Essay on The most Beautiful Day of My Life Essays

Essay on The most Beautiful Day of My Life Essays Essay on The most Beautiful Day of My Life Essay Essay on The most Beautiful Day of My Life Essay Essay Topic: Life Is Beautiful I stepped out of the hotel, the big bright sun was upon us like bees with their honey. It was around 4 oclock in the evening and I was already tired. The teachers were explaining how the hike today was going to be the hardest. Listing to them, there was a bit of regret that started building from the pit of my stomach. What if I went to Strasbourg? Would it be easier? While my series of thoughts were flashing in my mind, I opened my black bag once again to check if I had brought everything that I needed. I was mentally checking my packing list as pools of students started filling outside the hotel. Ms. Shippey finally got our attention, she informed us that there is a 10-minute walk to Stromboli. I groaned internally and thought, â€Å"why couldnt we take a minibus or something!†. After the longest 10 minutes walk, my shirt had a big stain of sweat on the back, my forehead was dripping from sweat as if I decided to dump my entire water bottle on my head. I started to feel sticky, a great way to start a hike! We meet up with two tall men, wearing the same gear and with a pair of black hiking poles each. They were our guides, they talked to us about ways they were going to explain the geography of Stromboli. They were also strict that about every 25 minutes we would have a break, not before and not after. Listing to them at first made me feel at ease, but what came next is what causes the real shock. 5 minutes into the hike, I was done for. My legs started to feel like they weighed 1000 tons each and my throat was dry as the Sahara no matter how much water I drink. The hot sun was like my shadow, and sweat was like my second skin. I really started to regret coming to Sicily. My friends were walking ahead of me creating a cloud of ash behind them. The air quickly turned to be thick. I couldnt breathe from my nose anymore, it felt like I had stapled my nose about 100 times, no space for the oxygen to get in. I started breathing from the mouth, but it as useful as a white color pencil. 2 hours into the hike and I could finally breathe. We were about 500 meters up, the rocks now have changed. There were all shapes of rocks scattered everywhere, they had a pigmentation of either black or dark brown. The way to walk up was narrow, and every time I walked up a narrow lane I would hold my breath and pray to god that I survive. After about 2 hours we were finally on top of Stromboli. My skin now had a second layer of goosebumps, I hugged myself as I make my way up to the final destination. The hike already seemed to be worth it. The sun was still out, but this time it gave me warmth. The blue ocean was in the background, it looked so calm, almost making it dangerous. The sky was painted a baby blue and accompanying them were birds; spreading their wings and flying away. We were standing at a point where everything looked like a Picasso painting. The teachers asked us to hurry up, Mr. Ashworth said, â€Å"This is not even the best part yet!† A small walk and we were finally on top, looking down, we can see a beautiful cone made up of a dark brown rock; the volcano itself. Next to the volcano were two craters; they were like mini volcanoes. I was about to sit down, but a sound almost like a thunder stopped me. I looked towards the big volcanoes and the next thing I see is hot, red lava sprinkling out of the volcano, it looked like Jet dEau back home except it wasnt water, it was lava. After that eruption followed a numerous amount of others. The volcanoes were magical, seeing the eruptions felt like going to Disneyland for the first time when you were a kid. The volcanoes were surrounded by the still water and directly above is the light of a dazzling sun. I sat down on the thick layer of ash, that was warm due to the eruptions. All my regrets were gone, I felt like someone who went to a concert of their favorite band or singer. After a few more eruptions, there was a thick white gas that was making it way upon us. We all started coughing, the gas-filled my lungs trying to be the replica of oxygen. Soon we were given masks and it got much better. After spending an hour upon Stromboli, we were making our way down. The guides had asked us to wear our gaiters and they informed us that the hike down was going to be easy. I instantly fell into a peaceful state. We were going straight down digging our legs into the thick layer of brownish ash. We looked like kangaroos skipping and jumping our way down. The ash was like a mixture of sand and burnt paper mixed together. We quickly made our way down, sometimes taking a break to clear our hiking boots from volcanic ash. Today was the most beautiful day of my life, it was magical and surreal. Even though the volcanoes looked like mountains with no vegetation on them, they were still beautiful. They belonged there and so did everything surrounding. What I realized because of this hike is that I am never going to regret this hike.

6 Part Time Job Interview Strategies You Must Know

6 Part Time Job Interview Strategies You Must Know Not every job is going to be a lifelong career. If you’re applying for something seasonal, or you are seeking a part-time or freelance gig, the game is slightly different from the standard job interview. These strategies can help you sort out those differences and nail the interview. 1. Change up your mental timelineWith temporary (or contract) jobs, you don’t necessarily need to present yourself as the best long-term option for the company. So you’ll need to adjust your thinking. Instead of emphasizing your willingness to commit for a long time, make sure it’s clear that you’re in it to win it for the short term, or however long the employer is seeking.2. Understand what the employer is seekingIf the job description is at all vague, or you’re having trouble telling whether this is really a short-term position or a temp-to-hire thing, clarify the parameters with the interviewer. It’s better to be extra clear on expectations than to go down one interview path assuming one outcome when the company is hiring for another.3. Hit your skills hardIf you’re interviewing for a short-term position, it’s likely that the company is looking for someone with very specific skills rather than an overall package. Make sure your relevant hard skills are very clear on your resume, and that you play them up during the interview.4. Be flexibleMany contract or temporary roles require flexibility, so be sure to emphasize your ability to meet challenges with creative solutions on tough deadlines. Also, make sure to discuss with the interviewer whether there are specific scheduling issues that might fall outside of the normal 9-to-5 area, so that you’re prepared to schedule accordingly and let the interviewer know that you’re equipped to handle a nonstandard job.5. Be ready to move fastIt’s likely that a temporary or freelance position is opening up to meet a specific and immediate need. This is unlike full-time hiring, when the company often has the luxury of weeks to accept, review, and interview candidates. You should be ready to negotiate, evaluate, and accept or reject the job on a quick turnaround, if you receive an offer.6. Treat every job like a long-term opportunityYou may be interviewing for a position with a clear end date, but you never know what doors it might open (whether at the same company or in the same field). So while you’re emphasizing the short term, don’t dismiss the job as â€Å"one and done.† The interviewer will likely be able to tell if you’re not taking this seriously, and that could definitely affect your chances of getting the job. If nothing else, this will be a resume-booster and a chance to develop more skills and experience- so don’t underestimate it!If you’re looking for a short-term job to bolster your skills or just pay the bills while you pursue your passion career, you should do everything you can to make it happen. Whether it’s for six weeks, six months, or six decades, you want your qualifications to be front and center. One thing never changes, no matter what job you’re interviewing for: you’re there to make sure they know you’re the absolute best person to get this done.

Business strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business strategy - Essay Example It was established in April 1976 by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak. The company was previously known as Apple Computers for 30 years and in 2007, it was renamed as Apple Inc. to reflect the intended expansion of Apple in the field of entertainment technology. Apple's Innovation In a periodical it was stated about Apple, ‘†¦this is truly one of the most innovative companies on earth, one that has defied the odds and overcome amazing adversity.’ (DeMarzo) Apple has always provided its customers with unique products which are ahead of time because its engineers are product-oriented. They create even before the consumer realizes that he needs it. In this period of global recession when companies are laying off their employees and cutting back on its research, Apple is successfully moving forward through ‘...investing, inventing and innovating. Strategic Marketing Issues In an interview Steve Jobs once pointed out, â€Å"Some very good product people i nvent some very good products, and the company achieves a monopoly. But after that, the product people aren't the ones that drive the company forward anymore. It's the marketing guys or the ones who expand the business†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He explains that engineers of the company initiate an upward move by creating products but it’s the responsibility of the marketing personnel to keep the show running. It’s not just innovation and product development that defines the success of a product but it is important to understand how it is delivered to the customer. Very often, new inventions are not acceptable to the customers because they are not accustomed to the new product. (Kahney, 2002) Apple doesn’t advertise to reach out to its first customers but use it to help their first customers reach out to the rest. Apple’s marketing is so consumer-oriented that people buy their products even before seeing it. This happens when people market products for the consumers. An example of this is 250000 iPhone sales on the first day prove the success of their marketing strategy. Apple is, without doubt, the most successful consumer electronics company but it focuses primarily on business-to-consumer market. In my opinion, Apple should partner with other companies and also focus on business-to-business market. This will not only boost its profits but will also help them create more innovative products like they did when they partnered with Intel and HP. I believe that Apple has become a market leader of business-to-consumer market and now, it should also work towards becoming the market leader of business-to-business market. Strategy Trough the design and the development of its own operating system, hardware and many software application and technologies, Apple strives to bring to its customers compelling new products and solution with superior ease-of-use, seamless integration and innovative industrial design. Industry Analysis Above 100 million iPods h ave been sold already since 2006. On the contrary statistics show that game consoles sold in 2006 stood at 26 million, digital cameras at 94 million, mp3 players at 135 million with iPods commanding an 80% market share and PCS sold at 209 million. Mobile phones sold at 957 million. Apple’s iphone’s role would thus be to reach at least a 5% market share before 2012. They must be looking for 50 Million sales for this. It is a very fragmented market with new competitors emerging Pestle Analysis Political-Legal Forces Most of the laws surrounding the political

How computer technology can help the economy in China to improve lives Essay

How computer technology can help the economy in China to improve lives and standards of living - Essay Example The jobs that are being created in the China’s economy are low paying. The average monthly income of a Chinese manufacturing worker is $134 a month (Worldsalaries). The use of computers and information technology could help China and its people increase its standard of living. Technology allows for the creation of better paying jobs in the information technology field. This strategy is not limited to people that have a formal education in computer and information technology. The internet is a channel that human resource departments can use to hire employees in alternate work arrangements such as telecommuting. Telecommuting can be defined as the act of working from home rather than traveling back and forth to a workplace (Mass). Due to the terrain limitation of China which is about the same size as the United States, but with a population 22 times larger there is simply no more room to create jobs using traditional business models that require physical space. The Chinese econo my has to emphasize growth by expanding into the virtual economy. A country with a similar overpopulation problem that has taken advantage of information technology to achieve economic growth is India. Mass.gov. 2009. â€Å"Telecommuting† 8 December 2009.

Cathay Pacific Essay Example for Free

Cathay Pacific Essay HistoryIn 1946 two ex air force pilots Roy Farrell and Sydney de Kantzow founded Cathay Pacific in Hong Kong. Both of them contributed HK$1 so that their new found airline could be registered. Even though at first it was based in Shanghai, both founders shifted to Hong Kong where they established Cathay Pacific. According to Gavin (1988) 1960 was a good and prosperous year for the airline as they bought their rivals Hong Kong Airways. By 1964 it had more then a million customers. The and by 1967 they were unlimited customers. In the same era it also bought its first jet engined aircraft. It was the Convair 880. It seemed as if here was success after success because soon after buying the new aircraft they introduced their international flights. Cathay Pacific seemed to be soaring high as in 1999; a new head office was established in Hong Kong International Airport. They called it the Cathay City. Till today Cathay Pacific holds his head up high when it comes to quality service and success in the airline industry (Ashok 2003 p110)Part 2SuccessCathays success has based on her wide-range of service all around the world especially in Asia, and modern management orientation and employees from over ten countries. In every country their service is considered as quality service as they always make the customers journey pleasant one. The reason why Cathaywas so successful is that it has always believed in quality customer care and new strategies. They know what those successful in the past may not make them successful again as the world keeps changing. They believe that is their employees and human resource which make them successful. Their success lies in the airlines corporate philosophy which is service straight from the heart and determination for constant improvement (Chan 2000 p473). They believe that they have to deliver the best service and fulfil all the requirements of the passengers so that they have a pleasant journey Part 3 Company StructureLike in most organizations here too top management, technical support staff , middle management, administrative  support staff and technical core are interrelated and serve more then one function.(Daft 2007 p27) The company structure of Cathay Pacific is not a complex one. The head of the organization is the chairperson this case it is Chris Pratt he joined the company in 1978. Then is the Tony Tyler the executive director. He directly reports to the chairpersonAll heads of the all the departments report reports directly to both the chair person and the executive director. John Slosar is the Chief Operating Officer he is the head of the most important department which is the operations departmentAfter the operations department the next important department is the Corporate Development department. The head of this department is Ian Shiu,The next important department is the Finance department. The director of this department is James E. Hughes-HallettThe next most important department is the Flight Operations department Nick Rhodes is the director of this department. The next most important department is the Sales and Marketing Department. James Barrington is the head of this Department. The next most important department is the Personnel department. The head of this department is William Chau. The next most important department is the Information Management department. Edward Nicol is the head of this department. The next important department is the Cargo Department. Rupert Hogg is the director of this department. Another important department is the corporate Affairs department. Quince Chong is the head of this department. Yet another important department is the service delivery department Ivan Chu is the head of this department. Last but not least is eth engraining department. The head of this department  is Christopher Gibbs References Ashok Ranchhod (2003); CIM Coursebooks 2002-2003 Diploma Case Study Book: Analysis and Decision (CIM Workbooks 2003/04) Butterworth-Heinemann; Revised edition p110Chan D (2000); Air wars in Asia: competitive and collaborative strategies and tactics in action Journal of Management Development , Vol 19 : 6 Pp473 488Daft, B.L. (2007); Organisation Theory and Design, 9th. Ed., South-Western p27Gavin Young (1988) ;Beyond Lion Rock: The Story of Cathay Pacific Airways Hutchinson Radius.

Mrs. Mallards Character in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Essay

Socrates, a Greek philosopher once said: "Each one must know himself." Unfortunately, most of us are not aware of our true character. Social conventions are the main cause making us repress what we really think and feel. Only when unexpected events happen, we do have an opportunity to take a close look at our hidden "self.""The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin reflects the dramatic development process of Mrs.Mallard's character through the death of her husband; it demonstrates that the true identity cannot be sheltered forever. At the beginning of the story, the author describes Mrs.Mallard as a woman having the distinctive trait of self-assertion which is constrained by her marriage. She seems to be the "victim" of an overbearing but occasionally loving husband. Being told o...

Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 5

Peter, Cody, and Hugh already had a table when I arrived at the Cellar. Tawny sat with them, much to my dismay. I'd completely forgotten about my apprentice. At least she didn't have Niphon in tow. I hoped that meant she'd finally bagged a guy, though her lack of a post-sex succubus glow suggested otherwise. Neither Carter nor Jerome had deigned to show. I recalled that Jerome was out of town and figured the angel was out with his colleagues. They could all still be at my apartment for all I knew. â€Å"Hey,† Cody called in greeting, making room for me beside him. â€Å"I thought you said you were busy.† â€Å"Yeah, well, plans change,† I grumbled. I gestured to Hugh. â€Å"Got a cigarette?† He tsked me. â€Å"No smoking in public places anymore, sweetie.† Groaning, I flagged down a waitress. Smoking was an ugly habit I'd given up for the sake of the mortals around me. Still, after smoking for over a century, I found I craved the occasional hit during stressful times. The city smoking ban was good for Seattle but damned inconvenient for me and my bad mood. Cody couldn't let my vague answer go. â€Å"How'd your plans change? Weren't you and Seth going out?† Hugh laughed when I didn't answer. â€Å"Uh-oh, trouble in paradise.† â€Å"He had things to do,† I replied stiffly. â€Å"Things or people?† asked Peter. â€Å"Didn't you give him the go-ahead to sleep around if he wanted?† â€Å"He's not doing that.† â€Å"Tell yourself that if it makes you feel better,† teased Hugh. â€Å"No one can write as much as he claims to.† Since my friends apparently had no lives of their own, I had to endure a number of other pokes and jibes. They probably didn't mean to do any real damage, but their words hurt anyway. Seth had already upset me enough without their help. Anger simmered within me, and I tried to channel it into my rate of gimlet consumption rather than my friends. The only person who looked more miserable than me was Tawny. She wore a strapless red dress, almost identical in cut to the satin sheath I still had on from the ballet. Unlike mine, hers was made of spandex – what was it with her and that fabric anyway? – and about six inches shorter. Mine also fit. â€Å"Why so glum?† I asked, hoping the others would find someone else to obsess on. Her lower lip trembled, either from sadness or an inability to hold its own massive collagen-filled weight. â€Å"I still haven't, you know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  It was enough to allay my own distress. It also meant Niphon was still in town, as I'd suspected upon seeing her. â€Å"How? How is that possible?† She shrugged and leaned forward wretchedly, her elbows resting on knees that were spread open guy-style. With grace like that, no wonder she couldn't get laid. I waved my hand around us. â€Å"Well, go out there, young succubus. This place is a buffet. Grab a plate and take your pick.† â€Å"Oh, yeah, like it's that easy.† â€Å"It is that easy. You might not be up to scoring a priest or anything, but you can definitely get some sort of fix.† â€Å"Maybe you can. I don't†¦I don't really know what to say to them.† I honestly couldn't believe this conversation was happening. It was weirder than me trying to convince Dante I was a succubus. Maddie had trouble talking to guys too, but a giant, crazily proportioned blonde throwing herself at men could get someone to sleep with her. It was a basic law of the universe. â€Å"Well†¦if you really don't know what to say, just try going up and asking them if they want to have sex. Crass, but it'll probably work for someone.† She scoffed. â€Å"Right. That's all there is to it.† â€Å"That is all there is to it,† I said. Hugh returned from the bathroom, and I glanced over at him. â€Å"You want to go have sex?† He didn't even blink. â€Å"Sure. Let me pay my bill.† I turned back to Tawny. â€Å"See?† â€Å"Wait,† said Hugh, one hand on his coat. â€Å"Was that a joke?† â€Å"You were an instructive example,† Peter explained. â€Å"Fuck.† Tawny shook her head, tousled blond curls fluttering. â€Å"I can't do that.† â€Å"Oh my God.† I resisted rubbing my eyes, lest I muss the makeup. â€Å"Tawny, this isn't rocket science.† â€Å"Weren't you telling us how hard it was to do your job, back when your incubus buddy was around?† asked Peter. My friend Bastien's recent visit had elicited a veritable cheerleading squad of admirers for him and what my male friends deemed â€Å"the hardest job ever.† â€Å"Shut up,† I snapped. â€Å"You're ruining my mentoring.† â€Å"I don't want a bad one,† Tawny said petulantly. â€Å"I want to corrupt a good one. One that'll give me lots of energy.† â€Å"Start small. Don't worry about the good ones when you probably can't even pick them out in the first place.† â€Å"How do you find one?† â€Å"It's an art. One you'll learn. I'm telling you, though, just start small.† I did give her a few pointers, recalling my alleged role as mentor. We studied some of the men in the bar, spotting wedding rings and one bachelor party. A guy about to get married was a really nice hit. I also advised on demeanor, how a quiet man was often (but certainly not always) a better bet than a loud, obnoxious one – if you were going for good ones. Of course, serial killers tended to be quiet too. Really, it came down to reading people, which wasn't a skill she could learn overnight. Keeping this in mind, I tried to reiterate how she should just try easy fixes for now. â€Å"I really like how you've got the entire male population pegged,† said Peter when I'd finished lecturing. â€Å"I'm glad you don't believe in stereotyping or anything.† I shrugged. â€Å"I've been doing this for a while.† â€Å"Okay, prove it,† said Hugh. He and I were at about equal levels of intoxication now. â€Å"Find three decent souls in here.† I grinned. Imps could gauge the strength and goodness of a person's soul with a glance. Accepting the challenge, I scanned for a long time. When I picked my three, he shook his head. â€Å"You got two out of three. The two that are right are really good. The one you got wrong is pretty bad. At least you're dealing in extremes.† Tawny moaned. â€Å"You see? This is hard.† â€Å"For Christ's sake,† I exclaimed, finishing another gimlet. â€Å"It's not. Not in the rookie leagues you're playing in. Look, you want a tip? Go get a job that gives you easy access.† â€Å"I am not going to go stand on a corner,† she said huffily. â€Å"Then go†¦I don't know. Go to Hugh's date auction.† The imp glared at me. â€Å"Or go work at a strip club. It's about the easiest thing a succubus can do. Hang out at the bar after your number, and they'll come to you. A stripper's a hot commodity, particularly when a lot of those guys'll think you're a prostitute anyway.† â€Å"I don't know. It still sounds degrading.† â€Å"You're going to be fucking to sustain your existence for the rest of eternity! Get off your high horse. You wait much longer, and your first-one's-free energy stash will dry up. Stripping's easy. And fun. And you get to wear pretty costumes. Trust me, it's a good racket.† â€Å"I guess,† she said at last. She exhaled heavily, the motion pushing her breasts out even further than usual. â€Å"Georgina's a pro,† said Hugh, reaching over to give her a comforting pat. Considering he really wasn't a warm and fuzzy kind of guy, I suspected he just wanted to brush her breasts. â€Å"Or so I hear. I guess I'll never find out.† He gave me a bitter glance. â€Å"If that's true,† Tawny said, â€Å"then how come her own boyfriend blew her off?† The guys let out a collective â€Å"ooh† and glanced eagerly between the two of us, apparently in anticipation of the catfight they'd long predicted. All of my earlier fury resurfaced, fueled now by alcohol and Tawny's incompetence. Grabbing my glass, I strode up to the bar to get a refill in person. Hanging out with my friends was rapidly losing its charm. A newbie succubus didn't have any right to mock me about my dating difficulties, particularly when she couldn't land one guy. I could have landed a dozen if I'd wanted to tonight. At the same time. And, glancing over beside me, I realized I might very well have an easy score right here. The guy from the bookstore, the one with the fetish books, stood at the bar, talking to the bartender. He didn't appear to be with a group. Hastily, I turned away so he wouldn't recognize me. After I got my drink, I set it on my friends' table and retreated to the bathroom without another word to them. I'd had to use bathrooms as shape-shifting hideouts for years, but there was nothing to be done for it in these situations. Inside a stall, I changed into a long, graceful body with flowing gold hair – not unlike some of the ballerinas I'd seen tonight. I'd show Tawny how to do blond right. Walking back out, I caught Cody's eye. My friends could recognize me in any shape, of course, and he gave me a puzzled look as I strode back to the bar. Standing beside the guy from the bookstore again, I ordered another drink. This time, he turned and caught sight of me. I smiled. â€Å"That any good?† I asked, nodding to the red concoction he was drinking. â€Å"I guess.† He lifted up the glass and peered at it. â€Å"It's a pomegranate cosmo. I think. Kind of girly, honestly – no offense.† â€Å"None taken.† The bartender slid my whiskey on the rocks to me. The guy beside me laughed. â€Å"I suddenly feel emasculated,† he said. I grinned and extended my hand, speaking the first name that came to mind. â€Å"I'm Clara.† â€Å"Jude.† â€Å"Hey, Jude.† He sighed. â€Å"Sorry,† I said. â€Å"Couldn't resist.† â€Å"You and everyone else.† â€Å"You here alone?† I asked. He looked embarrassed and absentmindedly rubbed the empty finger his wedding ring had been on the last time I saw him. â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"Me too.† He looked me over, attempting covertness and not doing a good job. â€Å"I find that hard to believe.† â€Å"Well†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I looked down at my drink, playing with its edge. â€Å"It's kind of a long story†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And slowly, skillfully, I crafted a tale about how I'd come here to meet a guy and how he'd stood me up. He was supposed to go to a sex club with me, though I didn't come right out and say that immediately. That would have been too much for someone like Jude, someone who was intrigued but still nervous about the whole idea of exotic sexuality. So, I spoke vaguely at first, using innuendoes, hinting at my own interest in exhibitionism, how I just wanted to go see what a place like that was all about. As I concluded, I used the same line he'd used in the bookstore. â€Å"I feel like such a pervert. Honestly†¦I don't know why I'm telling you this. I don't even know you. It's just†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I looked up at him with big blue eyes. â€Å"You're easy to talk to.† A long silence followed as Jude held my gaze. â€Å"I don't think†¦I don't think there's anything wrong with what you're saying†¦what you want†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Snick! I started reeling in the line. â€Å"Really?† â€Å"Yeah†¦I mean, sometimes†¦I've kind of†¦you know, wanted†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Really?† He nodded. I allowed a five-second hesitation. â€Å"You want to go with me? Just to, you know, watch?† After a bit of rumination, Jude agreed. Unsurprisingly, he didn't know where any sex clubs were in the city. Also unsurprisingly, I did. I didn't even look back at my friends as Jude and I left the bar. I hadn't clocked it or anything, but I was pretty sure my solicitation had been accomplished in record time. That'd teach the gang to question my pro status. The club we went to was one I'd visited a number of times before. I'd been to better ones in my day, but I liked this one simply because of its name: Insolence. Establishments that catered to sex and fetishism all operated in different ways. In places where everyone expected to participate – like swingers' clubs – admission was strictly regulated. Single girls always got into places like that, and couples usually only had a few requirements. Single guys had a harder time. In a place like Insolence that was focused primarily on watching, admission was more lax. We simply had to pay our cover, and we were in. Mine was still cheaper, though. The place was packed and had a dance club kind of feel. Techno music pulsed through the darkened room, the only illumination coming from recessed lights that shone blue and purple. Most of this light focused down on roped off areas that were reserved for those who wanted to â€Å"perform.† They were like small stages that the club-goers could gather around. Some of the stages were themed – one with a doctor's office and operating table setup – while most were couches and beds. There appeared to be no system about who could use them. It was a first-come, first-served system, and since about half the platforms were empty, there didn't seem to be too much urgency. But the spectators eagerly crowded around those areas that were occupied, people craning their necks to get a better view. â€Å"There sure are a lot of guys here,† Jude told me as we pressed our way through the people. â€Å"It's the way of the world,† I told him. â€Å"You think guys are more interested in this stuff than women?† â€Å"To a certain extent, yeah. Guys tend to be more visual, so stuff like this is about as good as it gets. Plenty of girls are into it too – just harder to get them to come out to something like this.† I promptly shut up, immediately realizing I sounded a bit too knowledgeable for a shy novice. We finally made our way up to the edge of a roped-off area. There, we watched a man thrusting eagerly into a woman bent over an elegantly set dining room table. Jude and I studied them for a while, neither of us saying a word. We then moved on to the next couple, a man and woman going at it on an ordinary bed. She wore a shiny leather bustier and hiked-up skirt. After the third couple – pressed up against a wall – Jude finally spoke. â€Å"These people aren't what I expected.† â€Å"How so?† I asked. â€Å"They just look†¦ordinary.† I laughed. â€Å"Because they are. What'd you expect, porn star couples coming in off the streets?† â€Å"Well, no.† I suspected he was blushing in the darkness. â€Å"Everyone's entitled to do what's sexy to them. And really, when you see how they're getting into it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  My gaze drifted to the couple going at it against the wall. Their eye contact was so powerful, so intense†¦you could totally see how much they aroused each other. I shivered. â€Å"Yeah, this is all sexy, even if it's not airbrushed. This is real. That's what gives it its edge.† He didn't answer but glanced around as though he was reassessing it all. As he did, I studied his profile. He wasn't quite six-foot, but he had a nice upper body and neatly styled, sandy blond hair. He turned toward me, sensing my scrutiny. â€Å"You know,† I said, â€Å"if you're so concerned about raising the bar around here†¦well, we're pretty attractive.† He didn't get it at first. â€Å"Yeah, I suppose we – oh. Oh.† His brown eyes went wide. I looked back at the wall couple. â€Å"We're already here. We could really give these people something to watch.† His eyes grew wider still, like they might pop out. â€Å"I†¦I couldn't. I mean. God. Not in front of all these people. And what if someone I know is here†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I doubt it. Besides, what are they going to do? If they tell anyone, they'd have to acknowledge that they were here too.† I caught hold of his hand. â€Å"Come on, I know you're interested.† â€Å"Yeah,† he admitted. â€Å"But I've never†¦I don't think I could†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I tugged him toward one of the stages. â€Å"You gotta start sometime. It's easy.† Jude looked terrified but let me drag him. â€Å"You act like you've done this before. I thought it was all new.† â€Å"It is.† â€Å"You sure? Maybe you just play innocent and then seduce random men into crazy sexual acts.† I scoffed. â€Å"That's ridiculous.† We'd barely ducked under the stage's ropes when a mob suddenly swarmed around us. I doubted this had as much to do with us in particular – yet – as it did the fact that we were a new couple. Ah, variety. The spice of life. Jude still looked terrified, but I didn't have the patience for his hesitancy anymore. The performer in me had clicked on. All those people were waiting and watching, and I had to deliver. One of our props was a chaise lounge covered in white velvet that glowed blue under the lights. White, I decided, probably hid certain stains better than other colors. â€Å"Come on,† I said, pushing Jude toward the chaise. â€Å"Lie down.† He did, but still looked panicked. â€Å"Clara – â€Å" â€Å"You're already here,† I said sharply. â€Å"What are you going to do? You going to slink off in front of all these people? You didn't strike me as a coward when I first met you.† I'd become someone else now, someone commanding and terrifying. He shook his head. I climbed onto the chaise with him, straddling his hips with my legs. The lack of energy within me suddenly burned and ached, and I didn't want to be gentle. Leaning down, I kissed him hard, my teeth scraping his lips as I thrust my tongue into his mouth. He let out a small sound of surprise that was lost in the kiss. Meanwhile, my hands were already frantically unfastening the buttons of his shirt. I think I ripped one of them off. Jude lay there limply, still in shock. It didn't matter to me, though, so long as he didn't fight me. And from the feel of him underneath my hips, not all of him was limp. I ran my fingers down his chest, digging my nails into the flesh there. A kindly part of me wondered how he'd explain scratch marks to his wife. The rest of me didn't care. I'd given â€Å"Clara† a black tank top and gray skirt – simple but sexy. I yanked the top off over my head, shaking my hair out afterwards like a golden veil. I contemplated taking off the black lace bra underneath but decided to leave it on. My mouth moved down from his lips, traveling to his neck and chest, pausing to tease one of his nipples. Then I kept going, down to the edge of his khakis. While there, I undid his belt and unfastened his pants in one swift motion. I pushed them and his underwear down to his knees, just enough to give me access to the erection underneath. I took it into my mouth, letting its long shaft glide into me, almost to the back of my throat. He gasped, a noise echoed by some of the appreciative spectators. I felt the early twinges of his life force. It twinkled like starlight, seeping into me. As it did, I got a taste of his thoughts and emotions, as well as his strength and character. When I'd gleaned enough of his energy to assess its quality, I almost laughed. This wasn't the first time he'd done anything like this with a strange woman. He'd actually done it twice before. He was still shy about it all, but some of his innocence had been faked, a lure for dominant women like me. Hugh had been right – I couldn't always gauge a soul. But, infidelity still didn't sit right with Jude, so he had enough goodness and life force to fill the void that the dream had left inside me. My mouth moved with more urgency, sucking and teasing. He groaned as my lips slid back and forth. His back arched, and I pulled away, fearing this might end right now if I wasn't careful. Climbing off him, I stood up and pulled my skirt off, letting it fall in a crumpled pile on the floor. Jude looked at me with pleading eyes, not proactive yet, but definitely wanting more. An ornate wooden chair stood near the chaise. I moved over to it and knelt on its cushioned seat, pressing my breasts up against its carved slats. I peered back at Jude over my shoulder. â€Å"Showtime,† I said. I expected hesitation or reluctance, but Jude had apparently overcome his initial reticence. Good. I didn't want to feel like I was raping him or anything. He clambered off the chaise and walked over to me. I had pushed his pants to his knees earlier, and now he finished the job, kicking the khakis off. Positioning himself behind me, he ran his hands along the sides of my hips, letting his fingers slide along the edges of the black panties I still wore. I shifted, pressing my ass up closer to him. He sighed. â€Å"You are so sexy.† â€Å"I know,† I told him impatiently. He pulled the panties down, letting them rest near my knees. I ground against him even more and felt him push into me, the penetration forceful and deep. Gripping my hips, he began moving in and out, shoving me into the chair's hard back with each thrust. I moaned loudly, but whether it was for his benefit or the crowd's, I couldn't say. And speaking of the crowd, I was now literally in a position to look at them, at the faces and eyes all directed toward me. I'd shed most of my self-consciousness over the years, and God only knew this wasn't the first time I'd had sex in public. Sometimes, I appreciated privacy, but tonight I loved being the center of attention. Maybe it was simply my longing for more life energy. I would have taken it under any conditions right now. Whatever the cause, I found myself getting turned on by making eye contact with different guys in the audience while Jude continued pumping away at me. As I'd noted earlier, eye contact was a powerful thing. It took you away from the realm of superficial study and moved you into something deeper and more intimate. I favored the guys watching me with a heavy, sultry look – the look of a woman being fucked within an inch of her life and who wanted nothing more than to do it with them next. It thrilled me to think of all the men I was arousing, of all of them aching for sex – of all of them aching for me. In meeting the gazes of my admirers, I almost forgot that it was Jude who was behind me. It could be any of these men, and their expressions clearly showed that they'd be happy to trade places with him. I looked from face to face, imagining what each man would feel like, how each one would fuck differently. The thrill of it was so arousing that my wandering mind soon fantasized about having more than one at the same time. One in back, one in front†¦ One of Jude's hands gripped my hair and jerked my head back while the other hand still steadied itself on my hip. The rough maneuver pulled me out of my daydreams, but I was so turned on now that I welcomed his aggression. He thrust harder, driving me painfully into the chair, and I hoped it wouldn't fall over. The sweetness of his life energy coming into me continued building, and I felt his thoughts stream into me as well. So good, so good, so good. And it was good. The voyeurs around us and him fucking me on my knees had aroused me to dizzying heights. The whole act was dirty and exciting and thrilling. â€Å"So good, so good,† I cried, echoing his thoughts. â€Å"Don't stop, don't stop, don't – oh.† Talk about irony. The trick I'd used on Bryce or Bruce or whatever his name was had worked here too. Only, I hadn't actually wanted it to end this time. Maybe this was Jude's normal style – short and sweet – and not actually my doing. Regardless, it was done, and I hadn't even come. Damn it. But I'd gotten my energy fix, a burst of life and wonder that had exploded into me with his orgasm. Ecstasy or no, he'd felt a pang of guilt at the last minute, regret over this continued desire to cheat on his wife. That guilt had been a bonus for me. Sin was subjective, and often, the magnitude of a sin was in the eye of the beholder. I'd gotten him to sin – which Hell always liked and gave me bonus points for – and I'd cracked his morals, giving me more energy than I would have stolen if he were completely corrupt. I felt that life reinvigorate my essence, fueling my immortality and ability to shape-shift. He pulled out. I stood up from the chair, catching his hand as he started to stagger. A few people whistled and clapped. Jude wore a look of wonder – and exhaustion. I handed him his pants. â€Å"Wow,† he gasped. â€Å"That was†¦wow.† â€Å"Yeah,† I said with a grin. â€Å"I know.†

Impact of Advertisement

Advertising From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the form of communication. For other uses, see Advertiser (disambiguation). â€Å"Adverts† redirects here. For the English punk band, see The Adverts. For content guidelines on the use of advertising in Wikipedia articles, see Wikipedia:Spam. For a proposal on advertising about Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Advertisements. A Coca-Cola advertisement from the 1890s Marketing| Key concepts| Product marketing * Pricing * Distribution * Service * Retail * Brand management * Account-based marketing * Ethics * Effectiveness * Research * Segmentation * Strategy * Activation * Management * Dominance * Marketing operations| Promotional contents| * Advertising * Branding * Underwriting spot * Direct marketing * Personal sales * Product placement * Publicity * Sales promotion * Sex in advertising * Loyalty marketing * Mobile marketing * Premiums * Prizes| Promotional media| Printing * Publicatio n * Broadcasting * Out-of-home advertising * Internet * Point of sale * Merchandise * Digital marketing * In-game advertising * Product demonstration * Word-of-mouth * Brand ambassador * Drip marketing * Visual merchandising| * v * t * e| Advertising is a form of communication for marketing and used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group) to continue or take some new action.Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common. In Latin, ad vertere means â€Å"to turn the mind toward. † [1] The purpose of advertising may also be to reassure employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful. Advertising messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various traditional media; including mass media such as newspaper, magazines, television commercial, radio advertisement, outdoor advertisin g or direct mail; or new media such as blogs, websites or text messages.Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through â€Å"branding,† which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate certain qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers. Non-commercial advertisers who spend money to advertise items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental agencies. Nonprofit organizations may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as a public service announcement (PSA).Modern advertising was created with the innovative techniques introduced with tobacco advertising in the 1920s, most significantly with the campaigns of Edward Bernays, which is often considered the founder of modern, Madison Avenue advertising. [1][2][3] In 2010, spending on advertising was estimated at $142. 5 billion in the United States and $467 billion worldwide [4] Internationally, the largest (â€Å"big four†) advertising conglomerates are Interpublic, Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP. [citation needed] Contents * 1 History * 1. 19th century * 1. 2 20th century * 1. 2. 1 On the radio from the 1920s * 1. 2. 2 Public service advertising in WW2 * 1. 2. 3 Commercial television in the 1950s * 1. 2. 4 Media diversification in the 1960s * 1. 2. 5 Cable tv from the 1980s * 1. 2. 6 On the internet from the 1990s * 2 Advertising theory * 2. 1 Hierarchy of effects model * 2. 2 Marketing mix * 3 Types of advertising * 4 Sales promotions * 5 Media and advertising approaches * 5. 1 Rise in new media * 5. Niche marketing * 5. 3 Crowdsourcing * 5. 4 Global advertising * 5. 5 Foreign public messaging * 5. 6 Diversification * 5. 7 New technology * 5. 8 Advertising education * 6 Criticisms * 7 Regulation * 8 Advertising research * 9 Semiotics * 10 Gender effects in the processing of advertising * 11 See also * 12 Notes * 13 Reference s * 14 External links| History Edo period advertising flyer from 1806 for a traditional medicine called Kinseitan Egyptians used papyrus to make sales messages and wall posters.Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Arabia. Lost and found advertising on papyrus was common in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of Asia, Africa, and South America. The tradition of wall painting can be traced back to Indian rock art paintings that date back to 4000 BC. [5] History tells us that Out-of-home advertising and billboards are the oldest forms of advertising.As the towns and cities of the Middle Ages began to grow, and the general populace was unable to read, signs that today would say cobbler, miller, tailor or blacksmith would use an image associated with their trade such as a boot, a suit, a hat, a clock, a diamond, a horse shoe, a candle or even a bag of flour. Fruits and vegetables were sold in the city square from the backs of carts and wagons and their proprietors used street callers (town criers) to announce their whereabouts for the convenience of the customers.As education became an apparent need and reading, as well as printing, developed advertising expanded to include handbills. [citation needed] In the 18th century[when? ] advertisements started to appear in weekly newspapers in England. These early print advertisements were used mainly to promote books and newspapers, which became increasingly affordable with advances in the printing press; and medicines, which were increasingly sought after as disease ravaged Europe. However, false advertising and so-called â€Å"quack† advertisements became a problem, which ushered in the regulation of advertising content. 9th century An 1895 advertisement for a weight gain product. As the economy expanded during the 19th century, advertising grew alongside. In the United States, the success of this advertising format eventually led to the growth of mail-order advertising. In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse was the first to include paid advertising in its pages, allowing it to lower its price, extend its readership and increase its profitability and the formula was soon copied by all titles. Around 1840, Volney B.Palmer established the roots of the modern day advertising agency in Philadelphia. In 1842 Palmer bought large amounts of space in various newspapers at a discounted rate then resold the space at higher rates to advertisers. The actual ad – the copy, layout, and artwork – was still prepared by the company wishing to advertise; in effect, Palmer was a space broker. The situation changed in the late 19th century when the advertising agency of N. W. Ayer & Son was founded. Ayer and Son offered to plan, create, and execute complete advertising campaigns for i ts customers.By 1900 the advertising agency had become the focal point of creative planning, and advertising was firmly established as a profession. [6] Around the same time, in France, Charles-Louis Havas extended the services of his news agency, Havas to include advertisement brokerage, making it the first French group to organize. At first, agencies were brokers for advertisement space in newspapers. N. W. Ayer & Son was the first full-service agency to assume responsibility for advertising content. N. W. Ayer opened in 1869, and was located in Philadelphia. [6] 20th centuryA print advertisement for the 1913 issue of the Encyclop? dia Britannica At the turn of the century, there were few career choices for women in business; however, advertising was one of the few. Since women were responsible for most of the purchasing done in their household, advertisers and agencies recognized the value of women's insight during the creative process. In fact, the first American advertising to use a sexual sell was created by a woman – for a soap product. Although tame by today's standards,[citation needed] the advertisement featured a couple with the message â€Å"The skin you love to touch†. 7][non-primary source needed] Modern advertising was created with the innovative techniques used in tobacco advertising beginning in the 1920s, most significantly with the campaigns of Edward Bernays, which is often considered as the founder of modern, Madison Avenue advertising. [1][2][3] The tobacco industries was one of the firsts to make use of mass production, with the introduction of the Bonsack machine to roll cigarettes. The Bonsack machine allowed the production of cigarettes for a mass markets, and the tobacco industry needed to match such an increase in supply with the creation of a demand from the masses through advertising. 8] On the radio from the 1920s Advertisement for a live radio broadcast, sponsored by a milk company and published in the Los Angeles Times on May 6, 1930 In the early 1920s, the first radio stations were established by radio equipment manufacturers and retailers who offered programs in order to sell more radios to consumers. As time passed, many non-profit organizations followed suit in setting up their own radio stations, and included: schools, clubs and civic groups. [9] Advertisements of hotels in Pichilemu, Chile from 1935.When the practice of sponsoring programs was popularised, each individual radio program was usually sponsored by a single business in exchange for a brief mention of the business' name at the beginning and end of the sponsored shows. However, radio station owners soon realised they could earn more money by selling sponsorship rights in small time allocations to multiple businesses throughout their radio station's broadcasts, rather than selling the sponsorship rights to single businesses per show. Public service advertising in WW2The advertising techniques used to promote commercial goods a nd services can be used to inform, educate and motivate the public about non-commercial issues, such as HIV/AIDS[citation needed], political ideology, energy conservation and deforestation. Advertising, in its non-commercial guise, is a powerful educational tool capable of reaching and motivating large audiences. â€Å"Advertising justifies its existence when used in the public interest—it is much too powerful a tool to use solely for commercial purposes. Attributed to Howard Gossage by David Ogilvy. Public service advertising, non-commercial advertising, public interest advertising, cause marketing, and social marketing are different terms for (or aspects of) the use of sophisticated advertising and marketing communications techniques (generally associated with commercial enterprise) on behalf of non-commercial, public interest issues and initiatives.In the United States, the granting of television and radio licenses by the FCC is contingent upon the station broadcasting a certain amount of public service advertising. To meet these requirements, many broadcast stations in America air the bulk of their required public service announcements during the late night or early morning when the smallest percentage of viewers are watching, leaving more day and prime time commercial slots available for high-paying advertisers.Public service advertising reached its height during World Wars I and II under the direction of more than one government. During WWII President Roosevelt commissioned the creation of The War Advertising Council (now known as the Ad Council) which is the nation's largest developer of PSA campaigns on behalf of government agencies and non-profit organizations, including the longest-running PSA campaign, Smokey Bear. [citation needed] Commercial television in the 1950s This practice was carried over to commercial television in the late 1940s and early 1950s.A fierce battle was fought between those seeking to commercialise the radio and people who argued that the radio spectrum should be considered a part of the commons – to be used only non-commercially and for the public good. The United Kingdom pursued a public funding model for the BBC, originally a private company, the British Broadcasting Company, but incorporated as a public body by Royal Charter in 1927. In Canada, advocates like Graham Spry were likewise able to persuade the federal government to adopt a public funding model, creating the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.However, in the United States, the capitalist model prevailed with the passage of the Communications Act of 1934 which created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). [9] However, the U. S. Congress did require commercial broadcasting companies to operate in the â€Å"public interest, convenience, and necessity†. [10] Public broadcasting now exists in the United States due to the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act which led to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Publi c Radio (NPR).In the early 1950s, the DuMont Television Network began the modern practice of selling advertisement time to multiple sponsors. Previously, DuMont had trouble finding sponsors for many of their programs and compensated by selling smaller blocks of advertising time to several businesses. This eventually became the standard for the commercial television industry in the United States. However, it was still a common practice to have single sponsor shows, such as The United States Steel Hour.In some instances the sponsors exercised great control over the content of the show—up to and including having one's advertising agency actually writing the show. The single sponsor model is much less prevalent now, a notable exception being the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Media diversification in the 1960s In the 1960s, campaigns featuring heavy spending in different mass media channels became more prominent. For example, the Esso gasoline company spent hundreds of millions of dollar s on a brand awareness campaign built around the simple and alliterative[11] theme Put a Tiger in Your Tank. 12] Psychologist Ernest Dichter[13] and DDB Worldwide copywriter Sandy Sulcer[14] learned that motorists desired both power and play while driving, and chose the tiger as an easy–to–remember symbol to communicate those feelings. The North American and later European campaign featured extensive television and radio and magazine ads, including photos with tiger tails supposedly emerging from car gas tanks, promotional events featuring real tigers, billboards, and in Europe station pump hoses â€Å"wrapped in tiger stripes† as well as pop music songs. 12] Tiger imagery can still be seen on the pumps of successor firm ExxonMobil. Cable tv from the 1980s The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the introduction of cable television and particularly MTV. Pioneering the concept of the music video, MTV ushered in a new type of advertising: the consumer tunes in for the advertising message, rather than it being a by-product or afterthought. As cable and satellite television became increasingly prevalent, specialty channels emerged, including channels entirely devoted to advertising, such as QVC, Home Shopping Network, and ShopTV Canada.On the internet from the 1990s Main article: Internet marketing With the advent of the ad server, marketing through the Internet opened new frontiers for advertisers and contributed to the â€Å"dot-com† boom of the 1990s. Entire corporations operated solely on advertising revenue, offering everything from coupons to free Internet access. At the turn of the 21st century, a number of websites including the search engine Google, started a change in online advertising by emphasizing contextually relevant, unobtrusive ads intended to help, rather than inundate, users.This has led to a plethora of similar efforts and an increasing trend of interactive advertising. The share of advertising spending relative to GDP h as changed little across large changes in media. For example, in the US in 1925, the main advertising media were newspapers, magazines, signs on streetcars, and outdoor posters. Advertising spending as a share of GDP was about 2. 9 percent. By 1998, television and radio had become major advertising media. Nonetheless, advertising spending as a share of GDP was slightly lower—about 2. percent. [15] A recent advertising innovation is â€Å"guerrilla marketing†, which involves unusual approaches such as staged encounters in public places, giveaways of products such as cars that are covered with brand messages, and interactive advertising where the viewer can respond to become part of the advertising message. Guerrilla advertising is becoming increasingly more popular with a lot of companies. This type of advertising is unpredictable and innovative, which causes consumers to buy the product or idea.This reflects an increasing trend of interactive and â€Å"embedded† ads, such as via product placement, having consumers vote through text messages, and various innovations utilizing social network services such as Facebook or Twitter. [citation needed] Advertising theory Hierarchy of effects model | This section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter. Please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information. August 2012) | * Hierarchy of effects model[16] It clarifies the objectives of an advertising campaign and for each individual advertisement. The model suggests that there are six steps a consumer or a business buyer moves through when making a purchase. The steps are: 1. Awareness 2. Knowledge 3. Liking 4. Preference 5. Conviction 6. Purchase * Means-End Theory This approach suggests that an advertisement should contain a message or means that leads the consumer to a desired end state. Leverage Points It is designed to move the consumer from understandi ng a product's benefits to linking those benefits with personal values. * Verbal and Visual Images The political economy of advertisement is the theory that a few powerful groups, or ‘knowledge monopolies,’ control the thoughts, behaviors, and actions of the public through mass media as communication. As a form of communication, advertisement uses repeated verbal and visual images to develop and alter society.Over time, these repeated images and symbols become associated with either positive or negative attributes and can modify the public’s evaluation of such cultural objects as people, religions, ethnic groups, and societal roles. Thus, the media forms the beliefs and values of the public through media portrayals. The messages of the ((political economy)) commonly correlate with current economic interests. [17] Marketing mix | This section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter.Please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information. (August 2012) | Main article: Marketing mix The marketing mix has been the key concept to advertising. The marketing mix was suggested by professor E. Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s. The marketing mix consists of four basic elements called the four P’s. Product is the first P representing the actual product. Price represents the process of determining the value of a product. Place represents the variables of getting the product to the consumer like distribution channels, market coverage and movement organization.The last P stands for Promotion which is the process of reaching the target market and convincing them to go out and buy the product. [citation needed] Types of advertising An advertisement for a diner. Such signs are common on storefronts. Paying people to hold signs is one of the oldest forms of advertising, as with this human billboard pictured above A bus with an advertisement for GAP in Singapore. Bus es and other vehicles are popular media for advertisers. A DBAG Class 101 with UNICEF ads at Ingolstadt main railway station Virtually any medium can be used for advertising.Commercial advertising media can include wall paintings, billboards, street furniture components, printed flyers and rack cards, radio, cinema and television adverts, web banners, mobile telephone screens, shopping carts, web popups, skywriting, bus stop benches, human billboards and forehead advertising, magazines, newspapers, town criers, sides of buses, banners attached to or sides of airplanes (â€Å"logojets†), in-flight advertisements on seatback tray tables or overhead storage bins, taxicab doors, roof mounts and passenger screens, musical stage shows, subway platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers, doors of bathroom stalls, stickers on apples in supermarkets, shopping cart handles (grabertising), the opening section of streaming audio and video, posters, and the backs of event ti ckets and supermarket receipts. Any place an â€Å"identified† sponsor pays to deliver their message through a medium is advertising. Television advertising / Music in advertising The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising format, as is reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial airtime during popular TV events. The annual Super Bowl football game in the United States is known as the most prominent advertising event on television.The average cost of a single thirty-second TV spot during this game has reached US$3. 5 million (as of 2012). Some television commercials feature a song or jingle that listeners soon relate to the product. Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular television programming through computer graphics. It is typically inserted into otherwise blank backdrops[18] or used to replace local billboards that are not relevant to the remote broadcast audience. [19] More controversially, virtual billboards may be inserted into the background[20] where none exist in real-life. This technique is especially used in televised sporting events. [21][22] Virtual product placement is also possible. 23][24] Infomercials An infomercial is a long-format television commercial, typically five minutes or longer. The word â€Å"infomercial† is a portmanteau of the words â€Å"information† ; â€Å"commercial†. The main objective in an infomercial is to create an impulse purchase, so that the consumer sees the presentation and then immediately buys the product through the advertised toll-free telephone number or website. Infomercials describe, display, and often demonstrate products and their features, and commonly have testimonials from consumers and industry professionals. Radio advertising Radio advertising is a form of advertising via the medium of radio.Radio advertisements are broadcast as radio waves to the air from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a re ceiving device. Airtime is purchased from a station or network in exchange for airing the commercials. While radio has the limitation of being restricted to sound, proponents of radio advertising often cite this as an advantage. Radio is an expanding medium that can be found not only on air, but also online. According to Arbitron, radio has approximately 241. 6 million weekly listeners, or more than 93 percent of the U. S. population. Online advertising Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers. Online ads are delivered by an ad server.Examples of online advertising include contextual ads that appear on search engine results pages, banner ads, in text ads, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, online classified advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam. Product placements Covert advertising, also known as guerrilla advert ising, is when a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and media. For example, in a film, the main character can use an item or other of a definite brand, as in the movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise's character John Anderton owns a phone with the Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner, or his watch engraved with the Bulgari logo. Another example of advertising in film is in I, Robot, where main character played by Will Smith mentions his Converse shoes several times, calling them â€Å"classics,† because the film is set far in the future.I, Robot and Spaceballs also showcase futuristic cars with the Audi and Mercedes-Benz logos clearly displayed on the front of the vehicles. Cadillac chose to advertise in the movie The Matrix Reloaded, which as a result contained many scenes in which Cadillac cars were used. Similarly, product placement for Omega Watches, Ford, VAIO, BMW and Aston Martin cars are featured in recent James Bond films, most notably Casino Roy ale. In â€Å"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer†, the main transport vehicle shows a large Dodge logo on the front. Blade Runner includes some of the most obvious product placement; the whole film stops to show a Coca-Cola billboard. Press advertisingPress advertising describes advertising in a printed medium such as a newspaper, magazine, or trade journal. This encompasses everything from media with a very broad readership base, such as a major national newspaper or magazine, to more narrowly targeted media such as local newspapers and trade journals on very specialized topics. A form of press advertising is classified advertising, which allows private individuals or companies to purchase a small, narrowly targeted ad for a low fee advertising a product or service. Another form of press advertising is the Display Ad, which is a larger ad (can include art) that typically run in an article section of a newspaper.Billboard advertising Billboards are large structures loc ated in public places which display advertisements to passing pedestrians and motorists. Most often, they are located on main roads with a large amount of passing motor and pedestrian traffic; however, they can be placed in any location with large amounts of viewers, such as on mass transit vehicles and in stations, in shopping malls or office buildings, and in stadiums. The RedEye newspaper advertised to its target market at North Avenue Beach with a sailboat billboard on Lake Michigan. Mobile billboard advertising Mobile billboards are generally vehicle mounted billboards or digital screens.These can be on dedicated vehicles built solely for carrying advertisements along routes preselected by clients, they can also be specially equipped cargo trucks or, in some cases, large banners strewn from planes. The billboards are often lighted; some being backlit, and others employing spotlights. Some billboard displays are static, while others change; for example, continuously or periodica lly rotating among a set of advertisements. Mobile displays are used for various situations in metropolitan areas throughout the world, including: Target advertising, One-day, and long-term campaigns, Conventions, Sporting events, Store openings and similar promotional events, and Big advertisements from smaller companies. In-store advertising In-store advertising is any advertisement placed in a retail store.It includes placement of a product in visible locations in a store, such as at eye level, at the ends of aisles and near checkout counters (aka POP—Point Of Purchase display), eye-catching displays promoting a specific product, and advertisements in such places as shopping carts and in-store video displays. Coffee cup advertising Coffee cup advertising is any advertisement placed upon a coffee cup that is distributed out of an office, cafe, or drive-through coffee shop. This form of advertising was first popularized in Australia, and has begun growing in popularity in th e United States, India, and parts of the Middle East. [citation needed] Street advertising This type of advertising first came to prominence in the UK by Street Advertising Services to create outdoor advertising on street furniture and pavements.Working with products such as Reverse Graffiti, air dancer's and 3D pavement advertising, the media became an affordable and effective tool for getting brand messages out into public spaces. [citation needed] Sheltered Outdoor Advertising This type of advertising opens the possibility of combining outdoor with indoor advertisement by placing large mobile, structures (tents) in public places on temporary bases. The large outer advertising space exerts a strong pull on the observer, the product is promoted indoor, where the creative decor can intensify the impression. Celebrity branding This type of advertising focuses upon using celebrity power, fame, money, popularity to gain recognition for their products and promote specific stores or prod ucts.Advertisers often advertise their products, for example, when celebrities share their favorite products or wear clothes by specific brands or designers. Celebrities are often involved in advertising campaigns such as television or print adverts to advertise specific or general products. The use of celebrities to endorse a brand can have its downsides, however. One mistake by a celebrity can be detrimental to the public relations of a brand. For example, following his performance of eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, swimmer Michael Phelps' contract with Kellogg's was terminated, as Kellogg's did not want to associate with him after he was photographed smoking marijuana.Celebrities such as Britney Spears have advertised for multiple products including Pepsi, Candies from Kohl's, Twister, NASCAR, Toyota and many more. Sales promotions Sales promotions are another way to advertise. Sales promotions are double purposed because they are used to gather inf ormation about what type of customers you draw in and where they are, and to jumpstart sales. Sales promotions include things like contests and games, sweepstakes, product giveaways, samples coupons, loyalty programs, and discounts. The ultimate goal of sales promotions is to stimulate potential customers to action. [25] Media and advertising approaches | This section may contain original research.Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. (April 2012) | | This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2012)| Increasingly, other media are overtaking many of the â€Å"traditional† media such as television, radio and newspaper because of a shift toward consumer's usage of the Internet for news and music as well as devices like digital video recorders (DVRs) such as TiVo. [26] Digital signage is poised to become a major mass media because of its ability to reach larger au diences for less money. Digital signage also offer the unique ability to see the target audience where they are reached by the medium.Technological advances have also made it possible to control the message on digital signage with much precision, enabling the messages to be relevant to the target audience at any given time and location which in turn, gets more response from the advertising. Digital signage is being successfully employed in supermarkets. [27] Another successful use of digital signage is in hospitality locations such as restaurants. [28] and malls. [29] Advertising on the World Wide Web is a recent phenomenon. Prices of Web-based advertising space are dependent on the â€Å"relevance† of the surrounding web content and the traffic that the website receives. Reasons for online display advertising: Display ads generate awareness quickly.Unlike search, which requires someone to be aware of a need, display advertising can drive awareness of something new and withou t previous knowledge. Display works well for direct response. Display is not only used for generating awareness, it’s used for direct response campaigns that link to a landing page with a clear ‘call to action’. E-mail advertising is another recent phenomenon. Unsolicited bulk E-mail advertising is known as â€Å"e-mail spam†. Spam has been a problem for e-mail users for many years. A new form of advertising that is growing rapidly is social network advertising. It is online advertising with a focus on social networking sites.This is a relatively immature market, but it has shown a lot of promise as advertisers are able to take advantage of the demographic information the user has provided to the social networking site. Friendertising is a more precise advertising term in which people are able to direct advertisements toward others directly using social network service. [citation needed] As the mobile phone became a new mass media in 1998 when the first pa id downloadable content appeared on mobile phones in Finland, it was only a matter of time until mobile advertising followed, also first launched in Finland in 2000. By 2007 the value of mobile advertising had reached $2. 2 billion and providers such as Admob delivered billions of mobile ads. citation needed] More advanced mobile ads include banner ads, coupons, Multimedia Messaging Service picture and video messages, advergames and various engagement marketing campaigns. A particular feature driving mobile ads is the 2D Barcode, which replaces the need to do any typing of web addresses, and uses the camera feature of modern phones to gain immediate access to web content. 83 percent of Japanese mobile phone users already are active users of 2D barcodes. [citation needed] Some companies have proposed placing messages or corporate logos on the side of booster rockets and the International Space Station. [citation needed] Unpaid advertising (also called â€Å"publicity advertisingâ₠¬ ), can provide good exposure at minimal cost.Personal recommendations (â€Å"bring a friend†, â€Å"sell it†), spreading buzz, or achieving the feat of equating a brand with a common noun (in the United States, â€Å"Xerox† = â€Å"photocopier†, â€Å"Kleenex† = tissue, â€Å"Vaseline† = petroleum jelly, â€Å"Hoover† = vacuum cleaner, and â€Å"Band-Aid† = adhesive bandage) — these can be seen as the pinnacle of any advertising campaign. However, some companies oppose the use of their brand name to label an object. Equating a brand with a common noun also risks turning that brand into a genericized trademark – turning it into a generic term which means that its legal protection as a trademark is lost. From time to time, The CW Television Network airs short programming breaks called â€Å"Content Wraps,† to advertise one company's product during an entire commercial break.The CW pioneered â€Å"content wraps† and some products featured were Herbal Essences, Crest, Guitar Hero II, CoverGirl, and recently Toyota. Recently, there appeared a new promotion concept, â€Å"ARvertising†, advertising on Augmented Reality technology. [citation needed] Controversy exists on the effectiveness of subliminal advertising (see mind control), and the pervasiveness of mass messages (see propaganda). [citation needed] Rise in new media US Newspaper Advertising Revenue Newspaper Association of America published data [30] With the Internet came many new advertising opportunities. Popup, Flash, banner, Popunder, advergaming, and email advertisements (all of which are often unwanted or spam in the case of email) are now commonplace.Particularly since the rise of â€Å"entertaining† advertising, some people may like an advertisement enough to wish to watch it later or show a friend. In general, the advertising community has not yet made this easy, although some have used the Internet to widely distribute their ads to anyone willing to see or hear them. In the last three quarters of 2009 mobile and internet advertising grew by 18. 1% and 9. 2% respectively. Older media advertising saw declines: ? 10. 1% (TV), ? 11. 7% (radio), ? 14. 8% (magazines) and ? 18. 7% (newspapers ). [citation needed] Niche marketing Another significant trend regarding future of advertising is the growing importance of the niche market using niche or targeted ads.Also brought about by the Internet and the theory of The Long Tail, advertisers will have an increasing ability to reach specific audiences. In the past, the most efficient way to deliver a message was to blanket the largest mass market audience possible. However, usage tracking, customer profiles and the growing popularity of niche content brought about by everything from blogs to social networking sites, provide advertisers with audiences that are smaller but much better defined, leading to ads that are more relevant to viewers and more effective for companies' marketing products. Among others, Comcast Spotlight is one such advertiser employing this method in their video on demand menus.These advertisements are targeted to a specific group and can be viewed by anyone wishing to find out more about a particular business or practice at any time, right from their home. This causes the viewer to become proactive and actually choose what advertisements they want to view. [31] Crowdsourcing Main article: Crowdsourcing The concept of crowdsourcing has given way to the trend of user-generated advertisements. User-generated ads are created by consumers as opposed to an advertising agency or the company themselves, most often they are a result of brand sponsored advertising competitions. For the 2007 Super Bowl, the Frito-Lays division of PepsiCo held the Crash the Super Bowl contest, allowing consumers to create their own Doritos commercial. [32] Chevrolet held a similar competition for their Tahoe line of SUVs. 3 2] Due to the success of the Doritos user-generated ads in the 2007 Super Bowl, Frito-Lays relaunched the competition for the 2009 and 2010 Super Bowl. The resulting ads were among the most-watched and most-liked Super Bowl ads. In fact, the winning ad that aired in the 2009 Super Bowl was ranked by the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter as the top ad for the year while the winning ads that aired in the 2010 Super Bowl were found by Nielsen's BuzzMetrics to be the â€Å"most buzzed-about†. [33][34] This trend has given rise to several online platforms that host user-generated advertising competitions on behalf of a company. Founded in 2007, Zooppa has launched ad competitions for brands such as Google, Nike, Hershey's, General Mills, Microsoft, NBC Universal, Zinio, and Mini Cooper.Crowdsourced advertisements have gained popularity in part to its cost effective nature, high consumer engagement, and ability to generate word-of-mouth. However, it remains controversial, as the long-t erm impact on the advertising industry is still unclear. [35] Global advertising Advertising has gone through five major stages of development: domestic, export, international, multi-national, and global. For global advertisers, there are four, potentially competing, business objectives that must be balanced when developing worldwide advertising: building a brand while speaking with one voice, developing economies of scale in the creative process, maximising local effectiveness of ads, and increasing the company’s speed of implementation.Born from the evolutionary stages of global marketing are the three primary and fundamentally different approaches to the development of global advertising executions: exporting executions, producing local executions, and importing ideas that travel. [36] Advertising research is key to determining the success of an ad in any country or region. The ability to identify which elements and/or moments of an ad contribute to its success is how econ omies of scale are maximised. Once one knows what works in an ad, that idea or ideas can be imported by any other market. Market research measures, such as Flow of Attention, Flow of Emotion and branding moments provide insight into what is working in an ad in any country or region because the measures are based on the visual, not verbal, elements of the ad. [37] Foreign public messaging See also: Soft Power  and International Tourism AdvertisingForeign governments, particularly those that own marketable commercial products or services, often promote their interests and positions through the advertising of those goods because the target audience is not only largely unaware of the forum as a vehicle for foreign messaging but also willing to receive the message while in a mental state of absorbing information from advertisements during television commercial breaks, while reading a periodical, or while passing by billboards in public spaces. A prime example of this messaging techniqu e is advertising campaigns to promote international travel. While advertising foreign destinations and services may stem from the typical goal of increasing revenue by drawing more tourism, some travel campaigns carry the additional or alternative intended purpose of promoting good sentiments or improving existing ones among the target audience towards a given nation or region.It is common for advertising promoting foreign countries to be produced and distributed by the tourism ministries of those countries, so these ads often carry political statements and/or depictions of the foreign government's desired international public perception. Additionally, a wide range of foreign airlines and travel-related services which advertise separately from the destinations, themselves, are owned by their respective governments; examples include, though are not limited to, the Emirates airline (Dubai), Singapore Airlines (Singapore), Qatar Airways (Qatar), China Airlines (Taiwan/Republic of China ), and Air China (People's Republic of China).By depicting their destinations, airlines, and other services in a favorable and pleasant light, countries market themselves to populations abroad in a manner that could mitigate prior public impressions. [citation needed] Diversification In the realm of advertising agencies, continued industry diversification has seen observers note that â€Å"big global clients don't need big global agencies any more†. [38] This is reflected by the growth of non-traditional agencies in various global markets, such as Canadian business TAXI and SMART in Australia and has been referred to as â€Å"a revolution in the ad world†. [39] New technology The ability to record shows on digital video recorders (such as TiVo) allow users to record the programs for later viewing, enabling them to fast forward through commercials.Additionally, as more seasons of pre-recorded box sets are offered for sale of television programs; fewer people watch the s hows on TV. However, the fact that these sets are sold, means the company will receive additional profits from the sales of these sets. To counter this effect, a variety of strategies have been employed. Many advertisers have opted for product placement on TV shows like Survivor. Other strategies include integrating advertising with internet-connected EPGs, advertising on companion devices (like smartphones and tablets) during the show, and creating TV apps. Additionally, some like brands have opted for social television sponsorship. citation needed] Advertising education Advertising education has become widely popular with bachelor, master and doctorate degrees becoming available in the emphasis. [citation needed] A surge in advertising interest is typically attributed to the strong relationship advertising plays in cultural and technological changes, such as the advance of online social networking. A unique model for teaching advertising is the student-run advertising agency, wher e advertising students create campaigns for real companies. [40] Organizations such as American Advertising Federation and AdU Network partner established companies with students to create these campaigns.Criticisms Main article: Criticism of advertising While advertising can be seen as necessary for economic growth, it is not without social costs. Unsolicited commercial e-mail and other forms of spam have become so prevalent as to have become a major nuisance to users of these services, as well as being a financial burden on internet service providers. [41] Advertising is increasingly invading public spaces, such as schools, which some critics argue is a form of child exploitation. [42][43] In addition, advertising frequently uses psychological pressure (for example, appealing to feelings of inadequacy) on the intended consumer, which may be harmful.Many even feel that often, advertisements exploit the desires of a consumer, by making a particular product more appealing, by manipul ating the consumers needs and wants. Regulation Main article: Advertising regulation There have been increasing efforts to protect the public interest by regulating the content and the influence of advertising. Some examples are: the ban on television Tobacco advertising imposed in many countries, and the total ban of advertising to children under 12 imposed by the Swedish government in 1991. Though that regulation continues in effect for broadcasts originating within the country, it has been weakened by the European Court of Justice, which had found that Sweden was obliged to accept foreign programming, including those from neighboring countries or via satellite.Greece’s regulations are of a similar nature, â€Å"banning advertisements for children's toys between 7 am and 10 pm and a total ban on advertisement for war toys†. [44] In Europe and elsewhere, there is a vigorous debate on whether (or how much) advertising to children should be regulated. This debate was ex acerbated by a report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation in February 2004 which suggested fast food advertising that targets children was an important factor in the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States. In New Zealand, South Africa,Pakistan, Afghanistan, Canada, and many European countries, the advertising industry operates a system of self-regulation.Advertisers, advertising agencies and the media agree on a code of advertising standards that they attempt to uphold. The general aim of such codes is to ensure that any advertising is ‘legal, decent, honest and truthful'. Some self-regulatory organizations are funded by the industry, but remain independent, with the intent of upholding the standards or codes like the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK. In the UK most forms of outdoor advertising such as the display of billboards is regulated by the UK Town and County Planning system. Currently the display of an advertisement without consent from the Pl anning Authority is a criminal offense liable to a fine of ? 2,500 per offence.All of the major outdoor billboard companies in the UK have convictions of this nature. In the US many communities believe that many forms of outdoor advertising blight the public realm. [45] As long ago as the 1960s in the US there were attempts to ban billboard advertising in the open countryside. [46] Cities such as Sao Paulo have introduced an outright ban[47] with London also having specific legislation to control unlawful displays. Many advertisers employ a wide-variety of linguistic devices to bypass regulatory laws (e. g. In France, printing English words in bold and French translations in fine print to deal with the Article 120 of the 1994 Toubon Law limiting the use of English). 48] The advertisement of controversial products such as cigarettes and condoms are subject to government regulation in many countries. For instance, the tobacco industry is required by law in most countries to display wa rnings cautioning consumers about the health hazards of their products. Linguistic variation is often used by advertisers as a creative device to reduce the impact of such requirements. Advertising research Main article: Advertising research Advertising research is a specialized form of research that works to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of advertising. It entails numerous forms of research which employ different methodologies.Advertising research includes pre-testing (also known as copy testing) and post-testing of ads and/or campaigns—pre-testing is done before an ad airs to gauge how well it will perform and post-testing is done after an ad airs to determine the in-market impact of the ad or campaign on the consumer. Continuous ad tracking and the Communicus System are competing examples of post-testing advertising research types. [citation needed] Semiotics Main article: Advertising research Today’s culture is made up of meanings between consumers and m arketers. These meanings depict signs and symbols that are encoded in everyday objects. [49] Semiotics is the study of signs and how they are interpreted.Advertising has many hidden signs and meanings within brand names, logos, package designs, print advertisements, and television advertisements. The purpose of semiotics is to study and interpret the message being conveyed in advertisements. Logos and advertisements can be interpreted at two levels known as the surface level and the underlying level. The surface level uses signs creatively to create an image or personality for their product. These signs can be images, words, fonts, colors, or slogan. The underlying level is made up of hidden meanings. The combination of images, words, colors, and slogan must be interpreted by the audience or consumer. [50] The â€Å"key to advertising analysis† is the signifier and the signified.The signifier is the object and the signified is the mental concept. [51] A product has a signifie r and a signified. The signifier is the color, brand name, logo design, and technology. The signified has two meanings known as denotative and connotative. The denotative meaning is the meaning of the product. A television’s denotative meaning would be that it is high definition. The connotative meaning is the product’s deep and hidden meaning. A connotative meaning of a television would be that it is top of the line. [52] Apple is an excellent example of using semiotics in their advertising campaign. Apple’s commercials used a black silhouette of a person that was the age of Apple's target market.They placed the silhouette in front of a blue screen so that the picture behind the silhouette could be constantly changing. However, the one thing that stays the same in these ads is that there is music in the background and the silhouette is listening to that music on a white iPod through white headphones. Through advertising, the white color on a set of earphones no w signifies that the music device is an iPod. The white color signifies almost all of Apple’s products. [53] The semiotics of gender plays a key influence on the way in which signs are interpreted. When considering gender roles in advertising, individuals are influenced by three categories.Certain characteristics of stumuli may enhance or decrease the elaboration of the message (if the product is perceived as feminine or masculine). Second, the characteristics of individuals can affect attention and elaboration of the message (traditional or non-traditional gender role orientation). Lastly, situational factors may be important to influence the elaboration of the message. [54] There are two types of marketing communication claims-objective and subjective. [55] Objective claims stem from the extent to which the claim associates the brand with a tangible product or service feature. For instance, the camera has auto focus features. Subjective claims convey emotional, subjective, impressions of intangible aspects of a product or service.They are non-physical features of a product or service that cannot be directly perceived, as they have no physical reality. For instance the brochure has a beautiful design. [56] Males tend to respond better to objective marketing communications claims while females tend to respond better to subjective marketing communications claims. [57] In advertisements, men are represented as independent. They are shown in more occupations than women. Women are represented mainly as housewives and mothers. Men are more likely to be shown advertising cars or business products, while women advertise domestic products. Men are more likely to be shown outdoors or in business settings. Women are depicted in domestic settings. Men are more often portrayed as authorities. As far as ds go, with age men seem to gain wisdom and authority. On the other hand women seem to disappear with age. Voiceovers are commonly used in advertising. Most voiceove rs are men (figures of up to 94% have been reported). There have been more female voiceovers in recent years but mainly for food, household products, and feminine care products. [58] Gender effects in the processing of advertising According to a 1977 study by David Statt, females process information comprehensively, while males process information through heuristic devices such as procedures, methods or strategies for solving problems, which could have an effect on how they interpret advertising. 59] According to this study, men prefer to have available and apparent cues to interpret the message where females engage in more creative, associative, imagery-laced interpretation. More recently, research by Martin (2003) reveals that males and females differ in how they react to advertising depending on their mood at the time of exposure to the ads, and the affective tone of the advertising. When feeling sad, males prefer happy ads to boost their mood. In contrast, females prefer happy a ds when they are feeling happy. The television programs in which the ads are embedded are shown to influence a consumer's mood state. [60] Enforcement Policy Statement on Food Advertising May 1994 I. Introduction II. Legal Framework for Commission Action III.Nutrient Content Claims A. Claims Describing the Absolute and Comparative Nutrient Content of Foods 1. Absolute Nutrient Content Claims 2. Comparative Nutrient Content Claims 3. Synonyms for Nutrient Content Claims 4. Implied Nutrient Content Claims B. Nutrient Content Claim Disclosures IV. Health Claims A. Standard for Substantiation of Health Claims B. Health Claims for Foods That Contain a Nutrient at a Level That Increases the Risk of a Disease C. Nutrient/Substance Levels Sufficient to Ensure Meaningful Health Benefits D. Minimum Nutritional Value for Foods Bearing Health Claims E. Relevance of Dietary Factors to Claimed Health Benefit FootnotesIntroduction The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is issuing this statement to pro vide guidance regarding its enforcement policy with respect to the use of nutrient content and health claims in food advertising. The Commission believes the statement is appropriate in light of the passage of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA),1 and the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) January 6, 1993, issuance of food labeling regulations implementing the NLEA. 2 The FTC, FDA, and USDA share jurisdiction over claims made by manufacturers of food products pursuant to a regulatory scheme established by Congress through complementary statutes.Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) (hereinafter â€Å"Section 5†) prohibits â€Å"unfair or deceptive acts or practices,† and, in the case of food products, Sections 12 and 15 of the FTC Act prohibit â€Å"any false advertisement† that is â€Å"misleading in a material respect. â€Å"3 FDA's authority is embodied in part in Section 403(a) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) which prohibits â€Å"labeling [that] is false or misleading in any particular. â€Å"4 Since 1954, the FTC and the FDA have operated under a Memorandum of Understanding,5 under which the Commission has assumed primary responsibility for regulating food advertising, while FDA has taken primary responsibility for regulating food labeling. 6 The NLEA amended Section 403 of the FDCA and effected broad changes in the regulation of nutrition claims on food labels.In addition to requiring nutrition information on virtually all food products, the NLEA directed FDA to standardize and limit the terms permitted on labels, and allows only FDA-approved nutrient content claims and health claims to appear on food labels. 7 While the NLEA is designed in part to prevent deceptive and misleading claims on labels, Congress also intended that nutrient content and health claims educate consumers in order to assist them in maintaining healthy dietary practices. 8 The NLEA also mandated tha t FDA undertake a consumer education effort to educate consumers about the new food label and the importance of diet to health. 9 Therefore, in keeping with its recently expanded and unique jurisdictional mandate, the requirements set forth in FDA's regulations have a broader purpose than preventing false and misleading claims in food labeling.The NLEA applies only to labeling and did not change the FTC's statutory authority to prohibit deceptive acts or practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Nevertheless, in light of the comprehensive regulatory scheme established for food labeling claims by the NLEA, the Commission is issuing this statement to clarify how its own authority relates to issues raised by FDA's food labeling regulations. The Commission recognizes the importance of consistent treatment of nutrient content and health claims in food advertising and labeling and seeks to harmonize its advertising enforcement program with FDA's food labeling regulations to the fullest ex tent possible under the statutory authority of the FTC Act. The Commission also recognizes the scientific expertise of FDA in this area.The Commission has traditionally accorded great weight to FDA's scientific determinations in matters of nutrition and health and will continue to do so. In addition, as a general matter, it is unlikely that the Commission will take action under Sections 5 and 12 of the FTC Act regarding nutrient content and health claims if they comply with FDA's regulations. 10 The principal elements of the Commission's authority to regulate nutrient content and health claims in food advertising are set forth below in the discussion of the Commission's legal framework in Part II of this statement. Part III of the statement addresses the Commission's approach to harmonization with the NLEA and FDA's regulations in the area of nutrient content claims in food advertising.Part IV of the statement addresses the Commission's approach to health claims in food advertising. Claims made in food advertising may raise issues addressed in more than one section of this statement. Advertisers, therefore, should comply with all relevant provisions of the statement and not simply the provision that seems most directly applicable. In issuing this statement, the Commission recognizes that the FDA intends its regulatory approach to be dynamic, designed to respond to changes in science and consumer understanding of nutrition and diet-disease issues. Therefore, while the Commission's purpose in issuing this statement is to provide guidance on how t will enforce Sections 5 and 12 in the food advertising area, the statement is not intended to provide a comprehensive analysis of how each of FDA's regulations relates to the Commission's enforcement policy. Instead, this statement focuses on the general issues that are likely to remain relevant to the Commission's regulation of food advertising over time, as specific provisions in the FDA regulations are amended. Legal Framework for Commission Action As noted above, the FTC regulates food advertising under its statutory authority to prohibit deceptive acts or practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act. The Commission has set forth its interpretations of this authority in its Deception Policy Statement11 and its Statement on Advertising Substantiation. 2 FTC food cases, applying the principles articulated in these statements, have also established a growing body of precedent against which food advertisers can assess the lawfulness of their claims. 13   As set out in the Deception Statement, the Commission will find an advertisement deceptive under Section 5 and, therefore, unlawful, if it contains a representation or omission of fact that is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances, and that representation or omission is material. 14 The first step in a deception analysis is to identify representations made by an advertisement. A representation may be made by express o r implied claims. An express claim directly makes a representation.The identification of an implied claim requires an examination of both the representation and the overall context of the ad,15 including the juxtaposition of phrases, images, and the nature of the claim and the transaction. 16 In other words, in ascertaining the meaning of an advertisement, the Commission will focus on the ad's overall net impression. 17 In addition to deception arising from affirmative representations in an advertisement, the omission of material information may also be deceptive in certain circumstances. First, deception can occur through omission of information that is necessary to prevent an affirmative representation from being misleading. 8 Second, â€Å"it can also be deceptive for a seller to simply remain silent, if he does so under circumstances that constitute an implied but false representation. â€Å"19 However, â€Å"[n]ot all omissions are deceptive, even if providing the informatio n would benefit consumers. â€Å"20 As with advertisements that contain affirmative representations, the test for whether an omission is deceptive is whether the overall impression created by the ad is deceptive. 21 The next step in identifying deception in an ad requires the Commission to consider the representation from the perspective of a consumer acting reasonably under the circumstances. 22 Finally, a representation must be material, i. e. , likely to affect a consumer's choice or use of a product or service. 3 Express claims and claims involving health or safety are presumptively material. 24 In addition, objective claims carry with them the implication that they are supported by valid evidence. It is deceptive, therefore, to make an express or implied nutrition or health benefit claim for a food unless, at the time the claim is made, the advertiser possesses and relies upon a reasonable basis substantiating the claim. 25 A reasonable basis consists of competent and reliable evidence. In the context of nutrient content or health claims, substantiation will usually require competent and reliable scientific evidence sufficient to support the claim that is made. 6 Commission orders generally require that scientific evidence consist of tests, analyses, research, studies or other evidence conducted and evaluated in an objective manner by persons qualified to do so, using procedures generally accepted in the relevant profes