Food inc review

Food Inc Extra Credit Food Inc is a documentary about the state of the food industry within the United States. It was a very in depth look at the farming industry that most people don't get a chance to see. Most people don't really think about where the food comes from or how it was farmed. This documentary gave a clear insight into how our food is really produced. When you think of farming, you may think of an area of land which is devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food, but in this ocumentary we learned that most of our food is actually produced in mega factories.Since there is such a high demand for processed food these days, farmers are artificially growing their crops. The film introduces us to an overcrowded chicken farm in Kentucky and clarifies the fact that chickens have doubled in size since the 1950's. Chickens today are genetically modified to have larger breasts in order to respond to the demands of the consumer's preference for white meat. The chickens row at such a rate that their bones and organs can't keep up with the rapid weight gain.The chickens aren't able to walk around since their legs cannot carry the weight. Health and safety regulations of the food, the animals, the workers on the assembly lines, and of the consumers who will be eating the food is often overlooked by the companies in an effort to provide cheap food regardless of the negative consequences. Animals at factory farms stand ankle deep in their manure for long eriods of time meaning that if one cow has E.Coli, the other animals can easily be infected with it which will then be passed on to the consumer when ingested. Overall, I believe that this documentary was a major eye opener for me to pay more attention to the type of food that I consume and to also take the proper precautions when preparing food at home. I have learnt the importance of properly reading food labels prior to purchasing food in order to be fully aware of what I am putting into my body.

Criminalistics Essay

Jennifer Humphrey Criminalistics Individual Work Week 3 1. Name two synthetic opiates and describe the purpose for which each is typically used. * Methadone is perhaps the best known synthesized opiate. A person that receives periodic doses of methadone would not get high if he/she then took heroin or morphine. It’s purpose is to eliminate an addicts desire for heroin, with minimal side effects. Mainly, heroin addicts receive methadone to reduce or prevent future heroin use.Some physicians also prescribe methadone for pain relief. * Oxycontin’s active ingredient is oxycodone, which is a synthetic drug closely related to morphine and heroin in its chemical structure. Oxycontin is an analgesic that has affects similar to those of heroin. Used to treat chronic pain. 2. What is a hallucinogen? Name three commonly used hallucinogens. Hallucinogens are drugs that can cause marked alterations in normal thought processes, perceptions and moods.Three commonly used hallucinogens are LSD, PCP, and Marijuana. 3. What is stimulant? Name two widely used stimulants, A stimulant is a drug that is used to stimulate, or speed up the central nervous system. Cocaine and methamphetamines (ICE) 4. What is crack and how is it produced? A particularly potent form of cocaine produced by mixing cocaine and baking soda and then water, and then heated, resulting in a solution. The material us then broken into tiny chunks that dealers melt as crack rocks.Crack gives a greater euphoria. 5. What is the difference between a screening test and a confirmation test? A screening test is a preliminary test used to reduce the number of possibility identities of an unknown substance. A confirmation test is a single test that specifically identifies a substance. References Saferstein, 2009, pages 286-287 Saferstein, 2009, pages 287-290 Saferstein, 2009, page 293-295 Saferstein, 2009, page 295 Saferstein, 2009, page 303

Final essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Final - Essay Example , the discussion on recollection and death cannot avoid the aspect of immortality, materiality and invisibility, which is discussed in the dialogue of Socrates and his friends. This paper will therefore seek to examine the viability of the claim that all learning is a process of recollection in relation to the other claims made by Socrates that support the notion. The soul must have been in existence long before one is born and therefore before birth the soul has all knowledge, which it had acquired in its previous life. At the time of birth, the soul is forced to take a new body, which is then supposed to be in control of since the body is mortal but the soul is immortal. The body thus relies on the soul, which plays the divine role and acts as a source of authority for guidance in all its endeavors. As a person grows, the soul may start to forget some of the knowledge acquired as the person encounters different situations, which erode some of the information. However, it is worth noting that the information is not fully lost since when a person acquires knowledge either through sight or through other senses the impression of what is being learned will already be in the mind and the soul will reignite the impression. Therefore, a person can only remember that which he already has an impression on.1 The aspect of abstract equality reinforces the idea that all forms of learning are just a mere process of recollection. When human beings acquire any new form of knowledge they usually have to relate it with what they perceive in their minds to be the absolute truth. But where does absolute truth come from since right from the time that a person starts acquiring knowledge he already possess a definition of this absolute. It therefore emerges that a person is born with this knowledge on abstract equality, which implies that the soul must have existed before and thus acquired all such knowledge. The present reasoning thus only refers to the absolute good, justice,

Integration of Giant Supply Chains in Public Sector Essay

Integration of Giant Supply Chains in Public Sector - Essay Example The critical processes differ from one another, but the processes involving supply chain management and supply chain management are critical to any organization. The coping period of the organization without critical processes is known as maximum tolerable outage and this makes the private sector organization fail in the absence of successful supply chain management. At this context, the public sector plays a role by minimizing the contexts that make a firm face maximum tolerable outage by integrating giant supply chains thus developing logistics concept in supply chains. To develop logistics concept and to have integration in its supply chains, public sector should develop significant reorganization that helps industry and thus economy to cope with the situation. In minimizing the maximum tolerance outage situations, the facilitation of public sector to private sector helps in making supply chain management successful and supply chain systems of various organizations successful when they are connected to integrated supply chain management of public sector. There are situations like denial of access for the private organizations in the absence of integration of giant supply chain management of public sector. ... There are situations like denial of access for the private organizations in the absence of integration of giant supply chain management of public sector. The situations may be regarding the locations, floor of a building, whole building, city block, and half a kilometer radius from the building, metropolitan area and beyond. The minimizing the loss of power supply is possible with the successful role of public sector in power supply and reasonable care taken by the organization in case of any failure of public sector power supply. For example, large investments like investing in nuclear power is not possible for an average private organization the role of public sector in power supply cannot be diluted and integration of such giant supply chains in public sector is compulsory for a successful private sector. In addition to the above aspects, the continuous power supply is an inevitable necessity for production. Next coming to transportation and storage, the big firms make use of tran sportation infrastructure of public sector and SMEs and smaller industries depend on public sector even for storage facilities. In the context of communications, the public sector is main supplier of bandwidth and spectrum to private telecom companies. As a result the integration between different supply chains of public sector will help private sector to thrive (Lan, Yi-chen Editor, page 321-323, 2005). Global Integrated Supply Chain Management The integrated supply chain management is a necessity for optimum performance of any industry or sector. The challenges faced by any industry or organization depend on the dynamics of the industry or organization and market. Procurement is the

College assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

College - Assignment Example 10. The following 10 data values are systolic blood pressure readings. Compute the mean, range, standard deviation, and variance for these data using StatCrunch. Copy and Paste your work from StatCrunch into your Word document submission. 12. The following data designate whether patients in two groups (experimental and control) complied with a medication regimen. The experimental group participated in an intervention designed to promote perceived mastery over health events: Using StatCrunch, construct a contingency table for these data, computing both row and column percentages for each of the four cells. Copy and Paste your StatCrunch table into your Word document submission. Using StatCrunch, construct a scatterplot that shows the relationship between the two variables. Copy and Paste your work from StatCrunch into your Word document submission. Verbally describe the direction and magnitude of the relationship. Using StatCrunch, construct a scatterplot that shows the relationship between the two variables (carbon dioxide concentrations and the measured change in Global temperature). Calculate the r value using StatCrunch. Copy and Paste your work from StatCrunch into your Word document submission. Verbally describe the direction and magnitude of the relationship you find. What does this tell you about Global

Bodyritualnacirema Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Bodyritualnacirema - Assignment Example General George Washington led the American revolution in 1776, and became the first American president. For more than half of Americans, he is much more than a cultural hero. The article goes further to note that Nacirema’s culture is characterized by a well developed market economy which delivers financial benefits to the majority of the Nacirema people. The Nacirema people use up most of their time in pursuing in tending their bodies in ritualistic ways that have cultural approval (Miner, 1956). The author is obviously alluding to the preoccupation that many Americans have with ensuring that their bodies are in the best physical shape. The ‘shrine’ that the author alludes to, which exists in many houses for the purposes of ritualistically attending the body is probably a reference to gymnasiums, or exercise rooms, which many Americans have created within their houses. This shrine could also be an allusion to the medicine box. The author states that within their shrines, the Nacirema usually include a chest like box that is built into the wall. This chest is said to hold magical portions which have been given to the people by specialized practitioners. The people cannot really tell what the portions are made up of, as the practitioners write what they are in a supposedly secret language that can only be deciphered by other practitioners. From the way the author describes these portions, it is evident that he is speaking about medicinal prescriptions, as well as nutritional supplements such as vitamins and minerals which can be found today in almost every American home. The author then goes on to stop that the Nacirema culture is obsessed with the human mouth. He satirically states that the Nacirema believe so much in the power of their mouths, that they are certain that if they do not perform certain rituals on a daily basis, their teeth would fall out, and their social and personal relationships

African American men and the prison system Research Paper

African American men and the prison system - Research Paper Example The report also indicates that African Americans have the highest imprisonment rate, about six times that of white American males and three times higher than Hispanic males. Further reports indicate that by 2007, the African American composition in the prison system was 900, 000 of the total 2.2 million population, which suggests that at least on in five African American man has been incarcerated (Alexander, 2011). If the current incarceration trend persists, then at least one in three African Americans will have an incarceration record by 2020 (ASAALH, 2011). The prison system adoption of incarceration policies has produce outstanding results in public safety, but they have had an enormous contribution to the weak informal social controls and family disruptions in the African American communities. African Americans disproportionate rate of incarceration has been documented in the past, but the current figures suggest than there are no active policies to address the issue. While it i s true that crime rates have risen over the past thirty years by almost 500%, the increasing number of blacks incarcerated is still not explainable (Clear, Cole, and Reisig, 2011). Different individuals and parties have raised concerns over the issue, notably Michelle Alexander and her book on mass incarceration. According to Alexander, the current population of African Americans in the prison and jail system is greater than that enslaved before the beginning of the Civil War. She further argues that crime rates are at a historical low as compared to the fluctuations over the years. Alexander attributes the increase to the current policies on war on drugs, a war that seems to aim at the poor communities of color exclusively, despite the fact that whites also trade and use illegal drugs at similar or higher levels than African Americans (Alexander, 2011). Reports indicate that at least four of five African American youths living in some black inner-city society expect incarceration a t one point in their lives. This leads economic and social disenfranchisement of many great African American, denying them voting rights, educational opportunities, public housing, and excluding them from equal opportunity hiring and legal rights like juries. According to Alexander, these discriminations and disenfranchisement causes more than 70% of these African Americans to return to the system after only two years (Clear, Cole, and Reisig, 2011). Another journalist, Lisa Ling, highlights the problems that face African American males after incarceration. She explores how the imprisonment of black males affects the subsequent and multiple generations of the community, creating a poverty cycle in the African American (Alexander, 2011). Among the difficulties she attributes to incarceration, include aggressive behavior, increased chances of homelessness, future imprisonment, and failure in school. Other challenges that ex-convicts face are reduced chances of getting a job, and lack of experience. Different states in the US exhibit variances in the proportion of black and white incarceration rates, ranging from as a high as 13.6-to-1 in states like Iowa to as low as 1.9-to-1 in Hawaii (Mauer and King, 2007). Interestingly, states that exhibit a high disproportional rate of incarceration are located on the Midwest and Northeast, including Wisconsin, Vermont, New Jersey, Iowa, and Connecticut. However, high disproportional rates between the Hispanic and the white incarceration population also follow similar geographic concentration, with the notable states being New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. The states with

Exam revision Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Exam revision - Assignment Example The best distribution channel strategy for a new toothpaste brand is a direct channel of producer – agent – customer. For a new product like a toothpaste in this case , all the 4 P’s of marketing, that is product, price, promotion and place have to be considered. A modification of the traditional producer, Producers, Wholesalers, Retailers which most consumer products like tooth pastes use. The producer appoints sales agents who go to the field and sell directly to the customers. As they do so, they are marketing the new product to the people since the product does not have many existing customers. This can also be aided by using internet facilities where the product information is stipulated. It is also important that effective communication in the website be enabled that so that there is constant feedback and response to the customers questions. Direct selling is important because there is a lot of competition from the existing market leaders e.g. unilever. The customers may also not trust the new product if for example it is just lying in the retailers store. Direct selling enables the agent to explain and convince the customer. This will secure the trust of the customers and cause market penetration of the toothpaste. In a bid to attract and retain customers to their brands, companies use marketing use all or a fraction of the marketing mix. They include advertising, personal selling, promotional selling, direct marketing and public relations. There a multiplicity of factors to consider before deciding on the strategy. Generally, to decide a communication mix for Barclays Bank and Levis jeans, the following should be considered:

Understand the basics of business operations Week one Essay

Understand the basics of business operations Week one - Essay Example Organizations that lack organization and clear management policies are likely to face problems. Having everything in order in the organization is likely to bring proper communication and understanding. New ideas and concepts will always present themselves in this day and age. It is, therefore, crucial to stay on top of things to ensure success. The need to have operations managers is rising. This ensures the productivity efficiency in the organization stays at the top (Wagner, 2012). Organizing how things operate and move is an enormous responsibility for those who take up the mantle of operations manager. However, it is a task anyone ready for a challenge will gladly take. To prosper in business operations, one requires skills and aptitude to execute the responsibilities at hand. This is regardless of the business he/she is undertaking. These skills are beneficial because they help in creating quality operations, which leads to the provision of quality products and services. Through business operations, people in charge get to understand every subdivision and department in the organization, and help to ensure everything runs smoothly (Wagner, 2012). In conclusion, business operations are fundamental in the growth of an organization. Business operations have to help an organization compete globally; therefore, there must be the introduction of experts into the operations department. They can shape the organization’s operations to suit their every requirement, hence; offering consumers what they want, and providing themselves with the right amount of profit from all

Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 22

Music - Essay Example Arguably, no word can exactly explain the performance that was in waiting. The performers as well were of middle age which added more ecstasy and cheer in the environment. The first exhibit by the Fry Street was string quartet No. 6 composed by Felix Mendelssohn in the F minor. The initial combination of the instruments used depicted masterly, technical ability and prowess to crack musical chords and laying curls with music notes. In terms of rhythm, the different instruments combined in a regular rhythmic pattern while the beat was steadily and evenly maintained. The slow movement in the Allegro Vivace assai in the piece successfully outlined music conjunct as a major element vivid in the piece. Harmony was also evident which particularly came out clearly in the sad section of the writing. The second exhibit by the Fry Street quartet was the string quartet No. 5 composed in a minor by Danish Ludwig Beethoven. The major inclusion in the piece involves the exceptional performance of Molto Adagio (Schweitzer n.p). It was a chance to present some self-conscious display of more refined moments. The movements were quite intriguing triggering the curiosity and much attention of the majority of the audience. The notes were combined alternatively rising high at the beginning while reducing significantly as the lines ended. In addition, a steady beat was maintained throughout and conjunct was highly outlined. The two performance sets were similar in various ways particularly in rhythmic and harmonic application. The performance was successful in delivering the various music elements like music conjunct, harmony and themes congruence. It is vivid that a steady beat and a regular rhythmic pattern was maintained in both pieces and notes exquisitely placed. In addition, constant harmonies and discords were applied in both pieces. However,

Imperfect Punishments Essay Example for Free

Imperfect Punishments Essay Imagine a place where tyrants stand up to their ears in boiling blood, the gluttonous experience monsoons of human filth, and those who commit sins of the flesh are blown about like pieces of paper in a never-ending wind storm. Welcome to Dantes Inferno, his perspective on the appropriate punishments for those who are destined to hell for all eternity. Dante attempts to make the punishments fit the crimes, but because it is Dante dealing out the tortures and not God, the punishments will never be perfect because by nature, man is an imperfect creature. Only God is capable of being above reproach and of metering out a just punishment. While Dantes treatment towards the tyrants is fitting, his views on the inhabitants of the Ante Inferno and Limbo seem to be backwards and these poor people are doomed to suffer misguided punishments. Therefore, despite Dantes best attempts to justly punish each sinner, he makes a few mistakes because he is not God and Dante is unable to unbiasedly judge each sinner. If you were to attempt a journey through Hell, the first unlucky hellions you would encounter are the inhabitants of the Ante Inferno. The residents of this not quite heaven, not quite hell domain were placed here because while living, they chose to neither side with God nor with the Devil. By choosing neither good nor evil, these people sinned because they never chose to live by a set of Christian ideals. The punishment for these sinners is to constantly chase a white flag. The color of the flag symbolizes the blank and empty life the sinners led because they did not choose to follow God. The sinners are also bitten by wasps because in real life, they were never forced into any type of moral decision, so in the Ante Inferno, the wasps sting them and force them to chase the white flag. While the ordeal these sinners face seems entirely appropriate, their physical location in hell, or lack there of, is what makes their punishment wrong. This becomes very obvious when the punishment fo r those in Limbo is considered. Limbo is the First Circle of Hell and it is the final resting place for the people who died before the birth of Christianity or who were never baptized. Notable figures like Moses and Noah are former residents of Limbo, until  Christ granted them a pardon. Virgil resides in Limbo and has been given a temporary leave of absence to guide Dante through Hell because Beatrice, Dantes former love who holds a high place in heaven, is worried that he is headed on the path towards Hell. Dante shows pity for those who are stuck in Limbo because as Virgil describes, Some lived before the Christian faith, so that They did not worship God aright and I Am one of these. Through this, no other fault, We are lost, afflicted only this one way: That having no hope, we live in longing(Canto IV 28-32). Dante is said to be seized with heartfelt grief (Canto IV 33) after hearing this, but no pity is supposed to be felt towards sinners who are receiving just punishments. But how just is it that people who never knew the word of Christ and had no knowledge of Heaven or Hell are sentenced to Hell? It is not a fair punishment to doom those unlucky enough to be born before Christianity to Hell when they were not given a fair chance to learn how to gain entrance to Heaven, especially when you consider that those living in the Ante Inferno were perfectly aware of God and knew the consequences of not living a Christian life. Knowing about God and simply ignoring him seems to be a worse crime than being born before Christ. Perhaps some of the residents of Limbo may have ended up in Hell had they know about Christianity, but some may not have. The people in Limbo were never given the choice to live a life with God, so their punishment and placement in Hell should be less severe than the people who ignored their chance to gain entrance to Heaven. If Limbo and the Ante Inferno could geographically switch positions, Dantes reasonsing and punishments for the two groups would make more sense. The sinners in the Ante Inferno experience what seems to be a greater punishment  than what one would face in Limbo. Being constantly stung by wasps and forced to chase a white flag would be mentally and physically exhausting and seems to be a torture straight out of hell yet they arent even technically in hell. On the other hand, in Limbo one merely walks around and talks to other luckless souls, which does not seem to be a punishment constant with what other sinners face in hell. Dante correctly assigned the right punishments to each group of sinners, but he misplaced both groups. Limbo should be outside of Hell because they did not have the knowledge of either Heaven or Hell. The Ante Inferno should be the first level of Hell, reserved for those who knew about Heaven and Hell, choose neither side, and now must face the fact that by thei r indecision, are bound to suffer in Hell. While Dante may have geographically misplaced these two groups of sinners, he did correctly punish most of the sinners in Hell. For example, the river of blood in which boils everyone / Whose violence hurt others (Canto XII 41-42) describes the perfect punishment for those who were violent while they were alive. The degree of the violence committed also factors into the punishment. Tyrants who slaughtered many people are completely covered in boiling blood, while those who were violent against only a few suffer with blood up to their torsos. This is the perfect punishment because violence is a crime of passion and causes bloodshed. It is appropriate for these sinners to be in boiling blood, which would have been similar to their blood, simmering with rage and passion, while they committed their sin. Being immersed in this disgusting pool of heated blood would be a terrible punishment and it is just that those who commit the crime of violence and murder should suffer this endless tor ment. In order to place the sinners in the appropriate levels of Hell, Dante relies on his personal experiences and opinions about the crimes committed. The little bit that we know about Dante and his life, we learn through the opening scenes of the epic and conversations he has with spirits in Hell. The epic opens with Dante, In dark woods, the right road lost (Canto I 2). This shows the Dante is neither a devout Christian, nor is he a sinner. At his place in his life, being neither good nor bad, Dante would most likely be sentenced to life in the Ante Inferno. Throughout the epic, Dante likens  himself to Virgil, but at the same time appears to know that his work is not quite as good as Virgils. Perhaps by placing himself and the Ante Inferno in a level of Hell less severe than Limbo, Dante may still not be as good of a poet, but he is able to represent himself as a better person morally. This may not seem just to me, but to Dante this is a perfectly reasonable punishment. Dante feels the need to be superior to Virgil and since he was not able to accomplish this in life, he supercedes Virgil in the afterlife. It is also evident that Dante has a personal bias towards those who commit the sin of violence. While venturing through their circle of Hell, Dante says there in that crowd / Were many I recognized (Canto XII 114-115). He mentions that Alexander resides there and that he held Sicily under / For many a sad year (Canto XII 100-101). Dante may have placed such a harsh, yet still just, punishment on the Violent because he is avenging his country and people for the violent crimes committed against them. Alexander was responsible for an innumerable amount of Italian lives during his occupancy of Sicily and Dante is making sure that he is correctly punished for his sins. In life, Dante was unable to stop Alexander from committing his atrocities, but he is able to condemn him in Hell. Had Dante and his country not experienced the terrors of a tyrant, it is possible that without his need for revenge, Dante may have awarded the Violent a lesser punishment. Our personal experiences and feelings are what make us human, but yet they also lead us to biases, which prevent us from being as fair and just as God. It is obvious that those in Limbo who were never given a chance to have their soul saved by Christ should not be doomed eternally to a lower level of Hell than those in Ante Inferno who ignored the chance to save their soul. Yet Dante misplaces these two domains of Hell to put himself in a level nearer to Heaven than Dante will ever be able to acheive. While Virgils literary abilities will always be remembered as better pieces of work, by making Virgil his guide to salvation, Dante will reach Heaven, the ultimate goal of a Christian, while Virgil never will. The punishment of the Violent is a strong statement against those who have brought bloodshed to Italy and reflects Dantes hope for peace in Italy. Dante shows that while these sinners may have dominated the lives of others on Earth, that in hell  the Violent are completely overwhelmed by the blood that they created. Despite Dantes good intentions of creating a Hell where the punishment fits the crime, his opinions cloud his judgement. He uses Hell as a way to punish or degrade those whom he had some sort of a conflict with while alive. It is obvious that I do not agree with all of his ideas about Hell, but then again I am also not a fourteenth century Italian male. A just hell is different for everyone, depending on your own beliefs or lack of beliefs. The only universally just Hell that can be experienced is a Hell of Gods making and hopefully I will never know how his punishments compare to Dantes.

Quality of Consumers Goods

Quality of Consumers Goods In recent years, consumers are becoming increasingly conscious about the quality, safety, suitability and environmental impacts of the goods that they demand. However, in many cases, consumers would not aware of the quality of a goods or products even after consumptions. These products are known as the credence goods. It is difficult to distinguish between two qualities of the same good, even after consumption. In such case, consumers are willing to pay a premium for the hidden attributes of the goods that they cannot observe. Such goods include ‘natural versus genetically modified (GM) food, ‘organic versus non-organic products, ‘fair-trade products, ‘suitable for vegetarians goods, ‘Kosher, and more generally ‘high-quality versus low-quality products. However, this paper is interested to study a special type of credence goods, that is ‘Halal versus non-Halal products or goods. Halal is an Arabic word which means lawful or permissible. It follows the Islamic ruling known as the Syariah law. Halal covers every aspect of Muslims life especially dietary. Halal food simply means that the food products are free from any elements which Muslims prohibited from consuming. Extended discussion on Halal is presented in Chapter 2. With Islam as the second largest religion in the world and the fastest growing, the world Halal food trade is estimated to be around US$ 150 billion to US$ 500 billion in 2007 on which US$ 80 billion alone is generated from agri-food products (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, 2007; Brunei Halal, 2007). These factors hasten the investment in Halal products, and in some cases, producers cheat for easy access to the market. Analysis of Halal in this paper, distinguishes itself from other studies on credence goods, as it involves different levels of consumers interactions. Any credence goods, including Halal products, comprise a special attribute or characteristic. This characteristic is not verifiable and revealed unless by experts or other professional services. Hahn (2004) suggested that real or complete credence goods would be difficult to find as consumers would have some judgement on products or services after the consumption. This is not entirely true as in case of Halal food product, especially Halal meat. It is very difficult to check if the meat is entirely Halal as claimed, as there is no existing way to check after consumption whether say the meat purchased is really slaughtered in Syariah methods, even though there is non-existence of other non-Halal ingredients. Therefore, in this sense, Halal meat is an example of a real credence good. In many cases, consumers concern for the special or credence attribute (eg. environmental, fair-trade, organic, Halal, etc.) is evidenced by their willingness to pay a premium for the high-quality products. The willingness to pay opens up an opportunity for low-quality producers (those which lack the special attribute) to take advantage by pretending to be that of high-quality, especially when only the producers know whether the desirable attribute exist in their products or not. Moreover, it is too expensive for individual consumer to directly monitor or verify these attributes. Therefore, consumers could only decide their purchasing choice on subjective belief regarding the products quality, which are based on all available information such as press report, word-of-mouth and labels when such adverse selection in credence goods market exist. Hence, producers cannot build reputation when production of low-quality imitating goods could not be detected and punished. Delayed detection of low-quality products allows its producers to imitate the strategy of their high-quality rivals, which hampered signalling use. Like other credence goods, Halal food products, through certified Halal brand/logo would improve the information asymmetry, but may carry the similar issues. These issues are discussed in Chapter 2. It is common for credence goods to feature a communication scheme such as labels or brands to help consumers in making purchasing decisions. Moreover, these labels or brands often require authentication by legislator or a third-party organisations that have the proficiency in each field of specific credence quality attributes, thus involving additional costs. In the Halal market, there also exist regulations by the government (eg. in Brunei, under the authority of Brunei Islamic Religious Council, Ministry of Religious Affairs) or third party organisation (eg. in United Kingdom, by Halal Monitoring Committee and Halal Food Authority, to name some). In which they certify a product through monitoring and indicating some guidelines for producers before granting a recognisable label on the products. Hence, this label helps consumers to make better decision choice. Moreover, a quality label that improves pre-purchasing information would increase welfare, and high-quality producers would always be willing to go through the necessary inspection as to reveal the products quality to the consumers, unless the cost for verification is extremely high. The welfare affect of introducing Halal labelling is briefly discussed in the analysis, especially where Halal labelling opens up an opportunity to access additional consumers, ie. Muslims, also referre d to the primary consumers. The analysis of Halal in this paper is aimed to study the interactions of the market forces or what commonly referred to in economics as ‘invisible hand of the demand and supply in Halal market. At the same time, considering the effects on introduction of labelling upon the level of equilibrium, in addition to other factors such as the additional demand by Muslims of primary market. This is a unique or special aspect which might not be available in previous studies on credence goods. The following chapters are organised as follows. Halal concept is further discussed in the next Chapter 2. This chapter is intended as an expansion to the introduction (Chapter 1) in order to provide a deeper understanding on the concept of Halal, and to provide information regarding the current market for Halal food products and the issues pertaining in the Halal market on the use of Halal logo. The relevant literature reviews are discussed in Chapter 3, discussing the works by other authors on the area of credence goods which can be linked to Halal. Chapter 4 presents the economic analysis and application of Halal products as credence goods. Chapter 5 concludes this paper and provide a discussion on the policy implications generated by the study. CHAPTER 2 2.0. A Brief Concept of Halal Religion involves beliefs and the way of life, where group of individuals interprets and respond to what they feel is supernatural and holy (Johnstones, 1975, in Shafie and Othman, n.d.). Shafie and Othman underline that most religion prescribes or prohibits certain behaviour including that of consumption (n.d.). The concept of Halal is not new in the Islamic world, but only in recent years that its potentials have been realised by corporations and organisations around the world, which normally perform under the conventional economics. The word Halal comes from Arabic which means permissible or lawful. It is ruled by the Islamic law known as Syariah law which is based on the Quran and Hadith (records of the life, actions and teachings of Prophet Muhammad). By not fully understanding the concept of Halal, one (non-Muslim especially in Muslim-minority country such as United Kingdom) may think that Halal only refers to meat or something to do with ‘kebabs. Halal actually governs every aspect of life of Muslims, however, this paper only view Halal perspective on consumption of food. What is not Halal is called Haram or non-permissible. Any product which comes from swine and/or dog is strictly Haram. A special cleansing ritual must be done if a Muslim directly touched (although accidentally) these animals and/or the sources (eg. skin). Such products that contain strictly Haram ingredients or derivatives are termed as ‘non-transformable in the analysis in Chapter 4. Amongst other strictly Haram animal products include blood, birds of prey, and/or carrion (dead animals without slaughtering). Alcohol is also Haram, but in some strict case it could become or change into Halal, this is discussed later on in Section 2.3 of this paper. Un-slaughtered animals such as beef and chicken are also become non-Halal, unless slaughtered by a Muslim according to Syariah practice. Such products are termed as ‘transformable in the analysis of this paper. What lies between Halal and Haram is called Mashbooh meaning that the goods appear to be suspicious, questionable and According to Bonne and Verbeke (2007), as product attribute, Halal refers to the nature, origin and the processing methods of the food products, which entails similarity with organic foods and those taking animal welfare or sustainability into account. Strict procedure must be followed to obtain highest standard of Halal, and that Halal products must not contact with non-Halal products; as similar to vegetarian food should not be in contact with any meat. Halal concept covers both food and non-food product category, but as mentioned earlier, this paper would only focus on the first one. Studies show that about 70 to 75 percent of Muslim strictly follows the Halal standard for their dietary (Hussaini 1993a in Bonne and Verbeke, 2007; Minkus-McKenna, 2007). The next section provides an overview of Halal food market. 2.1. Halal Food Market The Halal market is considered as the fastest growing market globally as reported by the Borneo Bulletin (2008). The world Halal industry is estimated to worth between US$ 500 million to around US$ 2 trillion (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, 2007; Borneo Bulletin, 2008; Brunei Halal, 2007). The market is growing around US$ 500 billion annually due to the rising Muslim population worldwide (Borneo Bulletin, 2008; Brunei Halal, 2007). It is reported that the Muslim population is known to be the fastest growing religion in the world (Bonne and Verbeke, 2007) and in Europe (BBC News, 2005). The global Halal food trade itself in 2007 is estimated to be between US$ 150 billion (Brunei Halal, 2007) and US$500 billion with 12 percent of this or US$ 80 billion generated from agri-food products (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, 2007). In addition, Islam is the second largest religion in the world (Riaz and Chaudry, 2004) with nearly 1.5 billion people (ibid.; Bonne and Verbeke, 2007; Din, 2006). The National Statistics Census carried out by the British Government, shows that Islam is also the second largest religion in the United Kingdom, approximately 1.6 million Muslims (2001). The statistics also revealed that Muslims are the largest household in the United Kingdom. These factors would justify that the demand for Halal food products in the United Kingdom is expanding. The market for Halal can be divided into two namely, primary and secondary. Primary market arises from the demand by Muslims, whereas, secondary market refers to the demand by non-Muslims. These terms are used in the analysis of this paper. Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (2007) suggested that Halal is often referred to safety and of high quality by both markets. Besides these, factors for increasing Halal demand includes: increasing incomes in primary market, rising population of Muslim, and rising demand for variety in primary market (ibid.). For Muslims, consuming Halal food products are their religious obligation, however it is known that Halal food are also consumed by non-Muslims. The later often perceived as specially selected and processed to achieve highest standards of quality (Riaz and Chaudry, 2004, p. 14). Manufacturers or producers that sells Halal products would create significant advantage compared to those that do not (Shafie and Othman, n.d.). Riaz and Chaudry (2004, p. 16) suggested that the increasing demand for Halal products as well as expanding number of Muslim population can be an inducement for producers to provide Halal products. Nonetheless, it is safe to say that these views mostly look at Muslim-majority economies such as those in Asian region. Hence, this paper provides a study in relation to Muslim-minority economy such as the United Kingdom. However, like any other food labels, Halal labelling also have some issues. 2.2. Halal Logo and Its Issues The use of Halal logo in food products indicates that the products are Islamic or Syariah compliant. Similar to other food related logos such as ‘suitable for vegetarian V-logo, Halal logo intends to communicate with the consumers of this product that it is fit for their consumption. Initial finding shows that some companies may use this logo even though its products might violate some rules of the Syariah law. Such situation was reported in which, some meat and other processed products from Brazil imported into the country, were being inspected by Halal Monitoring Committee, to be found a violation (2007). Another comparable situation is reported by The Tribune (2008) that the biggest meat producer in Scotland is under investigation over the supply of so-called ‘fake Halal meat in the country. There are some issues to which cause the problem arises. Fischer claims that the lack of a state body that is capable of inspecting the unregulated market [in the United Kingdom] has left this market open to fraud, corruption and without any kind of standards, uniform certification and standard (n.d.). Study by Fischer also shows that many British Muslims and organisations call upon the state to help recognise and standardised Halal. However for the ease of this papers analysis, this situation is relaxed, meaning producers behave honestly when claiming their products as Halal. Having Halal logo does not mean the products automatically accepted to be purchased by consumers especially that of primary market. Research undertaken by a university in the United Kingdom, shows that consumers prefer small shops when buying Halal meat, rather than buying from supermarkets, due to factors mentioned earlier and others including lack of marketing of Halal food (Anonymous, 2006). Like any other goods, the credence of Halal food products has to be clearly communicated such as indication on pack or on-label (Bonne and Verbeke, 2007), in addition to conventional marketing strategies, for example advertising. Moreover, this would add some utility value to the consumer and useful in the purchasing decision (ibid.). Nonetheless, to make the analysis of this paper simple, having Halal labelling is enough to induce greater demand and consumptions. 2.3. Issues of Alcohol Alcohol is clearly not permissible, however it is essential for certain industry processes and religious scholars are aware of this — some of them suggested that some use of alcohol may be acceptable as long as it is evaporated and not exist in the final products (Riaz and Chaudry, 2004). However, if there is an alternative to alcohol for such process, it would be preferred, as majority of Muslims would avoid products that use alcohol at any stage. It is generally known by Muslims that wine (a Haram state product) which turns ‘naturally into vinegar thus the vinegar is considered as Halal. This situation is called Istihala or ‘change of state or properties. A reverse situation as such that, if wine is added to Halal food, as in common cooking practise in the Western, hence the food becomes Haram. However, this issue is not represented in the analysis, for simplicity argument. It is clear that Halal can be perceived as a credence attribute, although there are numero us literatures on credence goods, only few actually discussed in relation to Halal products. Next chapter will discuss the literatures on credence products. CHAPTER 3 3.0. Literature Review This chapter is divided into five interrelated parts or sections. The first section provides a (general) glance on the studies or literatures on credence goods, which is applicable in the study of the market for Halal products. This is followed by the second section, of discussions on the demand for such goods. Market failure arises due to the nature of credence goods, which is discussed in the third section of this chapter. In the fourth section, a review on the solution of the market failure problem is examined. The final section deals with the issue pertaining to some of these solutions. 3.1. Credence Goods at a Glance There are growing numbers of literatures on credence goods attribute since it was first mentioned by Darby and Karni in 1973. These literatures involve different assumptions which produce diverse outcomes. However, it is difficult to find economic literature that deals directly with Halal subject as a credence good. Nonetheless, studies on some of the credence goods can be applied to Halal concept. Most literatures on credence goods assume that consumers are homogeneous. Hahn (2004) showed the contrast to this, in which the author grouped the consumers into two namely those who have some expertise or informed and those who do not or uninformed; This paper is slightly differs from that of Hahn (2004), where the consumers in this paper are also divided into two, namely Muslims (those who only consume Halal goods, or primary consumers) and non-Muslims. The latter is further grouped into two, ie. conventional consumers—who only consume non-Halal; and secondary consumers—who prefer to consume Halal products. Some economists (such as McCluskey, 2000; Cho and Hooker, 2002) used game theory models on credence attribute to assess the interplays of stakeholders. These include whether producers decide to claim their products as those of high quality, then they have to decide whether to produce according to the claims or not. However, the use of game theory is out of the scope of this papers analysis. Nonetheless, producers are assumed to produce what they intended to, without dishonesty. Economists divide consumers perception of food quality into a three attributes, namely: search, experience (which were pioneered by Nelson in 1970) and credence attribute (in Darby and Karni, 1973; Innes et. al., 2007; Umberger et. al., 2008). Search attributes can be determined from pre-consumption and at point of purchase such as colour, shape, brand and freshness. Experience attributes, arise from taste, juiciness, and food safety which could only be determined during or after consumption. Lastly, credence attributes refer to the process and production aspects, which the author claims that it cannot be determined before, during or after consumption of that particular food product (Umberger et. al., 2008). These food products, especially Halal as credence goods emphasise and maintain a strict quality attributes, and failure to maintain this would result a loss in its credibility, hence would brings disutility to the consumers or reduction of welfare. Some economists such as Caswell and Mojduszka (1996, in Cho and Hooker, 2002) argued that by providing information as policy tool, credence attributes could be transformed into search attributes. However, this would require a strict environment where system of information provided is perfect and fraud could not taken place — these are less likely to be a (current) scenario of the real world. Nonetheless, this concept is used in the analysis of this paper, for simplicity reason. On the other hand, Cho and Hooker (2002) mentioned that credence goods could act like a (lagged) experience goods if they involve time duration for detection of risk (relatively quickly), eg. infected food, vice versa. Like any production or supply of consumer goods, it depends on the demand for such goods, for an equilibrium to exist in the market. The following section discusses the determinants of demand for credence goods. 3.2. Consumer Demand for Credence Attribute Individuals would consume goods or services that yields highest utility or satisfaction level and presumed to make rational choice. However, this is subject to physical (ie. how much they can consume) and economic (ie. budget) constraint that limits the consumers choices (Mas-Colell et. al., 1995). Moreover, the preference-based approach to consumer demand is of critical importance for welfare analysis in which, without it, evaluating the consumers level of well-being would have no meaning (ibid.). Dulleck and Kerschbamer (2001) identified credence characteristics in terms of utility, in which although consumers can observe the utility derived from consumption of such goods ex post, they are not sure if the utility they get is the ex ante needed one. However, in the analysis of this paper, the utility is considered in terms of welfare level obtained from consumers and producers surplus. In addition to the conventional determinants for demand such as income, taste and preference, consumer characteristics and quality attribute become increasingly important factors nowadays. According to Antle (1999, in Senauer, 2001, p. 4), the new economics is more concerned with the markets for ‘quality-differentiated products in which the author presented a stylised demand function which include quality factors (non-price attribute): X = D (P, I, N, C, Q) Where X depends on price and other goods (P), income (I), number of population (N), characteristics of the population/consumer (C), and non-price attribute of the product (Q). It shows that any product attribute which includes nutrition content, safety, production process and even inputs, would creates utility or disutility. The analysis in Chapter 4 directly deals with the two of these factors namely, consumer characteristics (ie. preferences, and religious needs) and product attribute (ie. Halal credence). Hoehn and Deaton (2004) provided a model where consumers choose either purchasing credence (high-quality) good or conventional (low-quality) goods by comparing the consumer surplus differences. If the gain from consumer surplus from credence goods is large, compared to the opportunity cost of surplus given up from not purchasing conventional goods, the former good would be purchased. Their studies are used as a foundation for the analysis in Chapter 4 of this paper. Most literature reflects credence goods as vertically differentiated products due to quality differences. Nonetheless, Bester (n.d., in Roe and Sheldon, 2001) provided a concept of unobserved quality into a horizontal differentiation model and suggested that unobserved vertical quality would reduce producers incentives for horizontal differentiation via relaxing price competition amongst producers, in a way which prices act as a signal and consist of a quality premium. This is related to the second part of this papers analysis (Section 4.2. of Chapter 4) involving a franchise market. Consumers demand and preferences for credence goods often perceived from their willingness to pay. 3.2.1. Willingness to Pay There are other factors why consumers might be willing to pay a premium besides the quality attribute, such that they perceive credence goods as fashionable, trendy, or it could be that the purchase the alternative to credence goods would offend other people (McCluskey, 2000). The later is pertinent to Halal goods, especially in a situation where the consumer lives with Muslims housemates, or in a Muslim-dominated country. Consumers would also prefer for the high-quality products, even not for the sake of quality itself but other factors. For instance, when consumers care about other quality or criterion such as animal welfare, environmental, ethical, and religious reasons, to what Antle (1999, in Carlsson et. al., 2004) referred as extrinsic quality. If the distinctions in quality were signalled efficiently, consumers would be willing to pay a higher price or premium for products of high quality, hence compensating the higher production costs, as suggested by Kola and Latvala (2003). In their research on the effects of information on the demand for beef products credence characteristics in Finland, 59 percent of the respondents showed their willingness to pay a higher price for additional information. Whereas, 41 percent of respondents had zero willingness to pay, in which 35 percent of them are satisfied with the existing information, and 17 percent considered the information is not enough or they did not trust the information. As credence quality of a product cannot be observed directly at a reasonable cost or without invasive testing, consumers would rely heavily on claims or information made by the producers via brands, labels or advertisements (Cho and Hooker, 2002). This papers analysis however, only considers that consumers fully trust producers. The next section provides discussion if the information provided is insufficient or inaccurate, resulting a market failure. 3.3. Market Failure It can be said that the credence market are prone to the problems of market failure. There are different ways for a credence market to result in inefficiency. It is mainly due to information asymmetry between producers and consumers. 3.3.1. Information Asymmetry In credence goods, consumers cannot directly observe the quality of the goods that they consume where only the producers know the exact quality, thus resulting information asymmetry. Common intuition indicates that the solution for an information asymmetry is by providing more information. Information, as conferred by Weiss (1995, in Cho and Hooker, 2002) is the central tenet of food safety economics. Brands, logos and labels most importantly serve as a signal to inform and communicate to the consumers about products attributes, hence alleviating information asymmetry between producers and consumers. According to Verbeke (2005), information is likely to be effective only when it addresses specific information needs of its target audience. It requires identification and detailed understanding of these needs, and proper management on the provision of the information in order to optimally address the needs (ibid.). Information regarding food quality and safety can be categorised as risk information and aims at reducing uncertainty faced by the consumers in making purchasing decisions. Hence, success would come from better understanding regarding consumers attitude, behaviour, motives, and their perceptions (Frewer et. al., 2004, in Verbeke, 2005). There exist welfare effects to consumers for providing (Marette et. al., 1999, in ibid.) or withholding (Mazzocchi et. al., 2004b, in ibid.) food quality information. The work done by Umberger (et. al., 2008), can be used as a foundation on the argument for the importance of Halal logo or labelling on food products in particular. The authors claimed that potential market failure would occur if consumers face limited choice and if the access to ‘innovative products is not available, or information regarding ‘product attributes, for example the production methods, is not transparent (ibid.). With this regards, Halal products would be seen as innovative products and carry some product attributes that must be fulfilled, otherwise there might exist market failure for Halal products. Halal logo especially from organisation for Halal certification, could be used to indicate these attributes. Consequently, lack of information becomes the key factor for the inefficiency of credence market. The followings are resulted from insufficient information. 3.3.1A. Failure due to Fraud In their studies, Dulleck and Kerschbamer (2001) divided credence attribute problems into two fold: inefficiency treatment, and overcharging. The first fold refers to the quality level (or service) of credence goods provided by producers, and inefficiency treatment can be either under- or over-treatment. On the other hand, the second fold refers to the pricing of credence goods, particularly as self-described, overcharging. When the signal is unavailable, especially in the case where labelling is not mandatory, sellers may have the incentive to fraud by supplying products of low-quality but claiming these products as high quality. Akerlof (1970) explains this situation with automobiles market as an example, in which with asymmetric information high-quality goods (‘peach) would be driven out by the low-quality goods (‘lemons) hence resulting market failure. Moreover, as argued by Liebie (2002), when producers of low-quality products claim to be of high-quality, this would raise doubt in consumers mind and would not be willing to pay a premium for the high-quality goods. This in turns, would lower the profits of high-quality producer hence reducing their incentive to invest in high-quality products, in which would create further doubt to consumer. The cycle goes on until only low-quality products would be sold, even though consumers prefer high-quality products, resulting market failure. Darby and Karni (1973) suggested that the amount of fraud depends on reputation, market conditions, and technological factors. Profit-maximising producers would have the incentive to fraud by claiming their products are of high quality if the probability of not being caught is high enough (McCluskey, 2000) or conversely if the probability of being caught is low. Such fraud issues bring uncertainty to consumers. 3.3.1B. Problems of Uncertainty Bonroy and Constantos (2008) concluded that uncertainty by consumers on the identity of producers which produce the high-quality products put the high-quality producers in disadvantage resulting from higher cost. They argued that this disadvantage would remain even when the consumption of high-quality products benefits are well worth the cost difference and all beliefs regarding the high-quality producers are in the right direction (ibid.). Their model explains the difficulty faced by high-quality credence products to acquire the dominant market share they should have obtained from efficiency perspective (ibid.). This is however beyond the concept of this paper, as to avoid complication in the model, it is assumed that producers behave honestly in producing the products and consumers fully aware the qualities. 3.3.1C. Non-Rational Behaviour Unavailability of credible food quality labelling, consumers would face uncertainty and would incur search cost on specific information (Hobbs, 2004, in Verbeke 2005). As a result some consumers would not behave rationally, being ignorant, or make decisions which are not maximising their expected utility. Such behaviour explained as a concept of â€Å"bounded and limited rationality† or â€Å"rationally ignorant consumer hypothesis† (as found in Kahneman and Tversky, 1973; Simon 1979a,b; Camerer and Loewenstein, 2004; in Verbeke 2005), is however beyond the concept of the study in this paper. Verbeke (2005) concluded that without quality verification, traceability was of little value to consumers, whereas quality assurances were much more valuable to them. The solutions to the problems of market failure are presented in the next section. 3.4. Solutions to the Problems This section examines some of the solutions to the problems mentioned previously which are mainly caused by lack of information. The most common solution this, as stated earlier, is providing more information through labelling or signalling. But this must be accompanied with efficient monitoring. 3.4.1. The Use of Labelling as a Signal It is generally known that labelling of credence attribute could be used as a way to certify the provision of valued attributes, hence to avoid market failure. Moreover, Caswell and Padberg (1992) claimed that information in the form of labels, word-of-mouth, advertising, and education would contribute to the co

Role of Femininity in Film

Role of Femininity in Film Throughout this essay I will be examining the role of femininity in Hollywood film and world cinema in particular Bollywood, I will also asses female stereotypes within film and how they differ throughout the years especially from the 1930’s such as films like ‘Gone With the Wind’ to the 1980’s with films such as ‘Terminator’. In addition I will demonstrate that there are also different racial stereotypes of women in film and the femininity of black women in film differs from white women. In order to understand and examine this topic it is beneficial to review the current research on how women are analysed through film we must look at the male gaze which is a concept used for analysing visual culture. One of the leading theories attributed to gender stereotypes within film is the ‘male gaze’. â€Å"The male gaze is a term coined by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey. Mulvey’s theory the male gaze was influenced by Sigmund Freud.† (Cook, 2008) Freud was a psychologist that developed theory â€Å"that humans have an unconscious in which sexual and aggressive impulses are in perpetual conflict for supremacy with the defences against them†. (BBC, 2014) According to Mulvey the â€Å"male gaze is both voyeuristic and fetishistic. Her concept illustrated that women were merely shown on screen in classic Hollywood† (Cook, 2008) ( classic Hollywood is a style of Hollywood film between 1910 and 1960’s) in order to supply men with visual pleasure. Mulvey explored how the psychoanalytic concepts of narcissism and voyeurism can be used to explain how visual pleasure is generated. Narcissism means a love of self (Soanes and Stevenson, 2003) and voyeurism is a visual pleasure that arises from looking at others in a sexualised way (Benshoff and Griffin, 2004). Mulvey argues that there are two types of visual pleasure. â€Å"In most Hollywood films the narcissistic pleasure of identification usually involves identifying with the male characters, the ones who are active and aggressive. On the other hand, the voyeuristic pleasures created by cinema primarily involve looking at the female characters on screen.† (Benshoff and Griffin, 2004) â€Å"Thus, classical Hollywood cinema targets a majority of its films at a supposed male hetro-sexual audience member, making individuals outside this group adjust to a male point of view that is ‘the male gaze’.† (Cook, 2008) Claire Johnston, was also a feminist film theoretician like Mulvey. Johnston is known for her research on the construction of ideology in mainstream cinema. In her scholarly works, she also discusses the male gaze. She agreed with Mulvey that the camera sees women as an extension of a male vision; she also assessed stereotypes within Hollywood film using a semiotic analysis. Her semiotic point of view was based on Roland Barthe’s notion of myth, Barthe’s notion of myth meant, that dominate ideologies become naturalised that means the most dominant cultural, historical values and beliefs are made to seem normal and common-sense. (Barthe’s, 2013) Johnston â€Å"investigated the ‘myth’ of women in classic cinema. The sign ‘woman’ can be analysed as a code or convention. It represents the ideological meaning that ‘woman’ has for men. In relation to herself she means nothing.† (Cook, 2008) John Berger a prominent art criti c assessed Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze in his book, ‘Ways of Seeing’ (1972). He states that ‘men act andwomenappear’. Berger agreed with Mulvey that because the viewer was mostly male the appearance of women in film was intended to attract a male’s attention. However criticisms against Mulvey’s theory the male gaze, have been that of film theorist E. Ann Kaplan who theories were based around feminist film ideology. In Kaplan book ‘Women in film (1983) she asked Is the gaze male?† Both Kaplan as well as film theorist Kaja Silverman† argued that â€Å"the man was not always in control and the woman is not always passive† (Chandler 2000). Feminist writer Teresa de Lauretis (1987) concluded the female viewer does not simply take up a male point of view, â€Å"but works always; in a double identification with the active and passive subject positions†. (Chandler 2000). Journalist Steve Neale also assessed the male gaze theory and his conclusion was that the gaze in Hollywood films is not primarily male, but primarily heterosexual. Both Neale as well as film theorist Richard Dyer concluded that the male characters within film have the capacity to be objectified as well. The man would not always be the spectator, who had rule over the gaze. (Litosseliti and Sunderland, 2002) It is important to note that within Hollywood film since the 1980s, there has been an increasing objectification of the male body in film. (Evans Gamman, 1995). For example in the film Thelma and Louise (1991) Brad Pitt’s character, who is a male, is objectified in every shot of him, this shows that the male spectator was not prioritised but the female spectator was. When analysing femininity in film it is important to discuss stereotypes of women portrayed on screen and also the social context that they live in. One of the most notable stereotypes concerning black woman and Hollywood film is the ‘Mammy’ caricature taken from the film ‘Gone with the wind’ (1939) played by Hattie McDaniel. Critical studies writer Todd Boyd (2008) states, The ‘Mammy’ stereotype is a domestic servant who is often, fat, docile, unattractive, happy- go-lucky, and loyal to the white family. In addition sociologist David Pilgrim (2000) states although sometimes she may have children she was completely desexualized. She belonged to the white master and his family plus she had no black companions. To further illustrate what Boyd (2008) has stated, the ‘Mammy’ caricature was a symbol during slavery, as ‘supposed’ proof that black women were contented, even happy, as slaves. Attributes of the ‘mammy†™ such as her broad smile, her chuckles, and devoted servitude to the white family; were presented as confirmation of the believed humanity of Trans-Atlantic slavery. The Mammy caricature can be the seen in the film Gone with the wind (1939). If we were to analyse the character Mammy in Gone with the wind, we would see that she is a faithful to the white family who she serves; to such an extreme length, that she internalised white southern values and norms. For example she encourages Scarlett O’Hara who she serves as a â€Å"house slave†, to eat before she goes to a party, or else at the party she would be eating ravenously instead of â€Å"like a bird†: which is what a young southern belle is meant to do. Mammy’s devotion for the white family is reaffirmed when she states at the birth of Scarlett’s daughter, â€Å"this is a proud day for me I’ve helped delivered three generations of baby girls for this family†. She also shows her disdain for other black people and calls them ‘no good’. However a new stereotype of black women emerged in the 1970’s. This era bore a new genre of film known as ‘blaxploitation’. Blaxploitation is an ethnic sub genre of exploitation films which were made for black audiences. With this new genre came a new stereotype the superwoman image. The superwoman image portrays black woman as the action heroines of their neighbourhoods ready to defend family and community by any means necessary. â€Å"The super woman image portrayed black woman as strong and invincible. This image sent out that black women could endure and overcome all odds.† (Boyd, 2008) Actress Pam Grier was an icon of the superwoman image. Never-the-less in Hollywood films, white women have been stereotyped differently to black women in film and their femininity was portrayed in different ways. Such as in the 1930s and 1940s many white female actresses were stereotyped into melodrama roles on screen. In melodrama films of the 30’s and 40’s the female was the main protagonist in the film. Also the plot lines in a melodramatic role often consisted of the main female character having to sacrifice her career for love, or vice versa. This typical plotline and stereotype can be seen in the film ‘Lady in the Dark’ (1944). The leading character Liza Elliot played by actress Ginger Rogers she is a powerful and unmarried fashion magazine executive, she undergoes psychoanalyse as she is having strange dreams that bother her so much that she can no longer make up her mind. She is later cured and is therefore free to stop trying to be ‘like a man’ and settle in to her rightful role as a wife and sell her business to her fiancà ©. Anthropologist blogger K. Smith Pullman (2008) stated, that typical the melodrama plot line, â€Å"showed women that if they want to both work and have love, that it was not entirely possible†. (Pullman, 2008) Moreover in the 1950’s femininity was displayed in Hollywood film in the 1950’s in a different way, â€Å"when women were shown as blatantly sexual and seductive threats, such as Lana Turner or Ava Gardner, or on the other end of the spectrum as innocent and wholesome, like Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. Marilyn Monroe slightly bridged this gap, as she was often depicted as both seductive and innocent.† (Pullman, 2008) However femininity in film has not always fit into those stereotypes and from the 1980s a new type of femininity was displayed in Hollywood film this was the androgynous woman this example can be demonstrated in the character Sarah Connor in the film ‘The Terminator’ (1984) â€Å" These are supposed to be the â€Å"strong† women, showing viewers that women cannot be both strong and sexual, without posing a threat.† (Pullman, 2008) Also, notably the genres in which women are stereotyped significantly are horror films. According to Adam Rockoff (2002), â€Å"One of the most continuing images of horror films is that of the good-looking heroine screaming with fear- as the killer hastily approaches.† The heroine of the film is often dubbed the ‘final girl’. The final girl was coined by film theorist Carol Clover. Brewer (2009) states: In the beginning of the film, filmmakers habitually depict the final girl as visibly tough, resourceful, and determined. Despite the fact the she often finds her friends or relatives dead. The final girl manages to survive in the end of the film, normally following a final struggle with the killer Many scholars and feminist film critics have discussed the overt masculinity of the final girl. Carol Clover author of ‘Men, Women, and Chainsaws’ says that, â€Å"TheFinal Girl, is on reflection, a congenial double for the adolescent male. She is feminine enough to act out in a gratifying way, a way unapproved for adult males, the terms and masochistic pleasures of the underlying fantasy, but not so feminine as to disturb the structure of male competence and sexuality† (Rockoff, 2002, p. 13). â€Å"According to Weaver and Tamborini (1996), traditional gender-role stereotypes also exist throughout horror films† (Brewer, 2009). For example, the male characters are shown acting violently and are more likely to attack the killer. Nevertheless female characters are more prone to run away from the killer. â€Å"Female characters in horror films are also depicted expressing fear and panic on screen longer than the male protagonists. Modern horror films of the 1990s till present often depict male characters as jokes or helpless bystanders†. (Brewer, 2 009) When assessing femininity in film it is also important to look at world cinema. Portrayals of women in Bollywood films share a link with ideals about women in Indian society. â€Å"In traditional Indian society, the lives of women were severely restricted. Women’s roles were essentially as a daughter wife and mother.† (Gokulsing and Dissanayanke, 1998) In Bollywood films the ideal wife character must be â€Å"sexually pure and the epitome of sexually fidelity†. (Gokulsing and Dissanayanke, 1998) As Richards (1995: p.3) states, that Bollywood films upholds the â€Å"traditional patriarchal views of society consistent with the cultural norms pertaining to the status of women in Indian society.† The opposite role of the wife is the ‘vamp’, â€Å"normally a decadent modern woman, generally with a name like Rosie or Mary† (Gokulsing and Dissanayanke, 1998). Gokulsing and Dissanayanke (1998) states that the vamp normally defies tradition and strives to imitate western women. â€Å"She drinks, she smokes, visit night clubs and is quick to fall in and out of love. She is portrayed as a morally degraded person and has come to be associated with everything unwholesome about the west. And she is always punished for her unacceptable behaviour.† (Gokulsing and Dissanayanke, 1998) As Dwyer and Patel (2002) commented, In Bollywood, men are depicted in many varied roles; women are almost always depicted in traditional feminine roles. For example, in numerous Bollywood films starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, the female star always represents â€Å"the damsel in distress†, while, the actor is continuously shown to be a â€Å"ladies man†. To conclude, femininity in film is very complex if we asses Mulvey’s point of view women in film are there only to supply men with visual pleasure this could be seen a lot through film in the 1950’s with Hollywood actresses such as Ava Gardner and Marilyn Manroe but over the years women in film have been shown in a variety of situations not just the blatant sex object such as the role of Sarah Connor in the film ‘Terminator’ which was androgynous and took on male cinematic characteristics. Also when assessing world cinema we see that the more patriarchal a society is the more women are stereotyped on screen this can be seen through Bollywood. Also throughout the horror genre in Hollywood film femininity is displayed through ‘the final girl’ which many film scholars have stated the final girl is has overtly masculine characteristics although she is aesthetically beautiful. BIBLIOGRAPHY Barthes, R., 2013. Mythologies: The Complete Edition, in a New Translation. New York: Hill Wang BBC, 2014. Sigmund Freud [Online], Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/freud_sigmund.shtml [Accessed: 30/09/2014] BENSHOFF, H. and S. GRIFFIN, 2004. America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies. Victoria: Blackwell Publishing Berger, J. 1972.Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books. Boyd, T., 2008. The Mammy Image. In African Americans and Popular Culture. Connecticut: Praeger Cook, P. 2008 The Cinema Book. London: BFI Publishing Brewer, C. 2009. THE STEREOTYPIC PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN SLASHER FILMS: THEN VERSUS NOW [online] Available from: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04092009-105427/unrestricted/Brewer_thesis.pdf.pdf [Accessed 11/10/2014] Chandler, D., (2000) Notes on the Gaze [online] Available from: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html [Accessed 30/09/2014] De Lauretis, T., 1987. Essays on theory, film and fiction Bloomington: Indiana University Press Dwyer, R., and Patel, D., 2002. Cinema India: The visual culture of Hindi Film, London: Reaktion Books. Evans, C., Lorraine G., 1995: The Gaze Revisited, or Reviewing Queer Viewing. In Burston, Paul Colin Richardson (Eds.): A Queer Romance: Lesbians, Gay Men and Popular Culture. London: Routledge, pp. 13-56. Gokulsing, K., M., and Dissanayanke, W., 1998. Indian Popular Cinema: A narrative of Cultural Cinema, London: Trentham Books. Johnston, C., 1991. Women’s Cinema as Counter Cinema. In: Thornham, S., (ed) 1999. Feminism Film Theory A reader. New York: New York University Press Kaplan,E., A., 1983. Women and Film: Both Sides of the Camera, New York: Methuen Publishing King, T., 2007. Does film criticism affect box office earnings? Evidence from movies released in the U.S. in 2003. Journal of Cultural Economics, 31, 171-186. Litosseliti, L. and Sunderland, J. (eds.) 2002. Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis: Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Pilgrim, D., 2000 The Mammy Caricature [online] Available from: http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/mammies/ [Accessed: 30/09/2014] Pullman, K. (2008) [online] Available from: http://ksmith-hollywoodwomen.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/stereotypical-roles-of-women-in-films.html [Accesed 30/09/2014] Richard, C., 1996. Hooray for Bollywood, Time Magazine [online] Available from: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985129,00.html?internalid=atm100 [Accessed 30/09/2014] Rockoff, A. (2002). Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, 1978-1986. North Carolina: McFarland Company Inc. Soanes, C. and Stevenson, A., 2013. Oxford Dictionary of English, Revised Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Weaver, J.B., Tamborini, R. (1996). Horror films: Current research on audience preferences and reactions. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Essay --

Sigmund Freud is psychology’s most famous figure. He is also the most controversial and influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Freud’s work and theories helped to shape out views of childhood, memory, personality, sexuality, and therapy. Time Magazine referred to him as one of the most important thinkers of the last century. While his theories have been the subject of debate and controversy, his impact on culture, psychology, and therapy is cannot be denied. Freud was born in May 6, 1856 in the Czech Republic. He attended Spurling Gymnasium. At Spurling, he was first in his class and graduated Summa Cum Laude. After studying medicine at the University of Vienna, he gained respect while working as a physician. Freud and a friend were introduced to a case study that resulted in no cause, but they found that having the patient talk about her experiences had a calming effect on the symptoms. That was considered to be the beginning of the study of psychology. Throughout Freud’s time, he came up with many different theories. One of his theories was Life and Death Instincts. This theory evolved throughout his life and work. He believed that these drives were responsible for much of behavior. He eventually came to believe that these life instincts alone couldn’t explain all human behavior. Freud then determined that all instincts fall into one of 2 major classes: the life instincts or the death instincts. Life instincts deal with basic survival, reproduction, and pleasure. Death instincts are apparent after people experience a traumatic event and they often reenact the experience. In Freud’s view, self-destructive behavior is an expression of the energy that is created by the death instincts. Another one of Freud’s theories ... ...a person’s repressed emotions and experiences. It’s commonly used to treat anxiety disorders and depression. (McLeod) Freud also created a number of different works during his lifetime. These works include The Interpretation of Dreams, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Totem and Taboo, Civilization and Its Discontents, and The Future is an Illusion. His personal favorite was The Interpretation of Dreams because he said that it contains the most valuable of all the discoveries it had been his good fortune to make. (Cherry) Personally, I believe that Sigmund Freud was a very in depth person. His theories seem to be very accurate and well thought out. Being one of the first people to study this subject, I feel like he set a really good example to other psychologists. He is very interesting to learn about and there is so much more that I don’t even know about him.

Warfare Technology :: essays research papers fc

In today’s world war plays a very important role in people’s lives. Some of these wars date as far back as the Roman Empire and Alexander the Great, while others are just being born and brought to the doorstep of the world. In 1939 this world was introduced to World War II. Although this war was based in Europe, it would touch the lives of people in every continent across the world, and have a massive impact on governments and civilians alike. It was also during this time that many advancements were emerging into the world. The United States of America made many technological advancements to their weaponry, armed forces, and the types of warfare crucial to the allied victory in World War II.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The advancements to weaponry in America during the 1930’s to 1940’s greatly influenced the tides of battle for the allies. The firearms of the time were becoming faster, increased accuracy, and more lethal. The M-1 Carbine was the standard semi-automatic rifle for all American troops and was later fitted to be fully automatic. The bazooka, invented in 1941 by American scientists, was first used in the invasion of North Africa in war and proved to be excellent anti-tank warfare. It was also during this time that bullets were upgraded from the pinfire type to the rimfire type. The rimfire type proved to be more precise and damaging because of its finer texture and cartridge case. Miscellaneous advancements include chemical agent weapons (i.e. nerve gas, mustard gas), flame-throwers, improved hand grenades, and other minor adjustments to firearms in general. The Americans during World War II also improved upon vehicles. On land the use of M-60 and M-1 m ain battle tanks were common. These tanks were often outfitted with a 105-mm gun, a 120-mm gun, or two to four 0.50 caliber machine guns. Also, the use of assault vehicles, armored transports, and tracked vehicles became more involved as technology grew. In the air many advancements were made as well. â€Å"The United States Airforce grew to its top strength during World War II† (World War II 10). Aircraft used by the Americans include the P-51 Mustang long-range fighter, bombers such as the B-17, B-24 Liberator, the B-25, and the B-29 (Enola Gay). It was these aircraft that coordinated air attacks, firebombing, the atomic bombing, and ground support that was crucial in gaining the upperhand. The sea was also the target of advancements.

Immigrants :: essays research papers

More Immigrants find roots in U.S. Soil 1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Using the text from the book there are three demographic variables; fertility, mortality, and migration. Fertility is the number of children an average woman bears (text pg. 394). Mortality refers to the annual number of deaths per 1,000 population (text pg 394). Finally, migration in the difference between number of people moving in (immigrants) and the number of people moving out (emigrants) per 1,000 poplulation (text pg 394), and the best description of the recent immigration to southwest Michigan is migration. The article â€Å"More Immigrants find roots in U.S. Soil† cites that some reasons for this is the opportunities offered. Since many traditional farmers are getting older and are retiring to warmer climate and the offspring choose careers other than farming, many farm owners are selling their farms to the help. These â€Å"help† are usually minorities. Also with the minorities farming other minority groups chooses their products to purcha se; therefore the groups help each other. 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since the 1970 more and more people are choosing to move from the city and suburbs to rural areas. Southwest Michigan is a perfect example of why people are moving to rural areas. With the help of highways and other transportation, movement is easy and quick, right between big cities such as Chicago and Detroit. The low crime rate, the sense of safety and cost of living all make southwest Michigan very inviting to any individual or family. 3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sociologist William Kandal quoted â€Å"farming may be the rural equivalent of driving a cab.† In many urban cities and suburbs many immigrant find jobs as taxi cab drivers. Now in rural areas many immigrants are finding jobs as farmers and farmers helpers and characterized as the â€Å"rural taxi cab driver.† 4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Traditionally, immigrants had moved to cities first when settling the U.S., this is called urbanization. Urbanization differs from that of the rural rebound of southwest Michigan. Traditionally people moved from the rural areas only when there was a surplus of food and they were not needed to produce food, as opposed to the migration to southwest Michigan, because immigrants are moving there to produce food. 5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What stands out between the fastest growing and fastest shrinking U.S. Cities is geographic location. Most of the colonial states such as N.Y., PA, CT, RI, are all experiencing shrinking population, while the Western U.S. is experiencing increasing population. The main factors for this is that more and more people are less needful of fertile land to support themselves and there families. Immigrants :: essays research papers More Immigrants find roots in U.S. Soil 1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Using the text from the book there are three demographic variables; fertility, mortality, and migration. Fertility is the number of children an average woman bears (text pg. 394). Mortality refers to the annual number of deaths per 1,000 population (text pg 394). Finally, migration in the difference between number of people moving in (immigrants) and the number of people moving out (emigrants) per 1,000 poplulation (text pg 394), and the best description of the recent immigration to southwest Michigan is migration. The article â€Å"More Immigrants find roots in U.S. Soil† cites that some reasons for this is the opportunities offered. Since many traditional farmers are getting older and are retiring to warmer climate and the offspring choose careers other than farming, many farm owners are selling their farms to the help. These â€Å"help† are usually minorities. Also with the minorities farming other minority groups chooses their products to purcha se; therefore the groups help each other. 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since the 1970 more and more people are choosing to move from the city and suburbs to rural areas. Southwest Michigan is a perfect example of why people are moving to rural areas. With the help of highways and other transportation, movement is easy and quick, right between big cities such as Chicago and Detroit. The low crime rate, the sense of safety and cost of living all make southwest Michigan very inviting to any individual or family. 3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sociologist William Kandal quoted â€Å"farming may be the rural equivalent of driving a cab.† In many urban cities and suburbs many immigrant find jobs as taxi cab drivers. Now in rural areas many immigrants are finding jobs as farmers and farmers helpers and characterized as the â€Å"rural taxi cab driver.† 4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Traditionally, immigrants had moved to cities first when settling the U.S., this is called urbanization. Urbanization differs from that of the rural rebound of southwest Michigan. Traditionally people moved from the rural areas only when there was a surplus of food and they were not needed to produce food, as opposed to the migration to southwest Michigan, because immigrants are moving there to produce food. 5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What stands out between the fastest growing and fastest shrinking U.S. Cities is geographic location. Most of the colonial states such as N.Y., PA, CT, RI, are all experiencing shrinking population, while the Western U.S. is experiencing increasing population. The main factors for this is that more and more people are less needful of fertile land to support themselves and there families.

Instant Noodles market

Maggi losing instant noodles market share in India to new entrants * NEW DELHI: Maggi instant noodles, foods major Nestle's flagship brand that has dominated the Indian instant noodles market for nearly three decades, is losing market share on a monthly basis to newer entrants such as GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Horlicks Foodles, Hindustan Unilever's (HUL) Knorr Soupy noodles, Big Bazaar's Tasty Treat, Top Ramen and several other smaller players, according to data by market research firm Nielsen.The data shows that Maggi's share of instant noodles, on an all-India basis, across urban markets, has slipped consistently between December '09 to July '10. While Maggi instant noodles (minus vermicelli) had a 90. 7% share in December '09, the share dropped to 86. 5% in July '10 on an all-India basis. A regional split of the data shows that Maggi's instant noodles' value market share has fallen across the east, south, north and west zones for the same period.Analysts say with new competition, Ma ggi's market share is certain to get impacted , but add that Nestle has the potential to expand the Rs 1,300-crore instant noodles category – which itself is growing at a rapid 15% annually. A detailed email sent to Nestle on Thursday elicited no response. Apart from HUL and GSK which have positioned their noodles as ‘healthy' snacking options targeting kids and mothers, others like Indo-Nissin's Top Ramen, Capital Foods' Ching's Secret and CG Foods's Wai-Wai , though around for long, are stepping up marketing efforts to take advantage of category growth.Besides, private brands like Big Bazaar's Tasty Treat and Aditya Birla Retail's Feasters are notching up share. Manoj Menon, FMCG analyst at brokerage firm Kotak Securities, wrote in a report earlier this month: â€Å"Maggi faces product substitution risk and brands like Knorr and Foodles could potentially impact its incremental growth. Nestle faces a challenging competitive environment in culinary. † GSK, which entered the category in December last year, has taken away share from Maggi mainly in the South and East riding on the equity of Horlicks and its well-entrenched distribution in the regions.GSK's executive VP, marketing, Shubhajit Sen, said: â€Å"Consumers were looking for a choice in instant noodles; combined with that, the equity of Horlicks is leading to a lot of trails. The initial response to Foodles is much higher than our expectations. † On the other hand, HUL, which rolled out Knorr Soupy noodles in the South this February, had to postpone the brand's national launch due to capacity constraints because of heavy consumer offtake.An HUL spokesman said: â€Å"We are very pleased with the performance of Knorr Soupy noodles. † Private brands are whetting appetites of consumers too. According to Devendra Chawla, business head, private brands, Future group: â€Å"The category boundary is set to be re-drawn. From a snack food targeted at children, instant noodles cat egory has evolved as a mainstay meal even for grown ups. † Mr Chawla said Tasty Treat was the second biggest instant noodles brand in its Big Bazaar stores after Maggi.The brand packaging was revamped last year and Future plans to roll out additional variants in a month's time taking the number of variants to nine from the existing three. There are some who leads called leader and there are some who follows, called follower. Maggi has been a leader for decades and it is Maggi who educated Indian consumer about noodles. Of course, their market share might got depleted in course of time, by the entry of some very big players but Maggi will not sit silent. They will also reinforce their activities which will ultimately benefit the consumer.People will definitely taste for a change, but I view it is very difficult to change ones taste bud and the top of mind game, as Maggi has become a generic name in India for their long presence. Maggi is one of the largest and oldest instant fo od brand in india. Maggi will remain no one brand though increase in market of instant food category secondly people those who are grown up with this brand will remain loyal with its unique test. Tasty Treat started without any major noise and over time has become a large brand in Big bazaar.Need a case study how retailer could do such magic and create brand in such tough categories Category is going to see lot of actions it seems, retailers are also getting thier act right with thier Private Labels . seems a good battle in the offing. if loyalty is the only aspect, then why have so many new product variants (capsicum, sweet and sour, sambhar,etc) from maggie not hit the mark.. GSK and HUL are definitely offering better value proposition and competition as well.. remains to be seen how nestle reacts..Maggi Noodles Is Manufactured By Nestle Marketing Essay Background – Maggi Noodles â€Å"In the last 20 years we have Just asked 2 minutes of your time†. The Brand which c learly comes to mind on first recall is Maggi Noodles. Maggi Noodles is manufactured by Nestle under instant noodles portfolio. It was introduced with Maggi 2 Minute Noodles in India in 1982 when the only place to get noodles was Chinese restaurants. Maggi has undoubtedly has been the lifeline of many teenagers when in home or away from home. Maggi, as a brand, has seen many competitions in its Lifecycle.The brand has also diversified itself with launch of product ranges like soups, tomato sauce, seasoning, cup noodles, various flavours of maggi noodles like atta, rice, mized grains etc. Nestle remains its market leader position with 59. 84% of retail sales in India,2009 (Source: Euromonitor International). But its market share is constantly eroded by new entrants like GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Health with Foodles,Capital Foods with Smith;Jones Instant noodles, HUL launching its Soupy Noodles under Knorr Brand umbrella. Brand Identity – Kapferers Model Picture of SenderPhysiqu e – Yellow Coloured Pack, 2 minute Noodles, fast to cook good to eat, Maggi Logo, Healthy Snack between meals Relationship – Taste bhi Health Bhi, providing convenient food within 2 minutes with health and hygiene factor, caring and nurturing Reflection – Health Conscious individual who is Hard pressed for time, Young and Fun loving, living with family Personality – Enthusiastic, simple, uncomplicated, easily accessible, Fun loving, carefree, On the move, busy schedule Culture –Reliable, Innovative, Aspirant Lifestyle for rural areas, Sharing happiness, responsible Self-Image –Young, trendy, fun loving, Independent, Healthy inspite of Sedentary Urban Lifestyle Picture of Recipient Stages in PLC Maggi Noodles is currently in growth stage after passing through maturity stage for brief period in mid 1990s. Introductory and Initial Growth Stage Maggi Noodles brand was in introductory and growth stage in 1982 – 1990s. Maggi took advantage of its early movers advantage in closed economy scenario prevalent in India during 1980s. The brand faced less competition due to few similar products available in the market. Brand Maggi made best use of the time to increase its brand awareness by focussing on product advertisement.The communication which was initially mis-directed towards women was shifted rightly towards children ;16 years age group. Strong brand identity was created through iconic Yellow packaging. The pictorial representation of noodles with added vegetables helped strengthen the health factor. Umbrella brand Nestle provided the hygiene factor assurance. Maggi Noodles sponsored ‘Hum Log’, India’s first indigenous soap opera which began telecast on July 7, 1984. Maggi was launched with total advertisement slots of just 5 minutes during the breaks of serial which ran for over 156 episodes. This helped Maggi to establish as a popular breakfast and snack food across the country. This was also on e the first instances of introduction of Fast Food in India. Growth StageMaggi Noodles brand was in their growth stage in 1990s till late 2006 with brief period of declining sales due to faulty product innovation and formulae change from conventional maggi noodles in the form of launch of Dal Atta Maggi Noodles to noodles similar to TopRamen Noodles, noodles from stable of IndoNissinFoodLtd. Maggi was quick to revert back the original formulae to minimize damage. Product: New Product Variants like Atta Noodles, Mixed Grain Noodles and Rice Mania were introduced Source: http://www. maggi. in/maggi_multigrainz_noodles. aspx There was change in packaging for different variants of the noodles and launch of new variants Image Source: http://www. maggi. in/two_minutes_maggi_noodles. aspx Image Source: http://www. maggi. in/vegetables_atta_noodles. aspx Price Price was kept competitive with other launches in the market like Nissin’s Top Ramen PromotionMaggi was launched in different packages of 50 and 100 gms to increase the consumer base and attract the first time consumers Variants like Cuppa mania was launched to cater to mobile population, office goers Source: http://www. maggi. in/cuppamania. aspx Offering freebies like collectible foreign stamps, other freebies with maggi packs Maturity Stage Post 2009, there has been host of new entrants in the instant noodles market in India. ITC Launched its instant noodles under Sunfeast brand. GlaxoSmithKline consumer health and HUL also introduced instant noodles in 2010. The communication from Maggi has shifted from 2 minute noodles to Taste bhi Health bhi through introduction of variation in instant noodles.The competition has led to gradual fall in market share vis-a-vis other new entrants. New players are innovating in product packaging like launching noodles in circular shape so as to enable users to enjoy their noodles in full length. Market Scenario/Challenges Major challenge is to maintain the market leader ship of Brand Maggi in increasing market with varied new entrants having strong market presence in other product variants. To be increasingly viewed as the most preferred snack by new generation Strategy to increase Rural market share through launch of Maggi Rasile Chow targeting low income population Change of consumer taste from taste to health consciousMasala Flavour is the leading flavour in instant noodles in India All new players have also introduced masala flavour in their brand Chicken is the second favoured flavour followed by vegetable and tomato Horlicks Foodles claim to provide five essential vitamins in their noodles which forces the major market players to stress heavily on the health factor associated with their brands HUL Knorr Soupy Noodles claim to be healthy snack between meal for children Need for elaborate Market research for Maggi Brand on attributes like Brand Image, Prefered Price, Taste, packaging, Health, Availability, Ingredients, product variety etc. Step s taken at different stages Extensive media advertising to increase the consumer’s familiarity with new product launches Wider flavours/varients being offered to cater to wide range of consumers Increased product penetration through availability in supermarkets, hypermarkets and kirana stores Product line extensions and repositioned products launched to engage new and changing consumer demographics Market Research was conducted to understand theGeneral promotional strategies were implemented to increase brand visibility Events – Online Maggi recipe Challenge, innovative entries were compiled into e-cookbook Launch of ‘Me and Meri Maggi’ Campaign – enable consumers to share their experience with Maggi and creating a nostalgic effect by letting them share their moments with Maggi . Launching Maggi goodies like Computer Wallpapers and ScreenSavers to increase Brand recall , Website- http://www. maggi. in/ Preity Zinta was roped in for brand endorsement . Maggi was tried to position it as lively brand with zing Summary The Brand Maggi is strongly established as a Family Brand with crisp brand equity in Indian market. The brand has always been known to have the first movers advantage in the portfolios like noodles, ketchups, soups, sauce, etc.The parent brand Nestle has been the strong symbol of family, shelter and warmth which brand Maggi has innovatively capitalized. Evolution in communication Brand Maggi has changed its communication from convenience factors ie â€Å"Bas 2 Minute† to â€Å"Taste Bhi Health Bhi† to stress on health factors along with taste and convenience. There was a shift from TG from women to children as their consumers. To increase the Point of Purchase Sales, Maggi innovated in Shelf placing by placing Maggi in lower shelfs to increase the visibility by Kids who accompany their mothers to shopping. Maggi has launched Chota Maggi worth Rs 5/- to increase product trail.Maggi was positioned as â₠¬Å" snacks for between meals† to boost sales and attract new customers without changing their conservative food habits during meal time. Maggi also introduced contests for posting best recipes to be made with Maggi. The future of noodles sectors seem good with growth in retail sales of 19% in 2010 in value terms and forecasted to grow at12% CAGR over next few years. Being a sector with low entry barrier, the segment share is vulnerable to new entrants like in-house brands of BigBazaar retail chains of Future group, More of Birla Group, Star Bazaar from TataGroup etc. and host of foreign players entering the market lately.Major Noodles manufacturing firm’s market share: (Source: EuromonitorInternational Report) Figure : Market Forecast for Noodles market in India Recommendations for Brand Maggi Proliferation into untapped rural markets through strong distribution channel available in India Product line extension with variants for varied markets Innovation in Product, pac kaging and pricing of Maggi Noodles through investment in Market Research Launching health awareness campaigns, publish health information, sponsor health camps etc. to educate the customers about benefits of health foods To engage customers more through evolving mediums like social networking sites etc. This would enable the Maggi Brand Managers to listen to reviews from their customers and improvise any other suggestions if needed.