Drinking culture Essay

Alcohol marketing is a global phenomenon, in which an increasingly small number of companies spend considerable sums to establish and embed their brands in the lives and lifestyles of populations. Market research data offers insight into the size and extent of the global alcohol trade, and the magnitude of alcohol advertising expenditures. Recent examples of alcohol marketing in a variety of national contexts illustrate the techniques used by the global companies. The effects of this marketing on young people are described in reviews of recent research studies on youth exposure to alcohol marketing and the effects of that exposure, interpretive models to explain the effects of alcohol marketing on young people, whether alcohol advertising targets young people, and assessments of the effectiveness of regulatory restrictions on marketing and other countermeasures. Despite the failure of public health research to keep pace with newly developing marketing technologies, there is a growing body of evidence that alcohol marketing influences young people’s drinking behavior. Measures to reduce that impact should be considered by national governments seeking to limit the public health burden caused by harmful use of alcohol. KEY WORDS: alcohol, advertising, youth, globalization, marketing. AUTHOR ’ S NOTE : Support for development of an earlier version of this paper was provided by the World Health Organization.  © 2010 by Federal Legal Publications, Inc. 58 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING From a public health perspective, alcohol marketing matters. While there is tremendous diversity in the kinds of alcohol available throughout the world, from communally-produced traditional beverages to globalized mass consumer products, the globalized beverages play a particular role. They are, of their essence, marketed products, and as such are often the most visible manifestation of alcoholic beverages in a society. In this sense they lead the market for alcoholic beverages, providing an affordable badge of participation in western culture. As socioeconomic status rises in a developing nation, the likelihood of using these products tends to increase, along with western cultural orientation (Eide, Acuda, & Roysamb, 1998). Globalized alcoholic beverages are branded products, and benefit from the latest developments in marketing technology designed to embed the brand in the lives and minds of the target consumers (Aaker, 1996). Branding and marketing knowledge are critical to their globalization because, according to one researcher working from the standpoint of the survival of global firms, â€Å"in non-science-based industries such as alcoholic beverages .. . brands and marketing knowledge rather than technological innovation are central in explaining the growth and survival of multinational firms† (Lopes, 2003). Using this marketing knowledge, the global brands gain ubiquity through traditional media, sponsorships, and on-premise promotions, as well as â€Å"new media† such as mobile phones, podcasting, and the Internet. Both research on the health effects of this marketing activity and public health responses to mitigate those effects are hard pressed to keep up with the industry’s pace of innovation. Given this situation, this article reviews the shape and size of the global supply of marketed alcoholic beverages, describes some of the forms this marketing is taking in developed and developing societies, summarizes research on the effects of that marketing, and then outlines possible public health policy responses. 59 The global alcohol market: An overview According to Impact Databank, a leading market research firm serving the alcoholic beverage industry, premium globalized (branded) spirits account for approximately 44% of the total spirits products available around the world (Banaag, 2009). The alcohol industry funded International Center for Alcohol Policies reports that branded beer accounts for at least 38% of globally-available beer, and branded wine makes up at least 27% of the global wine supply (International Center for Alcohol Policies, 2006). Global value of the branded sector is unknown; however, sales volume of a single market—the United States—was estimated at $154. 9 billion in 2004 (Adams Beverage Group, 2005). Advertising expenditures (on broadcast, in print, and out-of-home) in that market in 2005 were $2 billion (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2007b). According to the U. S. Federal Trade Commission, total alcohol marketing expenditures in the United States are approximately double this figure, with the remainder spent on â€Å"unmeasured† marketing activities such as sponsorships, product placements, campus promotions, and point-ofpurchase advertising (Federal Trade Commission, 2008). According to Adams Beverage Group, another industry market research firm, spirits and beer marketing account for more than 93% of measured alcohol advertising expenses in the United States. These two sectors likely dominate in the rest of the world as well, and this section will focus on the activities of global marketers in these two categories. Within the global beer and spirits industries, a small number of companies dominate. As of 2007, 44. 9% of global branded spirits were marketed by the ten largest companies, as shown in Table 1. High levels of concentration have been the rule in this segment of the industry since at least 1991 (Jernigan, 2009), through multiple waves of mergers that have increased the size of the top five companies (now with a market share of approximately 36%) relative to the rest of the market. * 60 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING TABLE 1 Ten largest global distilled spirits companies, 2006 and 2007 *Not in the top 10 in 2006. SOURCES: Impact Databank 2008a, Impact Databank, 2008c. TABLE 2 Ten largest brewers, 1979/80 and 2007 *Not in the top 10 in 1979/80. SOURCE: Cavanagh and Clairmonte, 1985; Impact Databank 2008b) 61 The majority of the market share for globally-branded beer, in contrast, has only recently concentrated in the hands of the ten largest brewers. The five leading brewers directly control more than half of the global market as estimated by Impact. As of 2008, concentrating and combining continue: InBev recently acquired Anheuser-Busch, which in turn has the majority ownership stake in Grupo Modelo but does not have management control, and which also owns 27% of Qingdao; while SABMiller merged with Molson Coors to form MillerCoors. (Market share information after these mergers is not available at this writing—Table 2 reflects the most recent data available. ) According to Advertising Age, six of these alcoholic beverage producers are among the world’s 100 largest advertisers (Wentz, 2007). As Table 3 shows, the spending of these companies is heavily concentrated in the United States and Europe. Global advertising expenditures of these six companies alone totaled more than $2 billion in 2006. Advertising Age’s figures are probably not complete, and they do not add spending of wholly- or majority-owned subsidiaries into the spending of the parent company. The publication provides data on advertising spending in 86 countries, but only provides the top 100 globally, and the top 10 spenders by country. As shown in Table 4, the leading companies or their subsidiaries are among the top 10 in 15 of the 86 countries—12 developing countries, one emerging market, and two developed nations. The shape of contemporary alcohol marketing As branded products, alcoholic beverages build their identities with a complex mix of marketing technologies. As a leading marketing theorist has written, â€Å"The presence of a brand (or even the attitudes held toward it) can serve to define a person with respect to others† so that the â€Å"brand becomes an exten- 62 TABLE 3 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING World’s largest alcoholic beverage advertisers and their advertising expenditures by region, 2006 SOURCE: Wentz, 2007. Other includes Canada, Africa and the Middle East. TABLE 3 Alcohol marketers among the ten largest advertisers in a country, by region, 2006 63 SOURCE: Wentz. 2007. The Shape of Contemporary Alcohol Marketing. 64 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING sion or an integral part of the self† (Aaker, 1996). Marketers accomplish this extension of the self by embedding brands in the lives and lifestyles of the target consumers, positioning them as an integral part of cultural and sporting events, as well as cultures, lifestyles, and even value systems (Fleming & Zwiebach, 1999; Klein, 1999). The mix of technologies employed to accomplish this include traditional advertising as well as sponsorships, sweepstakes, couponing, product placement, new product development, point-of-purchase materials and promotions, person-to-person and viral marketing, distribution and sale of branded merchandise, and the use of new and emerging technologies such as mobile phones and the Internet. The advertising spending figures above are for traditional or â€Å"measured† advertising activity alone. In this arena, alcohol marketing gains enormous exposure to the population, both that of legal drinking ages and below that age. Researchers in China have estimated that a city-dwelling young person who watches an average of 2 hours of evening television will see more than 900 alcohol ads a year (Zhang, 2004). In Australia, a Curtin University research group used advertising industry data to compare the exposure of underage and young adult drinkers to alcohol advertising on television. The researchers found that 13- to 17-year-olds were exposed to the same level of alcohol advertising as 18- to 24-year-olds (the legal drinking age in Australia is 18), and that 90% of alcohol ads, mostly for beer and premixed â€Å"alcopop† drinks, were screened when more than 25% of the viewing audience was underage (MacNamara, 2006). In Spain, researchers analyzed alcohol advertising in youthfocused written mass media from 2002 to 2006. The study found that alcohol advertising comprised 3. 8% of all magazine advertising and 8. 6% of the advertising in magazines which permitted alcohol advertising in their pages. Three out of six youth-oriented magazines identified permitted alcohol advertising (Montes-Santiago, Muniz, & Bazlomba, 2007). 65 In the United States, the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University has also used market research databases to find, for example, that U. S. television advertising for alcohol in 2007 reached 96% of the adult population (defined in the U. S. as those 21 and over) an average of 446 times. At the same time, the advertising reached 89% of youth under the legal drinking age (i. e. , ages 12 to 20) an average of 436 times (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2008). Magazine advertising for alcohol in 2006 reached 94% of the adult population an average of 77 times, and 90% of youth (ages 12 to 20) 89 times (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2007a). On radio, analysis of a sample of 67,404 airings of advertisements for the 25 leading brands of alcohol found that nearly half (49%) of the advertisements were placed in programming with disproportionate numbers of listeners below the legal drinking age, while 14% of the placements violated the 30% voluntary maximum for youth audience composition set by alcohol industry trade associations (Jernigan, Ostroff, Ross, Naimi, & Brewer, 2006). Because of disparities in access to health care, youth of Hispanic and African heritage in the U. S. are at higher risk of alcohol problems if they drink (Galvan & Caetano, 2003). They are also often exposed to substantially more alcohol advertising than youth in general: In English-language national magazines in 2004, Hispanic youth saw 20% more advertising per capita and African-American youth were exposed to 34% more alcohol advertising per capita than was the average for youth in general (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2005b; Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2006). Analysis of Nielson television ratings data from September 1998 to February 2002 confirmed that young African-American males (ages 6 to 17) were exposed to 31% more alcohol advertising on television than white youth, and that young AfricanAmerican females were exposed to 77% more television advertising for alcohol than their white peers. Furthermore, the racial differences in levels of exposure appeared to be increasing over time (Ringel, Collins, & Ellickson, 2006). 66 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING. As stated above, this â€Å"measured† marketing activity is only a fraction of what the global alcohol marketers spend each year. According to Klein (1999), in the early 1990s the amount of money spent by marketers on â€Å"unmeasured† activities increased dramatically. In 2008, the U. S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported for the first time on the measured and unmeasured marketing expenditures of 12 of the largest companies, accounting for approximately 73% of sales of alcohol in the U. S (Federal Trade Commission, 2008). According to the FTC, these manufacturers spent 44% of their marketing dollars on the traditional measured media of print, radio, television and outdoor. Other significant categories included point-of-sale advertising and promotions (18. 8%), sponsorship of sporting events, sports teams or individual athletes (10. 9%), and promotional allowances to wholesalers and retailers (7. 5%). The balance between measured and unmeasured activities may vary by company as well: In its 2005 Annual Report, Diageo reported spending ? 1,023 million ($1,760 million) on marketing, far more than the $409 million reported by Advertising Age as its expenditure on advertising for 2004. Alcohol companies typically employ a mix of unmeasured activities, tailored to the brand as well as to the cultural, religious and regulatory context. For example, sponsorship is a huge area of activity. Within this category, sponsorship of sporting events is widespread. Anheuser-Busch, for instance, sponsors the FIFA World Cup, while nearly every team in World Cup competition has an alcohol sponsor. In fact, Anheuser-Busch is the second highest spender on sponsorships in the U. S. , behind PepsiCo, Inc. , spending $260-265 million in 2004 (Sparks, Dewhirst, Jette, & Schweinbenz, 2005). Beer company sponsorship of sports in China is increasing, with Anheuser-Busch sponsoring the Budweiser University League Soccer Games, amateur soccer tournaments, the 2004 Chinese Olympic Team, and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, while Heineken sponsors the Heineken Open Shanghai tennis tournament (Sparks et al. , 2005). 67 Such sponsorships increase the televised visibility for alcohol brands. Various researchers in the U. S. have monitored alcohol advertising during televised sporting events every five years since 1990-1992. The most recent study, covering the years 2000-2002, found an increase from 10 years earlier in the number of alcohol commercials airing during professional sports telecasts, the appearance of ads for â€Å"alcopops† only during college sporting events, as well as substantial numbers of alcohol-themed on-screen graphics such as â€Å"Bud Play of the Day† or â€Å"Busch Racing Leaders† appearing at the same time that the amount of alcohol signage within stadiums themselves has declined (Zwarun, 2006). Sports are not the only events receiving sponsorship dollars from alcohol producers. For example, the two leading breweries in Nigeria—one controlled by Guinness/Diageo, the other by Heineken—sponsor the National Annual Essay Competition, fashion shows and beauty contests on university campuses, university sporting events, musical segments of radio programs, radio call-in shows about particular alcohol brands in which correct answers win prizes, tours of foreign musical stars, and end-of-year carnivals at beaches or in parks (Jernigan & Obot, 2006). Faced with marketing restrictions, alcohol producers have also carried their alcohol brand names into other areas, such as the Carlsberg Hot Trax stores selling comic books, sports trading cards, and compact disks in Malaysia in the mid-1990s (Jernigan, 1997). Point-of-purchase is another important form of marketing. Researchers in the United States studied 3,961 retail outlets selling alcohol in 329 communities across the country. The majority of the stores (94%) had some form of point-ofpurchase alcohol marketing, while close to half (44%) had interior alcohol marketing materials placed at low heights, that is, within 3. 5 feet of the floor, where it would be more likely to be seen by children and adolescents than by adults (TerryMcElrath et al. , 2003). 68 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING Product placement in film and television is another means to increase the visibility of alcohol brands. According to Anheuser-Busch’s website, in the past 20 years it has placed its products in Wedding Crashers, Batman Begins, Seabiscuit, Spider Man, Oceans Eleven, Terminator 3, Dodgeball, Collateral, Good Will Hunting, As Good As It Gets, Jerry Maguire, Children of a Lesser God, Mission Impossible, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Forrest Gump, The Silence of the Lambs, Platoon, Dirty Dancing, Working Girl, Top Gun, Rain Man, Erin Brockovich, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. These placements ripple into theaters all over the world, and then onto television, where they promote alcohol brands even in markets with restrictions on broadcast advertising of alcohol. Product placement has also become common in popular music, particularly rap and hip-hop. A recent study of alcohol mentions in rap music found that from 1979 to 1997 such references increased five-fold, with a particular increase in appearances of liquor and champagne brands after 1994. From 1994 to 1997, 71% of the rap songs that mentioned alcohol in this study’s sample named a specific alcohol brand (Herd, 2005). Content analysis of 1,000 of the most popular songs from 1996 and 1997 revealed that this phenomenon is far more pronounced in rap music (47% of rap songs in the sample studied had alcohol references) than in country-western (13%), top 40 (12%), alternative rock (10%) or heavy metal (4%) (Roberts, 1999). These mentions were not always paid placements, but some certainly were according to news reports (Campbell, 2006). In Africa, Diageo went one step further than product placement in films. In 1999, the company introduced a fictional spokesman, Michael Power, for its Guinness Stout brand. Power appeared in billboards and in a series of mini-adventures on radio and television, culminating in a starring role in a full-length feature film, Critical Assignment, which Diageo offered for free throughout the continent, spending $42. 4 million on the brand in 2003 alone. The company’s commercial director for Africa credited this campaign with increasing sales of Guinness in Africa by 10% in 2003, five times the 69 increase the brand enjoyed worldwide that year (Jernigan & Obot, 2006). Mobile phones are a new frontier for alcohol marketing. Market research firms estimate that by 2010, spending on mobile phone advertising and marketing will total â‚ ¬700 million in Europe and $1. 3 billion in the United States (Pfanner, 2006). According to Advertising Age, 81% of 18 to 21 year-olds, 68% of 16 to 17 year-olds, and 49% of 13 to 15 year-olds in the United States have cell phones, with the latter group the most likely to use their phones to participate in TV or radio polls, purchase ringtones, play games, and send text messages. Despite these statistics, Anheuser-Busch recently announced its intention to broadcast 18 ads per hour in programming from ESPN, Fox, ABC, and MSNBC distributed over MobiTV’s 30 channels of programming for cell phone users (Mullman, 2006). For years, in the United States Anheuser-Busch has run its own sports programming production unit, filming sporting events that feature the company’s logo prominently for broadcast on commercial outlets such as ESPN (Buchanan & Lev, 1989). In August 2006, the company announced the establishment of its own entertainment programming production unit to produce humorous shorts and sitcom-type programs. The company announced a new distribution channel for this programming in September 2006, â€Å"BudTV,† a new on-line entertainment network that would carry at least six types of programming, including comedy, reality, sports, and talk. According to company vice president Anthony T. Ponturo, going forward â€Å"the Internet will be equal to or better than television,† particularly in reaching the company’s target audience of males 21 to 34 (Elliott, 2006). The company announced it would double its annual spending on Internet advertising, to an estimated $90 million. Alcohol marketing on the web easily transcends national boundaries (and regulations). Research in the U. S. has found 70 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING large numbers of underage persons making in-depth visits (i. e. , visits beyond the age verification screens at the front end of many alcohol Web sites) to branded alcohol Web sites (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2004). According to a survey of alcohol Web sites in 2003, the sites were filled with â€Å"sticky content† that may be attractive in particular to youth: video games, downloadable audio and video files and screensavers, make-your-own-music-video features, opportunities to create an online avatar and interact with others, practical joke postcards, and humorous customizable e-mail features that have the advantage of turning users into marketers, engaging in â€Å"viral† marketing that makes them inadvertent promoters of the brand to their friends by sending branded ecards and the like. Evidence of the effects of this marketing on youth When the U. S. Federal Trade Commission looked at the issue of alcohol advertising and youth in 1999, it concluded that â€Å"while many factors may influence an underage person’s drinking decisions, including among other things parents, peers and media, there is reason to believe that advertising also plays a role† (Federal Trade Commission, 1999). In 2000, a special report to the U. S. Congress on alcohol decried the lack of longitudinal studies assessing the effects of alcohol advertising on young people’s drinking behavior, and concluded that, â€Å"survey studies provide some evidence that alcohol advertising may influence drinking beliefs and behaviors among children and adolescents. This evidence, however, is far from conclusive† (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). The intervening years, however, have witnessed an outpouring of new studies, looking particularly at alcohol advertising’s impact on youth. The most recent systematic review identified 13 longitudinal studies published in peer-reviewed literature, following up a total of more than 38,000 young people. The 71 review concluded that these studies consistently suggest that exposure to media and commercial communications about alcohol is associated with a greater likelihood that adolescents will initiate alcohol consumption, or drink more if they are already drinking at baseline (Anderson, De Bruijn, Angus, Gordon, & Hastings, 2009). Beyond documenting youth exposure to alcohol marketing (described above) and quantifying the effects of that exposure (this literature has been systematically reviewed three times in recent years—see Hastings, Anderson, Cooke, & Gordon, 2005; Smith & Foxcroft, 2007; Anderson et al. , 2009), researchers have also sought to develop interpretive models to explain the effects of alcohol marketing on young people, to assess whether alcohol advertising targets young people, and to quantify the effectiveness of regulatory restrictions on marketing and other countermeasures. The following sections will review developments since 2004 in each of these three categories. Interpretive If alcohol advertising affects young people’s decision making models regarding alcohol use, how does this occur? Early work on alcohol advertising and youth tended to rest on a simple theoretical basis: Exposure to alcohol advertising influences youth drinking behavior. However, more recent studies have pointed to the importance of alcohol advertising in shaping youth attitudes, perceptions and, particularly, expectancies about alcohol use, which then influence youth decisions to drink. Thus, in addition to measuring exposure and drinking behavior, researchers have increasingly included measures of attitudes and expectancies about alcohol use, integrating these variables into media effects models. For example, the Message Interpretation Process (MIP) model posits that children process media messages using a combination of logic and emotion or wishful thinking, and that the latter may override the former, a viewpoint consistent with the neurobiological evidence described above. In the case of alcohol advertising, the MIP model has been shown in cross-sectional research to suggest a cognitive progression from liking of alcohol ads (an 72 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING affective response associated with the desirability of portrayals in the ads and a resulting identification with characters in the ads) to positive expectancies about alcohol use, to intentions to drink or actual drinking among young people (Austin & Knaus, 2000; Austin, Pinkleton, & Fujioka, 2000). What young people appear to like in alcohol advertising is elements of humor and story, with somewhat less appreciation of music, animal characters, and people characters. Liking of these elements significantly contributed the overall likeability of specific advertisements, and then to greater likelihood of intent to purchase the product and brand advertised (Chen, Grube, Benjamin, & Keefe, 2005 ). The same study also found that young people are not interested in alcohol advertising stressing product attributes or discouraging underage drinking, and exposure to these was associated with less desire to purchase the product. Testing of the MIP model on cohorts of young people (defined as ages 15 to 20) and young adults (ages 21 to 29) provided further evidence of the validity of this model for describing youth decision-making processes. While exposure to alcohol advertising shaped attitudes and perceptions about alcohol use among both cohorts, these attitudes and perceptions predicted only the young people’s positive expectancies about alcohol and intentions to drink, but did not affect the young adults’ expectancies and alcohol consumption (Fleming, Thorson, & Atkin, 2004). While improved specification of the model of how alcohol advertising may affect young people’s drinking has in turn strengthened the statistical relationships found in this body of research, the studies thus far have continued to be hindered by their cross-sectional designs, which render conjectures about causality more difficult than longitudinal surveys. The fourth group funded by the NIAAA to study alcohol advertising and youth is focused on this question of how young people’s interpretive processes might explain the influence of alcohol advertising on them. A cross-sectional analysis of the first 73 wave of data collection from the study confirmed that adolescents progressively internalize messages about alcohol, and that these messages affect their drinking behaviors. Subjects who watched more primetime television found portrayals of alcohol in alcohol advertising more desirable, and showed greater desire to emulate the persons in the ads. These were associated with more positive expectancies about alcohol use, which then positively predicted liking beer brands as well as alcohol use (Austin, Austin, & Grube, 2006). Early analysis of longitudinal data from the work of this research group has revealed a positive relationship between liking of alcohol ads at baseline and alcohol consumption over a follow-up period of three years, among a cohort of 9- to 16year-olds from nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. The effects of liking the ads were mediated through expectancies about alcohol use, as well as through normative effects of the exposure to alcohol advertising. Young people who liked alcohol advertising not only believed that positive consequences of drinking were more likely, but also were more likely to believe that their peers drank more frequently, and that their peers approved more of drinking. All these beliefs interacted to produce greater likelihood of drinking, or of intention to drink within the next year. Furthermore, the causal arrows all pointed in one direction—that is, positive expectancies about alcohol use did not predict greater liking of the alcohol ads, nor did assumptions about peer drinking or peer opinions of drinking (Chen & Grube 2004). While most alcohol advertising on television is for alcohol products, alcohol companies also place substantial amounts of what are dubbed â€Å"responsibility† ads, which may discourage drunk driving or underage drinking, or otherwise encourage people to use alcohol responsibly and in moderation. According to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, from 2001 to 2003 alcohol companies placed 21,461 such ads, compared with 761,347 product ads. Youth were substantially more likely to be exposed to product than to responsibility 74 GLOBAL ALCOHOL MARKETING ads: in 2003, they were 96 times more likely to see a product ad than an industry-funded ad about underage drinking, and 43 times more likely to see a product ad than an industry ad about drinking-driving (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2005a). A recent study attempted to assess the impact of these messages on young people, and concluded that the advertisements were examples of strategic ambiguity, defined as â€Å"the strategic and purposeful use of messages with high levels of abstraction to simultaneously accomplish multiple, and often conflicting, organizational goals† (Smith, Atkin, & Roznowski, 2006). More so with teens (age 16 to 18 in the study’s sample) than with young adults (age 19 to 22), young people drew diverse messages from the advertisements. In the context of little evidence that such advertising is effective in encouraging responsible drinking behavior (DeJong, Atkin, & Wallack 1992), the study found that young people’s evaluative responses about the brewers who placed the ads were predominantly favorable, while interpretations taken from the ads were mostly pro-drinking. Grube and Waiters (2005) recently reviewed the evidence on the content of alcohol messages in the mass media and their effects on drinking beliefs and behaviors among youth. They begin by pointing to the largely positive message environment about alcohol that exists in the mass media outside of paid advertising, including television programming, film, popular music and music videos, Internet content (as opposed to paid Internet advertising, and including alcohol company Web sites), and magazine content. The impact of this content on young people’s drinking behavior has mostly gone unexamined in the scientific research literature. Their review of the evidence regarding alcohol advertising’s effects concludes that â€Å"survey research studies on alcohol advertising and young people consistently indicate that there are small, but significant, correlations between awareness of and liking of alcohol advertising and drinking beliefs and behaviors among young people† (Grube & Waiters, 2005). 75. Whether alcohol advertising targets young people Even if there is a relationship—which longitudinal research studies suggest may be causal—between youth exposure to alcohol advertising and youth drinking behaviors, is the level of youth exposure to alcohol advertising in the mass media the result of intentional targeting, or simply incidental to the alcohol industry’s efforts to reach its principal target (usually identified in the United States as young adults age 21-34 [Theodore, 2001; Riell, 2002])? In 2003, an article appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association alleging that magazine advertising by beer and liquor companies is associated with adolescent readership (Garfield, Chung, & Rathouz, 2003). Based on a census of the alcohol advertising in 35 major U. S.magazines appearing from 1997 to 2001, the study used market research data to estimate adolescent (ages 12 to 19), young adult (ages 20 to 24) and older adult (ages 25 and above) readers of those magazines, and found that, after adjusting for magazine characteristics, every additional million adolescent readers predicted a 60% increase in the rate of beer or distilled spirits advertising appearing in the magazine.

Humanities Today †Define humanities and give current examples Essay

The Encyclopedia Britannica (2006) defines the humanities as â€Å"Branches of knowledge that investigate human beings, their culture, and their self-expression. † (Humanities). Those branches of knowledge include philosophy, literature, languages, the arts, religion and history. The humanities examine the human condition by studying the elements of culture that describe what is or was valued and considered important at a particular point in time. 15th century Italian humanists referred to the humanities as studia humanitas which means the studies of humanity, indicating â€Å"secular literary and scholarly activities (in grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, moral philosophy, and ancient Greek and Latin studies)† that that they thought to be more humane and classical rather than divine (Humanities, 2006). In contrast, the physical sciences tend to examine the world and its phenomena objectively, without reference to or consideration of human meaning and purpose, a key aspect of the humanities. Scholars further argue that the humanities are distinguished from other modes of study by either their subject mater and by the method of investigation used. One philosopher called the humanities â€Å"the spiritual sciences† and â€Å"the human sciences† (Humanities, 2006). He described them as â€Å"areas of knowledge† outside of the physical sciences. On the other hand, another turn-of-the-century philosopher instead characterized the humanities according to their method of study. He argued that the humanities do not seek or follow general laws, as the sciences do; and that they focus on values within human and cultural contexts, which is directly contrary to scientific methodologies. As described above, the humanities seek to understand the values of a people and their perceptions based on their direct expression through the arts, their language, and philosophies. Science is motivated by the desire to understand natural phenomena and dependent on empirical observation (Talk: Humanities, 2006). The 21st century brings a variety of social, economic, and technological changes. Following is a demonstration of the humanities in the 21st century through the examination of its art, music, architecture, philosophy, and literature. Art Is modern art in crisis? A new philosophical criticism emerged in the person of American critic Arthur Danto, who came out with the idea that â€Å"the objects [of art] approach zero as their theory approaches infinity†Ã¢â‚¬â€œthat is, â€Å"art really is over, having become transmuted into philosophy† (Art Criticism, 2006). In his book The End of Art, author Donald Kuspit (2005) suggests that, â€Å"Art has been replaced by postart, [†¦ ] as a new visual category that elevates the banal over the enigmatic, the scatological over the sacred, cleverness over creativity. † Contemporary art, or art that is done now, is largely characterized by its indefinability. It tends to include art made from the late 1960s to the present, or after the supposed or putative end of modern art or the Modernist period (Contemporary Art, 2006). Today’s art, like most of the humanities, has been transformed by technological, economical, and sociological advancements. It may or may not use traditional forms such as painting or drawing, and often includes the use of any variety of materials, video, or even performance as a part of it. One trend seems to be a focus on world issues such as cloning, the price of oil, gender and sexuality, human rights, and war. A representative example is one of the most talked-about sales in the contemporary market. Maurizio Cattelan’s The Ballad of Trotsky (1996), a stuffed horse hanging in a leather sling from the ceiling, sold for $2,080,000 in 2005 (Art and Exhibitions, 2006). Music Contemporary music has also been greatly influenced by 21st century globalism. It has seen a development and acceptance of world music, or music that features or originates in a different culture. American artists such as Paul Simon and Sting featured musicians and singers from other countries and went on to win Grammy’s and American Music Awards. Simon’s Grammy Award-winning album Graceland (1986) featured black South African Musicians who controversially recorded and toured with him despite a widespread trade boycott of South Africa, selling more than five million copies since its release (World Music, 2006). Sting featured Farhat Bouallagui on his Brand New Day aIbum and Vicente Amigo and Anoushka Shankar on his Scared Love album. In the wake of their success, record stores became more willing to stock music of their kind. Architecture Critics have described one trend in 21st century architecture as â€Å"deconstructivist architecture†. In popular usage, the term has come to mean a critical dismantling of tradition and traditional modes of thought (Deconstruction, 2006). Technology has played a significant role in the development of deconstuctivist architectural methodologies. Architects such as Frank Gehry, who designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain used computer modeling to develop its angular, anthropomorphic exterior. Made mostly of titanium, the museum was designed to represent the industrial heritage of the city’s past. The museum was an international success and helped put Bilbao on the world’s cultural map. Philosophy – A notable philosophy of the 21st century is that of the democratic community. Community in this case is defined globally. Philosophers such as American John Dewey believed in social planning, in conscious intelligent intervention to produce desirable social change; and he proposed a new â€Å"guide to enlightened public action to promote the aims of a democratic community† (Philosophy, 2006). Dewey’s writings and teachings have brought modern society to a place where it considers that it is only as strong as its individual members and their willingness to work together to evolve and to meet the challenges facing it. Technological advancements in travel and communication alone have created a new world where anyone can send anything just about anywhere in a matter of minutes, days, or hours – including explosives and disease. In addition to diseases like HIV and the Bird Flu, this world community is faced with issues of severe weather such as killer tsunamis and hurricanes, and world terrorism. Modern philosophies like that of Dewey support the more pragmatic view and approach to solutions to societal issues of this type as the only way to successfully meet them is as a community. Literature Like many of the arts in contemporary society, literature is plagued by commercialism and by the desire for a quick paycheck. Contemporary literature features a great deal of writings about true events – the more sensational and graphic the better. In addition, it features a trend in crime study and investigation, beyond that of the mystery and private eye novels of the past. Today’s novels get into the science and methodology of solving violent crimes. Authors like James Patterson, Sue Grafton and John Grisham have enjoyed great popularity. Their success can be attributed to many things. The content and subject matter of these authors’ works feeds society’s desensitization to extreme violence and its increasing demand for subject matter that is more violent and more shocking in order to be more compelling. Further, several of these authors’ stories have been made into movies. The humanities are distinguished by their examination of the aspects of culture and the human condition through the eyes of the humans who experience and create them. The approach to their study differs from that of others areas of study, as does their focus on the reflection on human meaning and purpose. 21st century humanities continue to reinforce the idea that current culture and the human condition is reflected in them, no matter what century. References: Art Criticism. (2006). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved June 4, 2006, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Premium Service: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-236417 Art and Art Exhibitions. (2006). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved June 4, 2006, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Premium Service: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-234830 Contemporary Art. (2006). Retrieved June 3, 2006 from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Contemporary_art Deconstruction. (2006). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved June 4, 2006, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Premium Service: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-9029711 Humanities. (2006). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved June 3, 2006, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Premium Service: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-9041479 Kuspit, D. (2005). The End of Art. Cambridge University Press. Marcel Duchamp. (2006). Retrived June 3, 2006 from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Marcel_Duchamp Philosophy, History of. (2006). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved June 4, 2006, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Premium Service: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-8876 Talk: Humanities, (2006). Retrieved June 4, 2006 from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Talk:Humanities World Music. (2006). In Encyclop? dia Britannica. Retrieved June 4, 2006, from Encyclop? dia Britannica Premium Service: http://www. britannica. com/eb/article-93180.

Performance appraisal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Performance appraisal - Essay Example It was asserted that â€Å"among nursing leadership, the nurse manager role has been identified as critical in the provision of high-performing, effective and efficient care in the patient care delivery setting† (Chase, 2010, p. 2). In this regard, the current discourse hereby aims to discuss the role of the contemporary nurse manager in the provision of performance appraisal within one’s particular work context. As such, one has worked in the capacity of a staff nurse in the medical ward for last 10 years and one has been evaluated for the performance of duties and responsibilities on a regular basis. The paper would hereby present, in addition to the perceived role of the nurse manager in performance appraisal, the kind of performance appraisal system that is currently being implemented in one’s health care setting; the benefits and drawbacks of the system; as well as proposed ways to improve the performance appraisal system to benefit the nurses and the organi zation, as a whole. Perceived Roles of Staff Nurse and Nurse Managers in Health Care Setting The role and responsibilities of staff nurses in the medical ward are diverse and requires vast competencies in the application of theoretical frameworks in nursing care. The ability of nurse managers to undertake the required performance evaluation would necessitate comprehensive understanding of these key responsibilities as standards within which the assessment would be based. The standard key responsibilities of staff nurses in medical wards are shown in Table 1, below: Table 1: Key Responsibilities of Staff Nurses in Medical Wards Source: UPMC Beacon Hospital, 2012 Performance management is defined as â€Å"the process of assessing and addressing the difference between required performance and actual performance in the workplace† (Shaw & Blewett, 2013, p. 4). In one’s capacity as staff nurse, performance evaluation was noted to have been regularly conducted, as prescribed by the health institution, once a year. In conjunction with the roles and responsibilities of the nurse manager is the competency in six categories, as presented by the American Hospital Association (AHA), to wit: â€Å"management of clinical nursing practice and patient care delivery; management of human, fiscal, and other resources; development of personnel; compliance with regulatory and professional standards; strategic planning; and fostering interdisciplinary, collaborative relationships within a unit(s) or area(s) of responsibility and the institution as a whole† (AHA, 1992; cited in Chase, 2010, p. 6). The performance appraisal or evaluation falls within the management of human resources where nurse managers are expected to closely assess the ability of nursing staff in undertaking their respective tasks in the delivery of health care. Thus, with the clearly identified key responsibilities, performance evaluation is accurately undertaken by nurse managers following th e characteristics and principles for an effective approach (Drach-Zahavy & Dagan, 2002; Contino, 2004; Hudson, 2006). Characteristics and Principles for an Effective Performance Appraisal Approach Shaw & Blewett (2013) have identified principles to adhere to ensure that an effective performance appraisal system is undertaken within the health care environment. The following principles were explicitly noted: (1) it should be regular and timely; (2) the orientation or main objective is for improvement of performance; (3) conformity to

Information System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Information System - Essay Example Essentially, ICT ensures people are freed from restrictions of personification, leading to advanced solution. As a matter of fact, Information and Communications Technology levels the playing field. Nonetheless, the relationship between information technology and access is remarkable. As innovations become smaller, quicker and less expensive, technology becomes simpler to utilize and obtain. Nevertheless, the information and communications technology gap is not about accessing technology, but the deeper hidden implications of access. At the end of the day, the politics of IT is that access to IT is more than a divergence between of "haves" and the poor. For example, despite the fact that Information and Communication Technology is ordinarily associated with access and inclusion, modernization of technology can create isolation of individuals, making particular types of social segregation. Discrimination can happen in subtler ways. ICT, for example, benefits specific ways of living, which are founded in standardizing, societal, communal and monetary practices, further advanced in the structu re, production, showcasing and usage of technology. The internet, specifically, seems to offer the guarantee of free-streaming worlds where character, exemplification, and subjectivity can be designed and refashioned without restraint (Goggin and Newell, 2003). In online connections, the postmodern individual can decide to possess distinctive sexual orientations, racial foundations, and sexualities. Bodily properties, as well, can be deliberately made in online connections – permitting people to gain and, naturally, shed them. The postmodern Internet then gets to be all the more a decision than a fixed reality. Accordingly, information technology guarantees new realities where substantial confinements can be risen above, and new flexibilities discovered mostly for individuals with handicaps, who are viewed as exceptional recipients of technology (Goggin and

Historical Anagoly Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Historical Anagoly - Essay Example According to (A& E television,2001) â€Å"On September 11, 2001, at 8:45 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City†. The terrorist attack was carried out by the Al – Qaeda militant head Osama bin Laden and it gave rise to harsh rivalry between America and Islamic radical group. Since then the most mind boggling historical event was the killing of Osama bin Laden by American militants. The radical leader who swayed American government and security of the nation was killed in a remote Pakistani residence. The terrorist leader was killed and submerged in the sea by the American government and this was a pivotal achievement for the American government. The terrorist attack on World Trade Centre was a moment of threat, danger and insecurity for America but with the killing of Osama bin laden, the country gained the confidence and approval of i ts citizen. Fear of attack The America in its history has never undergone such an attack where the nation lost many of its citizen and right of freedom to act or survive in a peaceful environment. The country was living in fear as the reality was frightening where anytime one could face death or injury without short notice. The smell of death was everywhere, people were scared to step out of house or attend work. They believed and were alerted that any unknown baggage or suspicious man could be a radical element which could denote bomb or explosive. Frankly speaking, America was a safe country and every citizen had the right to live in a peaceful environment. However, with this attack, the country was the least secure nation as the radical elements seared to destroy the nation at any cost. At the same time, the Islamic militants were rejoicing at their success of mutilating America. They believed the culture and strategy of America were to destroy other nation and Islam as the only true religion should abolish Christianity and their cultural practice. The Al – Qaeda which was formulated by Osama bin Laden for the protection of Muslims under attack by America grew to be a large organization which had branches worldwide. They trained suicide bombers and convinced them to fight for the religion. The rigorous religious practice and training give way to September 11 attack which gave joy and success to Osama led Al Qaeda group. According to (Baldor,2013) â€Å"U.S. special operations forces who participated in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden were in uniform and wearing nametags during a CIA award ceremony attended by the writer of the film "Zero Dark Thirty," a Pentagon inspector general's report said Friday† The politics of the event Everybody knows that America as a powerful nation want all countries at their feet. The country had been enemy to many developing nation s as they ruled according to their will and wants their counterparts at their subjugation. The country had a major hand in attacking Afghanis along with Russia. The Osama bin laden has many times confessed that this union of America with Russia has sparked vengeance in him against America. He declared that the Saudi chose him to be a representative to fight against atheist America and Russia. It is a fact that Russians and America as westerners wanted to destroy the solidarity and unity of the growing

The Founding of the Caliphate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Founding of the Caliphate - Essay Example People’s right like social security, family structure, rights of women and children were tremendously improved in his time but his sudden death in 632 created disarray in the society (Ahmad 246–248). He never specified anyone as his successor who will rule the Muslim ummah after his death. Soon after his death, a debate started over the selection of the next leader among two groups of the regions, Al-Tabari and Ibn Hisham, however, these debates were not reaching to any implications. Background One of the Helper groups of Muhammad was Banu Sa’ida. It was a Jewish tribes from Medina who helped the Muslims when the emigrated from Makah to Medina. They were also included as the allies of Muslims in the constitution of Medina. But soon after Muhammad’s death the group gathered and decided to take the authority of Medina. They said that their tribe has precedence in religion and merit in Islam that no Arab tribe had and now is the time to take the authority bac k. They said that Allah has conferred merit on them and they were the ones who fought more heavily than any other for the glorification of Islam and Muhammad against his enemies in the Holy wars (Edmund). They were acclaiming that it was through their swords that people came near to Muhammad and Islam and now after His (PBUH) death, it is only their right to keep the authority for them and not for anyone else. On the other side, many of them were also thinking that emigrants of Quraish, the first companions of Muhammad who came with him to Medina, would refuse their authority. This news reached to Umar, the companion of Prophet who approached to Abu bakr with this news. Abu-Bakr was preparing for the burial of Muhammad’s body (PBUH) at that time and was in a state of shock. But Umer insisted his presence outside. He informed him that Helpers have gathered in the porch of Banu Sa’ida and willing to confer the authority to Sa’d Ibn Ubada. Abu-bakr joined Umer with his companions and sat in a meeting with Banu Sa’ida to resolve the issue of authority. Umar ibn al- Khattab wished to make a speech there but Abu Bakr asked him to let him speak first and afterwards he speaks whatever he wants to. Speech of Abu Bakr To settle the situation at that time and to avoid any kind of chaos in the state, Abu-bakr made a historical speech. He started his speech by praising Allah and said that Allah sent Prophet Muhammad to His creatures to lighten up their hearts and to show them the right path of worshiping Allah and Allah alone. He said that they were living in darkness and worshipping various gods and considering them as intercessors for them with God, though they were only made of stones and carved wood. In such situation it was a tremendous thing for the Arabs to abandon the religion of their forefathers and accept Islam as the true religion. He said that it was the Allah’s blessing that Emigrants (people of Makah) were the first HE sele cted for His religion. Allah showed them the right path with the guidance of Prophet Muhammad and they soon recognized the truth that Allah is the only one worth worshiping. Emigrants were few in numbers in the beginning, their tribes were against them but they never got afraid and stand stiff against all the enemies of Islam. Abu Bakr said that Emigrants are Prophet’s friends and among his clan and he believes that they are the best entitled of all the men to

Case reading 'Power as Domination' Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reading 'Power as Domination' - Case Study Example This essay aims to provide more insight on the communication practices that were employed by TWA to dominate Ozark airlines employees, during and after the acquisition of the airline back in 1986. Primarily it is imperative to acknowledge the fact that effective communication plays a significant role in ensuring that an acquisition accomplishes the expected results. Overtime, surveys have pointed towards the fact that organizations that have embraced effective communication in the course of and after acquiring other businesses have often realized their objectives and stayed in the market for a considerable duration. On the other hand, those that have failed to embrace effective communication have always ended up with failed ventures. Taking the TWA acquisition of Ozark airlines for example, there is no doubt that during the acquisition process, there was bad blood between Ozark and TWA employees, this resulted in tension and created an inefficient environment in which the employees could not bring the best out of themselves (Tamyra et.al 17-21). At the beginning of the venture, there was less employee satisfaction. Employee commitment was similarly lacking from the Ozark empl oyees and the perception of them staying with the organization for a considerable duration of time was similarly lacking. Nevertheless, the management of TWA did not despair, they came up with structures of power and embraced effective communication and these practices played a significant role in the acquisition being a success. To dominate Ozark airlines employees, the TWA management team resorted to being clear in the course of all their communications. This is to imply that they took into account the perspectives held by employees of Ozark airlines. This was achieved by reducing the technical terms in their communication, implying that they employed the use of

How are conjoined twins typically viewed by society According to Essay

How are conjoined twins typically viewed by society According to Dreger, how do reactions to conjoined twins relate to fears and anxieties about conjoined sexuality What does this seem to prove for Dreger - Essay Example Anatomical restrictions, such as being conjoined, influence assumptions of people on what is normal and perception of ability to live a meaningful and individual life (Dreger, 2). As expressed by one of the doctors who evaluated the possibility of separating conjoined twins, the separation was eminent and crucial for all conjoined twins â€Å"for the well-being of the social body† (Dreger, 24). Anatomical normalization dictates privilege, norms, standards, and rules to preserve order and protect those who are vulnerable; thus, society feels awkwardness when dealing with conjoined twins (Dreger, 2). Dreger stated that, â€Å"it is the recognition of this awkwardness, the recognition of how comfortable it can be to considered normal, how uncomfortable it can be to be considered abnormal, that motivates adults to want to surgically normalize children born with unusual anatomies† (Dreger, 5). Pity, the most prevalent reactions to conjoined twins, leads to actions that will not offend the conjoined twins. Based on the examples of Dreger, fears and anxieties about conjoined sexuality arise because people do not want to offend the less fortunate and vulnerable individuals (1). The perception and reaction of the society seem to prove to Dreger that anatomy matters a lot in building one’s identity in the society. Societal pressure arises, particularly to individuals with anatomical deformity (conjoined twins) because they are not viewed as normal and their anatomical conditions limits their political and social

Positioning Statement Essay Example for Free

Positioning Statement Essay â€Å"To busy, career oriented professionals who need convenient car services, Pate Car Service is a mobile car service company that specializes in servicing your vehicle at your place of employment or residence, giving you the ability to spend more time being productive at work or spending time with your family.† My target segments would be men and woman who work a full time job because they are extremely busy and would not have enough time to get their car serviced. Another segment would be to high end neighborhoods, because most people who can afford nice homes work a lot of hours. Often times those whom reside in high scale neighborhoods have two working adults in the household. This would mean they do not have a lot of time on their hands and would want to maximize their down time with their families. I would also target people who were making high salaries. People making high salaries are great at time management and would realize it is not cost effective to take time off work to get their car serviced. If someone could come to their place of employment and service their vehicle, it would be more practical. My value proposition would be more for more. I believe this would be good because of the target market. By targeting those individuals who have high salaries and work full time jobs, they would pay a little more money for the convenience. They would have the most need for a mobile car service company and could afford it.

Indian dance Essay Example for Free

Indian dance Essay Kathak is the one of eight forms of Indian classical dances perform by men and women, originated from northern indian, known as kathakars or storytellers. The styles of dance have its unique character from the rhythmic footwork with rhythms that he or she stomps out barefoot on the floor, accented with many bells worn around the ankles ( and from seeing the guest artist I can say there were more than 100 bells around her ankles making lots of noise to go with the beats of the drum), spectacular spins, and also every dance piece has a story behind it. A traditional kathak performance features a solo dancer on a stage, surrounded on all sides by the audience. The repertoire includes amad ,the dramatic entrance of the dancer on stage. Male dancers perform in Persian costume of wide skirts and round caps, while female dancers wear a traditional Indian garment called a sari. Back in the day women are the one who preserved this traditional dance more than the men. Kathak are typically performs by one dancer surrounded by a group of musicians. The solo dancer performs the parts of all the characters in the story. For example the guest artist were going back and forth rapidly from one of her dance piece between two characters. She did it without changing her positions on stage, changes in gestures and facial expressions signal instantly which character they take on at that moment. Before the guest artist started her dance so did a pronom giving thanks to all five elements or also known as the god, space, wind, fire, water and earth. Dance is on the earth, the eyes wherever the eyes are the mind, where the mind there are feelings. The way Antara gave thank to the god were a little different from what we normally did in class, with more steps and she also added some singing and harmony into the rituals. Based on what Antara told us, kathak is a very intimate dance where it is a three ways conversation, between dancers with musicians and dancers with the audience. The tempo for kathak consist of 16 beats. Dancers sometime precise the beats while dancing. With kathak you can play with the rhythms, there is no set rhythms. Kathak consisted of a lot of feet movement and with that the bells around Antara added a more prominent movements. Even though the focused on her foot because of all the bells, we can still see that shes using her upper body. The arms movement were very smooth and elegant, her eyes moved according to her hands gestures. Antara played the Theka which looked and sound like the accordion, along with singing and dancing. The Theka did not stop Antara from doing her incredible spins and keeping the tempo while doing all these things at once. Stomping her foot very fast and loud on the floor seems to be away for her to keep her tempo. Even when she was stomping her foot her hands and head was still doing a lot of movement to help tell the story. During her performance she uses a lot of phrases in Indian and it was hard for me to understand or catch what she was saying. But she later on explained that it is just like how we counts beats in america instead of using numbers, in Indian dance they used the language of the drums. Her right foot always ended in the front to help her keep up with the beat and also so that her body can face the audience and interacted with them. Her dance move was not all fast but it was very precise and very professional. Antara dances very elegant and somehow I can see her personality throw the way she moved the way she carry herself on all the dance pieces. She is a great dancer and a great guest artist for the style, she makes me want to learn more about the style and actually go see her performance in San Francisco.

The goals of corporations in maximizing shareholder value

The goals of corporations in maximizing shareholder value The goal of any corporation, excluding non-profit corporation is to maximize its shareholders value .Athough maximization the shareholder value is very important but the manager should not ignore social responsibilities such as protecting consumers, paying fair wages, maintaining fair hiring practices and safe working conditions, supporting education and becoming activelt involved in environmental issues like clean air and water. Because social responsibility creates certain problems for the firm , it falls unevenly on different corporations and sometimes conflicts with the objective of wealth maximization. The objective of the firm is to maximize its value to its shareholders, Any firm in this society have the same tendencies to acquire a successful business, attaining this success through mission statements, goals and objectives is simultaneous through all business. The standard neo-classical assumption is that a business strives to maximize profit , expect to increase revenues more than costs, it means that maximizing in earning per share.The managers are suppose to make money, profit. Therefore, they should make the firm as profitable as they can, they want a high return on investment. Shareholder wealth as the main objective of the firm. The main objective of the management is to maximize profits by maximizing profits at the cost of customer and minimizing cost. Maximizing shareholder wealth and maximizing profit go hand in hand. Both theoretical and empirical literature support the assertion that manager should focus on shareholder wealth maximization. The firm shareholders are the residual claimants and therefore maximizing shareholder return usually implies that firms must also satisfy customers, employees, suppliers, creditors, tax authorities and other stakeholders first. If firms did not operate with the goal of shareholder wealth maximization in mind, shareholders would have little incentive to accept the risk necessary for a business to thrive.Managers with a primary goal of shareholder wealth maximization have impersonal, objective, and accurate information available to make successful decisions for the long-term of the company. Social responsibility creates certain problems for the firm. One is that it falls unevenly on different corporations, another is that it sometimes conflicts with the objective of wealth maximization. Corporate governance is a term that refers broadly to the rules, processes, or laws by which businesses are operated, regulated, and controlled. The term can refer to internal factors defined by the officers, stockholders or constitution of a corporation, as well as to external forces such as consumer groups, clients, and government regulations. The company can not create shareholder value if they ignore important constitiences, they must have good relationship with customers, employees, suppliers, government and so on. This is a form of corporate social responsibility, within an overall framework of shareholder wealth maximization. Kotler and Lee (2005: 10-11) report that there are many benefits to being a socially responsible firm. These include: increased sales and market share, strengthened brand positioning, enhanced corporate image and clout, increased ability to attract, motivate, and retain employees, decreased operating costs, and increased appeal to investors and financial analysts. Pava (2003: 62) provides a reason that many firms do not act in a socially responsible manner. Many executives believe that there must be a trade-off between profits and social responsibility: An activity is either socially responsible or profitable, but it cannot be both. Pava, an accountant, whose research compared socially responsible firms with those that were not, came to the following conclusion (Pava, 2003: 62): Much to my surprise, we were unable to uncover any cost of social responsibility. In fact, the evidence suggested that there might even be a financial advantage for the companies carrying out these projects. Knowing about corporate social responsibility is one way to incorporate how and why a firm should do the right thing into the business curriculum. Kotler, Philip and Lee, N. (2005). Corporate social responsibility: Doing the most good for your company and cause. New York: John Wiley Sons, Inc. Pava, Moses L. (2003). Leading with meaning: Using covenantal leadership to build a better organization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Our aim is to build a sustainable business through consistent, profitable growth and to ensure that our customers and wider stakeholders can always trust us to do the right thing, the right way. as a business owner, you have to make a choice: you can either make money, or you can do good. you can both make money and do good. Benefit Corporations, commonly known as B Corps, are a new type of corporation. Unlike the traditional corporation that gives priority only to financial profitability, B Corps actually use the power of business to address social and environmental problems. How do they do this? Among other things, they institutionalize stakeholder interests. Instead of taking the shareholder as the primary person to which they are responsible, B Corps give primary consideration to the stakeholder. This is a very important distinction. A shareholder, as we know, is someone who owns shares in a company; a stakeholder, by contrast, is someone who has a stake in the company, regardless of whether he/she actually own shares. Who can have a stake in the company? Anyone who is affected by the actions of that company, such as employees, members of the local community in which the business operates, or members of the community in which the business has an environmental impact. A traditional C Corporation will focus on increasing shareholder profits, often without regard to how that affects other stakeholders. This is why corporations sometimes do not pay living wages or provide inadequate health benefits because those are costs that, if saved, can provide profit for shareholders. B Corps, however, are committing to taking social and environmental interests into account when making decisions. By becoming a B Corporation, you will ensure that your own business meets high standards, join a community of like-minded businesses, and support a larger movement towards sustainable business. Commit to stakeholder interests in your business. Prior to becoming certified by B Lab, you may be able to include your commitment to consideration of stakeholder interests into your legal organizing documents if you are an LLC, which is what I did for Cultivating Capital. However, be sure consult with an attorney about this, preferably one who is familiar with B Corps. The Katovitch Law Firm explains more about the legal implications of being a B Corp on their blog. Identify areas in which you can improve. Even if you do not get certified right away, the Impact Assessment is a tool that you can use to identify areas for improvement in your business. To get started with the Impact Assessment, visit the B Corp website. Support other B Corps. Every dollar that you spend, for yourself or your business, is a vote for either an economy in which businesses can make money at the expense of people and the environment, or one in which businesses can make money in support of people and the environment. Supporting businesses with a social and environmental mission will also help to green your own supply chain. Managers should always strive to act in the best interest of the firms owners. This view does not cause managers to ignore non-owner stakeholders; indeed, when taking actions that benefit stakeholders also benefit owners, the separation perspective would advise managers to do so. One facet that differentiates this perspective from the others, however, is the rationale behind such decisions; the reason managers make decisions and take actions benefiting non-owner stakeholders is ultimately to reward owners. Clearly, problems arise when a given decision would maximize the benefit to non-owners at the expense of owners, but that would serve the greater good of society in general. managers have come to view non-owner stakeholders as essential to firms success, not only in financial terms, but also in societal terms (Rodgers and Gago, 2004). However, this has not eliminated managerial decisions that are overly concerned with financial performance at the expense of other stakeholder interests. The collapse of Enron and WorldCom early in the twenty-first century, charges of accounting fraud against firms such as Tyco and Time Warner, Medicare fraud by HealthSouth and United Healthcare illustrate that despite the apparent logic of an integrated perspective of stakeholder management, some managers still hold to the separation perspective. As shareholders of these and other firms have seen, however, is that sole regard to financial results is not always in the best interests of these shareholders. Those holding Enron and WorldCom stock, even those who knew nothing about illegal activities by the firms top management, quickly came to realize that excluding non-owner stakeholders is not necessarily consistent with maximizing shareholder wealth. In fact, excluding non-owner stakeholders can inadvertently bring more pressure on managers when non-stakeholder interests are not respected. The focus of the ethical perspective is the firms responsibility to stakeholders from a normative view; that is, the ethically correct action should supercede actions based solely on self-interest, thus making managerial decisions and actions that impact stake-holders based on universal standards of right and wrong the rule that managers should follow. This standpoint, though, suffers from shortcoming stemming from different standards of right and wrong. When right and wrong are apparent, decisions are easy, but management challenges are rarely so clear. Simply suggesting that managers do the right thing ignores conflicts of interest inherent in capitalistic competition, and doing the right thing can result in compromises that are not in the best interests of any of the stakeholders, but rather a way to satisfice or make decisions and take actions that are good enough, but not optimal. The ethical view of stakeholders can result in managers overemphasizing the greater good to the poi nt that they ignore the reality of self-interest, particularly as it pertains to maximize shareholder wealth. Integrating the broad categorizations of separation and ethics allows room for both self-interest of owners and corporate responsibility to non-owner stakeholders. An integrated perspective of stakeholders positions the self-interests of managers as a key driver of economic growth, but tempers this with social responsibility toward non-owner stakeholders. Conclusion :It is overly simplistic to suggest that managers should just do the right thing in all situations, because the right thing to do is not always clear. On the other hand, acting solely in the financial interests of shareholders can result in unintended consequences that ultimately cause shareholders harm. Integrating multiple perspectives allows room for managers to balance the interests of multiple stakeholders. Such stakeholder perspectives allow for competing dimensions, thus provide a framework to help managers harmonize the interests of multiple parties. Refer: History of State-Run Enterprises Teach Us in the Post-Enron Era? Journal of Business Ethics 53, no. 3 (2004): 247-266. Crane, Andrew, Dirk Matten, and Jeremy Moon. Stakeholders as Citizens? Rethinking Rights, Participation, and Democracy. Journal of Business Ethics 53, no. 1-2 (2004): 107-123. Heath, J., and W. Norman. Stakeholder Theory, Corporate Governance and Public Management: What Can the History of State-Run Enterprises Teach Us in the Post-Enron Era? Journal of Business Ethics 53, no. 3 (2004): 247-266 Lea, D. The Imperfect Nature of Corporate Social Responsibilities to Stakeholders. Business Ethics Quarterly 14, no. 2 (2004): 201-218. Rodgers, W., and S. Gago. Stakeholder Influence on Corporate Strategies Over Time. Journal of Business Ethics 52, no. 4 (2004): 349-364. Bingham: Not only is maximizing shareholder wealth consistent with ethical behavior, but maximizing wealth for shareholders in the long-term is only possible by behaving ethically. Unethical behavior is bad business. It incurs costs and damages a companys reputation. Both affect the bottom line. Shareholders demand ethical behavior for a basic financial reason, namely that they bear the costs of environmental cleanups, lawsuits, fines, and product recalls. For instance, the clean up of Prince William Sound in Alaska, following the Exxon Valdez spill, cost the shareholders of Exxon over $2 billion. Likewise, General Electrics shareholders paid a $69 million fine in 1992 after the company pleaded guilty to submitting fraudulent government contracts. Unethical behavior, by sullying a companys reputation, also affects future business. When Beech-Nut admitted that it had sold adulterated apple juice, not only did shareholders foot the cost of the numerous lawsuits, but they also saw their companys market share drop three percent in the year following the scandal. A recent example shows how shareholders suffer from unethical practices. In the summer of 1992, the California Department of Consumer Affairs conducted a number of undercover investigations at the auto repair stores of Sears, Roebuck Co. They found systematic overcharging, and regular performance of unnecessary repairs. A similar operation in New Jersey reached the same conclusions. California consumer regulators demanded the closure of all 72 Sears auto stores in the state. If the closure occurred, Sears would lose $200 million in annual revenue, and 3,000 employees would lose their jobs. Sears settled the New Jersey accusations with a payment of $200,000 to a fund set up to study auto malpractice nationwide. At least a dozen class-action suits relating to the fraud were filed. The scandal also deeply affected Searss reputation at a time when it needed all the goodwill it could get. The Auto Stores, one of Searss most profitable operations, saw a 15% decline in business in wake of the scandal. This shows how unethical behavior is deeply damaging to shareholder wealth. Maximizing such wealth is only possible when a company acts as a resolutely ethical corporate citizen. Management do their shareholders good by doing right. The argument that maximizing shareholder wealth is inconsistent with ethical behavior goes like this: shareholders are inherently short-termist, they are more interested in a companys performance over a quarter, than over a decade. The result is that managers cut corners and break rules to avoid charges to quarterly earnings. This argument is false. Americas shareholders today are mostly giant institutions pension funds, insurance companies, trusts and endowments whose view is long-term. They do not attempt to beat the market by short-term trading because increasingly, they are the market. For example, the average holding period of U.S. equities by the largest public pension funds, the California Public Employees Retirement System, is eight years. For them, the long-term health of a corporation is critical, and that means conforming to a high standard of ethical behavior. Rosenbaum: Your first question cannot be answered yes or no without a better understanding of the terms used. If by ethical behavior you mean not lying, cheating or stealing, the answer is clearly yes. But if you mean ethical behavior in the broader sense of not intruding on the interests of any other stakeholder, as I am assuming you have in mind, the question poses one of the principal issues of the 1980s. I believe most shareholders today would try to answer this question in the affirmative, but to do so requires some additional qualifications. If we exclude short-term maximization of shareholder wealth, and focus only on the long-term interests of the corporation, on the premise that shareholder wealth will increase accordingly over time, there is no necessary inconsistency between that objective and ethical behavior broadly understood. As courts and ethicists have understood for some time, socially responsible corporate behavior is usually in the long-term interests of the corporation and therefore of its shareholders, such as by generating goodwill among those interest groups on whom the corporation depends for its prosperity in the long run. If you unduly pollute the air in the town where your widget factory is based, for example, you will ultimately encourage new laws which might shut the factory down. When we talk of financial ethics, we seem to be talking about two different types of considerations, which are quite different. First, we are talking about societal considerations, such as environmental concerns and balancing the interests of the corporation against those of stakeholders. Second, we are talking about preventing conduct which is either a violation of law or is sufficiently close to the line of illegality that the corporation has determined not to take a risk of violation, particularly without careful consideration at senior levels. I would like to address myself for the moment to the second of these two concerns. When speaking about ethics issues of this type, the role of ethical principles is essentially to supplement and reinforce legal strictures. In these highly competitive days, when corporations are under enormous pressure from shareholders to produce financial results, financial executives face substantial temptations to take measures which, for example, might make their corporation or division appear more profitable than it is. Most executives are strong enough to resist these temptations. A senior manager in a publicly traded corporation, on the other hand, is separated from the pleasure and pain of owning the entire equity funded portion of the firm and it is not their own money at risk. They are typically employed via a contract which specifies remuneration and responsibilities, but they do not personally bear the entire financial consequences of decisions made. As shareholders, we ask the Board of Directors and the senior management to act in our own selfish interest as equity holders. We structure the contracts in a manner we hope will be sufficient to both reward them for outstanding decision making and we reserve the right to remove them when things are not performing up to expectations. Like everyone, management is self interest motivated and can easily forget or ignore shareholder interests in hopes of personal gain. The business news of the past 3-5 years has been full of such events including Enron, Tyco, World Com and others. It is unlikely that any former shareholder or employee of Enron would view the senior management as acting in an appropriate manner as an agent working on their behalf! In the short run, share prices were higher and wealth was increased, but the longer term consequences were devastating to any investor who was not sufficiently diversified to avoid the full brunt of the collapse.

Sophocles Oedipus the King and Cocteaus The Infernal Machine Essay

Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine   Ã‚  Ã‚   Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine relate the same story, yet from quite different angles. Sophocles' play is written in heightened language and spends 1,530 lines on an hour of time. On the other hand, Cocteau's characters speak colloquially, and his 96 pages cover 17 years, putting much more emphasis on the events prior to where Sophocles begins his play. Sophocles and Cocteau present Oedipus' character in different lights, and through these characters express contrary themes. Sophocles' proud yet wise Oedipus reveals that a human's future is determined by his actions, while Cocteau's haughty yet immature Oedipus suggests that mortals' fates are completely predetermined by the gods. In both plays Oedipus appears to have extreme pride; while Sophocles' clever Oedipus has reason for his pride, Cocteau's foolish Oedipus is arrogant without cause. Sophocles' Oedipus solves "the (sphinx's) riddle by (his) wit alone."(Soph .O.T. 397) The Sphinx sits on the road to Thebes and kills anyone who can not answer her riddle until Oedipus appears, solves the riddle, and saves Thebes. It is at this point that he becomes King of Thebes and rules his people well. He does not know that he has killed his father, the former king, and married his mother. When his presence in Thebes causes a plague to strike the city, he sincerely seeks out the cure for his city's plight. <block quote>I know you are all sick, yet there is not one of you, sick though you are, that is as sick as I myself. Your several sorrows each have single scope and touch but one of you. My spirit groans for city and myself and you at once. You have not roused m... ...sary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. Cocteau, Jean. (1963). The Infernal Machine and other plays. (Bermel, Albert.). New York: New Directions. Ehrenberg, Victor. â€Å"Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.† In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Jaeger, Werner. â€Å"Sophocles’ Mastery of Character Development.† In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997. Sophocles. (1991). Sophocles I: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone (Grene, David.). Chicago: University of Chicago.   Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi       Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine Essay Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine   Ã‚  Ã‚   Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Cocteau's The Infernal Machine relate the same story, yet from quite different angles. Sophocles' play is written in heightened language and spends 1,530 lines on an hour of time. On the other hand, Cocteau's characters speak colloquially, and his 96 pages cover 17 years, putting much more emphasis on the events prior to where Sophocles begins his play. Sophocles and Cocteau present Oedipus' character in different lights, and through these characters express contrary themes. Sophocles' proud yet wise Oedipus reveals that a human's future is determined by his actions, while Cocteau's haughty yet immature Oedipus suggests that mortals' fates are completely predetermined by the gods. In both plays Oedipus appears to have extreme pride; while Sophocles' clever Oedipus has reason for his pride, Cocteau's foolish Oedipus is arrogant without cause. Sophocles' Oedipus solves "the (sphinx's) riddle by (his) wit alone."(Soph .O.T. 397) The Sphinx sits on the road to Thebes and kills anyone who can not answer her riddle until Oedipus appears, solves the riddle, and saves Thebes. It is at this point that he becomes King of Thebes and rules his people well. He does not know that he has killed his father, the former king, and married his mother. When his presence in Thebes causes a plague to strike the city, he sincerely seeks out the cure for his city's plight. <block quote>I know you are all sick, yet there is not one of you, sick though you are, that is as sick as I myself. Your several sorrows each have single scope and touch but one of you. My spirit groans for city and myself and you at once. You have not roused m... ...sary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. Cocteau, Jean. (1963). The Infernal Machine and other plays. (Bermel, Albert.). New York: New Directions. Ehrenberg, Victor. â€Å"Sophoclean Rulers: Oedipus.† In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O’Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Jaeger, Werner. â€Å"Sophocles’ Mastery of Character Development.† In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1997. Sophocles. (1991). Sophocles I: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone (Grene, David.). Chicago: University of Chicago.   Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. no pag. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi      

Design Trends In Architecture Essay -- essays papers

Design Trends In Architecture The more things change, the more they stay the same. While art has always been an ever changing form, it has deep roots in traditionalism; whether an artist or designer looks at the art that came before him and is inspired to follow that form, is inspired to do something completely opposite, or sees the flaws which, if corrected, could make that work of art perfect, he is ultimately quite influenced by what came before him. Nowhere is this more evident than in the design styles found not only in art, but in architecture and interior design. The twentieth century has been a time of great innovation, and yet, very few eras have seen so many stylistic revivals. The popularity of these classical styles has often superceded that of the more experimental, modern ideas, reinforcing the idea that aesthetic beauty is absolutely timeless. The early 20th century saw a great deal of influence in terms of classical design. A classical revival had brought a return of emphasis on Palladian architectural motifs, which could be seen in large cities throughout the world, but especially in New York and Boston. In terms of interior design, Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman advocated a similar classical revival, which gave a sense of classical order to ornate interiors. (Severens, 85) Interior design at the turn of the century was very much concerned with aesthetics over simplicity, yet managed to maintain a sense of order and balance. Designers created interiors with a heavy reliance on French and Italian forms of furniture, floors, and panelling. This style, which was hugely successful, could be found in the work of interior designers over the next fifty years, and is the basis for much that is known as "traditional decorating" today. (Severens,88) One of the most successful revivals is the revival of the Gothic style, which is still quite apparent in architecture and interior design today. During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, England began to realize the importance of the Middle Ages. "The Gothic past offered an acceptable, if inferior, option for study by educated gentlemen; and Gothic began to be an acceptable alternative for country houses" (Girouard, 180). This was the Gothic Architecture Revival. As Gothic architecture became more popular, the style came up against stiff competition from Chinese architecture. In the en... ...: London. 1991. Keller,Diane. The American Modernists. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1998. Kidson, Peter. The Medieval World. McGraw-Hill Book Company: New York. 1967. Lane, Mills. Architecture of the Old South. Abbeville Press: New York. 1993. Loth, Calder and Julius Trousdale Sadler, Jr. The Only Proper Style: Gothic Architecture in America. New York Graphic Society: New York. 1975. Mahoney, Kathleen. Gothic Style: Architecture and Interiors from the Eighteenth Century to the Present. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.: New York. 1995. McDonald, Jane Anne. The Legacy Of William Morris. Rizzoli: New York, 1986. Newcomb, Rexford. Old Kentucky Architecture: Colonial, Federal, Greek Revival, and Gothic. Bonanza Books: New York. Robertson, John A. A Survey Of American Architecture After 1950. McGraw-Hill Book Company: New York, 1994. Rutman, Darrett B. The Morning of America, 1603-1789. Houghton Mifflin Company: Boston. 1970. Severens, Kenneth. Southern Architecture: 350 Years of Distinctive American Buildings. E.P. Dutton: New York. 1981. Wilson, Christopher. The Gothic Cathedral: The Architecture of the Great Church 1130-1530. Thames and Hudson: London. 1990.

Finding Forrester Film Review Essay

The film Finding Forrester was an interesting, eye-catching, attention grabbing and exciting movie. The writer Mike Rich did a great job of creating the plot to be funny and fast paced. The director of the film, Gus Van neatly directed the scenes characters to make the film more entertaining. Producers Sean Connery, Laurence Mark, and Rhonda Tollefson had made a great decision on investing what they could into this film which was released on December 19, 2000. Jamal Wallace is an inner city kid who is from Bronx, New York and is an exceptionally good basketball player, and is a genius at writing. Always as a C student and not being challenged at his old school because his school sees he is capable of more than what he does, but when he scores highly on his standardized tests, Jamal comes to the attention of the prestigious prep school in New York Manhattan to further his education and play in the school basketball team. One night, Jamal and his friends decided to break into somebodyà ¢â‚¬â„¢s house and steal a letter opener, but a man comes out and frightens Jamal away. Jamal later returns to the old man’s apartment to apologize and retrieved his backpack. Jamal then returns home to find out that the old man had read and written in his journal entrà ©es. When Jamal again returned to the apartment of the old man, he soon befriends the reclusive writer, William Forrester. The friendship leads to William to overcome his reclusiveness and for Jamal to overcome the racial prejudices and pursue his true dream. Forrester helps Jamal to improve and forward his writing, but Jamal’s English teacher does not believe that Jamal is capable writing so well and assumes that Jamal has been cheating. Enraged, Jamal copies some of what Forrester had once written, but he gets caught for plagiarism. In the end Jamal gets Mr. Forester out of his old apartment into the real world to read something that Jamal had written and also to say that he had given Jamal the right to take his ideas. There were many themes displayed throughout the film such as friendship, and overcoming, struggles and obstacles and finding real friends along the way. Bothe William Forrester and Jamal Wallace find friendship in an unlikely way because of their passion for reading and writing. Although they are different form each other, they are drawn together by similar interests. In the movie Finding Forrester, William Forrester would not have been able to confront his fears or reconnect with the world if not for his friendship with Jamal. For example, at one scene at the end of the movie, In Forrester’s Will, Jamal is given a package, keys to Forrester’s apartment, and a letter. In the letter, Forrester thanks Jamal for helping him revive his desire to live. Also the package had the manuscript for Forrester’s second novel, called Sunset, for Jamal to complete onward.] There were many film techniques that the filmmaker had used throughout the movie to explain the theme of friendship and overcoming obstacles and struggles. In addition, the filmmaker used the technique of point of view which is shown in the movie when the camera was trying to make us feel what it was like to see things from the person’s eyes. The setting was in New York City specifically in the Bronx. Shot Aerial was shown when Jamal and his friends were playing basketball; the filmmaker was showing the relationship between Jamal and his friends in the Bronx. A shot, Close-up was shown when Mr. Forrester was looking through the peep hole showing how hard it was for friendship to be form. Shot, slow motion was shown when Jamal’s basketball team was entering the gym for the game. Shot, tracking was used by the filmmaker when he showed the city at the beginning. Sound, Diegetic was show when the boys were at a party and music was playing in the background. Sound, Nondiegetic was shown when Jamal was talking about the girl who heard sounds. Light, back was shown when Jamal was at Mr. Forrester house and stands next to the window. Light, Source was shown in Mr. Forrester’s house there was a lamp in the background. Motif as shown in the film when Jamal starts using the typewriter that Mr. Forrester was using before and it’s significant because on that typewriter is where Jamal learned how to become a better writer. The filmmaker was successful in my eye because he truly captured every little moment Jamal and Mr. Forrester had while on their journey to success in finding a friend and overcoming struggles they face. The film was a well-made movie with great actors. The Film Finding Forrester was a great movie for young adults like to watch because it has a strong theme of how to overcome hurdles and struggles and making new friends along the way. If it was not for William Forrester taking in Jamal Wallace as his protà ©gà ©, Jamal would not be going to a really great school which challenges him and would not become the amazing writer he has become, most importantly made such a good friend like Mr. Forrester. In the movie the filmmaker incorporated the ten film techniques to show how Mr. Forrester and Jamal worked together to help each other out in overcoming obstacles and struggles.

Carbon Dioxide and Deforestation

Kayla Luther Module 4 Assignment 2 Course Project July 27, 2011 Outline : Deforestation Introduction: Deforestation is not something we can just look over. There are many things in our lives that we take pride in and protecting our forest is one of them. Our trees help our animals live, our crops grow, and our families survive. Thesis Statement: How do humans benefit from the trees? Arguments: I. Is deforestation the cause of climate change? A. The forest can provide many different products. 1. Consumers use these products everyday ? Cost of products increasing 2. Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere ? Most trees hold in the carbon dioxide . Changes in the ecosystem ? loss of trees mean higher risk of disasters. II. Rain forest are slowly vanishing B. â€Å"Slash and Burn† process. 1. Many farmers are following this process. ? new farmers and crops 2. loss of animals and species ? lose their homes and food 3. the rate of deforestation ? within 100 years all forest will be vanished III. Ecosystem vs. Deforestation C. The forest ecosystem benefits all humans. 1. Most places don’t have fresh water sources so the forest provides many resources. ? clean water 2. We takes trees for granted but what really is their purpose. ? Trees collect CO2 and release oxygen IV. Is pollution worse than deforestation? D. Flying in an airplane is better than cutting down trees. 1. The amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere ? One day of deforestation equals 8 million people flying 2. The amount of CO2 a tree holds. ? released into the atmosphere V. Is livestock and crops really that important? E. How can the livestock and crops live without tress? 1. Farmers should find clear land instead of clearing land. ? Trees provide food, shade, water, and oxygen for the livestock and crops. 2. New businesses and communities ? loss of trees VI. Where would the world be without trees? F. Is the world going to end because the lack of oxygen? 1. Natural Disasters are causing trees to be torn down. ? Tornadoes, hurricanes, and drought 2. Recycling will help reduce the amount of trees that have to be cut down ? use less packaging, paper, and plastic Conclusion: If we start thinking about our futures then we shouldn't have any problems in reducing the way we live now. Our planet needs our help by saving it and protecting what we have left. We all need to start by recycling, planting trees, and save what wildlife we have left. Even if we only help by ding one thing it is still considered helping. References: FAO. (2006). Scientific facts on forest retrieved on July 13, 2011 from http://www. greenfacts. org/en/forests/index. htm#2 Facing the Future (2011). Deforestation retrieved on July 27, 2011 from www. facingthefuture. org/servicelearning/fastfactsquickactions/deforestation/tabid/182/default National Geographic. (2011). Deforestation retrieved on July 13, 2011 from http://environment. nationalgeographic. com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview. html University of Michigan (n/d). Deforestation retrieved on July 13, 2011 from http://www. globalchange. umich. du/globalchange2/current/lectures/deforest/deforest. html Howden, D (2007). Deforestation: the Hidden Cause of Global Warming retrieved on July 13, 2011 from http://www. independent. co. uk/environment/climate-change/deforestation-the-hidden-cause-of-global-warming-448734. html Emulgator. org (2005-2008). Pros and Cons of Deforestation retrieved on July 13, 2011 from http://www. emulgator. org/Politics-and- Government/5715-The-Pros-And-Cons-of-Deforestation Deforestation ( 2008). Pros and Cons of Deforestation retrieved on July 13, 2011 from http://edu. udym. com/pros-and-cons-of-deforestation/