Consumerism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Consumerism - Essay Example In America a child spends averagely 10 700 minutes in a week watching advertisements. There are so many advertisements aired daily in America convincing people to buy products from different companies. This is mainly because America is a hyper-consumerist society. An advertisement not only helps companies in product promotion but also gives a new perception about shopping. The advertisement tends to make people believe that shopping is about happiness. Therefore many consumers become obsessed with shopping believing it brings self-happiness (OGuinn et al. 283). The truth of the matter is that happiness is realized even if it is for a while. The good thing is that there is creation of more and more companies, more goods as well as job opportunities. This in turn helps in the growth of the United States economy. Most of the advertisements also are directed by children. Business Corporation uses the nagging idea. This is whereby the corporations use children in their advertisements. In turn the children watching the advertisements will nag their parents into buying the new product. Consumerism has also promoted better housing as compared to some years back. People are also buying more sophisticated home theatre systems, cars as well as clothes (Dwyer 23-46). Consumerism if not well looked at can be a problem to environmental sustainability. Planet earth cannot support the American style of consumption in every nation. There is need for magnitude change in consumption patterns among consumers behavior in buying items. Consumers need to stop buying too many toys and base their consumption on non-renewable resources. However, hyper- consumerism brings up many questions. One of the main questions is the use of money. Toys are bought using money, the money used to buy the toys take time to earn (Veblen 1). Most of the people in the contemporary American society, spend most of their times

Pepsi Cola International (PCI) in Ukraine Essay

Pepsi Cola International (PCI) in Ukraine - Essay Example Pepsi Cola International (PCI) in Ukraine One of the major challenges faced by Pepsi Cola International in this region is the poor infrastructure because of which too much time is taken to distribute goods throughout the region. The other challenge that Pepsi has been facing in Ukraine is about storing of goods because of lack of sufficient warehouse. Pepsi has also problems in distributing its goods in village areas of the country as people in such regions are not able to get the supplies of Pepsi despite of the fact that they want to drink the Cola. With inefficient logistics and supply chain in the country, different intermediaries have come up which are trying to capitalize on the situation by making the most of this opportunity and trying to sell the cola after keeping some profit. Thus, this is making the price of Pepsi to increase. In addition to this problems faced by one of the largest beverages companies of the world, firms in Ukraine have to face substantial tax rate in the country as the tax is imposed on 90% of the total sales of the company and therefore organisations are forced to misrepresent their actual sales and actual financial statements to improve their profitability. Currently the Coca Cola has built a bottling plant to capture the market of Ukraine despite of the fact that Pepsi has been the most favourite cola in the country for years. Therefore with the introduction of Coca Cola in the Ukraine market, the management is currently business practices and evaluating whether a change is necessary or not.

Oligopoly Market Conditions

Oligopoly Market Conditions Oligopoly is such a market situation wherein the number of sellers is few and the numbers of buyer are many. That is unlike the monopolistic competition the seller are not one but at least two and could range up to ten. This is because of the following reasons. Heavy input costs of producing the product making it difficult for every firm to make investments. Entry barriers made by the bigger firms in the form of government regulations, price competition, brand setting and other pressure tactics. The method of production requires specialization which is not available with other firms. Product enjoys monopoly in the market. Thus the above mentioned few reasons can become the cause of set up of an oligopoly market. Number of sellers and buyers in oligopoly: Now Oligopoly, as mentioned above can have from two to tens suppliers, rather than one in the case of monopoly market. Thus they together become the price setters instead of price takers. Any rise in price will benefit the rise in sales of other company products that may be similar or differentiated. Reason being the other companies wont follow in rising their product prices as they would be expecting an increase in sales. On the other side, any fall in price will not help gain many customers, as the other companies will respond in a similar pattern and the result will be price war. Thus declining the price level would not help gain as many customers as expected. Price Equilibrium in Oligopoly: An equilibrium condition is when the prices remain unstable and the supply remains same. To increase the demand of the products and meet the competition of other products in the market, these firms indulge in heavy advertising campaigns. Through advertisements they teach the customers about the new feature that is added in their product and various other benefits of using their product. This sometimes results in putting stains on the other companys product in indirect words. Examples of Oligopoly: A number of examples of Oligopoly market situation can be figured out around us. These are explained as follows. PepsiCo and Coca Cola Co. are the two market leader and sellers of soft drinks around the world. Thus two numbers of firms selling to large number of buyers makes it an Oligopoly market. Furthermore these companies are always making heavy investments on advertisements around the globe. Some of the advertisements may be meant to harm the brand image of other. The result in another advertisement in response. Sometimes these matters are even taken to courts for settlement. Boeing and Airbus are another two large companies that makes planes to foster the need of various countries. Again these are two companies, which are the sign of Oligopoly market conditions. These companies although do not make much advertisements, but offers latest techniques at competitive prices by making product differentiation and attracting customers around the globe. OPEC includes a few numbers of sellers of petroleum product throughout the world. As the number of seller is not two but not many either. The numbers of buyers are large, including countries in Asia, Africa, Europe etc. Diagrammatic representation of Oligopoly: As we know that in the Oligopoly is a market where in the number of seller are more than two but not higher in number, whereas the buyers are many. Moreover the price rise results in benefitting the other companys product sales. And on the other hand the price fall results in attracting only a few customers. This type of market conditions can be displayed as follows. From the above diagram its clear that this diagram is very similar to monopoly market situation. But the difference is this type of condition remains for a definite price period. That is if any firm try to raise its prices from Pc to Po the result would be benefit to other firms. Whereas if a firm try to reduce its product prices than that would not foster him more customers than expected. The result would be affecting the profit margins. Thus a Cooperative Oligopoly price level is administered where in all the companies agree to follow a minimum price levels to earn good profits. Any displacement from the agreed price would affect the changer or so called the Cheater, either by fall in demand or fall in profits. Thus a Nash Equilibrium point can be accepted by all the companies in the Oligopoly where in all the companies earn good profits at the present output and price levels. Features of Oligopoly: Now we can conclude the features of the Oligopoly market conditions. These are as follows. Few producers or sellers and high numbers of buyers. Product differentiation is up to some level or no product differentiation. The firms enjoy normal profits in normal market conditions. The firms depend on advertisements, quality rivalry and generally accepted by the group of firms. Economies of scale will exist, as heavy investment and improved technology is needed to get similar quality output at the competitive costs. New firms cannot enter the market, as the old firms create a barrier through government restrictions, heavy investments, pressure techniques like takeover of the uprising company. Swift action is taken on the change in price level and defaming advertising campaign by according price change and responsive advertisements. Conclusion: In the nutshell we can say that the Oligopoly market situation is very similar to Monopoly market situation but with more than one number of seller up to limit extent. The pricing is done by proper agreement between the firms. The product differentiation may or may not present. The firms spend heavy on the advertising campaign and keep a close look at the advertising of other companies and response accordingly. The firms earn normal profits but input barriers on the new entrants.

The Impact of the Violent African-American Stereotype in Rap Music Essa

This paper will show that the stereotype of the violent, criminal African-American portrayed in rap music lyrics can become a self-fulfilling prophecy for African-Americans. Repeated and long-term exposure to this stereotypical behavior in rap music lyrics can lead to increased aggression and this stereotype becoming accepted as a social norm by African-Americans. I intend to support my argument with examples and analysis of the violent African-American stereotype, and by explaining how the stereotype can become accepted as a social norm. The violence that permeates rap lyrics should come as no surprise because music is only one of the numerous forms of media, and violence in the media is often described as being too prevalent. The myth, â€Å"Media violence is only a reflection of violence in society,† can be refuted in different ways. One method is to use real world statistics of crime and violence and compare them to statistics of crime and violence in the media. An estimated 25 million acts of violence occur in television annually, compared to 1.5 million acts of violence in society (Potter 50). This comparison shows that â€Å"violent crime is much more frequent on TV than in real life† (Potter 50). Television depicts murder and assault as the two most frequent acts of crime, while real world statistics show that burglary and larceny â€Å"are the two most prevalent crimes† (Potter 50). The rates of violent crime in television news shows over-represent the rate of violent crime in the r eal world (Potter 56), and television news shows under-represent the percentage of male crime victims while over-representing the percentage of female crime victims. After examining these facts, it is obvious that the statement, â€Å"Medi... ... viewed as what it is—a false representation of reality, instead of a true representation of rea Works Cited Bernd, Simon, and David L. Hamilton. â€Å"Self-Stereotyping and Social Context: The Effects of Relative In-Group Size and In-Group Status.† Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66.4 (1994): 699-711. Chappell, Kevin. â€Å"What’s wrong (and right) about black music.† Ebony September 1995: 25-28. Christenson, Peter G., and Donald F. Roberts. It’s Not Only Rock & Roll. New Jersey: Hampton Press, Inc., 1998. Ehrlich, Paul R. Human Natures. Washington, D.C.: Shearwater Books, 2000. Kitwana, Badari. The Rap on Gansta Rap. Chicago, Illinois: Third World Press, 1994. Potter, W. James. On Media Violence. California: Sage Publications, Inc., 1999. Steele, Claude. â€Å"A Threat in the Air.† American Psychologist 52 (May 1997): 613-627.

How Our Society Depicts Gender Essay

Gender is a powerful force that has shaped humankind’s history and has remained a strongly divisive issue, influencing all facets of the society. The age-old sexist views against women are still evidently present and strong in today’s society. For instance, in the most recent elections in the United States, gender has played a major role, especially in the light of a good number of women joining the process, either as candidates, campaigners and advocates, or opinion leaders. Zernike, K. (2008), in a New York Times article entitled â€Å"Postfeminism and other fairy tales†, tackles the difficulties that women candidates faced amidst predominantly sex- and gender-biased electorate, and even the media. Gender in the Media The media today carries messages that are either shaped by or shaping the society. Curran, J. (2002) concludes that the media is a powerful and convenient vehicle which societal forces ride on to spread their messages, or to put forward their agenda and win support, and that what the media dominantly carries as messages are reflections of the society at large. What better way, then, to know how society depicts gender than by looking at the way media depicts it, through commercials, for instance. Take as an example Kelly Ripa’s Electrolux commercial, wherein the lady host is depicted as not only an efficient host doing a daily show among others, but also doing all household chores single-handedly. And Electrolux’s tagline â€Å"You can be more amazing† implies that although the woman, represented in the commercial by Ripa, has been juggling time and running around in her feat to efficiently serve her home while maintaining her professional life, can even do more, as if all those things she had been doing are still not enough for the woman to be admired. This depiction of a woman in this commercial does not strictly fall into any of the themes or categories explained by Goffman, as the commercial is already a mixture of various elements mentioned by Goffman, including the use of height differences, smile, elevation, etc. For instance, in a scene where Ripa drinks champagne with colleagues, her male counterparts are shown as much taller than she is, likewise her female colleague, who looks so distinctly like a male in her tailored suit and short hair. The scene sends a strong message that among them, Ripa is of lower rank, as symbolized by her short height relative to everybody else in the scene, her long blond hair and lighter colored suit. Therefore, as the one of lower rank and probably social status, Ripa has to run home to tuck her kids to bed. The use of the kitchen can easily be understood as the commercial is all about selling efficient kitchen and home appliances. However, it also gives a message that being a woman, Ripa must be efficient at home also, and must be able to respond to the kids’ needs at the exact moment that they need her. Overall, the message of the ad is clear – that a woman’s professional success does not really count, as her efficiency at home counts the most. Conclusion Contemporary society is no different from societies of centuries back. While there are several theories on gender which different groups adhere to depending on what is convenient to their beliefs and agenda (Butler, J. , 1988), it is undeniable that gender biases and prejudices have not really changed significantly despite all the efforts through the years. Society still holds a very limited perspective and myopic point of view on gender. Although formal institutions have been set to raise awareness of and promote gender equality, and various mechanisms have been established to eliminate gender biases and prejudices, there is still a prevalent culture of gender inequality. Biases against women, stereotyped as weak, domestic, naturally made for homecare, incapable of professional achievements, among others, still predominate society’s overall mantra – through the media, and even in the political, academic and social arenas. Indeed, as Butler quotes Simone de Beauvoir: â€Å"one is not born but rather becomes a woman,† (Beauvoir, 1986, as quoted by Butler, p. 519), society develops concepts, and in this case, creates the concept of a woman as society wants it to be: weak, domestic, only good for the home, among other stereotypes. As society depicts its women to be such, it should not expect, then, for its women to achieve more in life, it should not push its women to do impossible feats. The society better think of ways to take care of its women, however these women want to live their lives – limiting themselves in stereotypical women roles, or jumping out of the box and dare do what only men are expected to do. Works Cited Butler, Judith (1988), Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory, Theater Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Dec. ,1988),pp. 519-531. Curran, James (2002), Media and Power illustrated edition, Routledge 2002. Zernike, Kate (2008), Posfeminism and other fairy tales, The Nation, New York Times, published 16 March 2008.a

Police and Critical Thinking

As a police officer it is our role to observe, think about, and solve problems objectively and systematically. Police officers attend a variety of scenarios when working as a general duties officers it is our job to discover the truth; this requires the use of critical thinking and the scientific method of investigation to find the truth. When attending a job and conducting an investigation into a crime or offence police must utilise these skills as critical thinking and the scientific method of investigation go hand in hand with one another. In particular, to be able to make effective use of the scientific model, you need to be a critical thinker (Osterburg & Ward 1992 pp 11). Using the Scientific Method of Investigation requires police to identify the problem on arrival, then to form a hypothesis as to what has happened as well as possible suspects and motives. By collecting further data, police can then review their original hypothesis and start to make an evidence based conclusion on the incident at hand. The whole point of police investigations whatever the crime or incident is to arrive at the truth (Miller,L & Connelly,M. 1996). There are six steps to the scientific method of investigation. (Becker, RF, 2000, p. 7) The six steps are state the problem, create a hypothesis, collect all data, test the hypothesis, continue to collect data and finally arrive at a theory. By adhering to this method it provides framework that best assists police in discovering the truth about what happened in a structural, factual and reliable way. PPP232 Topic 3) In this essay I will be critiquing the way the police officers have investigated the assault on Mr Lee that took place and how the officers have used both critical thinking and the scientific method of Investigation, to gather all evidence available to find the truth, in an ethical manner. When applying the first stage of the investigation to the scenario the officers attending the scene are approached by the licensee of the Chiefly Hotel. Denis e Spence informs Senior Constable Baltrow that a barman who works in her hotel has been assaulted. Previous experience and observations are both factors which aid us in identifying a problem; this is known as ‘inductive reasoning. ’ In this case, I believe, both factors come into play for Senior Constable Baltrow. Senior constable Baltrow then begins to question the licensee. During the questioning process a male appears from down the street who seems to be out of breath. This male Gary Rawlings, states to police he has just chased a male who assaulted Dan Lee. It appears Mr Rawlings has a lot of valuable information about the assault. By using Denise and Gary’s evidence the Officer in charge is able to identify that a male has been assaulted and taken to Bathurst hospital. The problem has now been identified and the Officers can use their initial observations and the current information they have gathered to begin to form the hypothesis. â€Å"A working hypothesis is like an incomplete puzzle that comes together a piece at a time. † (Becker, 2000. pp. 4). After forming a logical hypothesis that the victim was assaulted by a male, it is now up to the officers to â€Å"Collect Further Data†. Whilst collecting data the Officers will be identifying, utilizing and evaluating various sources of information and evidence collected at the scene to help support their hypothesis. Both the statements give evidence to prove the assault took place but police have no information as to why the assault happened. Constable Buchman points out to Senior constable Baltrow that there is CCTV footage available. In collecting data it is also crucial for the police to be able to link all the evidence presented from witness, victim and available evidence from the crime scene. The next step in the investigation is to interpret the data and test the hypothesis. The statements made by the witnesses may change the officer’s hypothesis from ‘was the assault carried out intentionally or was in self-defence, the CCTV footage will provide officers with valuable evidence to support their hypothesis. For the officers to come to a decision, about their initial hypothesis, it requires critical thinking about their line of investigation. Critical thinking is an integral part of the scientific method of investigation. It is the examination and test of propositions of any kind which are offered for acceptance, in order to find out whether they correspond to reality or not. (Nixon, Stefanovic, & O’Conner, 2009, p. 74). The concept of critical thinking includes inductive and deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning is the process of arriving at a conclusion based on a set of observations. In itself it is not a valid piece of evidence as it can lead to assumptions, stereotypes and prejudices about a suspect. It can also lead to tunnel vision. Deductive reasoning is using the evidence and information at hand to create specific facts and ideas about what occurred during an incident. Its use can help create a hypothesis to help investigators advance in an investigation. It is a starting point for an investigation not a conclusion and an integral part of the scientific method of investigation (PPP232 Module 3). It is not your job to punish: your job is to discover the; who, what, where, when, how and why of an event, and then to report the matter to another authority (Court, Coroner, DPP, Workcover etc). This is the key role of investigation – discovering the truth of the matter and this subject strives to expand your knowledge and skills so you become an effective, professional and ethical investigator. The data that the investigating police were provided with through the investigation process was able to offer police with a sequence of events, before, during and after the incident. The data collected by the police has ensured that the witnesses version of events, matched up with the CCTV footage at the scene. This shows how important evidence is in the investigation process as it allows police to correctly identify and charge suspects according to law. The officers in the scenario believe they are dealing with an assault. To help investigate the crime further the officers will now gather additional data. The officers collect the CCTV footage which will play vital part in the investigation. A description of the suspect is given to Senior constable Baltrow and is broadcasted over the police radio. The officer in charge then proceeds further into the investigation when he is informed about a piece of wood which was used in the assault. The Officer locates the piece of wood and records, photographs and collects this evidence. The next stage of the investigation is to take statements from the witnesses, victim, to obtain a copy of the CCTV footage, and search the area for further witnesses or evidence. Police would then send out Forensic service Group to see if there is any further evidence they can obtain from the scene. The CCTV footage obtained will confirm the witness’s versions. The police now attend Bathurst Hospital to speak with Mr Lee and Catherine James about what occurred at the Chiefly Hotel. Their statements will be a vital part of the investigation. Police observations of Mr Lee’s injuries are consistent with the statements gathered. Police take statements which confirm and support the facts gathered about the assault. Over the radio police get a call stating that a male has been caught trespassing on a property. On arrival the person of interest appears to match the description of the accused involved in the assault at the Chiefly hotel. Applying critical thinking to the new evidence given about a male attempting to break into a property at Bathurst, police now have the suspect allowing for the investigation to begin. The officers are able to caution the offender and begin questioning Jason Priest about the assault. During the questioning process the accused states that the victim came up to him and assaulted him with the piece of wood. Using the CCTV footage the police will now have to view the footage to test this theory. At this stage of the investigation the officers believe they have sufficient data to support their decision on arresting the accused. The Officers will now need to collate any further evidence which would be beneficial to their case such as the victim and witness statements, CCTV footage, forensic evidence from the scenes and the photo identification back at Bathurst Police Station. The data which has been collected is all evidence that meets the description and identifies the suspect. Now that the police have obtained vital information they are able to place the two men out the front of the Chiefly hotel. The victim and first witness supplied important information to the Officers which allowed them to start the investigation, the officers were able to obtain sufficient data to support what type of offence was committed. The only barrier could be the witnesses may drawback from an investigation as they could be affected by emotion, threats, or fear to give their true account on what happened. The responding officers are in a position not only to influence the victim’s feelings, perceptions and assessments regarding the victimisation experience, but whether the victim will assist in the prosecution of the case. ’ In this prosecution the CCTV is important as it shows who has the piece of wood and the method in which it was used, intent or self-defence. The CCTV footage helps the officers comprehend what has occurred and collaborate the versions that hav e been represented by the witnesses. Police have obtained 3 forms of evidence: Real, Original and Documentary. Real evidence is an object, something tangible that is found at a crime scene or is related to an offence. In this scenario an example of real evidence is the piece of wood that was used by the accused as a weapon in the assault. Original evidence is evidence given by a witness, a statement and anything said by a person in relation to the offence and what they saw. Police obtained statements from Denise, Catherine James and Mr Lee. Documentary evidence is anything that can be classed as a document. Relating to this scenario the officers took photos of the weapon in the assault and collected CCTV footage from Denise the licensee of the hotel. From gathering and assessing all evidence police can now â€Å"Draw an Evidence Based Conclusion†. It is now up to the officers to use critical thinking to link all pieces of evidence to the crime to find the truth. By individualising each piece of evidence found, the officers can identify what each piece of evidence means, determine the reliability of the evidence and what range of conclusions can be drawn from it. By collecting further data, police can then review their original hypothesis and start to make an evidence based conclusion. When undertaking any role as a police officer it is important to maintain professionalism by acting in an ethical manner, The† Code of Conduct and Ethics† and â€Å"Statement of Values† provide guide lines for police to adhere to when undertaking this role. Police must always act in an ethical manner throughout their role as a police officer. Everything a police officer does is under scrutiny from fellow officers, victims, witnesses and of course the public, which is why it crucial that police act in an ethically sound manner. The â€Å"Code of Conduct and Ethics (CCE)† and â€Å"Statement of Values (SOV)† provides a framework in which the police are to operate. In this scenario the police have embraced the expectations from both the CCE and the SOV. The 3 main points of the CCE addressed in the scenario are: the officers â€Å"behaved honestly and in a way that upholds the values and the good reputation of the NSW police† and â€Å"acted with care and diligence†. The officers throughout the incident acted professionally, and made numerous decisions during the investigation some ethically correct and others which could have been dealt with differently. One of the decisions made which I believe to be unethical was not to IPE the person of interest. Section 201(2)(c) of LEPRA clearly states an officer must inform a person of their name, place of duty and give evidence that they are police officers if not in uniform before exercising any power. Failure to abide by this legislation deems all powers that are exercised unlawful. Due to the officers failing to abide by this safeguard the arrest would be considered unlawful. This could possibly see the collapse of the case in court and see a crime go unpunished. Another factor is that tunnel vision occurred when the officer in charge was questioning the witness at the scene. An example of the officers not thinking critically and letting tunnel vision take over is when the officer in charge broadcasted the description of the male wanted for the assault. At that stage the officers only assumed that an assault has occurred. Police also broadcasted a description of the accused over police radio, this was done without fully investigating and assuming that the witness was telling the truth. Police should have reviewed the CCTV footage from the hotel to ascertain that an assault had occurred and the description of the accused was correct. It seemed to me that officers performed fairly well. They sufficiently investigated the matter and were able to arrest the suspect for further in It is easy for us to watch this scenario unfold on DVD and criticise the actions and decisions of the two officers. However when you are placed in real life situation you need to focus on what will be in the public’s best interest and what ethical decisions will need to be made. It is important to remember that investigation is not a game with winners or losers it is a search for the truth based on the gathering of information in a fair and ethical manner. I believe that the Officers were able to provide a framework that best assisted them to the truth of the crime. In conclusion â€Å"Critical thinking† and the â€Å"Scientific Method of Investigation† are fundamental partners in criminal investigation. Together they form a â€Å"logical and scientific format† (Activity 6. 1) that enables an investigator to form logical conclusions based on the collected evidence. Critical thinking allows for conclusions coming forth from a number of different perspectives. Together this way of thinking is important in investigations as it aides investigators in answering questions and reconstructing the past. Often police are placed in a situation that requires them to solve a crime or identify an offender who committed an offence. The fact that the community have placed police in that role means it is the police who are accountable for finding the truth, and this is the basis of investigation – for police to search for the truth.