...Media: Mirror of Society Everywhere in the world, society keeps evolving and changing. The thoughts, mindsets, and ideas of cultures all over the world are constantly changing due to the influences of what they see. The media has always had a role in the construction of an individual’s body image and ideal self. In the article “How does the media influence our thoughts on body image?” Kayhan, Baig, Mehmi and Basra argue that during the early 20th century the ideal, beautiful woman was 5’4 tall and about 140 pounds with a small mid-section; yet, for some if not most women, in order to achieve a small waist they would be put into a Victorian hourglass corset, which shrunk the woman’s waist to a much smaller size, we still see these tactics used by today’s women. This issue isn’t only occurring in the United States, it is a worldwide problem that continues to grow. The media uses the social elite, such as athletes and actresses, to advertise products and goods; the use of these models can have significant outcomes, both negative and positive, on individuals in our society. The positive being that viewers of these magazines that advertise skinny models and fit athletes may be influenced to change their lifestyle from unhealthy to healthy. The negative being that viewer’s want to take the quickest and easiest ways in order to achieve results, which can lead to dangerous side effects and habits. So the question is, is it even worth it to try to look perfect if dangerous methods...
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...S. growth sluggish and Europe experiencing its own economic crisis, it is no wonder the “Asian giants” are attracting the interest of marketers.” White, S. (2012) The population growth that has occurred over the past couple decades has been dramatic not just in the U.S., but in several other countries as well. There are many forces that directly affect marketing strategies. Such forces are called micro and macro environmental forces. The economy is now being dominated by a youth-oriented market. The products and services that today's youth focuses on, varies greatly from past generations. With such technological advances that have been made, it's no wonder that the times have changed. The generation of today focuses on speed, convenience, and quality. Marketers of today understand that in order to attract the youth consumer market, they must offer them products and services that interest them. Such products and services should focus on technology, music, fashion, and other influential factors that are important to today's youth. The western style of consumption consists of increased sensitivity to economic class, meaning more money is being spent. For example, many young people today worry about having the newest smart phone or the most luxurious car. Image is everything. And because today's marketing strategies focus on advertising in ways that youth are familiar with, they make it easy to attract youth consumers. The China consumers tend to put emphasis on value...
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...Introduction and Research Questions Ethnography is a reality-focused research method that has become increasingly popular throughout the years. This type of research provides qualitative findings pertaining to consumers, lives, habits and practices by observing people in their everyday lives and in their everyday environments. According to Clifford Geertz, author of Interpretation of Cultures, observations and findings obtained from ethnographic research represent “webs of meaning”, in other words, in-depth understandings of individuals everyday life practices (Geertz, 1973). The research group chose to study behaviors and mannerisms particularly associated with subculture groups seen in gym environments. This topic of research was chosen not just because these subculture groups are unique, since they are only seen within a gym environment, but because fitness and health are very important and relevant topics to the current concerns society faces today such as, obesity. According to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association and Industry Insights, Inc (IHRSA), there were over 45 million Americans that belonged to a gym or health club in 2010 (IHRSA, 2010). However, obesity is a growing concern. Shockingly, there are major obesity concerns pertaining to the target demographic group, which is gym-goers between the ages of 18 to 39. The IHRSA found that the largest group of gym members are between the ages of 18 to 45 (IRHSA, 2010). Yet, key findings from...
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... the soda drink has brought numerous accolades and profits to its parent company, Coca Cola. Coke Zero is a low-calorie variation of Coca Cola made to have the “real Coke flavor” without any of the adverse ingredients (The Coca-Cola Company.com, n.d.). While Coke Zero had a rough beginning, the product has since boomed into one of the most successful beverages out of the Coke brands. Coke Zero currently markets under the Coca Cola Enterprises NYSE symbol (CCE) and the product is sold in 130 countries around the world with its strongest markets currently being North America and Europe. The beverage’s sales numbers have increased by double-digits every year since 2006 with no signs of slowing (McWilliams, 2010). According to the last two Coca Cola Company Form 10Ks, Coke Zero saw continued success with its sales increasing by 15 percent in 2010 and 11 percent in 2011. The company’s profit margin and market share has also increased through its newest soda beverage. Since 2005, Coca Cola Enterprise’s profit margin has held around sixty-percent, and its market share averaged about $3.00 per share with a spike above $5.00 in 2010. CCE’s cost structure primarily focuses on variable products such as syrup, artificial sweeteners, and metal for its cans, used to create Coke’s various beverages. When the company saw a spike in these variables in 2011, CCE incurred $800 million in incremental cost to keep production at a sustainable rate. Although Coke still has fixed costs, its...
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...goal is ‘to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete around the world’. Therefore, has continuously been putting our efforts to inspire people all around the globe to get fit and become the best athlete they can be. This Report will represent a number of facts and statistics regarding Nike and the sports industry. As the demand for technology and new innovations of products increases, it is Nikes duty to meet the needs and wants of their customers. Nikes mission with this report is to identify what their customers wants, what is missing in the market and how Nike can motivate and encourage everyone to become ‘the best athlete they can be’. This investigation will be carried out over the duration of one year before Nike releases a new product into the market. 2.0 Environmental Scan 2.1. Nikes Organisation In order to fully understand what Nikes customers want, Nike must first consider their strengths and weakness of the company. It is important to minimize the weakness and maximise the strengths and advantages of NIKE. Another aspect that Nike needs to consider is the opportunity and the threat that Nike is facing. (Appendix A for full table) (Nike Facts (SWOT) Strengths analysis, 2008, Randy Peterman, Reference 2) Nike main strength is its ‘Swoosh’ logo. This logo is recognisable in at least 160 countries worldwide. With the growing demand in technology Nike has the opportunity to expand their market and response to this demand. Although, Nike profits...
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...Rachel Hoffman and Sarah Gentil Ms. Wolverton English 1010 January 9, 2013 Body Brainwash? From the beginning civilizations all had their own ideas of the perfect body shape; this ideal image of the body has evolved throughout time, and continues to this day. In this essay we will discuss different aspects of what America specifically believes the ideal body image should be today. The different issues we will be discussing will involve: concerns with the body image, obesity, cosmetic surgery, compulsive exercise, masculinity and models. There are heated debates about whether these topics are negative or positive. Every part of the world has some kind of ideal body image and will go to certain extremes trying to achieve this perfect image. Probably the most known would be foot binding. Some historical records claim that foot binding began its origin in the Song Dynasty 960-1279 A.D.; the practice was outlawed in 1915 (Lim). Yet some continued in secret. At that time foot binding was a status symbol and the only way for a woman to be able to get married in a decent setting. There are a couple of survivors from this practice, Zhou Guizhen, 86, now regrets binding her feet, yet understands that she had no choice. No one would have married her and at the time that was what women were expected to do (Lim). On the other side of the world, Europe had their own opinion on what the ideal body image was. It wasn’t tiny feet, but tiny waists. In Dave Girdle’s site the author gives...
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...Repositioning Paper Abstract This paper will identify the marketing plan for repositioning a new product line being discussed at Nike, Inc. called Nike Adventures. Nike Adventures is an entire line made with kids and their families in mind to get them active and mobile. Introduction Obesity in children is starting to become headline news in the United States. Therefore, Nike has decided to incorporate the NikeGO Program with a line designed with primarily children in mind. This paper will examine the marketing segments being targeted for this new line. The goal is to ensure that the proper marketing strategies are initiated and that a strong market does exist to carry this line to its full growth potential. In this paper, marketing mix strategies, possible tax ramifications, elements of the consumer decision-making and post-purchase process are discussed, and a criteria and timetable for measuring the success of the repositioning strategy is developed. Discussion: What is Nike Adventures? Provided by the official website of NikeGO Program, the program and this new line of products called Nike Adventures have the same, simple mission: “Get kids moving and give them the means to do it. We've all seen the statistics - some very disturbing. No matter the causes -- school funding cuts, lack of phys-ed programs, shortage of facilities, computers and the Internet, or plain old apathy - the unvarnished truth is...
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...pounds, while the average American model is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds. Annually, magazine companies spend billions of dollars on diet and exercise advertisements to put in their magazines. Magazines sell body dissatisfaction to their readers through unrealistic images of women, as well as dieting and exercise information. Thirty years ago, Marilyn Monroe, a size 14, had the “ideal” body shape and size, but today’s standard is much smaller. As the beauty ideal continues to get smaller in our society, body image within American women continues to plummet. Magazines portray and compare happiness with being thin; therefore some feel if they are not thin, then they are not happy. As with women of all ages, many college-age women are believed to hold unrealistic ideals of body shape and size, ideals that can be both physically and emotionally unhealthy. Our study, focused on women who attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison that are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four. We wanted to identify the specific effects that the magazine portrayal of the “perfect” body has on college-age women’s body image and self-esteem. We hypothesized that this portrayal contributes to women having negative body images and self-esteem due to the reinforcement of body shapes and sizes in magazines that are unrealistic for most women to attain. In our study we defined body image as the subjective concept of one’s...
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...button, but is every country equal in its access to communication and media? Do all countries have access to television? Media imperialism will be discussed, media imperialism is loosely defined as a theory that suggests that smaller countries are losing their identity and culture due to the dominance of media from larger nations. Today we're not only receiving the word almost immediately, but there are also possibilities for live pictures and sound giving a feeling of presence almost virtually wherever it happens on the planet. The earlier seemingly logical relationship between space and time is moving apart, and distance is no longer an obstacle resulting in the world seeming smaller. In this article, media imperialism will be looked at in the television industry. We look at the world’s largest media giant Time Warner that recently announced its merger with Comcast making it a force to be reckon with a value of over $45 billion dollars. Then we look nationally at our very own media giant, MultiChoice, and its CEO of the holding company Naspers, Mr Koos Bekker. This media mogul has pathed the way for media in South Africa and we look at what made him so successful and how he manages such a powerful organisation such as Naspers. How does media imperialism effect the television industry? This question is discussed, and looked at in depth. The world is divided into first world countries, who produce media, and developing countries who pay a high price for being behind the...
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...and backgrounds. So what exactly defines the “perfect female?” Is it the girls featured on “Girls Gone Wild” in Cancun, or the half naked models posing for Victoria’s Secret? Or is it the perfectly put together “Miss America” pageant queens? Or is it the Hollywood actresses with billion dollar dresses, and priceless jewelry? Or the well toned, well defined professional team cheerleaders, and dancers we watch? WE, speaking for us “average” women, who often tend to idolize, and carry pieces of all these girls within us, and envy them, for not being able to ever look like one of them…so damn perfect in every single way. These women, among many others all contribute to the foundations, of media, public relations, and entertainment sectors. Women are usually seen as the sex symbol in the media world, and do whatever they have to do, to earn and keep their image, and title....
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...identify different aspects not only of ourselves, but the environment in which we work and live. It gives us insight as to how persuasion affects us as individuals as well as a group. It also helps to shed light as why some people judge others. Social psychology also helps us to understand how influences lead us to conform as well as become obedient. It also addresses the many dilemmas we face individually, as a group and in society. When we think of ourselves, we have a good idea about who we are as an individual. The person we are today has been influenced by everything we have learned throughout our lifetime. “Self-concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about or perceives themselves” (Mcleod, 2008). “Our feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and opinion of ourselves are a collection of things we know about our self” (Feenstra, 2013). I used to be a person that would worry and stress about things that were coming up or trying to figure out how I would get through the tough times, but I have learned to rely on friends, family and God. When I think back to the times that I would worry about everything that is an example of self-concept. I used to keep my thoughts and feeling to myself to avoid being judged. Our self-schema has to do with way we view ourselves. If I enjoy working out in a gym or at home, my schema would be to be fitness savvy. If I saw an advertisement about a class showing a new workout technique, I would associate it with a class I had taken...
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...STUDENTS’ CONSTRUCTION OF THE BODY IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Kinesiology by Laura Azzarito B.S., Universita’ di Scienze Motorie di Torino, Italy, 1994 M.S., University of Maryland, College Park, 2000 December 2004 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I’m very grateful to all the students and teachers who are the subjects of this work. I greatly appreciate their willingness to participate in this research and the time they dedicated to all of the interviews and member checks. I also thank the principals who gave me permission to conduct this study. I especially acknowledge and thank physical education teachers Celeste Alfred, for welcoming me to her school, and Vickie Braud for her great help in making contacts necessary to complete my data collection. Both Vickie and Celeste were wonderful throughout my research process, helping me to observe classes and arrange student interviews at the schools. I greatly appreciate all the suggestions, insights and comments of my committee members. Thank you to all of them: Dr. Kuttruff, my external committee member, for her interest in following the steps of my dissertation; Dr. Magill, for bringing a very challenging and valuable perspective to my research; Dr. Lee, for her deep knowledge and expertise in the field of physical education;...
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...Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence, Scientific and Technical Intelligenceand Geo-economics and their equivalent terms in other cultures. E.g. Intelligence Èconomique in France, Omvärldsanalys in Sweden or Konkurrenz-/Wettbewerbsforschung in Germany. This means that the journal has a managerial as well as an applied technical side (Information Systems), as these are now well integrated into real life Business Intelligence solutions. By focusing on business applications the journal do not compete directly with journals of Library Sciences or State/National or Military Intelligence studies. The journal do publish articles on Knowledge Management and Knowledge Transfer even though these are well developed areas with their own journals. JISIB occupies a niche. It currently caters to a defined group of scholars of some 400+ active individuals. It is supported by some estimated 5.000+ practitioners. It caters to specific conferences (ECIS,SIIE, VSST, SCIP, ITICTI, EBRF, ICI, ECKM, INOSA) where both academics and practitioners meet regularly. These conferences turn out some 300+ articles annually, of which some estimated 50+ can be considered potential full length scientific articles. JISIB will have 3 issues a year with about 5-10 articles in each. To strengthen the tie to practitioners a special independent Management Board of practitioners has been created, callled "Friends of JISIB". You can post research topics and discuss the journal at JISIB at Linkedin. Another place...
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...CHAPTER 3 SCANNING THE MARKETING ENVIRONMENT IT’S SHOW TIME! Don’t blink, because the world of entertainment is changing faster than anyone imagined possible. Online music, high-definition televisions, digital photography, computer-based media centers, and software for making movies are just some of the many products new to the entertainment industry. The revolution began with the combination of Apple’s iPod music player, which can store 10,000 songs in a device smaller than a deck of cards, and its iTunes Music Store, which sells more than 10,000,000 songs each month for just $.99 each. Other new forms of digital entertainment products include digital video recorders (DVRs), which record TV shows on hard drives instead of tape, and home entertainment “hubs,” which utilize wireless networks to link digital devices from around the home. Some experts even predict that there will probably be a version of iPod and iTunes for movies in the near future. Suddenly the music, television, photography, movie, and computer industries are converging. Musicians, recording companies, television networks, camera companies, movie studios, computer companies, retail stores, and consumers like you are part of a completely different entertainment marketplace. How did this happen? The marketing environment changed! First, consumers changed. They gradually made it clear that they prefer more convenient and customer-friendly approaches to purchasing music, television programming, movies, and photographs...
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...students, a popular topic in the public media, and a part of our everyday lives. Television shows such as Dr. Phil feature psychologists who provide personal advice to those with personal or family difficulties. Crime dramas such as CSI, Lie to Me, and others feature the work of forensic psychologists who use psychological principles to help solve crimes. And many people have direct knowledge about psychology because they have visited psychologists, for instance, school counselors, family therapists, and religious, marriage, or bereavement counselors. Because we are frequently exposed to the work of psychologists in our everyday lives, we all have an idea about what psychology is and what psychologists do. In many ways I am sure that your conceptions are correct. Psychologists do work in forensic fields, and they do provide counseling and therapy for people in distress. But there are hundreds of thousands of psychologists in the world, and most of them work in other places, doing work that you are probably not aware of. Most psychologists work in research laboratories, hospitals, and other field settings where they study the behavior of humans and animals. For instance, my colleagues in the Psychology Department at the University of Maryland study such diverse topics as anxiety in children, the interpretation of dreams, the effects of caffeine on thinking, how birds recognize each other, how praying mantises hear, how people from different cultures react differently in negotiation, and the...
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