uniqueness to customer (Benefits proposition) Because of the high quality product and the stylish design (Product support) 1. Target audience In the positioning statement, the target audience is not just for those young people but also focus more on the senior market. Based on the Strategic idea of this IMC plan, the perfect age group is from 30 to 50, because they possess several preponderance such as having a job and a more stable income than those young people, thus, they have more opportunity to purchase AF’s products. Moreover, seniors usually have a better taste on closing than juniors, therefore, if AF can make those seniors become its loyalty customer, it can transfer the image that the brand is not just for young people but also for those mature adults. 2. Product/Service name According to this IMC plan, there are no specific products that the company wants to promote or use as a strategy to boost the sale. Our mission is to promote Abercrombie Fitch ‘s name and appeal senior customer to use our product. Therefore, the goal of this plan is to redress the image and promote the concept that the bran is more likely for senior. 3. Competitive set For Abercrombie Fitch, our competitive set is not just in the apparel business, but also the whole fashion industry. The products for AF are miscellaneous, so that’s the reason why AF can compete with different kinds of fashion brands. Furthermore, because the brand has already well known by the public, so they don’t have to put extra effort on creating brand awareness. 4. Benefits proposition The people who wear AF cloth or use any of its products can feel a sense of fashion and confidence due to its unique position in the market. The feeling that elicit from the product can be somewhat energetic and mature, and that’s the feeling, which appeal to most of the consumer to purchase its product. Meanwhile, based on the new strategy, we want customers to have a different experience than before by means of a much mature image that can persuade senior to get involve in it. 5. Product support The reason why AF is so popular around the word is because the stylish design and the unique image that convey to the world. Those apparels or products that design by AF are usually simple but modern; there is no fancy figure or glary color on it. Therefore, the brand is easy to distinguished from the other competitors, and also that’s the reason why I think the strategy to expand the age segment to a higher level is feasible, because usually the more simple trait that the product possess, the more easy for the product to be considered mature, and that’s the thing our new potential customer wants. Communication objectives and strategies Although there are various brands within the fashion industry, different people choice the brand that suit them the most, sometime is based on status, some time is based on personal taste; however, the reason why so many people, especially teenagers, appealed by AF is owing to its stylish design and vigorous image. However, the problem of this IMC plan is how to get seniors involve in this brand and turn them to up hold AF’s products. Thus, the communication object is to send the massage to the target audience and boost the revenue by convincing people that the brand is not just for teens but also will be the best choice for seniors to purchase when they need closing. In order to accomplish the communication objective, there are several strategies that listed below: 1. To create a suitable environment for senior to visit AF stores In order to fulfill this strategy, we must conduct some research to realize what’s the key element that triggers senior to shop and what’s the condition that make them feel comfortable while they doing purchase. The reason for doing this strategy is because the current environment is designed to attract young consumer, therefore, in order to attract senior customer, the company must figure out the best shopping environment to appeal them to come. 2. Promote the idea that Abercrombie Fitch is a brand for senior Refresh the original image of AF and put the sense of maturity into the brand whereby senior feels like this special brand is for them. In order to execute this strategy, we must use different marketing tools and various mediums to accomplish this mission. More details will be illustrated in the last part of this IMC plan. 3. Move Abercrombie Fitch’s image up to those high-end fashion brand such as Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauran. The purpose of this strategy is to let people build the connection for AF to those high-end brands in order to increase the brand value. By strengthen the brand value, more people, especially senior, will consider AF as a phenomenal brand to purchase. Program of tactics and executions With regard to this IMC plan, there are various tools to accomplish this mission; different tactic has its own advantage so we need to slice them together then maximize the great amount of benefit from it. There are so many disciplines such as advertising, personal selling, PR, etc. Therefore, sometimes we just can’t use them all; we have to select some of the most effective ways to conduct the strategy that we came out with. And so by, according to this plan, several tactics will be elaborated in the following paragraph: 1. Product placement The reason why this alternative marketing tactic is a great choice for this strategy is because by using this method, not just the product of A F can expose to the customer but also the image. When the products display inside a movie or commercial, the audience will have a chance to see and have the perception of it. Meanwhile, this tactic has been so popular for quite a long time and most of the company considers this tactic as a great ways to promote their brand or product, so the potential influence on customer is quite huge. Therefore, based on our strategy, we will expose our product or our brand image to the public, but we need to place it in the right place and person. We will execute our plan by putting AF’s products or logo on senior who take part in the movie or commercial, the reason why we are doing this is because we want the customer who is in front of the TV or computer to deem the brand is looking good on those people. Generally, we seldom saw A F’s product wearing on senior among any program, so that’s the notion we want to convey to people. Furthermore, in order to illustrate more specifically, we will choice certain people or program to expose our brand image, take the actor for instance, when choosing the people to wear our product, we might consider senior more than young guys, the actor such as Gorge Clooney or Sarah Jessica Parker will be the best candidate for translate the new image of maturity to people. In addition, we must pick the right movie or TV program to place our brand into it, because some time if the movie or program is for teens or children, the purpose of this action will be not successfully accomplished. 2. Advertising There are various ways in advertising, each of one has it own advantage, however, in this case, there will be only few channel that appropriate to accomplish this goal, such as: * Television In nowadays, people can get a slew of information from TV, and it is also the best way to create awareness. According to this channel, the best way to convey the information that the brans is not only suit for young people but also adults as well is to launch a commercial that carry the image of senior wearing A F product and shows how confidence they can be just because the brand can bring the sense of fashion and maturity. When people, especially seniors, see the commercial frequently, they will gradually change the original brand image in their mind. * Magazine There are tons of different magazine in the field now and it has possess several advantage such as high marketing segment, longer attention to ads, high color quality, etc. We, however, can’t put our advertisement in all of them, we must be specific, choosing the right one that can reach the right person, therefore, according to the strategy, the target magazine will definitely be those fashion one such as Elle, Ebony, Vogue, People and FHM. Furthermore, in order to promote the perception of mature and professional, those famous magazine such as TIME, Economist, ADWEEK will also be taken into consider. Take TIME for example; in order to give the audience an explicit impression, we might consider buying a whole page for our ad, thus, once the reader start to read, the image of our brand will unfold in front of them. * Outdoor The place that can display the ads are not just in the TV or magazine, there are many places we can use in the public area to show our brand image and product advertisement, such as the giant billboard out side, the bus stop next to your house, even on the public transportation can have a space to make advertising. Therefore, we will display our brand image in those places that people gather the most; make sure our exposure can reach people as much as possible. To make this tactic more specific, A F will runs this method by putting out senior celebrity image such as Gorge Clooney; the image of him will mostly convince people that AF is a brand that fits on senior and it looks good as well. 3. Public Relations In the tactic of PR, our goal is to build the right image we want, and let people feel positive that this new brand image is positive. Therefore, by using all the tools of PR such as the news release, annual report, news conference etc. we want people to know the brand is extending its image to a higher level, and will provides customer a better feeling that will appeals to those senior customer. To execute this strategy by using PR, we might have to combine different tactic to maximize the outcome. For instance, in order to spread the new image out, we might need to set up some event or co-branding with the others. And so by, we might need to set up a news conference or launch a press release to run our story to the public. In addition, one of the functions of PR is to create positive image and strengthen company’s reputation, so by sponsoring special event such as the Oscar ceremony, LPG golf tour and the Grand slam series; the image of AF will be seen not just a brand that provides causal luxury apparel, but also a brand that possess high-end perception and the sense of maturity. Furthermore, in order to let people understand the reason why the company comes up with this idea, and to convince senior to use its product; the company can release some article that is relevant to this topic, getting people familiar with the new idea. 4. Celebrity Endorsement By using well-known people to promote its product can make the brand image more clear and gain more attention. In order to make our brand shine and bright among the public, the company is imperative to choose the right person for endorse its product, several condition such as the person need to have a positive image that well accepted by the public, the person’s personality needs to match with the brand or the product; otherwise, people will think the brand has no connection with the person, and that will make the credibility decline. So, in order to fulfill the condition and match the strategy we set up, we will invite celebrity such as Gorge Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Robert Downey Jr. to be our spokesman; and by using their mature charisma, more people will convert their first image of AF and turn in to the perception as the strategy we wanted. 5. Event marketing In order to promote the strategy and boost the sale, we can create several events to accomplish this goal; more detail will be elaborated in the following paragraph: * The â€Å"A† membership To create loyalty customer and reward them for their purchase, we will conduct a membership program that give them the benefit as a return. The program will run first with applying our membership card and join the AF club; after applying, every time when they purchase a certain amount of money, they can get some credit, and after collecting enough credit, the person can enjoy a perpetual 30% discount on every purchase afterward. Moreover, the person who gets a perpetual membership can receive a 100 dollars gift card on his or her every birthday. * The â€Å" I want to fly fashion† event In order to strengthen the function of our perpetual membership, we will co-brand with United Airline and American Express; every time when you take a flight with United Airline or purchase product from AF by using American Express, the person can receive bonus from it, and can use the bonus to purchase flight ticket or products within A F store. Conclusion Nowadays, Abercrombie Fitch is one of the most famous fashion brand in the world, the brand has it own unique image and special value, the trend of buying its product is not just happen in the State but also around the world. However, besides the current situation, the company has more opportunity to enhance its brand equity by expanding the customer segment to a higher level. In order to make the brand more accepted by senior, we must create another image that can appeal to them, make them feel the brand is not just for cool teenagers but also for mature adults. Therefore, the strategy of extending target customer to the senior segment can bring more profit to the company and form a new brand image, providing customer another high- end brand to shop and make them feel special.

Introduction To Sports Among Women Spectators In India Media Essay

Introduction To Sports Among Women Spectators In India Media Essay Watching sport represents a predominant form of leisure behavior in todays society. Large numbers of people attend sporting events and think of themselves as sport fans. Traditionally, participation in sports as a spectator has been a male dominated activity. Women differ from men on various parameters such as physicality, psychographics, behavioral parameters, consumer behavior and consumption experiences. The differences between men and women on these parameters make it difficult for marketers to target them together as a unified segment. But, irrespective of the differences between men and women on various parameters, sports goods manufacturers and sports events marketers have pursued traditional male-oriented marketing policies. But in recent times due to a radical change in social and financial status of women, there has been an increased participation in and consumption of sports by women. This has caused marketers to add a female- oriented focus to their strategies. The recent introduction of female commentators in cricket to strategies to attract women in the latest IPL edition with attractive offers shows a definite change in the marketing strategies of media and marketing professionals. Also more and more women are turning to sports for recreational purpose. With the sports industry turning more to women consumers, it has become necessary for marketers to research womens consumption behavior and consumption experiences to come up with gender specific strategies. Hence, this study would be to understand how the Indian woman consumes sports and the level of involvement or motivation achieved set in the context of the Indian society. Literature Review Sports as a genre is present in everybodys life, be it in terms of participation or watching. Sports has the power to inspire, build communities, to make people cry, laugh. In the hands of an ingenious marketer sports has an almost enigmatic pull towards the target consumer. Traditionally, sports participation and consumption was viewed to be masculine or a part of male dominion. However, with increasing number of women who have found economic and social independence the domain of sports is no longer completely a male bastion. Increasingly women are breaking the stereotypes of passivity and are actively consuming and participating in sports. Major strides have been made over the past few years in providing participation opportunities for girls and women in sports. Media visibility has increased for a number of women players both internationally and nationally like Venus Williams, Anna Kounikova or Sania Mirza. The consumption of sports and leisure by men and women is dependent on a lot of factors such as prevalent societal norms, beliefs and attitudes. In the context of sports and leisure, what is associated with men and masculinity is valued over what is associated with women and femininity. Hence, it is important to explore the underlying societal norms to understand the consumption patterns. A post modernistic approach In a postmodern society, the prevalent ideology is that what is considered masculine or feminine will break down as the boundaries between masculinity and femininity continue to blur and the different forms of gender multiply. Activities that conventionally convey clear meanings, such as combat conveying masculinity and gracefulness conveying femininity, will no longer be obvious. A postmodern vision of these categories blurring into one should be liberating because it lessens the likelihood of gender being used as a way to categorize. In the context of sports and leisure, this suggests that gender is less likely to influence participation or consumption of sports previously marked as masculine or feminine. Analysing literature would help us to understand historical trends of sports and leisure participation by gender in various scenarios. Home Vs Workplace Women have been historically been associated with activities conducted at home such as gardening, sewing and cooking, due to recent advancements in technology the efforts required for the chores have reduced immensely but the modern society still views it as a womans job. Unskilled tasks such as cleaning, eating, cooking, sleeping, leisure and child rearing were performed at home, Men were connected with activities in the workplace and less connected with the ones at home. Home for men essentially was a place to recoup from a hard days work. A similar separation exists in sports and leisure today. ( McGinnis, Chun, and McQuillan, 2003) According to Hendersons review (1990), leisure for women tends to consist of activities which is near or at home because it can be infused with household chores and because few opportunities for leisure exist outside the home. According to another research by Kane, It was argued that women tend to define themselves in terms of human relationships, hence, they consume within the context of home and family. The complexity increases for a career woman as then the leisure is dependent on family environments, especially children. Women use home as a primary place and means for leisure. And in case a leisure opportunity comes along which is out of home, then it is sort of offered in such a way as to not hamper household responsibilities. In this case, leisure itself can be seen as constraining, as it reinforces gender appropriateness (Shaw 1994). While it appears that leisure opportunities certainly exist for women outside the home, the literature suggests that leisure for women is still largely perceived as a secondary concern. Opportunities for leisure exist, but only when other duties and other concerns have been addressed first. Expectations of a women and her role in society appear to transcend the opportunities outside the home. Men face the same constraint, but can define what is expected of them more so than women. Spectatorship and Leisure time It is a common point of contention that men and women both enjoy watching sports on television, but their preferences differ, as men tend to prefer more competitive and aggressive sports as compared to women. We find evidences of media reinforcement of the gendered consumption patterns, for example NBC positioned the Olympics with storylines resembling soap operas. Men have generally dominated the consumption of organised sports. But the Spectator Gender Gap is reducing with more women watching conventionally male sports such as Golf, football. However, research suggests that attempts by women to increase their sports consumption in a way threatens the male dominion as sports is viewed as a masculine domain where men are allowed to bond with one another. Women entering this domain are seen as upsetting this setting (McGinnis, Chun, and McQuillan, 2003). Leisure is another area where the gender gap exists, women in general experience a lesser amount of free time as compared to men as their part of their free time is generally spent doing housework or taking care of children. Men can experience larger blocks of free time without worrying about other commitments. Role of the Indian Media Women are traditionally not encouraged to indulge in sports. Sports are men oriented, where men play and women watch. It is clearly visible in the Indian media too, be it films or advertisements. For instance, in an advertisement of Clinic Plus shampoo, a coach of a boys cricket team in school discourages a girl to play with the team by fearing, when he says, Baal kharab ho jayege (your hair will get damaged if you will play cricket in sun). Another advertisement of Tata sky featuring Gul Panag and Aamir Khan, she has been portrayed as a woman for whom sports is a nuisance. During the cricket matches and sports world cups, time and again, many news channels have shown how women have to sacrifice watching their saas-bahu dramas and newspapers also write about falling TRPs of TV serial and how these matches are a jeremiad for women. Because in the family, their husbands, brothers and father are glued tothe sports channel and the power of attorney for the remote control is transferred t o men for those few days when the matches are held. In addition, Some of the commonly held beliefs associated with female fans and women sports are explored below- Women are not interested in sports fact or fiction In terms of viewership, over 2.2 crore women watched the 2003 World Cup in India alone. Female viewership comprised an astounding 46% of the total World Cup viewing population and TRPS for female viewership for India matches climbed to a phenomenal 9.8, significantly higher than the 3.9 registered during the Nat West Trophy final played at Lords in June 2002(ESPNSTAR, Interesting history of womens cricket in India).The Twenty20 World Cup had a strong, growing female audience for the sport and its not restricted to cricket alone. There is an overall 54 per cent increase in ratings for the three tennis grand slams-especially with regard to womens viewership where the growth has been significant. To reach out to this diverse market, most channels are developing a strong programming line-up that is a healthy mix of acquired and original content. (The financial express, Cashing in on sports). For the first time, a non-cricketing glamorous female host Mandira Bedi was brought in as a studio anchor. The experience was something which shocked cricket purists. But with a mix of elements for the purist as well as the novice and the fence sitters, Extraaa Innings combined academic cricket with mainstream entertainment like never before. This resulted in a whopping 50% increase in average rating of Indian matches and 37% increase in the rating of non-India matches, reached out to a record 78% of the Indian audiences in CS homes. More interestingly the female gross reach grew by an unprecedented 261%. Mandira Bedi became a celebrity and was soon a part of life even for women in conservative Indian households. Purists like Wisden, which condemned the experiment with women anchors during the ICC Champions Trophy in Colombo in September 2002, were forced to retreat. Women joined betting circles and housewives in Delhi and Ahmedabad formed clubs to enjoy the sport (ESPNSTAR, Interesting history of womens cricket in India). In terms of playing the sport, there has been significant increase in the number of professional sportswomen in variety of sports including Badminton, tennis, hockey, golf and athletics. The increase in the number of tournaments is a testament to that fact, recently an international basketball tournament the FIBA Asia Womens Championship was hosted by Chennai, Featuring the best players and top teams from across the continent, the tournament was a success. (Deccan Chronicle, India Wakes up to alternative sports) Female sports fans are different from male sports fans -fact or fiction? According to a research by Sargent, Zillmann, and Weaver, men and women enjoy distinctly different types of sports. Their findings revealed that males preferred watching combative sports on television whereas females were partial to stylistic sports. Sport socialization research examines the impact that environmental forces have on children and individuals from two different perspectives: socialization into sport and socialization through sport. This line of inquiry indicates that people are attracted to sport due to formal channels (i.e., parents, peers, coaches, mass media, teachers) and informal channels (i.e., school, church, and community-based programs), as researched by Kenyon McPherson . Media plays a primary role for introducing new teams and sport leagues to adults. According to a study by Bruce, Institutional, social, and familial contexts also shape viewers interpretations of sports broadcasts. He also found that women did not display strong loyalties to specific womens sports teams that are common with men and their favorite mens teams. This was attributed to the extensive sports information and media attention given to mens sports. In a study on cognitive development and socialization by James, in the initial development of team loyalty, it was found that children form preferences for sports teams early in life. Results of this study revealed and that the gender stereotype associating sports with males was prevalent among children and that fathers were the most influential socializing agent in introducing children to sports teams. In a study on experiences and effects of viewing televised sports, Gantz and Wenner found differences based on gender for 9 of the 15 motivation items examined; however, these differences were not dramatic. Most notable among their findings, women were more likely to watch televised sports for companionship and sharing the experience with family and friends whereas men watched to unwind and become wrapped up in the excitement and drama of the game. Men invested more time in reading, listening, watching, and talking about sports and they were more likely to experience emotional fluctuations from watching sports. Men also tend to display a fan behavior and identify more strongly as a fan according to Dietz-Uhler. However, an equal number of male and female college students considered themselves to be sport fans. Females reported being fans because they attended and watched sporting events with family and friends while males were more likely to consider themselves fans because they played sports and wanted to acquire sports information. Measuring Spectator Motives Various methods to research on sport spectators have been developed which utilizes a number of scales to assess the psychological motives related to attendance, media usage and interest at live sporting events. 1) One of the first methods was developed by Wann. He designed a comprehensive scale to measure eight factors observed to influence behavior; eustress, self-esteem, escape, entertainment, economic (gambling), aesthetic, group affiliation, and family. 2) Second method developed by Trail and James was the Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC) to examine ten aspects of spectator behavior: achievement, acquisition of knowledge, aesthetics, drama, escape, family, physical attraction, physical skills of players, and social interaction. 3) Thirdly, McDonald, Milne and Hong (2002) utilized a scale to measure spectator and sport participant motives related to: risk-taking, stress reduction, aggression, affiliation, social facilitation, self-esteem, competition, achievement, skill mastery, aesthetics, value development, and self-actualization. Research Methodology Conceptual Framework or Problem Definition Till now through an extensive analysis of literature we have seen that men and women both consume sports in their own way and one cannot generalize the consumption pattern of women. The motivations and the level of involvement for women depend on a lot of factors. Research Gap : There is no study done in the Indian context to understand the women sports consumers, their stages of involvement and motivations to participate. Hence, this study is a step towards achieving an understanding of the same. Research Objective: The objective of the research is to understand the Woman sports consumer in terms of her involvement level and motivation to consume a particular sport. The study of motivation for predicting consumer behavior is very difficult as to understand the interrelation between motives and specific behavior. Also, to develop a list of consumer motives comprehensive enough to capture the wide variety of motivating forces that stimulate and shape behavior is challenging. To do the above, a framework could be constructed in the form of a social continuum which broadens the sport consumer motivation notion by using involvement as a motivational construct to distinguish between various levels. Factors like womans role in the society would also be a part of this construct. Hence, a study of the immediate environment becomes imperative for studying the consumption pattern. The level of involvement of women consumer of sports should form the basis of the framework of social continuum where the stages vary from viewership to acceptance to fan base to taking part or actively playing to encouraging others to play or advocacy. As shown below, Identification of critical factors which defines each of the stages could be looked at and the motives of each stage should also be looked at. According to each stage a corresponding set of behavior would be associated. Understanding different spectator motivations and involvement levels can be of significant benefit to the sport marketer looking to boost team revenues and gate receipts. Of particular interest are both the marketing manager understanding the specific motivations that drive a spectator or fan to consume a sport and the subsequent development of marketing communications based on these motivations. These effective marketing communication plans can often help build groups of diehard fans, thus expanding the customer base for a team. Spectator and fan motivation can also be used as an effective psychographic segmentation method that can result in more effective marketing campaigns. Sub Research Objective: Involvement Involvement could be defined as a state of interest, stimulation or motivation towards an object, a product or even an activity. As put by a study done by Mitchell, Involvement represents an internal state variable that reflects the amount of arousal, interest, or drive evoked by a particular stimuli or situation that mediates consumer behavior. Application of the involvement construct to examine sport spectators and sport fans would provide a fuller understanding of motives and what stimuli and situations direct behavior (e.g., attendance, purchase of team merchandise, media consumption) and attitudinal formation (e.g., preferences, commitment, loyalty). Some parameters of study for involvement would be Importance of product as perceived by the consumer Pleasure or enjoyment provided by the product Risk of making the wrong purchase or participating in the non enjoyable activity Self expression it represents the identification of the person with the purchase or participation Centrality to lifestyle, encompasses socializing and interactions Motivation Theories and studies have been done by researchers on how to assess the motives for consuming sports. These motives can be generally classified into the broad categories of study as Entertainment Stress and stimulation seeking Social Interaction Achievement seeking Approach to Analysis According to the sample defined above, the research would be conducted two phases: Phase 1: This would be in the form of exploratory research which would be used to develop a conceptual model for examining involvement stages and their corresponding motives. The purpose of this is to identify any potential parameters related to spectator motives or involvement framework which were missed. In-depth interview of 5 respondents approximately would be taken in each market segment. Phase 2: This is the validation phase where the qualitative study would be validated by quantitative so that the result of the first phase could be extrapolated to a larger population if required. Sampling Universe: The sampling universe could be defined as young women who are primarily college goers or into the first 2-3 years of job, who follow at least one sport, belonging to SEC A or SEC B. Details of Phase I Sample Size: 15-20 (Qualitative study) The sample size setting is done with a non-statistical approach where the selection is done anticipating subgroup analysis. The anticipation is that 4 meaningful clusters (market segments) would emerge and each cluster will contain approximately 5 respondents in average. SEC A SEC B College Goers Urban Semi Urban Working Women Semi Urban Urban This is for the qualitative part of the research. Sampling Procedure: Convenience Sampling (Non- probability sampling) Care would be taken to ensure that heterogeneity of the entire population can be effectively covered in the sample. Details of Phase II The phase II methodology would depend on the data collected in the first phase. Scope The study would help marketers understand the woman spectator motivations and stages of involvement in consuming sports in India, in turn, help in predicting behavior This would help marketers tap into the growing woman spectator base. Expected Contribution There has been no study on understanding women spectators in the Indian context done till date. This research would help both the academia and industry to understand an upcoming segment. Understanding different spectator motivations and involvement levels is important for a sport marketer to tap the women consumer segment which is increasingly becoming independent economically and socially. Understanding the involvement and motivations that drive a woman spectator to consume a sport in India would help marketers target this segment with crisp and relevant marketing communications. The involvement stages and motivations can also be used as an effective psychographic segmentation method for forming effective campaigns.

The Struggle to Get it All Straight :: Personal Narrative Writing Papers

The Struggle to Get it All Straight I. I first began writing--really writing--sometime around my sophomore year of high school. Since then, I have consistently received high marks and flattering compliments for my work. But I still suffer this insecurity which Judith Guest describes perfectly. She says that after achieving great success in her writing she found that she was "still telling [herself] that [she] wasn't really a writer, but a trickster" (xii). Ah, yes. I know that feeling. Every paper I am asked to write, I fear will be my undoing--that it will be the assignment which proves that I haven't been able to write the whole time, that I'm nothing but crafty. My undergraduate degree carries with it an emphasis in creative writing; for four years I wrote mostly poetry. I didn't know it, but the poetry courses gave me my first introduction to Rhetorical Theory. There I met the generative techniques of Peter Elbow and Natalie Goldberg which make so much sense to me. I appreciated these exercises, which, as Guest notes, "[give] people permission to think the thoughts that come, and to write them down, and make sense of them in any way they wish" (xii). Between the covers of my journal, I took on the premise of Goldberg's book Writing Down the Bones : Learning to write is not a linear process. There is no logical A-to-B-to-C way to become a good writer. One neat truth about writing cannot answer it all. There are many truths. To do writing practice means to deal ultimately with your whole life. (3) Because I understood the idea without understanding the possibilities, these courses didn't change my life--instead they were a reprieve from "real" life, a reprieve from the the standards of "real" academics. Although I enjoyed other English courses, I never felt the freedom that those writing courses offered me--the opportunity to create my own understanding from a personal perspective. Instead I wrote the essays about subject matter, and in the kind of language, I thought those teachers wanted to hear. This contradiction between these two types of English courses was something I accepted without question. Two years ago the issue really opened itself up for me. I had been out of school for a few years and was a little nervous about returning to the world of academic writing. That spring quarter I had three writing courses and an American Literature course.