The Commercialism Of Television Essays - Television Advertisement

The Commercialism Of Television The Commercialism of Television To look into the mind of a television addict, we must look at the big picture? First we recognize the voluntary slavery that makes up the majority of modern life. A I see it, people get up early, put on work clothes, and ?work like machines for the rest of the day? getting no satisfaction from their repetitive day-jobs. Then come home around seven o'clock to their families who have already had dinner, and the kids already getting in bed. By that time there is almost no room left for quality family time or anything else to pursue that's worthwhile. Thus the person turns to the television for that instant dose of friendship and gratification that could not be found anywhere else during his or her day. Once the person gets comfy on the lazy-boy, he becomes quickly stimulated and amazed by the intense sound and picture of thirty frames per second, and suddenly forgets thinking about the real world. Notice how some people become extremely annoyed when you talk to them or distract them when they are watching a program, or even a commercial. And might even yell at you for walking in front of the TV. As the hours of straight zombie-like watching go by, the person slips further into the fantasy world of television, and with you breaking that link between them and the tube comes as a shock to them. Someone can be so engulfed that it becomes a regular part of his/her daily routine. As a result of a lot of watching TV, studies have shown that the heart rate, and blink rate have slowed down dramatically and muscular function decreased down to the snap of a finger on the remote or the lift of a drink. The stimulation of the picture and sound shift so rapidly that they must become completely relaxed to soak it all up. Television is like an addiction, and like any addictive substance a moral message lies behind it? The advertising and the programs are only they're to keep the viewer coming back for more. But there are even deeper morals to the story. The televisions main purpose is to distract from what you really want to be doing. Than around the second line of commercials you realize that you could be doing far better things than this, but before that thought gets to you, another flashy commercial pops up that literally says ?damnit stay in your seat, we've got more products to sell you?. And giving the viewer the sense that he/she cannot live without it. And this is where depression can kick in. In these messages there is the potential power to brainwash the viewer into thinking that television is the one and only answer to all the worlds problems, and soon the person will not want to accept the harsh reality of the real world. This becomes a mindset for many people who watch TV. Some will do their best to fight it, like turn the volume down or mute, but hell, never would they turn it off. Even the manufacturers cleverly hide the mute button on your remote. To the broadcasters and corporations, its all a damn game to them, to see whom can get more zombies to stick with their channel. After becoming over-fatigued from stimulation, they'll switch it off. And when they are face to face with real life, they don't understand it, and shrivel back into their corner to the TV, to the world that is so easily accepted. There is a huge difference between the world that we live in, and the fake propped world of television. On a person note; my father roommates with Andre, a forty-five year old minority who is extremely depressed, and has attempted suicide. Visiting my dad every week or so I notice that Andre always had the TV on, and continued sitting in his chair staring at every comedy channel for six hours, but I noticed he never laughed. I believe Andre has fallen deep into the TV world, and uses it as a tool to ignore and/or forget his problems in the real world. ?Odds have it that television only creates a mirage

Fun-Packed Thanksgiving on a Budget

Fun-Packed Thanksgiving on a Budget Are you staying on campus over Thanksgiving break? Whatever the reason, you dont have to feel like a misfit – just throw your own fun-packed â€Å"friendsgiving† party and invite everyone else whos not going home for the weekend. If money is an issue, you should know that having a bigger budget does not mean having more fun! In fact, the low-budget DIY atmosphere of it all might bring you closer together. If youre sneering, remember that this holiday is about being grateful for what you have. Invite Everyone You Know – and Dont Know If all the people you regularly hang out with are away, turn to social media! Use the Facebook group for your campus to find others who are staying at school for the holiday, and message them to see if theyre down to spend the evening with other â€Å"orphans†. Use that number to approximate how many people are coming, and, hey, maybe you can get away with hosting this thing at your dorm room. Whats Your Budget? If it turns out that more people are interested than you think you can accommodate, consider asking them for some money – not literally charging at the door, but a small donation, whatever they can, to help out with the cost of food and refreshments. Add that to the money youre putting up yourself, and you have your budget! Heres how you should distribute the money: 70% on food, drinks and all the paraphernalia like cups, paper plates and utensils. The rest is for entertainment purposes. Decide on the Menu Whats Thanksgiving without stuffing your face? If you have access to a proper kitchen, youre in luck and can plan to cook all the Thanksgiving staples youre used to having at home – mashed potatoes, turkey with cranberry sauce, and all the rest. Contact the other â€Å"orphans†, and see if theyd be able to volunteer to help you cook the food. If you dont have the resources to cook your own food, make use of your local supermarkets catering. Its going to be more expensive than cooking your own food, but you need to eat something, right? You also have the option of only buying the essentials on your own, and making the dinner a potluck affair. If youre going to throw a potluck, though, you might have to reconsider asking them for money in the first place – both is going to be a bit much. If potluck is the way youre going to go, it might also make sense to make the party BYOB. Buy some small amount of refreshments on your own and dont forget the ice. The rest is up to your guests. If youre planning to have turkey, youre going to have to buy one on your own. Its very large and will probably end up being the most expensive thing on the table, so dont count on anyone else to bring it, unless, of course, they say they will. Games and Activities If you have access to a television, youd better set it up wherever youre having the party ahead of time. Thanksgivings nothing to the football fans if not a chance to watch some TV while eating traditional foods. For those who dont want to just sit and stare into a screen, get some games set up. The football fans might like to play a quick friendly match after theyve watched the game. For the rest, think of something you can do sitting down, since, if everythings gone according to plan, everyone will be too stuffed to move anyway. If your first thought is board games, reconsider. Board games are wholesome fun for the whole family, sure, but youre college students, for goodness sakes! Choose your favorite drinking game, and leave Scrabble for the kids. Dont Forget to Have Fun After all this planning and budgeting and preparing, you should let yourself relax. Dont designate yourself the role of being the one to tell everyone to use coasters. Let go and have some fun yourself. Make some friends, make some jokes, do something embarrassing youre going to remember with horror for the next five years, and then remember fondly as a part of your college life.

How To Do Remarkable Customer Research With Rand Fishkin

How To Do Remarkable Customer Research With Rand Fishkin Where do your customers hang out? What kinds of things do they like? What publications do they read? Customer research involves a lot of leg work, so does this information even matter? How can you leverage such insight for SEO? Today, we’re talking to Rand Fishkin, founder of SparkToro and author of Lost and Founder. He is a powerhouse in the content marketing and SEO world. Some of the highlights of the show include: Background, origination, and purpose of SparkToro Reaching/Researching Audiences: Slow, frustrating, and inaccurate process Companies spend money contracting agencies for a list of top customers, blogs, podcasts, and events Bones of Audience Intelligence: 1) Identify audiences across channels; 2) Know audience density; 3) Use trustworthy and valuable metrics How to obtain, benchmark, filter, and analyze data Data Points: Which to focus on and where to get them Social Network Profiles: Report follower count and engagement Biases generate unrepresentative data influenced by SEO Significant sample sizes and diverse groups are needed for true coverage Examples of missing specific audiences SparkToro lets you find people who practice specific fields Does current audience intelligence data represent the market as a whole? Improve SEO by helping audience accomplish tasks, and identifying and broadening link sources Powered by PodcastMotor Actionable Content Marketing powered by By AMP081: How To Do Remarkable Customer Research With Rand Fishkin From SparkToro 00:00/00:00 1x 100 > Download file Subscribe on iTunes Leave Review Share Links: Rand Fishkin on Twitter SparkToro Lost and Founder Project Event Safe Moz SurveyMonkey Audience Nate Silver SimilarWeb Pro AMP on iTunes leave a review and send screenshot to podcast@.com If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Rand: â€Å"If you’re looking at a social network profile, don’t just report on follower count, go look at the last 20 or 50 postsreport on how much engagement did each of those get.† â€Å"Go out there, build a company, make mistakes, just don’t make exactly the same ones I did.† â€Å"You get biased by your existing understanding of the field.†

Wal-Mart to Spend $50 Billion on Products Made in America Essay

Wal-Mart to Spend $50 Billion on Products Made in America - Essay Example Local manufacturers are one of the groups that stand to benefit from Wal-Mart’s decision to source goods in the United States. 1881 Mills is one such manufacturer that will benefit from the extended contract that it has struck with Wal-Mart. Suppliers dealing in highly-automated production are the other group that will benefit from Wal-Mart’s move. The public stands to benefit from the additional jobs that will be created by these local manufacturers and suppliers in order to meet Wal-Mart’s increased demand. The economy of the United States will benefit from the improved production that this move will bring (ABC News p3). Wal-Mart has an obligation to provide workers in China and other foreign markets who will be displayed by Wal-Mart’s new strategy with time to adjust and find other jobs. Corporate social responsibility would require that as an employer, Wal-Mart should factor in the welfare of the people who will be affected by any of its policy decisions and one such group of people are these workers. Wal-Mart should care not to terminate its foreign sourcing quickly because this would leave many of these foreign workers jobless. This can have devastating effects on the lives of these workers and, by extension, the economies of their countries (ABC News p3). Wal-Mart’s decision to source more goods locally means it might have to charge more for such products and this will have direct impacts on local consumers. This will dig deeper into my consumer surplus and I might have to consider buying certain goods from other stores. I however have an ethical responsibility to buy U.S.-made products even if they cost more because this will contribute to the growth of the economy of my home country. Ethical responsibility requires that as a consumer, I should go beyond caring for my personal financial wellbeing to considering how my buying patterns influences other people

Human Management Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Human Management - Thesis Example It is a UK based organisation, but has focused on engaging a considerable proportion of its entire human resources from the international environment which has perpetually increased the diversity of the workforce engaged and thus increased the risk of conflicts owing to the varied range of individualities (BG Group Plc, 2012). With due consideration to this fact, BG Group can be identified to possess the ability towards implementing effective governance in order to operate its business functions successfully worldwide mitigating the consequences of conflicts (BG Group Plc, 2012). The concept of conflict management is often described as the process of dealing with conflict situations that may occur within the workplace with efficiency mitigating its negative consequences that may have a significant impact on the sustainability of an organisation. The role of conflict management, in this regards, considers the proper identification of the various causes giving rise to conflicts which i nclude scarce resources, adversity as well as faulty communication among others delivering importance not only towards the organisational interests, but also towards the benefits of the employees (Eunson, 2012). It is in this context that various models had been developed in order to frame the notion of conflict management and thus suggest a comprehensive pattern to the organisations for resolving such issues. Blake and Mouton Model can be regarded as such a framework which renders an unambiguous understanding of the conflicts arising within the organisational sphere and also suggests the required measures to resolve the issues (Verma, 1998). The aim of the paper is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the theoretical perspective presented by Blake and Mouton Model of conflicts management. The understanding will further be related with the different conflicts that were faced by BG Group in its current operations. Moreover, the overall discussion will be based on the conflicts that were faced by the BG Group which will further be continued with effective recommendations and strategic action plan referring to the theoretical understanding of the concept. Theoretical Perspective: Blake and Mouton Model of Conflict Management The term ‘conflict’ is characteristically described as a strong competition or struggle between various people or individuals with differing values, objectives, ideas and beliefs. Conflict is often observed to result in terms of non-productive consequences which might have had a long-term impact or can last for only a short period of time. It can also be defined as a condition in which more than one party possesses mismatched objectives and also differs in terms of their behaviour as well as their perceptions. The various sources of conflict generally include structural, role and resources conflict. Structural conflict is observed to fundamentally arise from perplexities in managing the need of the diverse organisational s ub-units. In the similar context, role conflict is generally caused by misinterpretation regarding

Bio-fuels and how effective they truly Essay Example for Free

Bio-fuels and how effective they truly Essay If compared with utilizing fossil fuels, research studies on biofuels show that first generation biofuels can be projected to have 60% carbon emission reduction while utilization second generation biofuels can reduce up to 80%. Figure 4 shows the CO2 reduction particularly in the transport sector with the use of biofuels and other GHG reduction strategies. In the future, the type of processing energy used will be more relevant: a biofuel plant that uses biomass energy will contribute far more to reducing GHG emissions than one that uses fossil energy. The European Union started the market for biofuels. Other countries such as the United States of America are fast catching up. The Asian countries are slow in taking up the mandate because people are assuming the wise consumer attitude, adopting a wait-and-see approach, waiting for the infrastructure to be established in order to have a better rationalization of cost and benefit. Historical and projected biofuels production levels are shown in figures 5 and 6. The major country players are clearly indicated. Figure 7 shows the global demand for biofuels. The figure illustrated a 100% increase in the ethanol production between 2000 and 2005. ON the other hand, biodiesel production showed an increase of almost 400%.. Comparing these figures with production of oil from fossil fuels, it showed an increase only by only 7% over this period. Brazil produced 16. 5 billion liters of fuel ethanol (45. 2 percent of the worlds total) with the United States a close second at 16. 2 billion liters, or 44. 5 percent of the total. With these projections, benefits brought about by the utilization of biofuels is expected to be significant specifically on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. CONCLUSION Clean environment is essential to a good quality of life, yet many thousands of deaths yearly are linked to the effects of pollution. Improving local air quality is a major thrust that most countries are currently pursuing. Thus, it is relatively important to bear in mind that for the petroleum and energy industry, one of the major considerations should be the use of environmentally sound, economical and safe fuel. The use of biofuels, as presented in this paper suggests and projects a positive impact in the environment on the long term. While there are issues to be addressed, extensive research should be conducted in order to provide an answer to all these concerns. The figures show that there is an increasing demand for biofuels worldwide, still, policies gearing towards the utilization of such should be developed and adopted to the highest standards in the international scene. Like in some countries wherein the use of biofuels is mandated by law, there should be a worldwide promotion and advocacy campaign for its utilization with emphasis that it brings about to the environment. REFERENCES Biofuels for Transport (2006). What exactly is biofuels and the potential of it for its future use as alternative fuel for future road vehicles? [Internet], Biofuels for Transport. Available from: http://people. bath. ac. uk/ksyl20/my_report/interest. htm [Accessed 22 November 2007]. Brevitt, B. (February 12, 2002) Alternative Vehicle Fuels. Science and Environment Section, Research Paper 02/11. Center for Fuel Cells (2007) Fuel cell today. University of South Carolina. DOE Portal (2007) Biofuel. [Internet], Philippines Department of Energy. Available from: www. doe. gov. ph [Accessed 24 November 2007]. EurActive (2005) Alternative fuels for transport. [Internet], EurActive. Available from: www. eurActiv. com [Accessed 23 November 2007]. EurActive (2006a) Carmakers reject EU plan for CO2 emissions law. [Internet], EurActive. Available from: www. eurActiv. com [Accessed 23 November 2007]. Energy Research (2007) Introduction to Fuel cells. [Internet], European Commission. Available from: http://ec. europa. eu/research/energy/index_en. htm [Accessed 25 November 2007]. Environmental Technologies (2007) Innovations and Industry, Biofuel. [Internet], The Israel Export and Industrial Cooperation Institute. Available from: www. export. gov. il [Accessed 25 November 2007]. Gow, I. T. A. D. (February 21, 2007) EU promises 20% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020. The Guardian. Webster, B. (February 5, 2007) EU is steered from gas-guzzler ban. The Times.

Importance of Change in Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451 Essay -- Ray Bra

Importance of Change in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What is change? Webster's Dictionary, defines change as to cause to become different; alter; transform; convert. Many things, people, and world events are able to change. Years of peace may be shattered by one act of terrorism. Technology changes how people interact and work in the world. People also change. Many do not see any wrongdoing internally, and remain the way they are. However, there might be outside factors that help them realize what is wrong with them or the lifestyle they choose to take part in. According to Preston Bradley, "I don't care how much a man may consider himself a failure, I believe in him, for he can change the thing that is wrong in his life any time he is ready and prepared to do it. Whenever he develops the desire, he can take away from his life the thing that is defeating it. The capacity for reformation and change lies within." Throughout Fahrenheit 451, Montag, a dedicated fireman and book burner, sees pleasure and titillation from burning books and destroying lifetimes of important ideas. When outside influences put confusion in him, he begins a series of changes, eventually becoming a revolutionary in a society where books are valued.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many factors contribute to the changes found in Montag. One of the first influences during the story is the exquisitely observant Clarisse McClellan. She is different from all of the others in society who like to head for a Fun Park to bully people around," or "break windowpanes in the Car Wrecker." She likes to observe people, and she observes Montag, diagnosing him as a "strange...fireman." He is "not like the others" because when she talks, he looks at her, and when she said something about the moon, he looks at it. Clarisse tells Montag that he is different from the other people. He has something inside of him that makes him "put up with" her. Clarisse makes Montag look at himself for the first time when she asks him, "Are you happy?" Montag thinks that she is talking nonsense, but he realizes that he truly is not happy. Something is missing from his life. Looking at his lifestyle, he found that the "only thing that I [Montag] positively knew was gone was the books I'd [he'd] burned in ten or twelve years." Clarisse helped Montag to start to think for himself, instead of letting the society... ...he society outside values books, and by joining it, Montag shows that he is changed from rebel to the ultimate rebel, a soldier of an army that has a strong influential power because of it's attraction to books and their meanings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Fahrenheit 451, Montag, a dedicated fireman and book burner changes character and opinion through the help of influential characters and events, gradually transforming into an individualistic person of the society, a rebellious soldier in an army of readers. Montag first changes when he meets Clarisse, opening his eyes and being able to see his own faults and those of the society. He changes further when he questions himself and thinks about his lifestyle after learning how powerful the meaning in the books are when the woman insists on dying. Montag learns the importance of books in the society when he meets Faber, learning how the meaning in books can be applied to what is happening in society. Killing Beatty shows his change from being a passive reader and spy to an active revolutionary. Finally, Montag's changes are completed when he joins the organization that values books, therefore becoming a soldier of an influential army.