Friday, September 6, 2019

History of East Saint Louis Essay Example for Free

History of East Saint Louis Essay East Saint Louis, Illinois is a very small city it has a total of 89 streets as of today. Around in the 1860’s the city used to be called Illinois town. It was the fourth largest city in the state of Illinois. People knew one place they could get a job was in this city. The name East Saint Louis came about because of the terrible reputation it had when it was known as Illinois town so they decided to rename it hoping to overcome all the challenges they were facing. Jobs started to vanish, riots broke out and blacks moving there was the cause of all this. Most of the blacks that lived there came from down South where living conditions couldn’t be much worst. If they had a chance to move their children they did. They didn’t want their children to experience the life of picking cotton as they had. The whites there were upset and weren’t going to let the blacks take their jobs. As time grew and more blacks start to come, the more jobs started to leave so as the jobs started to leave the Population started to decline meaning taxes were higher and cuts had to be made. One investor had in mind if he bought some vacant lots that he could make a little money on the side, because the federal government was going to provide funds for â€Å"turnkey housing† to be scattered throughout the city, so the empty property will be his quick get rich scheme. When the housing Authority began building Low-income housing, real-estates agents and developers made a lot of money building and selling houses in West Belleville. The whites started to flee once they started to build in their neighborhoods. As time as started to pass things started to get worst, Violence were people were hurt, Homes being broken into, people being robbed, and killed. The population in the 1960 was around 81,728, as of 2011 the population is 27,000, with an estimated 14,000 resident living in public housing that leaves the tax burden on the 13,000. Forty percent of the residents draw public aid. The blacks who are able are fleeing away from the city as well. This makes the population continue to drop. In 1972, James Williams was the town black first Mayor he defeated Charles Merritts even though Merritts had the support of the white Democrats. Thereafter Merritts was sentence to federal prison for taking kickbacks as president of School District 189 Board of Education and also for putting a contract out to kill Clyde C. Jordan, a great leader for the town who was a fellow school board member and publisher of the Crusader black weekly newspaper. In the present year we can see that nothing has changed. All the corruption of this town has been going on since the beginning of time. Nothing really has change, we might see a new promising building here and now but the wrong people still holds the key to the scene of this all. We as citizens of East St. Louis, IL hopefully one day get the courage to stand up for what’s right and not worry about the consequence we might endure. Change is good and the city of East Saint Louis needs a tremendous change and we as the people can and shall make that happen.

Ethical Theory, Business Practice and the Corporation Essay Example for Free

Ethical Theory, Business Practice and the Corporation Essay If I would be about to handle the situation of Speedy Motors, there are some things that I would consider first before making decision especially the crucial ones like this. I think it would be best to solve this problem by finding the equitable welfare for all the stakeholders of the company. Given there are only a few more time before the company shuts down, I would call for a meeting for all of the employees and workers of the company and explain to them the real situation of the company. Moreover, I would also stressed out that they would be receiving additional separation pay for the damages that will be done by the company regarding the short notice of shutting down of operation. I could also possible give them educational plans for their siblings and refer some of them to other close companies of Speedy Motors to enable them to find a job right away. With the said structure of giving information of the company as with the current situation of the operation, there is a big possibility that they would understand the urgency and need to shut down the operation. Although there is a lot of stakeholder that would surely be affected by the said shutting down of the operation of Speedy Motors, at least, the management did made efforts not to happen the worse for all of them. One of the stakeholders of the company would be the workers, of course. With the additional separation pay and other benefits, I think it would be enough to compensate the welfare loss of the workers. Aside from the workers, the community is also part of the stakeholders of the company especially those community that relies on the jobs that are being offered by the company to them. Well, for them, through referring the employees coming from these communities to other close companies of the Speedy Motors, then, in one way or another, the possible loss in the welfare of the community will now be compensated. The last but not the least part of the stakeholders of the company would be their stockholders. With the shutting down of the company, there is a possibility that these investors would earn less from their investments in the company which could pissed them and lost trust on the domestic companies and in order to prevent this kind of scenario, one possible way of compensating the losses of this investors would be to give additional dividend rate for them. The funds that will be used in this strategy are the funds that were produced from the liquidation of the fixed assets of the company like land, building and machineries. The reason why I come up with this kind of solutions would be for the primary reason that it is the responsibility of the company to put the right things into place since in the first place the management of Speedy Motors did made wrong for not disclosing to the stakeholders of the company the financial condition of the company on the right amount of time (O’Toole, 2005). Although competition is already a natural phenomenon in the market, still, the financial aspect of the company, which is an internal matter, should be disseminated to the stakeholders especially to the workers that rely most on their job to the company. One way of informing the workers or disseminating the information would be to release a memo to various department of the company stating the current status of the company and that the management did done its best to prevent the shutting down of the company but unfortunately it did not work out. As for the media, press release would be an effective ways of disclosing the information of the shutting down of the company. With the mass coverage of media, disseminating the said information would be now easier especially in tapping the community that relies on the company and also the loyal customers of the company. Aside from press release, another way by which the company would inform the community regarding the shutting down of the company would be through public announcements to be posted on locations that mostly visited by the members of the community. With this kind of strategy, the welfare of the stakeholders of the company is all considered and I do believe that the efforts of the company to somehow compensate the losses of the identified stakeholders are already enough.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Purchasing Habits

Impact of Celebrity Endorsement on Purchasing Habits To what extent does branding and celebrity endorsement affect consumer purchasing habits? The three brands you shall be focusing on are Benetton, Dove and Nike. However much one denies it, we are all consumers and our buying habits are undoubtedly influenced by advertising. In the last two decades, corporate marketing strategies have fully embraced the notion of branding as the material product begins to take a back seat and lifestyles, attitudes, values and experiences[1] are to be had in all good shops. Nike, Dove and Benetton have enjoyed massive success in harnessing the potent marketing device of cultural identification; consumers associate products with a rounded way of life, identify with the image a product offers and succumb to the adverts insistence that the product is necessary. In considering the extent to which branding affects consumer purchasing habits, the fundamental question of whether advertising can change behaviour, or just modifies established attitudes is further complicated by a semiotic problem. Roland Barthes suggested that words and signs are interpreted differently by each individual, and that the interpretation i s influenced by cultural understanding and conditioning. If so, then the many complex signs involved in creating a brand must fit artfully into a system of linguistic understanding; therefore begging the question, is culture affected by advertising or do established cultural boundaries govern advertising methods? The Nike brand has long represented rebellion and individual will. The Just Do It tagline, accompanied by images of celebrated sportspersons, went on to promote heightened performance and success, a notion of striving to compete and win. Despite controversies over their use of sweatshops, Nike escaped economic setbacks; the sport shoes they made in the sweatshops were not, after all, necessarily their defining image. Nike is a swoosh tick, performance athletes, fitness, health. After a brand-threat in the early 1990s, the marketing industry came to the following conclusion the products that will flourish in the future will be the ones presented not as commodities but as concepts: the brand as experience, as lifestyle[2], and this is exactly the approach taken by Nike that has kept the company close to the top of a very competitive market. In No Logo, Klein puts forward the suggestion that consumers dont truly believe theres a huge difference between products, which is why brands must establish emotional ties[3]. Nikes shoes are worn by athletes who perform amongst other athletes wearing Reebok, Adidas, Puma and in order to compete in a consumer market they must enter the consumers mind and find a unique way to stay there. Of late, the notion of individuality, revolution and victory have accompanied Nikes renowned air of rebelliousness; as with many modern campaigns, Nikes advertising targets consumers who are seeking to find individuality and respect in these sports goods. To further endorse the notion of the winning Nike lifestyle, Nikes website is exciting, flashy and aggressive; the advent of the internet has offered companies like Nike a fully-enhanced endorsement of their culturally apt product, and provides an arena is which advertising can become increasingly more involved in peoples everyday lives. This invasion of brands into our homes surely increases the opportunity for a product to become a necessity in consumers lives. Companies branding is about thirstily soaking up cultural ideas and iconography that their brands could reflect by projecting these ideas and images back on the culture as extensions of their brands[4], but the question still remains as to whether our established cultural understanding is created by or an obstruction to advertising. Remaining with the idea that a brand sells a lifestyle rather than a mere product, the recent change in direction with Doves (Unilever) endorsement of its skincare products is a particularly interesting event. It seems that Dove is to be congratulated on its Campaign for Real Beauty, which is a catalyst for activating Doves beauty philosophy and to announce a wider, more refreshing view on beauty[5], especially in a media climate that can still be criticised for its promotion of a very narrow definition of beauty. Whilst there is more harm than good in Doves campaign, it must not be forgotten that however moralistic a company may seem it still has profit as its central focus. To dismiss Dove as a product line that is using its consumers most sensitive issues to its advantage would be too partial an investigation when the very essence of a brand is in finding the most permanent method to win a consumers affections. Similarly to Nike, the Dove brand stands for the individual will to be; using their product will enhance your identity, help in your definition of a self that will fit in to the norms of society. Dove and Nike have both achieved the corporate transcendence [6] as outlined by Klein; in which a company transcends its product and becomes a free-standing meaning. The meanings implied in advertisements for branded products plumb the depths of our basic and universal needs and desires; their glossy images and suggestive language show us the way to be happy. Gain happiness through successful competition thanks to Nike, happiness brought on by the smooth skin and self-respect Dove can achieve whatever the route to happiness, a brand denies all barriers. The glossy adverts serve to influence our buying behaviour by offering an essentially better life. Celebrity endorsement of brands is part of the very construct of the brand itself. A product need only be associated with David Beckham and it’s representative of him; celebrities are established constructs with which consumers already identify and their use in advertising is a guarantee of the product’s quality. Celebrity is seen as the award for talent (be that physical or intellectual), so celebrity endorsement of products is certain to have an effect on consumer attitudes as the connection between the celebrity and a lifestyle already exist. In this sense, celebrities are respected members of society whose opinions are trusted; whilst a brand will fail if the product is particularly poor, even a mediocre brand will inevitably succeed if the right kind of celebrity (like Nike’s collection of experts; the famous athletes) to allow their lifestyle to be representative of a product. It is becoming clear that brands are invading society to the point where it is virtually impossible to tell the different between culture and branding. Sports are sponsored, entertainment is sponsored, the home is branded along with clothes, cosmetics and essential hygiene products; we form particular attitudes towards brands through various associations within life, through ‘brand advertising, word of mouth, peer influence, habits’[7]. Through all this, brands bombard us by positioning themselves within our life’s situations until they are ingrained as our cultural associations to activities and emotions. It comes to the point where, if brands have become ‘not products but ideas, attitudes, values and experiences, why can’t they be culture too?’[8] It is no longer possible to confidently say whether, in a branded world, consumers are capable of making autonomous purchasing choices. The case comes to United Colors of Benetton; so renowned for their controversial advertising campaign of birds covered in oil and new born babies. It was suggested that Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is impoverished by the company’s profit-driven morals, but Benetton’s shocking images and their intended interpretations take exploitation a big step further. Benetton’s campaign tried to ’associate the name of the retailer with concern for social problems’[9], therefore invoking a cultural conscience in consumers and almost certainly having a strong influence on consumer purchasing habits. In an exposed global society, consumers are beginning to deal with a guilty conscience about the imbalance of wealth and aid in the world and brands like Nike, Dove and Benetton offer a individual-centred quick-fix solution to that concern. The irony that we are spending the cash which is the source of our guilt surely does not escape us; we continue to searc h for brands that epitomise our sense of self, our morals, our personalities. Advertisements are specifically designed to win us over on these very basic grounds and, whilst it may seem a paradox, branding will continue to effect consumer habits so long as the consumer exists in an consumer-led society. References Barthes, R. Image Music Text. London: Fontana: 1984 Corner, J and Pels, D (eds.) Media and the Restyling of Politics: consumerism, celebrity, cynicism. London: SAGE: 2003 Day, N. Advertising Information or Manipulation? Enslow Publications: United Kingdom: 1999 Heath, R. The hidden power of adveritisng: how low involvement processing influences the way we choose brands. Henley-on-Thames: Admap Publications: 2001 Jones, J.P. What s in a name? Advertising and the concept of brands. Armonk, N.Y: M.E Sharpe: 2003 Klein, N. No Logo. London: Harper Collins: 2000 Myers, G. Adworlds: brands, media, audiences. London: Arnold: 1998 Myers, G. Words in Ads. London: Arnold: 1994 Tanaka, K. Advertising Language a pragmatic approach to advertising in Britain and Japan. London: Routledge: 1994 Vestergaard, T. and Schrà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚ ¸eder, K. The Language of Advertising. Oxford: Blackwell: 1986 www.benetton.com 04/05/05 www.dove.com 04/05/05 www.nike.com 04/05/04 1 Footnotes [1] No Logo p.30 [2] No Logo p.21 [3] as above p.20 [4] as above p.29 [5] www.dove.com [6] No Logo p.21 [7] What’s in a Name? p.235 [8] No Logo p.30 [9] Words in Ads p.10

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Acquiring Skills in a New Language Essay -- Communication, Writing Ski

Introduction A fundamental aspect of acquiring skills in a new language is the ability to communicate messages in writing. For a teacher of English as a second language, nurturing students to develop sound writing skills is crucial to the success of the student both as a learner of the language, and their skills communication skills in reading, speaking and even listening in English. The natural ability of native speakers to communicate in a given language does not automatically indicate proficiency in their writing skills, which must be acquired. The psycholinguist Eric Lenneberg noted that writing is a culturally specific and learned behaviour (Brown, H.D, p334). Consequently, writing skills are important to developing a student’s appreciation of Western culture and a student who does not acquire sound writing skills is deprived of many benefits of reading and communicating with the Western world. This essay will explore the key principles for developing writing skills for non-English speakers, and how these principles can be applied by a teacher of English writing skills in a classroom context. The essay will explore relevant literature and research in this area. Key Principles for Developing Writing Skills The ability to write and express oneself in a second language with accuracy and coherence is a complicated skill. As stated by Celce-Murcia, as many native speakers of English never master this skill (Celce-Murcia, M, p187). Mastery of English Fundamentals That good writing skills take time to develop is understandable since good written expression draws on many other aspects of one’s English abilities – including a good grasp of English grammar, accurate spelling, extensive vocabulary, unders... ... ability to read widely improves a learner`s writing skills. In designing classroom activities, a teacher could apply pedagogical practices that exercise a range of these skills. Joy Reid suggests the use of cooperative and group work that offer writers authentic audiences, the integration of language skills in class activities, and the use of relevant, authentic materials and tasks (Carter, R and Nunna D, (Eds), p32). Conclusion As Prabhu states, there is no best method to teaching English writing (Prabhu, N.S, p175) and a successful teacher is likely to use a combination of all these methodologies. In a classroom context, the best methods focus on the process of writing, the use of free expression in the framework of learned conventions and controlled expressions, and the teaching of culture simultaneous with the teaching of language skills and writing.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Essay example --

The Red Farm Power is a great tool, but like the hammer it can build and destroy civilizations. This is the theme and lesson that I learned from George Orwell’s classic novel, Animal Farm. It is believed, and can be notably seen in the past, that many great people, like Julius Cesar and Napoleon, become dangerous and corrupt under vast amounts of power. Both wanted to own the world and extend the wealth of their country but ended up evil in the eyes of many. In history there seems to be a pattern of people at the top, the kings and rulers, falling to their deaths. These type of situations usually happen because the "lower classes" becomes irrelevant and has nothing in their lives. They see the king with all this power and realize that power can bring them happiness as well. Yet Having so much power is not always a good thing. In George Orwell’s novel, Animal Farm, a scary depiction of life in what we can assume to be a corruption of Socialist Ideals, in other words the "Soviet Union", is played out. In the novel personification is used on farm animals. The animals can talk and communicate, think, and even have feeling towards each other as if they were human. In the novel, George Orwell created a character named Napoleon. He is a pig who emerges as the leader of Animal Farm after the rebellion, and in many ways he is has the characteristics of the Soviet Leader, Joseph Stalin. In the begging he seems to be a good leader; unfortunately like history as proven before, he is eventually overcome in greed and a desire for power. In real life this is how Joseph Stalin became, after suspecting many people in his empire to be followers of Trotsky he became a very evil man. In real life Lion Trotsky and Joseph Stalin where political ... ...apoleons farm with fake bank notes, this sparks a war and blood is shed all over. Many animals die but despite the loss, Napoleons farm wins. The war is once again blamed on Snowball. The last significant event that leads to Napoleon's complete communist control is the killing of Boxer. With Boxer out of the picture, Napoleon ruled the farm with his dogs by his side, and the farm was back to how it began, except instead of humans controlling, the pigs and dogs did. Power is a great tool, but like the hammer it can build and destroy civilizations. To me nothing summarizes this novel better. The novel has enlightened me on the history of Soviet Union and how it was created and ran as a country. Till I read this book i had never heard of Lion Trotsky. Over all George Orwell's classic novel, Animal Farm was a great book and I loved readying it.

Monday, September 2, 2019

Piracy of Digitized Music Essay -- Music Piracy, Digitized Music, MP3,

The music industry has developed in a series of technological advances, from the development of vinyl to the digitization of music and the creation of formats such as compact disc (CD), digital audiotape, and minidisk (Leyshon 2001). Although the digitized music facilitates consumers, it causes the appearance of piracy and the drop of sales. The subject of piracy has occurred for a certain period. Since 1920's, music piracy has appeared into the world with the production of cassette tapes, voice recorders, and CDs, which brought a new kind of event to court. Moreover, music piracy has become a worldwide issue due to the development of downloading music via the internet. Music piracy is something that affects the entire world record industry and is known incompletely by most of people. In accordance with the debates around music piracy, there are many different views on this issue. This paper will analyse the reasons that people pirate music and illustrate the impacts on the music industry. Additionally, it hopes to spread the exact knowledge about music piracy to audiences. Negative Effects According to the RIAA, the industry has to suffer losses by nearly $4.2 billion because of global music piracy. Firstly, pirates are the first to encounter losses due to the severe suppress from recording industry and law enforcement officers. Secondly, consumers also lose personal interests, because the costs of authorized music products will go up along with the Internet downloading of music with shortcut savings. Moreover, piracy could impact negatively on those retailers that give strong backing to their products, whose prices have no competitive power with that of piracy music provided by illegal vendors or free illegimate downloa... ... lot of retailers have gone out of business that is not for internet downloading. Many retailers cannot compete with the discounted prices or special offers record companies give to large established companies such as Best Buy, Walmart, Tower, and Target. As a result, piracy in music industry makes the long term album sale increase, access and exposure of out of print music and it influences the independent and other lesser known artists positively. Conclusion To summarise, piracy in music industry has occurred a long time since 1920’s, which could go via the production which can record and spread music, and internet. It will destroy both the music industry and anything that relies on the music industry; however, it has also caused a number of positive impacts on music industry that increase the sale of album and the popularity of artists and music companies.

Sunday, September 1, 2019

I Hate About You is a relocation of the Taming

The Taming of the Shrew relocated to high school? Gill Gunner's 10 Things I Hate About You is undoubtedly more complicated than a relocation of Shakespearean The Taming of the Shrew into high school. The transformation of Shakespearean comedy Into the teen' movie genre and the integration of Elizabethan values enable the film to be a successful relocation of the play, yet the Incorporation of modern gender conventions discerns it as something more than a relocation. The culmination of these facets produce a cinematic masterpiece that draws parallelism to Shrew In a feminist perspective.The transformation of Shrews comedic genre into the teen' genre in 10 Things facilitates its relocation into high school. In Shrew, comedy revolves around the physical violence upon Kate, deception, and a play on words. The sight of a ‘shrew' physically subdued by a man would have been humorous to an Elizabethan audience. Humor is also evident in Epithetic and Skate's verbal battle, where elabora te puns are constructed. Women are made to bear and so are you' (11. 1. 200). Here, Epithetic twists the word ‘bear' into meaning ‘giving childbirth', thus twisting Skate's Insults Into Innuendo. Influenced by the teen' genre and the rise of fearfulness. N 10 Things, comedy exists verbally and in stereotypical teenage experiences. Ms Perks attempt to describe an erotic scene in her novel is evidence of verbal humor, similar to Pediatrics use of puns. The concept of growing up is embodied in Cat's antisocial behavior. Described as a heinous blotch', her unfriendly manner Illustrates her inability to accept her adolescence, such as dating. This is emphasized in the party scene, where the childhood swings she is sitting on Juxtapose against the adolescent party house In the background. The modern adaptation also explores teenage dating. Dating forms the basis of comedy.Blanch feels the urge to date for the purpose of fitting in to teenage culture. In the words, ‘I'm t he only girl that doesn't date,' Bianca suggests that her motivation for dating is due to peer pressure. The influence of peer pressure is also apparent in other movies based on a teen genre, such as Grease (1978) and The Breakfast Club (1985). By appealing directly to teenage audiences through common experiences, Shakespearean comedy is relocated into high school. The integration of money and status as Elizabethan values into 10 Things contributes to It being a successful relocation of Shrew.In Shakespearean comedy, marriage Is an opportunity for the men to acquire wealth and Increase their social status. Pedicurist's motives for journeying to Pad are solely to marry the daughter of an affluent father to increase his own wealth and status, or as he expresses it, to Wives and thrive' (1. 11. 42). The simplicity of Petroleum's Intentions accentuates the ease to which It can be accomplished, and therefore suggests that marriage Is a game signed and played by the men. These values are incorporated into the teen' adaptation by alternating the setting into high school.By incorporating the teen' Shakespearean work, dating is a tool used to gain money and popularity. Cameron and Michaels plot to use Joey, a wealthy ‘Coco, to bribe Patrick to date Kate is evidence of this. While this increases Patriot's money and allows Cameron and Joey to date Bianca, it also enables Michael to be ‘cool by association' to popular people, thus increasing his status among the school hierarchy. In such, the men benefit while the omen become puppets in a male plot. The similarities between money and status in Shrew and 10 Things depict a parallel course to which both texts extend.The distinction in gender conventions between 10 Things and Shrew is crucial in demonstrating that the modern version is more complicated than a high school relocation of the play. In Elizabethan England, women were the property of their men and were expected to loyally serve them. This convention is adequately expressed in Shakespearean drama, culminating in Skate's ‘submission' speech. In such, the use of juxtaposition comparing women to men in the words, ‘l see our lances are but straws/ Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,' (V. I. 173-174) illustrates female submission to male superiority in a patriarchal society. In consideration of Skate's violent behavior, her acknowledgement of female servitude undermines her ‘shrewish' nature, and therefore demonstrates that she is tamed'. Elizabethan gender conventions are transformed to a more feminist and less sexist perspective in the movie, dictated by modern attitudes towards women. Women in 10 Things josses more control of themselves and exert greater influence, such as Banana's manipulation to induce her sister to date.Similar to Kate, Kate is a young independent woman who strongly supports feminism. In the words, Why should I live up to other people's expectations except for my own,' Kate demonstr ates she is uninfluenced from social oppression. In contrast to Pedicurist's use of physical violence of taming Kate, Patrick uses kindness to tame the wild beast' and socially conform her. The change in gender conventions while maintaining a similar characterization of Kate compels the elm to be a relocation of the play but in a more feminist outlook. 0 Things I Hate About You is a high school relocation of The Taming of the Shrew in a feminist viewpoint. The incorporation of the teen' movie genre and the values of money and status in the movie ensure the plays relocation into high school, while the change in gender conventions provides a more feminist perspective of the movie. The modern adaptation moves away from its misogynist basis and entertains a teenage audience by transforming aspects of Shakespearean drama into common adolescent experiences.