A Social Commentary On Contemporary Social Issues

A Social Commentary On Contemporary Social IssuesIf popular, a pictured parody of controversial ejects of a rules of order is the intimately effective approach that target various dilemmas within a society without offending anyone belief, notion, religion, gender and lifestyle. Although satire is usu eithery produced to be humorous, its biger in cristalt is often constructive cordial reprimand, using jocularity as a weapon. The Simpsons serial earthly concernation, as a very popular show worldwide, looms to be a fantabulous epitomic example of paradoxical reddents in the American society. The main purpose of the current assay is to delineate the reflectiveness of The Simpsons show, representing the contemporary social issues of the American society.IntroductionThe main domain of the current essay is to show that to what extent the American series The Simpsons serve as a social commentary on contemporary social issues. To this end, antithetical aspects of The Simpsons seri es will be discussed.Needless to say that media, in any kind, has gigantic impacts on social behavior casting pagan reorientation and documenting events. It is a double-blade sword, creating true or even false conceptualizations/notions that may lead a target society into one particular direction. That is why it is considered as one of the or so pivotal tools for soft-impelling of habits. As a result, many merits can be transposed to something new even though the nature of human behavior is sometimes unpredictable. sermon of cultures, inherently, is a controversial issue and no one can image all aspects of such intricate matte. While movies and premier series may tempt social traditions, they are also projection and/or articulation of customs showing transmutational changes of people deeds. In fact, in contemporary times, media represent transition/development of cultures within societies and even organizations ranging from the oil fields of Dallas to the law firm in L.A. Law t o Al Bundys shoe shop in Married (Rhodes 2001). Nonetheless, the top dog is how precise is such exemplification? And, to be specific, how insightful and reflective would be a television series (e.g., The Simpsons for American culture or EastEnders for British culture, image reality of ordinary lifespans, cultures and organizations within a society?Presumably, American animated series called The Simpsons produced by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company is the best look-alike that shows ironic parody lifestyle of an ordinary middle-class American family, whose day-by-day endeavors are the main leitmotif of the series. The stars are not real, but their travesty actions reckon to ironically entertainingly magnifying the existing cultural issues, taboos and dilemmas. Hence, having harnessed various published articles and books, the main objective of the current article is to investigate the mirror image of The Simpsons reflecting the lifestyle of an American middle-class fa mily from social, educational, governmental, religious, and economical viewpoints. Since its first debut on December 17, 1989, The Simpsons series broadcasted more than 500 events. As a one of the more or less popular series, it has been announce as the longest-running American sitcom that has been awarded in various festivals, such as Primetime Emmy Awards, Annie Awards, and Peabody Award. In 2000, it has also been elect as the 20th centurys best television series by the Time magazine and also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.Simpsons familyThe Simpsons are epitomized by its family including homer the father, border the m other, baronet the brother, Lisa the old sister and Maggie the younger sister. The show is set in an illusory city of capital of Illinois where, there exist various icons such as Springfield thermonuclear Power Plant (SNPP), Church, School and Club, etc in part as parodies of American society. In fact, diametrical episodes picture various a spects of the society, in which each of the characters (i.e., Homer, margarine, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson) aims to confer a message as a sketch comedy program. Each ironic mockery exaggerative persona embellishes one aspect of society to highlight the issue no matter whatWhile the Simpsons are rather dysfunctional and many observers of the series confer somewhat detestation feelings, literally, it seems that ultimately there is much popularity of the show. Paradoxically, most families whop it as deriving force for a hidden solidarity within families. Considering some archness of the show (e.g., frequent action of Homer when he struggles Bart up to the stage till Barts eyes protrude out of his head), it may be considered as an immoral epitome. Marge is the dedicated wife of Homer and mother of cardinal kids. She is an orthodox archetype who represents diligent American moms, trying to keep the family united on the track. In fact, Marges aim is to fascinate the family toward s ome kind of unanimity, yet safekeeping the individuality of each member of the family. She is the core and soul of the Simpson family. Unlike her husband, Marge does not have enough time to socialize with others since she is too busy pickings care of her family. The lumbering fool Homer spends plethora of time with his friends at club boozing, and often makes clumsy mistakes Lack of intellectuality is part of his personality, keeping Homer as paradoxical husband and father who enigmatically acts weird full of provocation and conciliation without thought. Although Homer is not always fully loyal to his family because of selfishness and recklessness, still he is popular as he eventually does the right thing, at which the spirit of an American father is expressed (Rhodes 2001 Scanlan and Feinberg 2000 Todd 2002). The free spirited Bart, who is the oldest child, represents an epitomic mischievous kid provoking troubles everywhere he goes. However, similar to his fathers cases, the stor y brings about a redemptive moral lesson of life. Unlike Bart, Lisa, the second child, epitomizes a wise kid with future and great expectations. Lisa plays as central apprehension of the Simpson family with acts of clear consciousness of concomitant events. She is a curious grille characterizing new generation of American girls whose desire is to explore as seen for Lisa when she discovers and follows Buddhism and also become vegetarian. Despite being the youngest member of the Simpsons family, Baby Maggie sparks on the family issues by sucking her pacifier. She always show some wisdom and awareness as a baby girl (Rhodes 2001 Scanlan and Feinberg 2000 Todd 2002).HomerHomer works at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, while Marge is a caring homemaker who loves her hapless blundering cumbersome husband. Homers character is and admixture of clumsiness and provocativeness, who acts without thinking or even based upon weird thoughts. Edward de Bono has articulated six-steps of technical thinking skills as unlike hats (De Bono 1973), while Homer hat of wisdom is always the same, a yellow hat of transitional shallow benefits. Perhaps, he is the one who has the greatest influence on society culture, so that the catchword Doh, which is interjectionally use bt Homers, has been adopted into the English language.MargeHomers wife, Marge with distinctive blue beehive hairstyle, appears to be a unthreatening and extremely patient matron who cares and have great passion and astuteness, but it seems that she sacrifices herself for her family as a stereotypical mother.BartThe hardly son of Homer and Marge is Bart, ten geezerhood old teenage, who is the eldest child in family with rebellious attitude. Bart looms to be very good at floundering. He represents special character of wilful boy with sarcastic bittering actions no matter what Having such persona, he has been casted as a bad role model for children. The terminology of I am Bart Simpson, who the hell are you? means Bart doesnt not care no rules, no regulations, no jurisdiction (Ott 2003).LisaLisa Marie Simpson, as older daughter of the family, is eight years old second child of Homer and Marge. Lisa is extremely intelligent, who breaks the boundaries to discover new entities. Lisa plays the baritone saxophone, and has been casted as a vegetarian (season 7), a Buddhist (season 13). Her advocacies for a variety of political events (e.g., Tibetan independence movement) make her as the intellect of family and the series, but as other intelligent individual she suffers from loneliness even inside the family (Simpson 1998).Inexplicable variety as a FamilyAvaricious and sometimes covetous Homer the father with caring Marge the mother in combination with the rancorous behaviors of Bart and wisdom of Lisa along with reticent persona of Magi provide such an admixture that needs to be carefully analyzed. Speaking of The Simpsons episodes, one should agree that many controversial topics (e.g., cheery m arriage and religion in public schools) are the subject of the series and it seems that nothing is considered as taboo (Bonne 2002).Homers relationship with his Dad, Abraham Simpson (also called as Grampa) shows loss of traditional lifestyle. Intriguingly, Marge Simpsons older twin sisters, hold a strong dislike for their brother-in-law, Homer. These twins work at the Springfield Department of Motor Vehicles (SDMV). In terms of personality, the cardinal minutes elder sister Selma seems to possess a strong desire for esprit de corps, while Patty happens to be the feminist sister who pliably likes to be a lesbian. Marge sisters relationship conveys another level of Santas Little Helper (dog) and Snowball (cat) also bring about some hidden aspects of their lifestyles.An Avenue for Nation ViewsInherently, the fact is that Springfield is nowhere, but it could be any pronounce, representing whole nation. It is the same for all caricature stars of the show. Homer Simpson or Lisa Simpson could be anyone. This revolutionized series, despite being set in an inscrutable state, signposts unity of the nation and is fabulous effort to reflect American society overall in each episode. Such representation has attracted many viewers from all over the country. It should be highlighted that the taste of the TV shows may differ in different cities or cultures. While, the viewers in the New York like to follow a how like Sex and the City, a show like The Simpsons with its unidentified setting can appeal to all Americans (Gray 2007). The Simpsons series is a trajectory of not only American society but also arc of the world federation cultural transitions.Citizenship, democracy and political apathyThe Simpsons series also exhibit different levels of citizenships. Four main types of complementary citizenships can be recognized in The Simpsons series (Lund 2006), as follwParty-based public life that can be exemplified by Homer SimpsonsTrust-based public life that can be exemplified by Marge SimpsonsKnowledge-based public life that can be exemplified by Lisa SimpsonsRight-based public life that can be exemplified by Bart SimpsonsThese categorizations happen to be successive in time, nonetheless not mutually exclusive, that is to say that none of these four types have entirely subsumed the others though the impression of viewers of the series may differ. It should be evoked that other types of citizenships have been presented during different episodes. Above all is religion-based public life that can be exemplified by Ned Flanders who is a descent well-meaning good-natured person as one of the few in Springfield town. In fact, such diverse epitomes of citizenships appear to be good representatives of American society that can be considered as symbolic model of democracy which is held in a family yet is a manifestation of the whole society. The show combines various viewpoints within a family and also among members of different parties. The show targets politic al apathy though a self-deprecation method together with a refusal to take subjects seriously. Following are some examples of such transverse articulationsAn election? Thats one of those deals where they close the bars isnt it?, verbalize Barney Gumbel.Uh, Lisa, the whole reason we have elected officials is so we dont have to think all the time. Just like that rainforest scare a few years back our officials saw there was a problem and they fixed it, didnt they?, said Homer Simpson.Lisa, if you dont like your job, you dont strike you just go in every day and do it really half assed. Thats the American way., said Homer Simpson.I wish we lived in a place more like the America of yesteryear that only exists in the brains of us Republicans., said Ned Flanders.Presumably, one the most hilarious, yet mirthful, articulation was on Ned Flanders delineation when he was asked by his son Todd Flanders Daddy, what do taxes pay for? Ned Flanders Oh, why, everything Policemen, trees, sunshine And lets not forget the kinsfolk who just dont feel like working, God bless emIn short, politics is a common part of The Simpsons show, which literally exhibits some boundaries of the polarized American politics, even though there exist some voiced oppositions to the show per se. For example, the former Republican President of USA, Mr. George H. W. Bush condemned the show at the Annual Convention of the content Religious Broadcasters by articulating we need a nation closer to The Waltons than The Simpsons, an America that rejects the incivility, the tide of incivility, and the tide of intolerance (Armstrong 2005 Turner 2004). In fact, upon a liberal wobble of the show, this was joked about in the episode The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular, in which reference was made to hundreds of radical right-wing messages inserted into every show by creator Matt Groening. It expenditure to remind that the 138th Episode Spectacular, written by Jon Vitti and directed by David Silverman, was a parody of the communal preparation among live-action series to produce clip shows. This episode, as the most watched episodes of the season, has received positive reviews with a Nielsen (viewer/audience measurement system) rating of 9.5 and a Nielsen rank of 48.EducationSeveral reviews and books have been published on The Simpsons series and education (Luccasen and Thomas 2010 Gray 2005). It seems It has been stated that The Simpsons is a carrier for creating discourse in particular among young undergraduate students. While three levels of jokes happen to be presented on the show as a) elite humor, b) nonelite humor, and c) obscure references, the breadth of scholarship on the looms to be indicative of the shows place in popular culture (White and Holman 2011). The multiplicity of the fans proves that The Simpsons typifies the everyday appeal of satire. Accordingly, its followers include political elites and ordinary people from vastly different backgrounds. For example, Tony Blai r is a big fan of the show, and guest starred as himself in an episode while a sitting head-of-state (Woodcock 2008). Conservative constitutional scholar Harvey Mansfield has supported the show by articulating that The Simpsons is the best thing on television. Hence, The Simpsons series appear to be able to connect to the elites representing various issues of scholar world mainly by Lisa Simpson.The Simpsons crave Games or Against ItWhether we like it or not, Homer Simpson explains our postmodern identity operator crisis (Bybee and Overbeck 2001). The Simpsons show (Roberts 2010). Like the Hunger Games, with loss of identity we will just survive and eventually will realize the transitional reorientation/modification of the society. Having used the militant irony or sarcasm, The Simpsons show often professes to approve of (or at least accept as natural) the very things that are target for the attack. While the Hunger Game may happen within the societies for many reasons, the state of satires in a given show such as The Simpsons may reflect the state of civil liberties and human rights. Needless to say to fight the illiteracy in any kind that may lead society toward Huger Games, in which any criticism of a political/religious system is suppressed, satires will provide an open door for clarification.The Simpsons and ReligionThe Simpsons series critically show the contemporary religious issue in the American society (Bowler 1996 Satkin 2002 Lewis 2002). For example, the episode, The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star, Springfields only known pastor, makes a Unitarian reference when Homer Simpson asks if he needs to elegy on a few Unitarians to become Catholic. Speaking of religious issues in the show, the most religious characters happen to be Ned Flanders and Reverend Lovejoy. In fact, Flanders appears to be the most conservative Christian with little tolerance to other believes (e.g., pagans, Jews, Hindus and homosexuals), expressing that the other belie vers are all epicureans and whoever pursue such notions will directly go to the Hell. On the other hand, Reverend Timothy Tim Lovejoy, who is the preacher of the Western Branch of American Reform Presbylutheranism church that some everyone in Springfield attends, represents different character. The show makes ironies on almost all religions, but the Islam and Muslims seem not to be the target of the show For example, in one of the episodes, the Hindu god Vishnu is shown as sitting in the have-to doe with of the earth and controlling the world with different controlling devices, likewise it is the same for the Hindu god Ganesh, mostly by Homer when interacting with Apu.Social Commentary on Controversial IssuesThe Simpsons show seems to be also a homo-friendly animated sitcom (Padva 2008). Given the fact that a truly subversive gay representational approach pattern must contest not only the gay subjects experience of heterosexist persecution but also their experience of patriarcha l privilege, Jackson discussed that certain gay male cultural practices that transvalue deviance as a positive mode of self-identication contain at least an implicit critique of the normative male ideal (and the dominant heterosexual person sex/gender system) from which the gay male deviates (Jackson Jr 1993).However, The Simpsons series happened to flash the gay marriage and thus spark outrage among conservative groups in America, who are against it. In a long-running show, the show embarked on some gay marriages despite the fact that Brent Bozell III, the president of the Parents Television Council, blasted that at a time when the public mood is overwhelmingly against gay marriage, any show that promotes gay marriage is deliberately bucking the public mood (Block 2007).Controversial Storylines an ExampleIn a study, in order to test the effectiveness of using an episode of The Simpsons in an introductory sociology classes, students attitudes (N=176) have been tested toward lesbian s and gay men before and after viewing the episode titled Homers Phobia. The participating students were asked to identify stereotypes about gay men and lesbians. It was found that viewing the problems encountered by Homer Simpsons negative approaches toward a gay character on the show augmented acceptance of homosexuals amongst freshmen students. In fact, the use of the episode of the cartoon happened to generate a greater depth of discussion about the consequences of homophobia and discrimination of lesbians and gay men (Miller and Thornton 2009).Concluding RemarksIn the history of mankind, presumably, there has always been a conflict between engagement and disengagement on controversial issues of societies. To highlight social/political issues, yet avoiding disconceptuality and vagueness, some artists capitalize on the grotesque parody and jest with teasing. The Simpsons series is epitomic stereotype that targets controversial issues of the American society to show hurdling as s atire. The spectrum of the show differs in terms of degrees of biting as ranging from satire proper at the hot-end, and kidding at the violet-end. Given that teasing is the reactionary side of the comic, The Simpsons may not be taken seriously as it limits itself to a shallow parody of caricature appearance. But, The Simpsons series exploits satire to go against untouchable issues such as gay marriage. Having subversive characteristics, the show seems to carry a deep moral dimension targeting various issues to bring about possible loos of identity in a humored buffoonery manner with little censor/exclusion. This side of the show should be highlighted by TV critiques.

Effectiveness Of Online Marketing Tools Marketing Essay

Effectiveness Of Online Marketing Tools Marketing EssayThe present research paper is looking into intensity level of online food trade jibes on B2C wind vane state of affairss. In this section a background in e-commerce, online market and online customers is provided in cabargont to give the reader an introduction.Backgroundnnnnnnnnnnn1.1.1. E-commerceThe development of the training parley technologies has brought changes to the government agency of doing occupation and lead to the birth of electronic commerce. Chaffey (2006) defined E-commerce as both financial and trainingal electronically mediated proceeding in the midst of an physical composition and any third party it deals with. By the nature of business transactions, e-commerce asshole be classified into business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C), consumer-to-business (C2B), and intra-organizational e-commerce (Dou Chou 2002).Business to consumer (B2C), the focussing of our research, is defined by Chaffey (2006) as, commercialised transactions between an organization and consumers. E-commerce transactions get d avow grown significantly during the past years (Grover Teng, 2001) and argon expected to continue growing with double-digit annual evolution rates (Daniels, Sehgal, Vogel, 2008). tally to Mulpura (2008) Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce and online retail sales r all(prenominal)ed $175 billion in 2007 and are predicted to reach $204 billion in 2008, $235.4 billion in 2009, $267.8 billion in 2010, $301 billion in 2011, and $334.7 billion in 2012. One of the main reasons for the growth of B2C e-commerce is increasing number of earnings substance abusers (Oppenheim, 2006).1.1.2. Online Marketing net created unused ship canal of doing business for the companies but profits is not only a place for buyers and sellers to discover product teaching it also plays a role of interminusediary (Bailey Bakos, 1997). Ab Hamid (2008) states that The egress of Internet technology, particularly the World Wide nett, as an electronic medium of commerce offers new opportunities to industries to adopt the Internet as their alternative marketing tools (or as the only marketing channel).There is still no widespread agreement regarding the nomenclature used to describe marketing done internet and terms such as hypermedia marketing, digital marketing, online marketing and e-marketing, have all been used at one time or another (Dholakia, 2005). Online marketing term leave behind be used in our research. Elley and Tilley (2009) described online marketing as promotional activity on the internet, including email that can take many forms, including search locomotive marketing, email marketing, online advertising, genial media, and affiliate marketing. These online marketing tools became one of the central communication tools for the companies to promote services and products in todays economy. Shankar Batra (2009) states, Ma rketing communication theory through the online medium are growing rapidly and The role of online marketing communications in the marketing mix is constantly evolving Shankar and (Hollinger, 2007). These views are also motivated by Reedy (2000) and he says online communications tools are parted give way an important ingredient in the promotional mix and its1.1.3. Online customersThe Internet is no longer a novelty in the minds of todays commonwealth as it is the access to it. In fact, the Internet and digital information have taken over many aspects of our lives from communication to information consumption to new ways of doing business. It has reinvented our vocabulary and gave new meanings to words in cyberspace, for example surfing, visitors, hits or navigate (Dobrowolski 2000). These changes in meaning can be discovered as well in the word user it can mean a surfer or a visitor.Now, in the 21th century, borders maintained by gender, occupation and education in utilize or n avigating the Internet and other digital mediums have been sponged away by habit, supported by changes in system technologies. So surfing the Internet, texting a runny message or reading an online magazine is opened and, in fact, used by elderly, children or unemployed and technologies have become more mobile, real-time and interactive to support those behaviors. (Nicholas and . 2003)By now, it is a common knowledge that consumers of all ages shop online, but as Silverman (2000) and Seock (2008) point come in, college students with ages between 18 and 22 are the hottest market and can be the main customers to generate revenue and growth for online sales. The common trait argued in Seocks (2008) research is that although college students are avid information seekers though the internet, the alteration rate to online buyers is very low, only 4,9 % from general online visitors buy also the products online (Kerner 2005).InternetWorldStats shows that, in 2010, 92,5% of Swedens populat ion was using the Internet, making it one of the most developed Internet and wideband markets in the EU, a so called online nation1. All parts of the age group 15 to 24 year old is using the Internet on a mundane basis with an average of 155 minutes online per day2, but it is only the 3rd biggest age group that is actually shopping online, 72% of Swedish males aged 16 to 24 have buyd online in 2010, whereas 82% of the 25-34 female users have purchased in the last year3.The trends in connectivity and being online also take issue with age group. According to Internetstatistik.se, 15 to 24 year olds are more avid consumer of accessible media (66%) than netmail (44%)4, which just emphasizes even more the sine qua non of new insight into what Shop.org names as social commerce. The problem arises into how to blend new social media and other new technologies into an efficient online marketing strategy in order to obtain the wanted conversion from online visitors to online customers . What comes after building a Facebook company account, twittering about the new promotion and optimizing your netsite?1.1.4. EffectivenessNew technologies have changed the ways customers and companies occupy to one another and has challenged the traditional process of transactions and the way communications between consumers and companies are managed (Ozuem, Howell and Lancaster, 2008). When evaluating this new technologies, it is important to consider the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and new conduct as well as, from a managers point of view, translate them into force (Danaher and Rossiter, 2011). Companies are not using the whole potential of online marketing tools although they perceive them as effective (Teo 2005). thus far, measuring marketing strong suit poses numerous challenges due to the multitude of possible metrics for assessing effectiveness (Gray, 2006). Chaffey (2009) translates effectiveness as doing the right thing and from a mulish point of view producing the required outputs and resolutions. Kierzkowski, McQuade, Waitman and Zeissler (1996) expresses 5 wanted outcomes from a marketers point of view attract customers, engage customers, retain customers, learn about customers and relate to customers.It is critical for companies to know how do they attract customers to their website, engage them to turn into paying customers and also retain them to keep returning to your website. Chaffey 2009 states Online communications techniques used to achieve goals of provoker awareness, familiarity and favorability and to mold purchase intent by encouraging users of digital media to visit a web site to engage with the make or product and at long last to purchase online or offline through traditional media channels such as by phone or in-store.As Teo (2005) has established in his research, effectiveness does not have to translate necessarily only into revenue, but it can be measured in building customer relationships, traffic on the companys website or another outcome that satisfies management. Our research will use the same 5 points outcome from Kierzkowski, McQuade, Waitman and Zeissler (1996) and will explore the different ways customers reach companies via internet.1.2. Problem DiscussionWhat is the problem? (Borrowed or created)Today, companies realized the potential of e-commerce and most of them already started to make use of this technology. eulovs and Gaile-Sarkane (2010) state that, E-commerce has now become a key component of many companies in the daily running of their businesses. Thus, the e-marketing component of a companys marketing strategy has grown in importance bread maker (2007) states that, In a short period of time, e-marketing has become a facet of marketing that cannot be ignored. New developments on internet technologies enables new ways of marketing, communication, gathering customer looks and experiences about products, services and firms, and also allows personalized one-to-one marketing (Li and Bernoff, 2008).Marketers are faced now with two important questions that they have to answer regardingWhich online marketing tools to use for the wanted outcome?Andrews, et al. (2007 cited in Ab. Hamid, 2008) point out that for firms the adjoind importance of Internet channels can be seen in its contribution to disseminating information, enhancing consumer value, improving consumer satisfaction, loyalty and retention as well as consumer science which in turn leads to better profitability and expanded market share.How to integrate them in the overall company strategy?Baker (2007) noted that, marketers need to cautiously assess the significance of e-marketing and assimilate it, as appropriate, into all aspects of marketing from strategy and planning to marketing research, objectives get upting, buyer behavior, marketing communications and the marketing mix.Given that the Internet has not only changed the way companies do business, but as well consumers behavior to shop or to look for information, the matter of effectiveness of online tools arises. Online marketing tools need to be determine well by the companies and marketers should validate the economics of their promotional activities against their effectiveness ( McQuade, S. (1996). In addition, the specific characteristics of the world wide web (traditional barriers of communication are broken, information and competition just at a click away) often result in a question that we will try to answer in this researchResearch questionWhat tools are effective in attracting, retaining and engaging customers?1.3. Research ProblemQuestions that are developed from problemWhich online tools are customers responding to?How effective is the online marketing tools to attract online customers?How effective is the online marketing tools to engage online customers?How effective is the online marketing tools to retain online customers?Starting from an existing body of work on digital marketing, we have chosen to gull a similar model into a quantitative research that is questioning students in Sweden about the effectiveness of digital marketing tools. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of online marketing tools of B2C websites in Sweden.2. Literature OverviewThis section will present review of relevant literature relating to our research. We will identify the theoretical base on which our study will be built. What to base the study on?2.1. E-commerce and B2CDigital technology, particularly the internet, has been described as an enabler of a global marketplace, characterised by equal access to information about products, prices, and distribution (Strauss et al., 2006).According to Chaffey (2009) e-commerce is all electronically mediated transactions between an organization and any third party it deals with. According to this definition non-financial transactions can be considered to be part of e-commerce.Chaffey (2009) Business-to-consumer (B2C) markets have made a sig nificant contribution to the commercial development of the Internet encouraging wide-scale use of computing machine nets by a diverse and increasingly global range of consumers2.2. Online MarketingElley and Tilley (2009) defined online marketing as promotional activity on the internet, including email that can take many forms, including search engine marketing, email marketing, online advertising, social media, and affiliate marketing.McQuade, S. (1996) states that there are several success factors for companies to be able to successful in the online market, these five factors areAttract users.Engage users interest and participation.Retain users and ensure they return to an application.Learn about their preferences.Relate back to them to provide the sort of customized interactions that represent the true value bubble of digital marketing.e-marketing is the strategy that the agency ororganization uses the modern communication technical rules to exchange the potential market into m acrocosmmarket.Thee-marketing is that we can use internet makingcontinuously services in the every step of productspre-selling, products selling and products after-selling. Itruns in the whole process of business direct andincludes searching for new customers, services for oldcustomers.2.2.1. AttractingMcQuade (1996) states that the current clutter on the Internet virtually ensures that the build it and they will come model is insufficient to engross consumers, marketers need to actively attract users in the first place.Chaffey (2009+) Before an organization can acquire customers through the content on its site, it must, of course, develop marketing communication strategies to attract visitors to the web site.Reed (2010) states online marketing drives traffic to your site and he also mentions this is probably the single biggest reason for using online marketing.Baker (2009) states that to bring in the customers, companies must ensure their website is visible to customers thats why companies first priority is to be ensure their website is Search Engine Optimized.Banner and display advertisement is another important marketing tool that generate traffic and increase the views of your website.Social media tools generate traffic to your website and its also very important tool to engage current customers. Baker (2009) states Social media can deliver new customers, but primarily is a terrific tool to communicate and engage current customers.Engagement is driven by good designand good content. The biggest explosion inthis area has been the growth of onlinevideo to drive the message of business andproducts across in a propellent way. A recentsurvey by Yahoo Pew has shown video canincrease e-commerce purchases by up to40 percent.According to Chaffey (2009) online marketing focus on three main activities customer acquisition (attracting site visitor), conversion (generating leads and sales), and retention (encouraging the continued use of digital channels).Reed (2010 ) states online marketing is an important tool and lists why it works for companiesOnline marketing drives traffic to your site This is probably the single biggest reason for using online marketing.Creates new ways to connect with your market companies will become visible to a new set of prospects.Builds trust your clients and customers can get to know you through your online presence.Starts a conversation A two way of dialogue with your customers and prospects is much more effective than a one-way broadcast of your marketing message.Creates value If you can create a useful resource or kindle content targeted at your niche, they will keep coming back for more.Builds communities and relationships.Online marketing communications defined by Chaffey 2009 as Online communications techniques used to achieve goals of brand awareness, familiarity and favourability and to influence purchase intent by encouraging users of digital media to visit a web site to engage with the brand or product and ultimately to purchase online or offline through traditional media channels such as by phone or in-store.2.2.2. Engaging2.2.3. Retaining2.3. Online Marketing CommunicationsThere are several online marketing tools to attract customers and each tool must be chosen and applied carefully by the companies.online marketing tools available for b2c companiesDeveloping the potency to create and maintain an effective online presence through a web site is a key part of Internet marketing. Effective means that the web site and related communications must deliver relevance to its audience, whether this be through news content for a portal, product and service information for a business-to-business site or relevant products and offers for an e-commerce site. At the same time, effective means the web site must deliver results for the company.2.3.1. Social MediaSocial media is defined as a group of Internet-based applications such as blogs, social networking sites, content communities, collab orative projects, virtual game worlds and social worlds that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content (Kaplan Haenlein, 2010).The social media marketing connects service providers, companies and corporations with a broad audience of influencers and consumers (Weinberg 2009, 2-3.). Frick (2010) states that, When you share content on social profiles and your network of friends in turn share it as well, the potential for reaching wide numbers of people with little effort and in a tiny amount of time could be construed as a tangible business transaction, at least in terms of its marketing potential.Increasing usage of social media and networks created new ways of marketing of products and services. According to Black, Harrison et. Al. (2010) the uptake in use of social media tools is currently rising extremely quickly, Facebook now has over 400 one thousand thousand users and Twitter over 50 million. With these high potentials companies realized the importance of social media and social media started to become a new way to reach potential customers. Kaplan (2010) states that each Social Media application usually attracts a certain group of people and firms should be active wherever their customers are present. A research done by Digital Brand Expressions indicates that 78 percent of client companies actively utilizing social media (sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) and only 41 percent of the respondents strategic social media communications plan5.2.3.2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)2.3.3. Search Engine OptimizationSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of identifying and fine-tuning elements and keywords of a Website to improve the traffic in order to reach the highest possible visibility from search engines. Hernndez et al (2009) states that, SEO tool tries to capture users who are actively looking for information about a product related to the firm, which converts them into potential clients openly expressing their needs.So SEO is the first thing to tick on your list and its worth remembering that 50 percent of all online purchases start with a search.SEO is a great tool to create brand awareness and increase the website visits. Highest ranking in search engines can attract more visitors to the website. According to Evans (2007) more than half of all visitors come from a search engine rather than from a direct link on another web page.2.3.4. expeditious MarketingShankar and Balasubramanian (2009) define Mobile marketing as a two- or multi-way communication and promotion of an offer between a firm and its customers using a mobile medium, device, or technology. Marketing through mobile devices can be used to attract new customers or to retain them. Lubbe and Louw (2010) states that, Mobile devices create an prospect to deliver new services to existing customers and to attract new ones.Shankar et al. (2010) states that is improving the acquisition and enhancing the retention of customers is an important challenge in the mobile marketing context of use and the retailers need to better understand social networking to attract and retain customers.Mobile marketing is taking off as more consumers are increasingly comme il faut dependent on their mobile device for their day-to-day needs, including music, voice and data communication, and photography (Shankar and Balasubramanian 2009).2.3.5. Affiliate MarketingChaffey (2009) defines affiliate marketing as a agency based arrangement where referring sites (publishers) receive a commission on sales or leads by merchants (retailers or other transactional sites). He also states that Web site traffic can be developed through online partnerships such as affiliate marketing which involves partners being gainful commission for each sale or lead.Affiliate marketing programs help firms to increase their reach and acquire other firms customers when the firms agree to refer their customers to the third parties (Akura, 2010).2.3.6. Display (Banner) AdvertisingDisplay ads are paid ad placements using graphical or rich media ad units within a web page to achieve goals of delivering brand awareness, familiarity, favourability and purchase intent. Many ads win interaction through prompting the viewer to interact or rollover to play videos, complete an online form or to view more details by clicking through to a site. Chaffey 20092.3.7. Permission E-mail marketingA wide variety of e-commerce marketers are using permission-based e-mail communications to notify prospects of promotions and services, acquire new customers, increase sales, and, most importantly, develop and nurture an ongoing dialogue and relationship with their customers.LOrals brand Lancme uses email newsletters to keep in touch with customers and hence strengthen their brand loyalty (Merisavo and Raulas 2004).The consumers exposed to e-mail marketing recommended the brand to their fr iends. E-mail also activated consumers to visit retail stores, buy the brands products, and visit the brands site on the internet via links. Brand attitudes were also positive among consumers who had received e-mail. The data show that consumers with higher brand loyalty appreciate regular communication from the brand more than the slight loyal. From this we conclude that e-mail offers marketers an opportunity to further strengthen the brand loyalty of already loyal customers by keeping in frequent wholesaler with them.2.3.8. Online PR Subscription and Feed tools. RSS etc.Social MediaMembershipDynamic content2.3.9. Viral MarketingViral marketing for the real world.Chaffey and Smith (2008) states that Viral marketing harnesses the network effect of the Internet and can be effective in reaching a large number of people rapidly in the same way as a computing machine virus can affect many machines around the world.With viral techniques, traffic is built either through using e-mail ( virtual word-of-mouth) or real-world word-of-mouth to spread the message from one person to the next (Chaffey and Smith, 2008).BLENDTEC CASE STUDY2.3.10. Permission E- mail MarketingE-mail is most astray used as a prospect conversion and customer retention tool using an opt-in house-list of prospects and customers who have given permission to a company to contact them (Chaffey and Smith, 2008). For example, Lastminute.com has built a house list of over ten million prospects and customers across Europe.2.3.11. Online PRMaximising favourable mentions of your company, brands, products or web sites on third-party web sites which are likely to be visited by your target audience. (Chaffey, 2006).According to Chaffey (2006) online PR includeCommunicating with media (journalists) online setting up a press-release area on the web site creating e-mail alerts about news that journalists and other third parties can sign up to submitting your news stories or releases to online news feeds.Link b uilding A structured activity to include good quality hyperlinks to your site from relevant sites with a good page rank.Blogs, podcasting and RSS Web logs or blogs give an easy method of regularly publishing web pages which are best described as online journals, diaries or news or events listings,Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is an extension of blogging where blog, news or any type of content is received by subscribers using the systems mentioned above.Podcasts are related to blogs since they can potentially be generated by individuals or organisations to voice an opinion either as audio (typically MP3) or less commonly currently as video.Managing how your brand is presented on third-party sitesAs part of online PR it is useful to set up monitoring services. It is also necessary to have the resources to deal with negative PR as part of online reputation management.Creating a buzz online viral marketing.member get member2.4. Online customerThis section will present a short story o f developments in digital interactive environment with regards to digital user definition and behavior in this environment and will present the new digital player characteristics that is said to be transformed into the Google generationStarting with the term of end-user which was pushed by scholars in the late 1970s to define the persons that would finally benefit from the usage of information, the growing number of users (we refer to tens of millions) in the coming 20 years after that have given birth to the term consumers, as recognition to their new found (economic) powers6.Nicholas D. and Dobrowolsky T. (2000) argue the over-usage of the term user in reference to the Internet and name it a tired, over-used, cheap and misused word, which provides the information profession with a debased currency. It does not reflect the close and complex engagement that takes place between a person and todays interactive information systems7. Instead they introduce the term player as a new name for the information consumer and characterize information seeking behavior as interactive, recreational, social and competitive with nuances depending on individual online engagement.According to their following research in 2003, the digital players characteristics are8Enormous and unexampled numbers we have gotten used to see and speak of website traffic in millions.All powerfull power given by numbers, by huge choice possibilities and backed-up by governments.Personal characteristics they cover all age groups, education groups and gender. More then that, the research has revealed that the Internet, initially a male dominated domain, now reflects the gender poise of the general population9that needs a new demographic profiling in consumer behavior.Huge choice is premonitory (not sure if it is the right word) of the next 2 characteristicsPromiscuous users short attention spans and short visits Nicholas and Dobrowolski refer to users as bouncers. Online consumers bounce from websi te to another due to short attention spans, running against homepages they do not like, huge choice of websites, etc.Promiscuous consumers visit a lot of sites online, but purchase from just a few. (more explanation needed?)Untrusting all electronic media is two-dimensional and the information provider can be everyone.cited in Seock 2008Consumers across the age spectrum shop online, but college students aged 18 to 22 have been identified as the Internets hottest market and a prime source of future growth in online sales (Silverman, 2000). College students yearly expenditures reach near $200 billion (as cited in PROMO Xtra, 2003). They are heavy users of the Internet and have more access to this medium than most other population segments (Jasper Lan, 1992 Kim LaRose, 2004 U.S. Department of State, 2002). According to Harris Interactive (2002), 92% of college students own a computer and 93% access the Internet. Their online spending exceeds that of any other demographic group in the U.S. (ODonnell Associates, LLC, 2004). Roemer (2003) noted that U.S. college students online purchases came to $1.4 billion in 2002 following a 17% increase over the previous three years. In this vein, it is important for retailers and consumer educators to better understand college students online shopping behavior.Chaffey (2009), Age can affect levels of access to technology, computer literacy, and eventually, the extent to which individuals use the Internet as part of their shopping routines.Chaffey (2009), At the higher end of the educational spectrum (university and college graduate) the internet is considered as essential if not indispensible. However , the digital divide is persistent and internet access is lower in areas with poorer educational achievement and lower-income schools.dShare of persons who use the Internet at least one time a weekBy age groups 16-74 years of age, shares in percent. Year 2010Share of persons who ordered goods or services via the Internet durin g the last twelve monthsBy age groups 16-74 years of age, shares in percent. Year 2010. Orders made for private purposes2.5. Effectivenes onlineHowever, measuring marketing effectiveness poses numerous challenges due to the multitude of possible metrics for assessing effectiveness (Gray, 2006 ).The analysis of advertising channel effectiveness and consumerbehavior has emerged as a key concept in the marketing discipline for researchers andpractitioners because it bridges consumer behavior and marketing strategy (Woodruff,1997 Overby et al., 2004).The operational and management processes of e-marketingOnline and offline communications techniques for e-commerceThere are different marketing communicati

Plagiarism and the Internet :: Cheating School Education Essays

Plagiarism and the Internet Herman Melville once stated, But it is better to drop in originality than to succeed in imitation. (http//koti.mbnet.fi/neptunia/creativity/origin1.htm 5). Thousands of Americans would assert that Melville was a very wise author, and even more would attest that they too believe that cheating is rail at why is it then that over a century after his death, our society has pass even more intent on plagiarizing the works of others? Frankly, as succession has gone on, it has just become incredibly easy for people to plagiarize, especially now when ideas are so easily accessible on the internet. In swan to truly understand this unauthorized use of others hard work, it is important to explore the idea of plagiarism, laws concerning plagiarism, and this new overwhelming abundance of information on the web. Foremost, plagiary is the use of some other person or organization ideas, words, or creations without giving credit where it is d ue. Not only is plagiarism wrong, it is also on the rise. According to a study make in the Free Press in 1996, 58 percent of high school students admitted to having let another person copy their work in 1969, duration twenty years later, 98 percent let someone else copy their work (http//www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism_stats.html 4). There is very likely a direct correlation amidst this outrageous increase and the increase in the availability of information on the web. Many students may even be plagiarists without knowing it It is extremely easy to become lazy and forget to give credit where it is due by using citations in papers. Very often, students may also feel that they cannot word what an author has already said as well as it was said in the first place therefore, they choose to just use the original author words without quoting correctly, sometimes without giving the author any credit at all (http//www.umf.maine.edu/library/plagiarism/what_is.html 4). Plagiarism is j ust as huge of a problem in schools as it is in the real world. Not only is the act of plagiary ethically wrong it is also considered a very serious academic crime. Everyone knows that it is wrong to take away something from another person, but oftentimes people just don seem to want to lump plagiarism in the same category with other venomous acts.

Essay --

HeraclitusHeraclitus was born approximately at 540 B.C, He is unmatched of the aristocratic families of Ephesus, near Colophon. Heraclitus had a reputation as a deliberately obscure thinker. Heraclitus often referred as The Dark due to the darkness of his writings.Even though there is no equal to(predicate) English translation of the term Logos based on the writing, it can be seen that the logos was interpreted by Heraclitus as The word of God iodin in Oppositeness. Due to the fact that it is the controlling, magnificent force within nature, Heraclitus could simply classify it (Logos) as the mind of God. The funda mental dogma of Heraclituss methodicalness is the entirelyegation that there is a balanced structure of the solar system and that this structure establishes and maintain the stability of the universe. In order to understand what is Logos one should have a soul (Seeing, Hearing, Perception). It is said by Heraclitus that God is always better than men. Unity in Opposites could be interpreted as even though there are things which are the total opposites of each other, they are still able to unite in one unity. For example, Sea could be considered as cardinal things, Sea could be the most pure water for fishes, yet sea water could be the most polluted water for men. For fishes it is drinkable and sanitary, while for men it is undrinkable and deleterious. (Fr. 61)Moreover, looking further on Heraclitus Logos we can say that he thinks that antithesis/opposites make unity. For example, God is day night, winter summer, war peace, satiety hungriness (Fr. 67). In this writing, it is safe to say that Heraclitus considered fire as the most fundamental and important element in this world. Heraclitus strongly believes that fire is the most essential com... ...equilibrium is a place where everything is constantly changing. Hence, the idea of fire. Based on this paradigm now we could possibly understand why in the first place Heraclitus uses fire as the most suitable metaphor for the logos as fire never stays in one form, it is always changing. It is probably based on the resembling reason why Heraclitus likes the nature of river as the river is always changing, new water will continuously flows through replacing the old one, and it will remains the same(p) for a very long period, probably forever. Moreover, still in the coverage of the previous theory, Heraclitus expanded Anaximanders idea of the interaction of opposites. Heraclitus views that the animosity between all the opposites things in this world is actually universal it never end. In fact, animosity might be the reason behind why we could have justice and equilibrium.

An Inspector Calls Essay -- essays research papers

An Inspector CallsAlthough the contact an Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley, memorizes the form of a Whodunit, it gradually becomes clear that there is an underlying serious issue. The play examines social responsibility, with the birle family and Gerald Croft cosmos questioned about the suicide of Eva Smith.When the inspector arrives at the rotate estate uninvited he suspects the family of being some way involved in the events leading up to the death of Eva Smith. The Inspector describes Eva Smith as A young woman. A bit out of the ordinary As the story unfolded my feelings of sympathy for Eva grew stronger and stronger. This is surprising as she does not appear in the play and is in fact dead before the play begins.The Inspector starts his inquiry by questioning Mr. Birling who is the owner of a large company, which employs several cardinal young girls. Mr. Birling describes Eva who was one of his employees as a lively good-looking girl-country bred he continues to say that she had been working for the company for over a year and that she was an exquisite worker. Mr. Birling describes Eva and some of her work colleagues as being rather restless after the summer vacation this resulted in them demanding a pay rise of an make up from twenty- ii and six to twenty five shillings a week. Mr. Birling dismissed this completely, which resulted in the workers going on strike. Mr. Birling took action and sacked the ringleaders, Eva Smith being one of them. At this point I did not feel any sympathy for Eva as I felt she had brought these problems on herself. Mr. Birling was right to take the action, which he did. This was the start of a down ward spiral for Eva Smith.Evas fortunes changed, however, as in a couple of months she found herself a new employment at the large department store, Milwards. Eva was delighted with her new job which made her the happiest she had been in a long time. She was among pretty clothes. The Inspectors line of inquiry turned to Mr. Birlings daughter, Sheila. He wanted to try and establish her involvement in the death of Eva Smith. Sheila used Milwards store regularly. Sheila was out shopping for the perfect dress. After many a(prenominal) fruitless visits to other stores Sheila finally decided to try Milwards. She demanded to try a particular dress on, against her mothers advice. After trying it on she recognize to her horror that ... ...ney he had already given her was stolen and she did not want any more of his money. Mrs. Birling said this was terrible and a public example should be made of him.At this point Eric Birling walked in the door he looked around and said, You know, dont you? Eric then continues to explain that one night in the Palace bar he got talking to Eva, he then walked her home to her lodgings and after a fuss he went in with her. After two weeks they met up again. It was not planned but again they went home to her house. At their next meeting she told him she was pregnant. He supported her with money, which totalled about 50 pounds. When asked where he got this money, he explained that he had stolen it from his fathers office. Through out the play my feelings for Eva grew and by the end I really felt for her. The Birling family had contributed to Eva losing her two jobs, she had two failed relationships when beat like this you begin to see why she needed help and when this was refused you can begin to see why she wanted to end her life. I feel that the unharmed family contributed to her death, which makes me, feel great sympathy for Eva.

Never To Forget Essay -- essays research papers

Never To Forget-The meaning of the title Never To Forget is very significant to the story of the Holocaust. The title simply means to forget what we know would not be human. It is very important that we never forget the Five Million Jews that lost their homes, property, freedom, dignity, and finally, their lives. We must always remember what happened to the Jews. Every time someone thinks of saw or doing something to a fellow human being we must remember the Holocaust. We must never forget to insure this will never happen again. The keep back Never To Forget is Milton Meltzers true story of the Holocaust. It tells the story of when over Five Million Jewish peoples were massacred. The book has no characters. It only tells the straightforward write up of the Jewish Holocaust. Meltzer writes the story of the Holocaust from an interesting viewpoint. Because he is a young 15 year old American Jew, watching the events of the war from afar, he brings a passion to the delivery of the his torical information that makes it more engaging and powerful. The organization of the book into units according to chronology makes it easy to read as a whole, or a reader can use it to research a particular aspect of the Holocaust. The first unit is entitled History of Hatred. It describes the horrible conditions Jews had to endure prior to Hitlers Holocaust. Meltzer explains how Jews were enslaved by ...

Puritan Society In Hesters Life :: essays research papers

The Godly beliefs and penalisations followed by the prudes stemmed from their English experience and complete involvement in religion. The puritan nightspot molded itself and created a government based upon the Bible and implemented it with force. Hesters act of adultery was welcomed with rage and was qualified for serious punishment. Boston became more than involved in Hesters life after her crime was announced than it had ever been beforethe religious based, justice system formally punished her and society collectively tortured her. Based upon the religious, governmental, and social design of the society, Hesters entire existence revolved around her sin and the Puritan perception thereof this intimacy breaks way to society significantly becoming involved in her life.The importance of a social framework for the new society, where the Church would be all encompassing, highly-developed from the teachings of such religious reformers as John Wycliffe and John Calvin. The Church wo uld be directly involved in the running of the community and its regime. Enforcing such laws established by scripture read from the Bible, the government disciplined Hester for her committed sin. The Puritans considered the Bible as the true law of God that provided guidelines for church and government. They wished to shape the Church of England to play their ideals, emphasizing Bible reading, prayer, and preaching in worship services. They simplified the ritual of the sacraments and also wanted more personal and fewer prescribed prayers. The Puritans stressed grace, devotion, prayer, and introspection to achieve religious virtue while including a basic knowledge of unacceptable actions of the time.Obtaining virtue was expected to secure order and peace within the Puritan community. The Church officials, who played a direct role in the government, calculated the penalties for various sins. When sins arose, the government took the role as chief executive of corrective punishment and instituted castigation. Hester found herself very much a part of the local Church and governments heavy hand. Everyone was aware of her sinful act, for she was placed on a scaffold amidst the entire people for a painful viewing. The religious morals instilled in the Puritan society caused her much pain long after the commonplace humiliation. Permanently symbolized as a sinner, Hester was branded for life with a cloth letter worn on her bosom.For years after the letter was beginning revealed on the scaffold, Hester was associated with the sin and the scarlet letter. Because the Puritans contoured religion, social life, and government together, each member of the society was involved in the religion, social life, and governmenteverybody in Boston power saw the A on Hesters chest in the same light.