Pretty Babies, Child Beauty Pageants Essay Example for Free

Pretty Babies, Child Beauty Pageants Essay Many of us first learned about the world of child beauty pageants when a 5  ½ year old beauty queen named JonBenet Ramsey was found murdered the day after Christmas in 1996. The child was murdered in her Boulder Colorado home and found in the basement with her hands tied, her mouth duct taped, and her throat garroted. Her death was ruled strangulation but there was also blunt force trauma to her head as well as vaginal injury (Auge, Karen, par. 13-15). Her death brought these pageants into our minds, conversations and living rooms and many people were shocked to see a child of that age made up like an adult woman, some even said like a prostitute and accused the pageants of sexualizing her and the other children. Images and videos of JonBenet with her hair curled, teased, and sprayed, wearing heavy make-up and glamorous outfits were splattered across the newsstands and she pranced across our televisions winking, flirting and dancing. Any link of her death to the pageants is speculative since the murder remains unsolved, but many people could not help but wonder how safe it was for a child to be made a spectacle of in such a fashion. This past Monday would have been JonBenets 22nd birthday. Perhaps it is time that we as a society take a good look at child beauty pageants and decide what place if any they have in the future for our daughters. JonBenet was the daughter of a wealthy businessman named John Ramsey and his wife, a former Miss West Virginia 1977, Patsy. Patsy has since passed away but John Ramsey has written a book titled â€Å"The Other Side of Suffering† and in an interview with Nightline, John has expressed his regret that JonBenet participated in the pageants. He states in the interview â€Å"Only because- that possibly (the pageants) might have drawn attention to us. † â€Å"I don’t know. But- I think for- for advice to parents is just recognize that- regardless of where you live, there could be evil around you. And don’t be naive about it. And keep your kids protected† (Chang, par. 0). He wonders now about some of the public appearances JonBenet made and if the murderer was maybe in the audience. He says â€Å"Patsy had her sitting atop a friend’s convertible in the Christmas parade waving at people lining the streets. † â€Å"Patsy’s mother later told me that a strange man approached the car during the parade and it made her uncomfortable. I think about these things now and it makes me cringe. We were so naive. I now believe with all my heart that it is not a good idea to put your child on public display. (Chang, par. 7). His words give weight to the issue at hand and initially, it seems, many people felt the same way as child pageants took a financial hit as less people wanted to be associated with the â€Å"publicly tainted industry† (Friedman, par. 5). Fifteen years after the tragic death of JonBenet the pageants have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity (Friedman, par. 6) thanks in large part to the hit show on The Learning Channel, Toddlers Tiaras. The show is immensely popular and is now in its fourth season (IMDB, 2012). Understanding, of course that this is a television show and not a documentary, that it has been edited for drama and to create what is commonly called â€Å"good television†, the show nonetheless gives a viewer a look inside this somewhat alien world. In his interview John Ramsey stated that he had never watched the show but had caught snippets that he finds disturbing. â€Å"It is very bizarre† he states â€Å"And, it certainly- Patsy and JonBenet didn’t approach it that way. We-they just did it for fun. †(Chang, par. 5). Will the parents or the pageant officials take heed? Or will the allure of glamour and profit make them justify their actions? Watching the television show you are immediately struck by one fact; this is a southern thing. To the people who do this, none of it is strange. In fact many of the parents were overjoyed to learn they were pregnant with girls and began to buy gowns before their babies were even born. One mother who has a boy and a girl stated that she had been very upset when she found out that she was pregnant with the boy until she found out that boys could participate in pageants as well. She even stated, on television, that she had only had children so she could put them in pageants. This would seem very strange to many people, but if you watch the show you will hear statements like this over and over, often in front of the children and always on camera (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012). What is apparent is that this is truly a culture. They call themselves â€Å"Pageant People† (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012) and this encompasses not only the contestants and their families but also the judges, pageant directors and announcers and the many, many service people used by the contestants from dress designers to make-up artists and hairstylists to spray tanners and waxers and many of the girls even get facials before a pageants even though their skin cannot possibly look much younger. The popularity of this television show is evident, anyone using a search engine that types in the name of the show will be directed to literally thousands of articles, opinion pieces and fan based websites as well as many spoofs of the show starring big names like Ashley Tisdale and Tom Hanks and has enjoyed the pinnacle of success in the eyes of many, satire on Saturday Night Live. But what about the tiny stars of the show? How safe are they? Is all of this good for them? Watching the show you will see a few kids and moms that seem almost normal, of course these people never get to be the stars. The stars are the children who are bratty, who throw temper tantrums, hit their parents, try to bite other kids and just generally misbehave. The mothers who get the most airtime are of course the ones who say the meanest and most bizarre things. Who treat their children like performing monkeys and seemingly will do anything to get their small progeny to perform on stage. It is remarkable to watch a child transform in just moments from a sparkling banshee into a sweetly smiling and composed young lady, or gentleman on stage. The majority of the children featured on Toddlers Tiaras are little girls but there are a few boys featured as well. It seems unfortunate that the more poorly behaved the people on the show are the more they are rewarded with fame. One strange family has even got their own spin-off show called, Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo (IMDB, 2012). The children often throw fits because they are being forced to do something they do not want to do. Over and over, in almost every episode the children state that they hate doing the beauty portion of the competition. For those unfamiliar with how things work it important to know that the beauty portion is the most important piece of the pageant where girls are judged on their poise, their attire, hair and make-up, and most of all their facial beauty. They are not really expected to perform at this stage of the pageant but only to walk slowly from mark to mark on the stage stopping briefly at each mark to spin and smile sweetly at the judges and the audience and slowly turn from side to side so that all spectators can take in their appearance. One little girl who was seven was criticized by a female judge for â€Å"having too much personality for beauty† although of the same girl a male judge stated that he â€Å"could not take my eyes off her†( Toddlers Tiaras, season 4, 2012). The girl went on to win the biggest crown in the pageant and a contract with an agent. The judges of the pageants can often seem harsh and mark the children down for seemingly acceptable things for the contestants to do, given that most of the girls featured on the show are only between the ages of four and nine. A six year old was marked down because her ankle rolled. She was wearing high heels. A four year old was marked down because her fake teeth or â€Å"flipper† fell out during the beauty portion. Another girl was marked down for being too â€Å"fake†(?! ). And in one episode the little girls were competing for ten thousand dollars and some former contestants came out of retirement to compete. They were as old as twenty-one and some were doing very sexy dances; the male judge was obviously captivated and would not stop talking about the older contestants. A 20 year old won. Against little girls. (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012) You will see some moments on the show where the parents are caring and the children seem to be keeping the whole thing in perspective. One of the fathers, who has 3 children in the pageants does not allow his kids to be tanned or wear fake teeth and lashes and says some of it is â€Å"too far†. He also keeps the bills for the pageants a little lower by renting the dresses and says he preferred the natural pageants. Another one of the parents, this one a mother, laughed when her nine year old daughter’s hair fell down during the pageant, she told her she did â€Å"so good† and reassured her when she began to cry that it was okay. Then said she was just glad she got a crown (in many of the pageants every contestant gets some type of crown) and that she did not need to win the ultimate title and the little girl stated after she calmed down â€Å"win graciously, lose humbly†. Another little girl who won a high title stated that the title she had gotten was really good because â€Å"There’s a lot of girls here†¦ and they tried hard too†. One mother who had seemed very extreme during the beginning of the pageant seemed to have an epiphany at some point during the pageant and said that this would be her seven year old daughter’s last pageant and that her daughter was â€Å"beautiful on her own†. (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012). In one touching episode, a mother had only boys and it seemed that her six year old son and her had a very special relationship based on the pageants. The father, in spite of being supportive, was done with his son being in the pageants and wanted this to be his last one. The boy seemed happy to do the pageants and seemed to have a very special relationship with his mother. At the end of the show they were crying and hugging each other and it was actually hard not to be sad for them (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012) Most of the other parents are not like those ones and the majority of the scenes shown depict these women as bitter and jealous. The way they speak of the other children is disgraceful. They say mean things in front of their own kids about the other children, especially if the other children win and their daughter did not, like that the girl who won did not deserve it and often say that the pageant was unfair or rigged. One mom on the sidelines said about a girl on the stage â€Å"If she wins, she better go get some cellulite treatment done†(Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012). The little girls definitely pick up this cattiness from their mothers. Many times over these children say that they are better or prettier than the other girls. One six year old girl knew from her mother that one of the other girls was her biggest competition at the pageant. The other girl was well known for her continuing pacifier dependency and first girl said that she had a secret weapon for her opponent so she could beat her and held up a gag pacifier that had funny looking teeth on the front of it and then snickered. In one sad scene there were sister aged ten and eight who were competing in the same pageant, the eight year old stated that she was going to beat her sister and if her sister started crying she would â€Å"beat her to he ground†. When the older sister started to cry and said that it was because she was being mean the younger one told her to â€Å"Stop crying, you’re embarrassing me! † (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012). If you think the â€Å"tiger moms† would be less cruel to their own offspring you would learn that often that is not the case. Over and over when the children cry because they are hungry, tired, something being done to them hurts or they lost they are told not to cry because they are on camera or that the pageant is not over and their make-up will be ruined. One mom talking about her daughter said that she, the mom, had been better at cheerleading and that her daughter just can’t â€Å"get it† like her. Her daughter was nine. One child was forced to stop doing gymnastics because it was making her muscles too big for her costumes and her mother told her â€Å"that was sucky† when she came off stage. Over and over the children are cruelly disregarded or ignored when they state that they are in pain, feeling sick, hungry or tired. In a heart stopping scene a nine year old girl went missing in full hair and make-up and was no longer in the hotel. In every scene shown by the television show the mom was worried about her being late for her age line up and not concerned for her safety. Luckily, she was found in time, and her standing in the pageant was unaffected. That the girls often cry when they lose is no surprise when you take in that the mothers often cry or state they are going to throw up and berate their daughters for blowing on stage by forgetting to smile at the judges or forgetting part of their routine. The moms let their daughters know that they lost too if their crown is not big enough and does not come with a high title attached to it. The moms will tell their daughters who are smiling and holding a crown that they lost and the crown they have is for losers. One mom while sitting in the audience was â€Å"pissed† and going to cry and listed what the other little girls got and that her daughter didn’t get anything. No wonder the little girl had a tantrum and screamed that she wanted a crown (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012) Many of these mothers are, like Patsy Ramsey, former beauty queens themselves and will stop and nothing to ensure their daughters success in the pageant world. Sometimes it becomes so extreme that it makes the news. In 2011 ABC News did a story on a mom who gave her 8 year old daughter Botox injections because she had wrinkles (Hagan, Kunin and Ghebremedhin, par. 5). The mother was not a doctor but an esthetician, which is basically a beautician for the skin. She claims her daughter wanted to try it herself because her wrinkles bothered her. This is hopefully a rare case but more commonly these young children have their eyebrows waxed, they receive spray tans, even if they are African American or bi-racial. They have acrylic nails put on, they are fitted for fake teeth to go over their own teeth called flippers, they have hair extensions put in because often their baby fine hair either is not thick enough for the large hair-dos or not strong enough to take the heat and styling. Some of the girls have their hair bleached before a pageant. Sometimes these things hurt or are uncomfortable and the children complain. There seems to be a particular hatred amongst the little girls for the false eyelashes. Many of the girls scream and cry and beg to not have to wear them to no avail. These are typically services reserved for very high maintenance women and many adult women would not have the patience for them. The FDA has not done studies on the safety of these chemicals for use on children either. How does it feel to sit in make-up and hair for two hours for a child of say four? On pageant day the real magic begins. The girls are up early in the morning in their hotel rooms. They are fed breakfast and then the beauty regime begins. The pageants last all day and usually include several outfit changes and the performance of practiced routines. The girls, some very young, are not allowed to eat or nap so their hair and make-up do not become ruined. To make up for this, the moms have found some magic. On pageant day the girls have sugar cubes and Pixie Stix poured into their mouths all day long and are fed through a straw high caffeine and sugar drinks like Mountain Dew and some†¦ Red Bull energy drinks. There is some serious concern over the safety of these drinks (Ostrow, 2011). One mother asked her daughter before the pageant if she wanted to quit doing them. The girl nodded yes and the mom said â€Å" Let’s look at your crowns! Doesn’t that make you feel better? † (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012). One of the reasons many of the parents say they do it is often for the prizes, money, bonds and scholarships. Indeed, some of the pageants featured on the television show do boast some large prizes. But most of the parents admit that they have spent many times over what their child has received. Several of the moms admit to lying to their husbands about how much they spend and one single mom has moved in with her parents so they could continue to pay for pageants and it is common for the mothers to take a â€Å"pageant job† (Toddlers Tiaras, 2009-2012) to cover some of the expenses. Some of the parents spend lavishly on the pageants. Many of the pageants have a top prize of only several hundred dollars yet the girls will show up in 2500$ dresses. In one episode two sisters have their very own trailer for pageant accessories that have their pictures emblazoned on the sides. One very enterprising mother has published a pageant book about her daughter, recorded a song and had a doll made in her daughters image. In an episode where they went to the Tonight Show she was saying how she was planning to get her daughter and agent and a two million dollar contract so she could quit her job and move to Hollywood. It seems as if the parents either have delusions about some pay off that will eventually come if they keep plugging away or they really have just found a very expensive habit that they justify for other reasons.

The 5 Steps Of Communication Process

The 5 Steps Of Communication Process A communication is a process of the exchange of information between sender and the receiver. It was always processing around us because we are communicated to live as well as understand with each other in order to express what we are thinking. But sometime a communication may fail to present or sometimes the receiver misunderstood what the sender trying to give them the information. Therefore, it must be some skills to helps us have a better and effective communication to send the information to the other parties. In a fact that, the scholars make a research and finally search that when sender send to the receiver and receive the information comes to have 5 different steps of communication process. The step when sender started to have an idea, the message will plan how to send for the receiver, process run though the channel until the receiver got the message, as well as lastly ask for the receiver for a feedback in order to confirm whether the receiver get a correct information. Tho se steps are the full communication process in the assignment to explain it details with the intention of create an effective communication skills. 1.1 The 5 Steps of Communication Process The steps on the theory of 5 steps communication process is encoding, planning, medium, decoding, and lastly the feedback. There is the key point of explaining this assignment and the correct way to ensure the intended audient received the right massage. On the page below will have the 5 steps of communication process diagram which can refer toà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 1.2 Encoding Encoding process is involves to translating an idea to the meaning of the idea. When the sender got an idea to the other party, they must be communicating. Therefore, the idea will need to change the ordinary language into letter or symbols to past the information out to the party. However, the information of encoding is not yet sending out the message to the channel, the messages are only an idea that thinking in the sender. Beside, the sender might havent plan of which the sending ways are the better way for the receiver. So encoding is just an idea that came out from the sender mind and when the sender starts to plan for sending out the message, there will be turn to the second step of communication process. 1.3 Planed, Organized and Sent The communication process come to the second step is the step of plan, organize and send. It is very distinct to show. When after encoding an idea, the sender will started to plan how to send the message, so the sender will decided a way send it. For example the sender using letter to send the message, he or she will translating the idea to an ordinary language or symbols into the words, the sender will make sure is using the direct understanding words for the receiver, therefore the receiver will easily get the correct message from the sender rather than have the communication gaps of misrepresentation and misunderstood. Thus, when the sender organizing their sending process, make sure to double confirm on the grammar and sentence meaning to be correct. When it is confirmed to be a right message, it will come to choose the types of how the sender will use to send out their message to the receiver. 1.4 Medium In the communication process, medium is the type of choosing for sending the message out through a channel. For example, using letter, e-sources or request somebody to transfer the message to the receiver to be the sender choosing types of sending. Most of the sender will choose to send a letter for the receiver, because using e-mail, people might not checking the mail and request someone to transfer might not transferring the 100% information from the sender give, so most of the people will choose to use letter for their type of sending sources (medium). Moreover, medium is means a between to the sending and receiving, so both parties communication will base on the type of sending movement channel to understand each other. In the example told us the sender using the letter, so make sure the letter words are correctly as well as the receiver can be easily understand it. As the result, the step of medium has complete. 1.5 Decoding The decoding will be the problem of the receiver. When the step comes to decoding, the receiver is already received the message, and sudden matter will affect the receiver to understand the sender messages, and that is decoding. For example, just like the channel choosing to request someone to transfer the message to the receiver, the person that the sender request might not concentric on listening or rush to present in fact might missing some point to transfer, there is always happening in real life, so not most of the people will choose this channel to past their message in order to avoid the communication distortion and there is the decoding processing. Hence, to avoid communication distortion make sure sender choosing a correct channel to send their message and well to know what channel that receive are always like and easily to got it people message. 1.6 Feedback A feedback is needed to have it in a successful communication because without a feedback, the communication is failed. In the other hand, a feedback is a responding action form the receiver in the communication, therefore in the communication process, a feedback will tell to know as well as getting an answer from the receiver to the sender. In the fact of that the receiver will turn to be the sender because on its feedback. It is complete communication in the process. But sometimes a feedback will become a communication distortion because people might feedback to the sender by using a long time period. In fact, if in the business view, a business will not just sit and wait for a person to reply and not observing in others people. In this example will see the communication will fail although it was a feedback. As the result, a communication must be effectively in a progress in order to get a successful communication skill. 1.7 Body Language Beside of the 5 types of communication process, there is another type of communication that can be success in order to ensure the intended audient received the right massage. Thus, body language will be the one of the type, its not using to speck during communicate but using body language to send the message. A body language can be an eye contact, head shaking to tell it yes or no, as well as other action that give message or signer to the other parties. For example a person is trying to motivate his partner to have a cup of coffee, after his partner heard, his partner shows his thumb finger to the sender, which is means good idea. See, in this example we can found out body language can use to be communicate. Or give an example with more direct to influence us, when to chat with people sometimes, our body language normally will shows in our words to come out. Therefore, a body language can be intention to audient received the right massage. 1.8 Noise In the communication process, there is a term are showing the affection of communication, it is a noise. A noise will affect an effective communication such like when people communicate in a place that is very noisy, both parties might not receive a clearly message in such environment. Furthermore, a noise can be a third party that affecting the receiver to feedback. When a the sender sending a message to the receiver with a third party and wait for the receiver to reply, but in this time the third party are noising something to the receiver and without focus on the communication, there will influence to become a fail communication. 1.9 Conclusion As we can see, the types of communication process are giving our knowledge to learn to have an effective communication skill. It was very detailed on the theory, when you see there might only a short period of communicate between two parties, the theory will tell us start of the communication is from an idea in the senders mind and turn to a words to tell the receiver as well as receive the feedback. It was very amazing. In the other hand, this theory showed us to have an effective communication skill. When we communicate with people, we are having the direct skill especially in choosing channel and analysis to give a feedback. In the communication can help us to improve communication skill and the briefness to talk as well as the technique to talk, even where we go we are actually always communicating with other people. If we are wisely using the knowledge and technique to communicate with people, surely will let us increase on the social network. In the road on business will be a i mportant step to learn it to success. 2. As the Product Manager of a soon-to-be-launched product*, explain the methods, the mediums and the vehicles that you would use to communicate with your target audience to persuade them to buy your product. Produce one (1) Advertisement for your product. *student may decide on whatever product that they wish 2.0 Introduction Hokhomo is the name of a Japan company. Few years ago this company continuously develops all different kinds of human fashion accessories product, like cloths, watch, ear rings, and necklace and so on. Every product has a cool design and selling in cheap prices, in order to let every people can afford. So that it can achieve to the company vision, Better than none. In this year of 2011, the company decided to launch a brand new product of high definition spectacle to the market. As a product manager, will needs to plan for advertise this new product. However, when a new product is trying to launch to the market, a very important thing will need to prepare, it will be how consumer know about our product. For our information, advertising can be the where to promote our product. Therefore, in this assignment will shows the process of preparation to launch the new product and how the way to make advertising for attracting the customers. It will shows the design of advertising as well as explain it why we are trying to using the method and how, in order to having an effectively and efficiency strategy to advertise the product. Moreover, we will target a correct audient in the market for giving the information of the product. It will give benefit to the sale and people to know about the product. 2.1 Promotion A Promotion works is to advertise the product, the product itself must be have by a quality guarantee, design and fit to our consumers. So, our company decided to create this product of high definition spectacle by using the import glasses from Sweden, combine our resources to create it. After several test on the product, the product is born. According to the company vision of everyone can afford, this product will set with a fair price and ready to launce to the market. When we have the good product with a good price for consumer, the next step will be how we sell or introduce to our product for the consumers. Many times we can see in the mall had the promotion discount or sale, which is the promotion strategy they are using it. However, promotion usually considers in 4 different types which is the advertising, personal selling, sales promotion as well as public relations. In the promotion of advertising, there is non-personal communication to inform the consumer for the product. He nce, advertising can be a commercial, flyers or even internet, consumers through to the information of the advertising to know our product. Thats why we usually can see many different funny or full of characteristic commercial in the television. Those are the promotion advertising for the consumers in order to attract them to purchase their products. In our research, flyer is the one of the advertising that is people usually will do it. 2.2 Flyers In the method of advertising, posting flyer is the one of the advertising that we will make it as a promotion. Before of that, company researcher will need to do some surveys for asking the consumer view on the product. After then that, our product department will design the flyer and trying to using our company sale person to stand in front of the mall as well as pasting the flyer for the consumers. In this movement, we will actually see the outcome of the consumers interest on the product, because high definition spectacle is all new in the market. For our research, pasting flyers maybe is only out of 100 people in 1000 consumers that will purchase the product. It might take a long time period to break the even point and have the profit. But, penetrate in flyers people will at least know that there is a high definition spectacle wills soon to be launce in the market and where they can purchase it. We are trying to let the consumers know about the product and use to have a consumer to consumer strategy for a free advertising effect. This will be positive effect for our company. For sure the targeting market must be right. In the product of high definition spectacle, it will more attract to the teenage as well as student. Therefore, the targeting market will be on students. 2.3 Flyers Design The flyers design is a breakthrough for our company because the company is usually advertising in commercial sense. So, when comes to the design of the flyer will like a caricature with story line. First of all, is the problem that student will For our research, pasting flyers maybe out of 100 in 1000 consumers will purchase the product encounter, there would be the difficulty on transcribe. Beside of that we will encounter something that will affect our visual, like the flyer words Object showing unclearly in our visual, so how to solve this problem? Then the flyer gives you the answer is to choose the brand new high definition spectacle, with cool design, comfortable on wearing and give you have a high definition visual. The selling cost will set on RM 399.90. For normal spectacle with this kind of design may cost you RM 300++, and this product will add on the high definition glasses that made in Sweden combine together with the brand new Hokhomo high definition spectacle. In the f lyer it is already list out the made from Sweden and it with let the consumers to gain more confident on the product. Furthermore, the header and the footer of the flyers are listed out the brand and the contact area. On the header the flyers are showing the company name and the company address, in this area consumers will knows where the product came from and where they can purchase it. If the product having a great sells, the company name will soon to be famous as well as famous on the branded name. Moreover, from the footer of the flyers is preparing a contact number and its to let people to have a further information of the product. Beside of that, the contact number is also a hotline services to the consumer for any complain and suggestion feedback, our company will use this strategy to get the further improvement. This will be the better way to advertise and improve our products. 2.4 Ways to Posting the Flyers In the business market, we are not just numb to pasting the flyers to everyone and thats it. There are several we are trying to targeting our audients to get the product sale. First of all, we can letter the flyer and post to our business to business partners. They might interest in the product and get supply with us. Secondly, we are trying to get an assent from the secondary school and college as well as university for setting a booth for posting flyers and introduce the product to the students. In this movement, student will direct know about this product in their school and try to own it. This will give more benefit to our company and we are saving our time to find our targeting market and achieving our sale speedily. Thirdly, we will set a booth in the mall and posting the flyers, but this is different, in the mall we decide to give consumer have a free testing section to wear the spec, many of the consumer like to try before they buy, so this method will satisfy them and get mo re knows about the product. With those methods, the product must be having a well output on sales. 2.5 Conclusion As the result, the methods to advertising the product are showing out step by step that we can do. When we develop a new product, we usually will worry about the outcomes of the product sales. But the important is how we advertise to introduce our product to the consumer? How we build the confident of the product in consumers heart? How we design the product and advertising to attract the consumers? Those are the very important issues that company need to know and run it. Fortunately, the company has the skill to promote and the products will soon to be launce as a stable way. However, with the flyers promotion are given the company lower cost to get the sale, although it might take a long time but it works. At last, the product will soon to be launce in the market, so as long as the preparation works is well doing and targeting a correct market as well as correct audients, the brand new high definition spectacle will soon to be see there have a lot of people is wearing it and walkin g on the road with us. 2.6 Harvest Reference Wedside Faith Grubbs, 2000, Types of Communication, Buzzle.com, Nishu, 2009, Types of Communication and its characteristic, Articlesbase, John Sternal, 2010, How to Design a small business promotional flyer, Understanding Marketing, Ebrary Wilson, Philip, 2000, Managing for Knowledge, Scitech Educational Schultz, Don E. 2004, How to Sell More Stuff : Promotional Marketing That Really Works, Dearborn Trade, A Kaplan Professional Company. Malefyt, Timothy deWaal, 2003, Advertising Cultures, Berg Publishers

All The Pretty Horses Themes

All The Pretty Horses Themes Cormac McCarthys novel All the Pretty Horses is considered to be a national bestseller not only because it has won the National Book Award but also because the author could touch upon a number of themes which are really close to all the readers. Such themes as the themes of good and evil, and human nature are the most significant in our life. Moreover, Cormac McCarthy shows some kind of a conflict between a man and a woman, between the rich and the poor. My goal in this research paper is to analyze all the themes conveyed by the author in his novel All the Pretty Horses and to prove the fact that this novel is really the greatest American novel of 20th century . To achieve this goal, I have organized my essay into several sections, two of which have some sub-sections. In the first section of my essay, I am going to discuss the authors style of writing which impressed both the readers and the literary critics. In the second section of may paper, Id like to discuss the numerous themes using the contents of the book All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. In conclusion of my essay, Ill summarize the main points of my paper and express my personal opinion on the issue discussed in my essay. Now Id like to turn to the first section of my paper. CORMAC MCCARTHYS STYLE OF WRITING AND ITS ROLE IN THE THEME PERCEPTION OF THE NOVEL ALL THE PRETTY HORSES Cormac McCarthys novel All the Pretty Horses, the first novel of his Border Trilogy, was published in 1992. All the readers were greatly impressed by his simple style of writing which was represented by the minimum use of punctuation, the absence of commas (in some places), dashes, semicolons, parenthesis, ellipses and quotation marks (especially in dialogues). The use of full stops is a standard use of punctuation in his novel. (Jarret) Most of the sentences are complex and long. In single sentences, the author describes numerous actions which are separated by a long chain of conjunctions. He minted a great deal of compound words which made his writing style unique. His prose represents a striking contemporary context both simple and highly accomplished. (Jarret) His style of writing is often compared with William Faulkner and Ernest Hammingways style. He became labeled writers writer. (Stephen) The author uses a lot of stylistic devises among which are various metaphors which make his speech vivid. Besides, Cormac McCarthy uses expressive imagery and different philosophical asides in order to develop the themes of his novel. (Bell) THE MULTIPLE THEMES REPRESENTED BY CORMAC MCCARTHY IN HIS NOVEL ALL THE PRETTY HORSES It is interesting to know that Cormac McCarthy is trying to convey many themes in his novel All the Pretty Horses. Id like to turn to most of them in my essay. Now some words about the main character John Grady Cole. A sixteen year old John Grady Cole lived with his grandfather on a small ranch in Texas. After his grandfathers death their ranch was signed to John Gradys mother, but she decided to sell it. The father of the young man was seriously injured in the World War II and he did not offer any help to his son John. So, the young man had no future in Texas and decided to go to Mexico. His friend Lacely Rawlins accompanied him. The Theme of Real Friendship. One of the main themes in this novel is the theme of good and evil. The main characters often run into both good and bad people. The sacred violence is shown throughout the novel. (Hall, Wallach) Of course, the best friends of them are the horses. What John Grady loved in horses was what he loved in men, the blood and the heat of the blood that ran them. (McCarthy) Lets recall the situation when John saw his horse Redbo in a stable for the first time after his jailing, Redbo whinnied and was very happy to see John again. As a matter of fact, the novel is focused on the horses. We can see how the characters of the novel catch and ride them, how they breed and rescue them. They not only talk about horses, they admire them and philosophize about them. Moreover, the horses are the main source which connects young people to nature. The horses represent a part of the beautiful landscape scenes which are described by the author in the best way. Also the horses help the main characters to escape from danger. The Theme of Inevitable Evil. The theme of inevitable evil is also shown by the author in his novel. Cormac McCarthy said that there is no such a thing as life without bloodshed and he proves this fact in his literary work. There are many examples of rage display, one of them is the following situation. John Grady and his friend Rawlings came to the La Purisima ranch. The young men were treated ill. Alejandra decided to use John as a so-called pawn in her rebellion. Rocha let the police to arrest the young men. Alfonsa fought against John Grady in order to get rid of the rage which was connected with her past. The young men could not believe that the members of two communities took concerted actions. They were thrown into the prison and blamed in committing a crime. These angry people were unjust to young men who were so innocent and could not do anything against their aggression. Rawlings decided to return home because he could not cope with injustice of human nature. John Grady tri ed to appropriate the violence which was inflicted on him and he wanted to take vengeance. He decided to return to San Angelo with two the most vital things he had his horses and his pride. (McCarthy) The Theme of Coming of Age. The other theme which is shown by the author in his novel All the Pretty Horses is the theme of coming of age. Cormac McCarthy represents the life of young people who rebelled against their family and found their love. For John Grady love is the main thing in his rite of passage. In San Angelo he was a stranger: his mother was indifferent to him, his father was a miserable ill man whose life was completely ruined. However, at the end of the story, we can see that this young man John Grady has got all the qualities to be a true hero who can easily be a good father to Jimmy Blevins, a rather dangerous boy, a passionate lover to the young girl Alejandra, a real friend to Rawlins. The most significant thing is that John Grady did not lose his faith. We can see a clever and an experienced man when he leaves San Angelo at the end of the novel. He returns to Texas a changed man but there is no home, nobody is waiting for him: his father is dead, his childhood nur se is dead too. The Theme of Competing Moral Codes. The theme of competing morals is also touched by the author in the literary work. Cormac McCarthy shows us the character of John Grady in such situations when he meets those people who are immoral. He fells his love for Alejandra in the context of right and wrong, Duena Alfonsa, Alejandras god mother, thinks quite the contrary. She wants John to leave Alejandra alone because Don Hestor will never permit her to marry a poor American young man. The captain and Emilio Perez repudiate the idea of tainted money. Moreover, they jeer the young mans opposition to pay for his way out of prison. It is clear that John Grady becomes a real hero not only due to his idealistic beliefs and his relation to life but also because he can give up his ideas in situations of restoring justice and saving life. For example, when Don Hestor asked John about his past, he did not tell him about Jimmy Blevins and the fact that he and his friend Lacey Rawlins may be on the wan ted list for the horse theft. The other situation takes place in the prison where John and Rawlins were taken. The young men are terribly beaten and John sees that Rawlins is seriously injured. John Grady kills a prisoner who attacked him and understands that the evil lives inside him too. Another situation which shows the moral codes of our characters is the last Johns meeting with Alejandra. He loved her, he wanted to be with her. However, she changed her decision and chose her family approval and life in the rich house. The Theme Of Love. Cormac McCarthy represents the theme of love through the relations of his main character John Grady Cole and a young beautiful girl Alejandra. Sometimes it seems that the author wanted to show the same story as William Shakespeare showed in his Romeo and Juliet. The young man John who was only 16 met a beautiful young girl Alejandra, the daughter of Rocha, at La Purisima hacienda where he and his friend Rawlins came to work as cowboys. The first time he saw her riding on a black Arabian horse and fell in love with her. She also fell in love with this young man. She invited him and his friend to the party where she danced with John. John found her hands tender and small and her waist nice and slight. In spite of warnings of Donna Alfonsa who protected Alejandra the young man and the young girl started to have rides at night time together, they went swimming at the lake together. They became lovers. She came to his room every night for a period of nine nights and they were happy to make love. However, then she returned to Mexico. John wanted to be with her and he went to Mexico City and found her there. However, Alejandra had changed. She said that she was afraid of her father who wanted to kill John. She decided to say no to John, and for the last time they made love in the hotel and then parted never to meet again. The Theme of Family Relations. Cormac McCarthy showed another important theme the theme of family relations by the example of John Gradys family. Such family relations affected his future and his character in a way. Johns mother left him when he was a baby. A Mexican woman took care of him and became his second mother. Johns father could not pay him attention because he was away taking part in the World War II but he taught him to love horses. Johns grandfather did not give the boy the parenting he wanted to get. The other character of the novel is Lacey Rawlins whose family was a poor one and he decided to escape and live alone. Jimmy Blevins, a small boy who was 13 years old, did not have a family at all. These young men needed family and were unhappy. Their unfortunate family relations had great influence on their emotional and psychological state. The Theme of Nature. The author pays special attention to nature in his novel. The beauty of nature described in the book helps him to show the characters attitude to the earth, horses, wonderful landscapes, lakes and rivers and reveal the best qualities of their characters. Johns relationships with horses show the close connection between nature and all the human beings. He had a long journey which changed him as a man. He experiences love and cruelty, theft and killing, prison and the system of justice. In each situation nature helped him to survive. CONCLUSION In conclusion, I should say that Cormac McCarthys novel All the Pretty Horses is really a great literary work which can teach us to love nature, to love our country and our family. It shows us how to fight with injustice and how to survive. I think that all the themes the author conveyed in his novel are still actual for the present day life. The author could discover human nature in his novel by the examples of main characters and their attitude to horses as a part of nature.

Miss America Essay -- Sociology, Pageant

â€Å"She represents the type of womanhood America needs, strong, red-blooded, able to shoulder the responsibilities of homemaking and motherhood. It is in her type that the hope of the country rests† (Martin & Watson, 2004, p.3). This was Samuel Gompers sharing his thoughts about the very first â€Å"Miss America†, Margaret Gorman. The Miss America Pageant was established in the most fitting of all decades: the 1920s. During a time when women were just starting to experience newfound independence and rights, the Miss America Pageant strengthened the idea that women had more freedom to express themselves. The competition began as a simple tourist attraction, but the fact that the Miss America Pageant survived throughout the decades exemplifies that the competition was so much more. In the year 1921, Conrad Eckhold, the owner of Atlantic City’s Monticello Hotel was looking for a way to keep tourists in town past Labor Day. After discussing the tourist problem with other Atlantic City business owners, the idea of a â€Å"Fall Frolic† was created. The Fall Frolic included a two-day competition to be called â€Å"Atlantic City’s Inter-City Beauty Pageant†, in years after it would be known as the â€Å"Miss America Pageant† (Miss America, 2/20/2011). To become a contestant, women across the country entered themselves into popularity contests that featured their pictures in the newspapers. Editors of the paper then chose winners based on physical appearance. The winners were then given a free trip to Atlantic City where they were placed in the Inter-City Beauty Pageant (Bivans, 1991). The â€Å"Fall Frolic† began with â€Å"King Neptune†, a man named Hudson Maxim, who wore a crown, seaweed robe, and long white beard. King Neptune announced the competitors and partici... ...ever, bad press was bound to come about. Younger girls were often spared criticism, being seen as young and fun-loving. The elder competitors, though, were greatly disapproved of because of the indecency of the pageant (Carter, 1977; Deford, 1971) The Miss America Pageant was a wake-up call for people everywhere. The roles of women were changing, and there was little anyone could do to stop it. New attitudes were showcased in the pageant by young women who were well-educated and ready to take on the world. They inspired people and showed America a different kind of woman, one who was proud of her looks, personality, and intelligence. Not everyone supported the pageant though, and those who did not made their opinions known. The competition had its fair share of scandals as well, but good or bad the Miss America Pageant has enthralled audiences long past the 1920s.

Bacons Rebellion: An Early Model of the American Revolution :: Essays on American Revolution

With American Indians randomly attacking the colonies, grave economic problems, corruption in the government, a desire for a representative government, and no help from Great Britain, the American colonies were on the brink of rebellion. All that was left to ignite the rebellion was a leader and a spark. Both of these came in the years to follow 1675. There were great economic problems in the colonies at the time. For one thing, the prices of tobacco, the major economic base of the colonies, were falling fast. To add to the decrease in tobacco price, Great Britain was also increasing taxes on the Americans. This did not help the situation in the colonies. Adding to all the turmoil, was a corrupted government. With William Berkeley as the current royal governor, he was in complete control of the colonies, and had not allowed an election in almost fourteen years. His only helpful actionThe government was corrupted, and Great Britain was doing nothing to help. The Americans wanted a representative and responsive government, in which they could elect their representatives and have a voice in the government. Another major factor that caused Bacon's rebellion was the American Indians. Although some were peaceful, many were not. With many of the tribes shifting territories, the American Indians were attacking planters along the frontier. By 1676, more than 300 Virginians had been killed at the hands of the Indians. Adding to all the turmoil, was a corrupted government. With William Berkeley as the current royal governor, he was in complete control of the colonies, and had not allowed an election in almost fourteen years. His only helpful action was to have more forts constructed, making planters feeling abandoned. The government was corrupted, and Great Britain was doing nothing to help. The Americans wanted a representative and responsive government, in which they could elect their representatives and have a voice in the government. From England came a man called Nathaniel Bacon, who was seen by the dissident planters as a natural leader. He is appointed to the Council by Berkeley, and later agrees to lead the planters in their fight against the Indians. He does wait for permission from Berkeley, and leads his followers 200 miles south, where he engages in a bloody battle with the Indians. At hearing this, Berkeley dismisses bacon from the Council, and claims his followers to be rebels. Despite his accusations, he cannot catch bacon and his force.

Assessment Plan for Unit Cu697 Handle Mail Criteria 4.1 †5.2 Essay

4.1 At Proactive Personnel we always use Royal Mail to send out our mail our packages. The options we use to send out our outgoing mail are 1st class, 2nd class and special delivery. The way we are able to tell what mail needs to go 1st, 2nd or special delivery is by our employees placing the mail in the specific trays to which they need, where as special delivery is known by ‘rec’ been wrote on the mail. 4.2 The way our postage prices are worked out is by using the Royal Mail franking machine. We choose the option that we require for the mail, then we weigh the mail/package on the scale on the franking machine to which we are then given a price. Once this is done we simply place the mail under and the machine stamps the mail. If the mail is too big there are special stickers used which get stamped and stuck on the package. 4.3 At Proactive Personnel we do not require the use of a courier service. If we ever did need to use one there are numerous companies ranging from D HL to Fedex that we could use. If we had a large parcel that needed to be delivered we would pay for the company to come collect it and then deliver it to the destination. The cost involves the labour done by the driver, the fuel and the safety of the package. 4.4 This is covered in 4.1 4.5 This is covered in 4.2 4.6 When franking the post and handling the mail we do not record the post, however we do occasionally have to top up the franking machine. This is done by an internet connection set up to the bank account. Once the machine is topped up we make a receipt using the franking machine these are then stored, to which we can see how much was used in a period of time and compare them. 4.7 The post here at Proactive Personnel is sent and received daily the quantities vary. We usually send out the post nearer the end of the day depending on how much there is to stamp it can vary from one hour before to 15 minutes before the end of the day. Wednesday we usually send the payslips out, so there is a large quantity which usually takes a while. 5.1/5.2 During the process of the all above numerous problems can happen. The problems can be the franking machine running out of ink, a letter that has been left behind, post being stamped the wrong price.

Microfinance for Poverty Reduction Essay

INTRODUCTION Microfinance is not something new in Malaysia. It has been operated by credit unions, co-operative banks and specialised credit windows of banks. Microfinance services of financial credit range for about RM10,000 (USD2,631) and mostly to finance small businesses, agricultural loans and loans for poverty reduction. Microfinance program in Malaysia has been implemented since 1987 as one of the poverty eradication strategies in the country. There are three large microfinance institutions in Malaysia namely AIM, YUM and TEKUN that targeted to different groups of people. Each of the microfinance institution has its own lending systems and has been subsidized by the government since their existence. Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), council of trust to the Bumiputera and Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC) are some of the pioneers to introduce microfinance loans to its borrowers. The rural credit institutions comprising of Agriculture Bank of Malaysia (BPM), Farmers Organisation Authority (LPP), Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), and agro-based Co-operative Societies provide micro credit for the agriculture sectors. There are a number of non-government organisations (NGOs) that engaged in microfinance. These include Yayasan Usaha Maju operating in Sabah, Koperasi Kredit Rakyat in Selangor and the best and significantly known microfinance institution (MFI) is Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM). Background of the study This study research about microfinance and its strategy to reduce the poverty among Malaysia’s citizen. Microfinance was introduced in Malaysia during the last three decades. Two types of institutions namely banking institutions and non-bank institutions offer microfinance programs. Banking institutions that offer microfinance products are Public Bank, AM Bank, EONCAP Islamic Bank, CIMB Bank, Alliance Bank, United Overseas Bank, Bank Simpanan Nasional, Agro Bank and Bank Rakyat. The issue of poverty has been a major concern to many nations, particularly the developing countries. Poverty has been defined as a situation where a population or a section of the population is able to meet only its bare subsistence, the essentials of food, clothing and shelter, in order to maintain a minimum standard of living (Balogun, 1999). Low productivity and poorly functioning markets for agricultural outputs are among the causes of poverty as indicated in the government’s poverty reduction strategy paper. Small scale farmers rely on rudimentary methods and technology and they have limited skills and inputs such as improved seeds that would increase yields. Rural poverty in Malaysia Remarkable progress has been achieved in poverty eradication in Malaysia. In the early 1970’s almost half of households were classified as poor while in 1997 the incidence of poverty had significantly declined to 6.1% However, the crisis brought a slight upward swing at 8.1% in 1998. Efforts by the Malaysian government to counter the effects of the crisis bore positive results when the incidence of poverty was reduced to 7.5% in 1999. By 2005, the incidence of poverty was targeted to reduce further to 0.5% (Abdul Rahman Hasan and Sa’idah Hashim, 2001). Poverty is both a social and an economic problem. Eradicating poverty from society is everyone’s dream but in reality it is still around even in economically developed countries. Governments have responsibilities to eradicate the poverty or, at least reduce poverty rates. In fact, poverty reduction is everyone’s social responsibility. This is significant because Malaysia is shifting towards an industrialized economy and starting to enjoy economic growth but there are still so many people who are under the poverty line. Definition of terms 1. Microfinance Microfinance is a provision of a broad range of financial services such as savings, credit, insurance and payment services to the poor or low-income group who are excluded from the normal banking sectors (Ledgerwood, 1999). While, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) defined microfinance as the provision of small loans/financing ranging from RM1,000 up to RM50,000 (USD16,129) to microenterprises or self-employed individuals, for their business activities. Microfinancing is meant for business financing only, such as for working capital and for capital expenditure. It is not a personal loan. Microfinance is defined as the provision of financial services to low-income clients, including consumers and the self- employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services (Gonzalez-Vega, 2008). Microfinance is a place for the poor and near poor clients to get access to a high quality financial service, which include not just credit but also savings, insurance and fund transfer. However, Conroy (2002) stated that microfinance is the provision of a broad range of financial services such as deposits, loans, payment services, money transfers, and insurance to poor and low-income households and their micro-enterprises. The term evolved from the concepts of â€Å"microcredit† and â€Å"microenterprise† financing, to include the importance of savings as well as borrowing. Although the terms are used interchangeably, microfinance represents the field as a whole, while the other two terms are more technical and refer only to credit provision (Maria, 2004). The World Bank defines microfinance as â€Å"†¦. Small-scale financial services – primarily credit and savings – provided to people who farm or fish and who operate small enterprises or microenterprises where goods are produced, recycled, repaired, or sold; who provide services; who work for wages or commissions; who gain income from renting out small amounts of land, vehicles, draft animals, or machinery and tools; and to other individuals and groups at the local levels of developing countries, both rural and urban† (Robinson, 2001). Microfinance activities usually involve giving small loans to customers for working capital, group guarantees, compulsory savings, insurance and access to repeat loans for a larger amount based on repayment performance. 2. Poverty A state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials to enjoy a minimum standard of life and well-being that’s considered acceptable in society. According to Carlton G. Davis (1977), â€Å"the word poverty has assumed a multiplicity of meanings at different times and places. Moreover, the term now has different meanings for different persons even within the same academic discipline.† For Marshall (1998), poverty is â€Å"a state in which resources, usually materials but sometimes cultural, are lacking. It is common to distinguish between absolute and relative definitions of poverty. Poverty defined in absolute terms refers to a state in which the individual lacks the resources necessary for subsistence. Relative definitions, frequently favored by sociologists, refer to the individual’s or group’s lack of resources when compared with that of other members of the society†¦in other words their relative standar d of living.† The causes of poverty are sometimes pointed to areas where business establishments are not successful and the poor depend on assistance from government and agencies. PROBLEM STATEMENT Poverty is a harsh and undesired phenomenon in mankind. Reducing, if possible eradicating poverty is unquestionable. Thus, microfinance programs have been considered as one of the main instruments in poverty reduction in recent development agenda. It has been observed that microfinance play a major role to the socio-economic development and alleviating poverty. Rural banks and micro finance institutions were established in response to the need and the demand to make institutional credit and banking services available to small-scale farmers and rural entrepreneurs. Microfinance institutions were created to operate using local initiatives and local commitment to mobilize resources locally and to lend them to deserving customers using simplified procedures and eligibility criteria. However, microfinance institutions are faced with lots of problems of saving mobilization, and utilization of funds. For instance there is lack of knowledge in risk management, long procedures accessing funds and others. According to David Hulme, microfinance has become an increasingly important component of strategies to reduce poverty. However, knowledge about the achievements of such initiatives remains contested. While some researchers argued that microfinance has positive economic and social impact on the poor, others warn of its negative impacts on the poor. Still others in the middle contend that microfinance indeed has a positive impact, but not on the poorest, as is so often claimed. Therefore, this research, is to analysis and see how microfinance is used as an effective poverty reduction strategy in Malaysia. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The main objective of the study is to examine the impact of microfinance in poverty reduction in Malaysia. The specific objectives are to: 1. Find out the role of microfinance in poverty alleviation or reduction. 2. To show how microfinance works, by using group lending methodology for reducing poverty 3. To find out the impact of microfinance on poverty reduction 4. To examine the challenges or barriers to credit delivery by microfinance institutions. 5. To use the services/products of microfinance with good. Research questions The guiding research question is ‘to what extent and in which way microfinance services of the two cases can lead to poverty reduction in Malaysia?’ Based on this guiding question, it is hoped that the study will answer the following specific questions: 1. What are the role(s) of microfinance in poverty alleviation or reduction in the country? 2. What is the effectiveness of microfinance institutions in the country? 3. What are the impacts of microfinance on poverty reduction? 4. What are the challenges faced by microfinance institutions in the country? Limitations While interviewing the people, we have faced problems in explaining the questions as most of the people, who are involved in microfinance program, are illiterate and living in villages. Therefore, it was too difficult to make them understand some of the technical terms: like capital, income etc. Due to the non-co-operative attitude of some of the respondents, the number of people given questionnaire was smaller than the researcher had originally intended. Financial constrain also affected the effort of the researcher thereby, making it difficult for the researcher to gather the necessary data. Time constraint was also limiting factor for the researcher. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY A study of this nature would make a significant contribution by assisting government and other stakeholders to find lasting solutions to problems facing micro financing in the country. The study is very significant because it will add to the existing literature or the research has added to the stock of books and works already written on microfinance in Malaysia. The study will help Micro Finance Institutions to put in place flexible policies and programs that will help SMEs to access their facilities to ensure its development and expansion. ORGANIZATION OF THE PROJECT PAPER The study consists of three chapters. The first chapter consists of the background to the study, significance of the study, definition of terms, statement of the problem, Objective of the study, research questions, and limitations of study and lastly the organization of the study. Chapter two deals with literature review of concept relevant to the study. While in chapter three, deals with the methodology adopted to conduct he research. This chapter deals with issues such as the research design, population and sample size, instrument, procedures, proposed data analysis and summary.