Ethical Issues of Advertising to Children

Ethical Issues of Advertising to Children Ethical Dilemma, Practices and Implications of Children Advertising Creating outstanding products and programs to win marketplace is not an easy job. Specialists in marketing have to develop comprehensive research plans, carry out market researches, analyse the data collected and finally come up with marketing plans that target specific consumer segments. Finding out about human psychology, their preferences, choices and appeals are not only difficult but at times disappointingly inaccurate. Yet marketers today consider themselves experts in such endeavours, and are capable of achieving the almost impossible marketing objectives.   As if these aspects of marketing are not difficult enough, in modern-day marketing field there is a niche in which the marketers have to deal with children. The most difficult task is perhaps the determination of the choices and preferences of these fickle individuals who are still developing, absorbing the environment and learning to become like their adult counterparts. The task of marketing to children is not only daunting but also critical for many businesses such as Nike, Microsoft, Johnson Johnson, Disney, Pepsi, Sega,Kellogs and Mattel to name a few. These companies go through extensive research and consultancy to get to the untapped market of child consumers. One such example is evident in Dan S. Cuff and Robert H. Reiner’s (1998) Youth Market Systems.  According to the authors the development of outstanding products and programs to win childrens marketplace is entirely different from the rest of the market segments. For this purpose they invent a marketing process called Youth Market Systems. The System ensures marketers consider all aspects of marketing to children or teens for any category of goods or services that companies want to sell. There Isa great need for a system of analysis and interpretation as the authors feel that information pertaining to cognitive, emotional and social needs of age groups could transform the programs or product features that target them. Cuff and Reiner’s (1998) strategy merely opens window to the world of advertising to children. As one investigates the categories of products and services that are available to young children, one also tend to develop the consistent belief that children are a separate kind of consumer group and must be treated differently, from advertising to the designing of products. All these efforts no doubt are valid and justified in their own place and position, however a niggling thought crosses the mind when one observes the various approaches and efforts that marketers adopt to reach out to the vulnerable youth consumer segment. There are reasons for these tactics. Cuff and Rehire record approximately $1 billion annual gross revenue for Mattel Incorporated that sells Barbie’s. There are others such as Garfield, He-Man, Cabbage Patch Kids, Power Rangers, LEGO, GI Joes and a myriad of upcoming products invading the market with the sole purpose to tap on these young consumers who are bound by childish emotions and penchant for toys and games. Schemes and strategies are being devised to win over these young consumers for high stakes amounting to billions of pounds. What is more, advertising and marketing to children does not only involve the youngsters but their parents also. For example the Youth Market System identifies parents, grandparents and other close family members as the most influential on children’s purchasing decision. Exploring this group is critical because they are the ones who have control over the wallet and it is on them that children are dependent. The complexity in children marketing therefore lies in attracting both the youngsters and appealing to the parents. A winning formula must be developed to attract both the parents and children. The complexity of this formula makes success rate low which induces marketers to resort to all kinds of schemes and strategies to achieve their desired target, including crossing the line of ethics especially in the field of advertising of children related products (Cuff and Rehire 1998). Scholars and parents alike feel that there are no avenues that advertisers and businesses will not exploit to reach to the young consumers. Exploitations through mental, moral and physical developments of children are common. The strategies to target children involve creation of wants to satisfy the impulse rather than actual needs. For example consoles such as Mattels Hot Wheels, and Barbie’s fashion collections are not really required by children but wants created by advertisers and marketing campaigns. Long term needs satisfaction has been replaced by short term needs. They are not the only ones exploited. Their parents are also plagued with different kinds of created needs for their children such as the wellbeing; status symbol; and their selfish need to have their child preoccupied with the multitude of products and free them from child responsibilities. Statement of the Problem These aspects portray not only the ugly but also the unethical sides of the world of advertising. How true are these aspects and to what extent do advertisers reach to capture their target consumers? Do they cross the borders of ethics or not to maximise gains from vulnerable consumer market? And what, if anything, should be done to control and ultimately restrict the freedom of advertising aimed at children are some of the areas that the following research will endeavour to enumerate. Literature Review Children have become the key target for many advertisers. Children are vulnerable, easy to exploit consumers and they perceive things as advertisers want them to perceive, or so many of us believe. Despite the fact that children are nowadays smart and knowledgeable of the marketplace nevertheless for many marketers they are relatively easy to target due to the sheer size of the childrens consumer market. Advertisers thrive by earning billions of pounds with the backing and funding of the profit seeking organizations that hire them. These companies are not only producing goods that appeal to the children but they are also exploiting their parents. The dual targeting approach makes this market segment attractive as well as representative of high yield for investment. For example in many regions of the world including the US, Europe and Japan, companies are investing billions so that they can capture and tap the youth market segment but at the same time they are also reaping billions in return. Advertisers and marketers are entrusted with the task to achieve sales targets by generating desired actions from the segment. The wide appeal has motivated many professionals to enter and adopt whatever means and measures to achieve their targets. Ethical implications surpasses but few in the field of advertising that target children. For these reasons the authority, lobbyists and parents are demonstrating their concerns regarding the impact of media and advertising on children. The following literature review will first outline why and how children are targeted, followed by a review of the kind of ethical implications advertising and the media has on children. This will be followed by an exploration of the measures that are being taken to counteract the problem, if any. Children Advertising Advertising to children has not been an issue until recently with the boom of the media. More and more parents are concerned about the legal controls that the authority levy on advertising criteria as most are concerned about the kind of tactics advertisers are using to influence children for the sake of maximizing their profits. For example Begot and Dottie (2004) note that pornography, cigarette and tobacco related, alcohol and other products prohibited for children are being promoted on television freely without restriction. Advertisement messages for these adult related products are tailored for adult consumption but due to the appeal of mass viewership and the higher profits, the advertisements are aired during children television primetime. As a result the advertisements expose children to contents that are not meant for them. Had that been the only case then the issue of advertisement would not have been so controversial. Research suggest that children between the ages of 6 and 14 years old watch about 25 hours of television per week in the US and they are exposed to 20,000 commercials in a  year (Moore and Lutz 2000).Children at this age are vulnerable because they are developing a sense to comprehend and evaluate messages in the environment. Stimulated messages on television not only have a harmful impact but they are also detrimental in persuading children to develop wants for products that are not meant for them. According to Moore and Lutz (2000) Beyond advertisements, children gain marketplace information from the products they encounter, advice from friends and relatives, and their own consumption experiences. Through consumption, children learn what products are good and bad, whether advertising claims are truthful, what brands they prefer, and even products that convey social meanings apart from their functional properties. For children the experiences that heighten their importance in their social circle and the adult world have the most meaning. They do not have the ability to counteract or check on the viability or the authenticity of the message initially when they are young as they are dependent on adults for explanatory information accessible only through print media. By the time children grow to the teenage level the functionality of literacy diminishes tube replaced by their desire and need to fit in their social life. Without consideration for product usefulness or content, children develop wants for products beyond their pockets and reach. Similarly, children are also exposed to advertisements for fashion products that are actually designed for adult consumers but they are often condensed to tailor to the younger audience with the purpose to include the young consumers in the marketing campaigns. For this reason children develop receptivity for fashion products without the required information for decision making.  Moore and Lutz (2000) recognize the importance of childrens advertising and its impact on young audience by revealing that children are receptive to advertising demonstrated in experiments of relation between ads and products. They write: Research investigating childrens receptivity to television advertising has studied what children understand, under what circumstances they are persuaded, and how their responses evolve as they mature (e.g. Macklin 1987; Redder 1981). Drawing extensively on information processing and stage models, researchers have gained substantial insight into the development of childrens cognitive skills and their deployment during ad processing. (Moore and Lutz 2000) Their research indicates that children are at a stage where they are developing cognitive abilities. Advertisers vie on this susceptible developmental stage by targeting the limited processors of children that have not yet acquired efficient information processing strategies, a fact that may be reflected in their inability to distinguish between central and peripheral content in message learning. (Moore and Lutz2000). They further this idea by writing that at the stage of ages 8and 12 children are susceptible to information that are stimulated and that target the vulnerability of the strategic processors.   Because at this age group children tend to spontaneously employ efficient information storage and retrieval strategies. They organize and retrieve information based on available information and stimulus. Unless their knowledge of advertising is expressly activated by such acute, these children tend not to think critically or generate counterarguments spontaneously. They may also neglect to differentiate between central and peripheral content when learning new information. When there is an appropriate cue in their environment, however, they are likely to retrieve and use relevant information. (Moore and Lutz2000). Therefore children may develop recognition mechanism on how advertising should be viewed but that is dependent on external factors like parental guide, government policies or other mediating channels. Evidence suggests that there is substantial amount of influence on this age group when they are not guided in the preliminary stages in understanding the intent of advertisements. Research reveals that significant guidelines must be levied before children rationale and deliberate on the content of advertisements shown on television. â€Å"Advertising is thus implicitly accorded substantial power to shape children’s thinking until they acquire sufficient cognitive and attitudinal defences. (Moore and Lutz 2000). Other than the cognitive development impressions on children, advertising also influence them to take actions. In a study by Smithland Wynyard (1982) on consumer behaviour and response towards product trials offer through advertisements suggests that because consumers know that advertisers wish to present their brands in a favourable light, they react to ads by partially discounting claims and forming tentatively held brand beliefs and attitudes. In contrast when consumers have direct usage experience, they form stronger, more confidently held brand beliefs and attitudes. This phenomenon has been observed in a number of studies with adults and may be consistent with the case of children. The same expectations is held with regard to children advertising as researchers are of the opinion that with age, the capacity to form brand opinions tend to be more among older children. For example children of age groups 10 and 12, and 12 and 14year olds tend to tell the truth and more likely to be sceptical towards the institution of advertising rather than blindly accept advertisement claims. According to Michel Begot and Barbara Dottie (2004) children advertising are dynamic and highly appealing. The authors are of the opinion that children are the key target for advertisers because brand preferences in this age group remain unchanged for a long time. Children remain loyal to the brands they are used to yet at the same time they have growing pockets to afford more expensive items as they grow older. The above aspects indicate that children though are smart and knowledgeable to sceptically evaluate and experiment with products through advertisement claims they are also aware of the fact that these advertisers claim may not be true. At this point it is arguable to note that some school of thoughts separate the vulnerable youngsters from the smart young consumers who have the cognitive ability to critically examine the advertisement claims and disregard them if not proven true. According to Robertson and Resister (1974) if ads present information different from a childs actual experience, confusion may result and trust in advertising may be determined. Conversely, others suggest that until children actually experience discrepancies between products as advertised and as consumed, they are unable to fully comprehend advertisings persuasive intent. For this reason Moore and Lutz (2000) claim that advertising use frames for product trials known as transformational advertising in which adult consumers are drawn towards the products prior to advertising exposures by asking them to participate in the process of experimenting and interacting with the product with the view to interpret, evaluate and subsequently form their experience impressions. The expectancy or discrepancy frame sets are formed for comparison of later product trials which help in determining discrepancies or consistencies of product qualities. Mooreland Lutz (2000) present the testing paradigm to show that rational consumers are clever in testing advertising claims of product performances. Testing paradigm enable them the opportunity to evaluate and form opinions. Children, on the other hand do not have the same reaction or taste for distinguishing discrepancy in the same manner. On the other hand Ziegler (1996) believes that advertising and product trials have different effects on childrens capacity to integrate multiple sources of information for consideration. Young children tend to engage in one-dimensional thinking pattern and rely on multiple dimensions for a given task. Integration is imperative for children because they are dependent on this integration processing of information for forming perceptual domains and consumer behaviour. When younger children are presented with information it is encoded and stored in the recesses of the mind, and whenever needed retrieve it for evaluation. Information integration is basically combining new information presented in the media with the old information, and comparing the two. Disparate media information result in discrepancy inexperience. This in turn results in loss of trust in advertisement messages. Not all children however are wise enough to discriminate information. Moore and Lutz (2000) believe that age differences differentiate expectations and credibility of advertising. They write Younger children have been found to hold more positive attitudes about advertising, to be more likely to believe its claims, and to be less likely to understand its essential purpose. Thus, among younger children advertisings credibility is not likely to arise as a concern, and they are likely to perceive both advertising and a product trial experience as believable sources of information. (Moore and Lutz2000). Clearly, this statement identifies with the fact that younger children are more susceptible to advertising and they are prone to take actions without critical evaluation. For older children advertisers may not integrate strong expectations about a brand and instead focus on the stronger results to generate confidence in product usage (Fazio1986). Alternatively there are groups of advertisers who vie on the physical habits of children. For example one of the most invidious techniques is to use junk food in advertising for children. The use of celebrities to endorse these foods without any consideration for balanced diet or fitness is common in the industry. In the UK the BBC which is funded by licence and tax payers, received around 32 million pounds in 2001for franchising its Tweenies’ characters to McDonalds the Food Commission found that the Tweenies’ products were high in junk elements. Despite this fact the UK government continues to allow brands such as Cadburys to market its products and launch campaigns that have negative effects on the physical health of children. These efforts are designed to generate more profits and not the public interest. They are aware of the fact that the lack of exercise coupled with high calorie food result in obesity and other related diseases in children. The rate of obesity has doubled in the past 10 years from 8.5percent to 15 present among children under 16 years (The Lancet 2003).Yet advertisements continue to infiltrate the media and other channels with the objective to vie on children. Advertising Strategies Children have long been recognized as the target market for many companies due to its economic potential. Recent estimates by Moore(2004) indicate that children and associated markets account for 24billion dollars of direct spending and it has an additional 500 billion dollars influence over family purchases. Children are considered to be potential gold mines for campaigners and advertisers alike. Television channels and the print media as well as companies are constantly engaged in complex product placements, sales promotions, packaging design, public relations, and in-school marketing activities with the view to reach out to children and their parents. Given the time children spend in front of the television, on the Internet and media gadgets, marketers realize that children form a huge consumer base for â€Å"toys, breakfast cereals, candy and snacks etc. For this purpose there are more and more commercials on television to induce buying preference and action. TV commercials especially are being developed to induce children to purchase and participate in programs promoting cars, fashion, cell phones and other such adult related products. According to Moore (2004) At the root of the childrens advertising debate is the question of childrens unique vulnerabilities. Concerns about young children range from their inability to resist specific selling efforts to a fear that without benefit of well-developed critical thinking skills they may learn undesirable social values such as materialism†(Macklin, 1986 qt. Moore 2004). Her view is also affirmed by Cuff Andrei her (1998) who indicate through their study that children are susceptible to advertisements because of the extensive measures and strategies adopted by the advertisers. Their study reveals that marketers devise winning formulas to gain the confidence of children by sending out messages that winning children are those who are associated with certain brands. These may be Barbie, He-Man, Teletubbies or Spider-Man. Identification and association are the keys to the winning formula. The success rate of the winning formula depends on how deep an impact the product or brand has through the advertisements. These are developed based on the knowledge of the development of the mind of the growing consumers. The product leverage mix is formed based on qualities that are demanded by children such as characteristics of aero, power of a character and/or qualities of the product. The product leverage matrix is a comprehensive model formed for analysing the needs and wants of the young consumers and a guide to allow marketers to have look at the bigger picture. Once the matrix is determined the medium, concept, content, context, process, characters or personality, and attitude or style are established. Elements to be noted include: What is the psychological point of view of the target audience? What are the visual and verbal contents that will be used for the product? How marketers will form the context of the advertisements for the target audience and the kind of processes that will be involved to create an interface for interaction with the potential consumers? Character association or the use of personality to denote product quality is also common in the designing of the matrix etc. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). The marketers are also aware that young children are intelligent individuals who exercise their developing cognitive abilities by associating qualities with certain images. For example Bugs Bunny is clever rabbit or Kellogg’s Pop Tarts are fruity flavoured etc. They are able to associate as well as distinguish between products and characteristics of the products. Identifying the points of difference from the children’s perspectives is critical but not impossible. Acuffand Rehire (1998) also note that these are assumptions that adults make regarding the preferences of children such as teens wanting more energy; identifying with hero athletes; wanting great taste or new product names. Yet at the same time they also warn the marketers that: more often than not these assumptions are left unexamined as to veracity and strength. Its an important practice to check assumptions: check what the leverage actually is, and its relative power versus what has been assumed. More often than not, adults make erroneous assumptions about what kids perceive to be important and powerful because adults are looking at their product or program through adult eyes. It is critical to get at the actual leverage rather than the assumed leverage. With the above hypothetical Enerjuice example in mind, adults may be surprised when testing directly with kids focus groups reveals that the new products blue colour is its most powerful point of leverage and that the majority of kids tested dislike the new name. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). The basic premise in such a condition is that marketers need to ensure they give promises and fulfil them too thereby gaining competitive advantage. This kind of positioning helps them to organize and categorize products in the mind of the targeted consumers. In the end however, the marketers must realize that it is the bigger picture that needs to be satisfied that is product leverage matrix. At the centre of the matrix are the crucial elements that should not be neglected such as gender, stage, age, structure, dimension, style and past experience. The consumers are at the end of this list and are the most powerful deciding factor that can make or break their products. They conclude that Successful products and programs are those that satisfy their needs and wants in the short term (impulse) or in the long term. While a colourful and involving Tricks cereal package with a maze on the back provides for short-term needs satisfaction, Mattels Hot Wheel scars year after year continue to provide young boys with something they need and want small, easily manipulability, colourful minibars that are fun and involving to play cars with (Vroom! Vroom!) And to accumulate and collect. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). Ethical Implications Children advertising have attracted legal, scholars and parental attention. Proponents of the children targeted marketing and advertising argue that the financial backing that children programs are getting derive from sponsors who make programs on television possible. Advertising to children are therefore motivated by profitability. Furthermore they also argue that these sponsors target a separate niche market of children of age group 12 and 14. Advertising provides them with product information and does not really provide stimulus as children in this age group are more like adults with their specific ideologies, attitudes and behaviours where preferences of products and services are concerned. They have been exposed to persuasive messages for a long time and can distinguish persuasive messages from empowering ones. Thus they are product and advertising savvy. On the other hand opponents such as parents and consumer protection groups argue that advertising directed at children are not only unethical but they are also manipulative stimulants that promote consumerism in children from a very young age. Advertisements create wants and poor nutritional habits that induce children to pester parents for products that are harmful for them (Berger 1999). Their opinions have been affirmed by Cuff and Rehire (1997) who suggest that preschool children at two and three years old tend to identify with frequently seen images and therefore would be attracted towards spokes-character in advertising and marketing. The desire to see these characters and related products they see on television, packaging and promotions induce demand for the same among children. According to DelVecchio (1998, p. 225), The objective is to select an effective piece of advertising that will break through clutter, communicate the name of the brand, its key feature and benefit, and do so in a cool way that will elicit a childs request. Those advertisers are successful who successfully use innovation, meticulous marketing, planning and massive exposures in their key characters according to Schneider (1989). The ethical dilemma enters the scenario when one refers to the degree and extent of the use of stimuli. Research indicates that spokes-characters use role play and features that would relate animated with human characters and thereby influence childrens attitudes(Cheat et al 1992). The issues surrounding the use of advertising characters to children stem from the fact that the characters are commoditized without consideration for its impact on the children. Without regulations, advertisers tend to deviate from the conventional use of these characters. They treat children and adult related products alike. That is perhaps the reason why Cross (2002) indicates that there has been a rise in restrictions on tobacco advertising during the 1990sto curb tobacco companies from targeting children by the use of spokes-characters in their advertising and marketing campaigns. In this context advertisements have a deep ethical impact on the cognitive and development of growing children and the authority needs to recognize this fact. According to Redder (1981) children are vulnerable and fail to utilize cognitive plans for storing and retrieving information. The categorization of processing deficiencies stem from the childs inability to use the actual strategies and aids for storing information in the memory. Limited processing capabilities in young age group especially induce children to learn through memorization and are not capable of using tools for separating, segregating and processing information according to utility. Instead they use information incidentally. Television uses fast pace visual graphics and audio-visual medium to influence pre-schoolers and around that age group. The effects become consistent when children are regularly exposed to these audio-visual images so that they become imprinted on the minds of the young children (Alit et al 1980).Animation and other stimulus have double impact on the information processors of children. As children become receptive to advertisements or images that are regularly shown they come to recognize it in their daily experiences. Once the images are imprinted in the targeted group’s mind it is easy to generate brand recognition through triggering keys which may be in the form of visual or audio effects. Spokes-characters such cartoon characters have this essential effects on the children. Studies have found that young children often discriminate between products on simple heuristic of whether one particular quality (which may include brand name or character) is present or not (Rust and Hyatt 1991 qt.Neeley and Schumann 2004). Another aspect of advertisements is that children tend to associate with the characters and brand that they prefer. Instilling a brand in children’s minds is easy when spokes-characters are used to define the qualities of the products. For example in Ban’s (1996) study four and five year olds proved to be receptive to product characteristics by inferring spokes-characters. Bah gives the example of cereal boxes. Boxes with cartoons are associated with sugary and sweet cereal meant â€Å"for kids while those that do not have cartoons are bland and not sweet, and are meant for adults. This logic for cereal preferences and choices indicate that advertisements with their logos, characters and cartoons all have a great impact on the minds of young children in this age group. While Ban’s example seem harmless whereby advertisers are merely using the characteristics and qualities of products to appeal to the young consumers, Fischer et all’s (1991) example raises ethical dilemma. In their study the researchers asked children ages three to six to identify logo brands with the appropriate product. They observe that children tend to associate the Old Joe character with cigarettes. This association has been developed through the inference of the Camel advertisements that uses Old Joe a cartoon character for brand personalization. Hence, the researchers conclude that regardless of the intentions of advertisers and marketers, the effects of advertising on children are inevitable. Yet there are arguments against this view by psychologists such sapient (1929). This group of individuals are of the view that preoperational children between ages two and seven do not really process information logically or abstractly. They rely on processing strategies such as â€Å"transductive† to connect between thoughts and reasoning and therefore not susceptible to the underlying qualities. They may understand simple expressions of but have difficulty in associating it with product differentiation. Consequently Neely and Schumann (2004) write: While research findings show that young childr Ethical Issues of Advertising to Children Ethical Issues of Advertising to Children Ethical Dilemma, Practices and Implications of Children Advertising Creating outstanding products and programs to win marketplace is not an easy job. Specialists in marketing have to develop comprehensive research plans, carry out market researches, analyse the data collected and finally come up with marketing plans that target specific consumer segments. Finding out about human psychology, their preferences, choices and appeals are not only difficult but at times disappointingly inaccurate. Yet marketers today consider themselves experts in such endeavours, and are capable of achieving the almost impossible marketing objectives.   As if these aspects of marketing are not difficult enough, in modern-day marketing field there is a niche in which the marketers have to deal with children. The most difficult task is perhaps the determination of the choices and preferences of these fickle individuals who are still developing, absorbing the environment and learning to become like their adult counterparts. The task of marketing to children is not only daunting but also critical for many businesses such as Nike, Microsoft, Johnson Johnson, Disney, Pepsi, Sega,Kellogs and Mattel to name a few. These companies go through extensive research and consultancy to get to the untapped market of child consumers. One such example is evident in Dan S. Cuff and Robert H. Reiner’s (1998) Youth Market Systems.  According to the authors the development of outstanding products and programs to win childrens marketplace is entirely different from the rest of the market segments. For this purpose they invent a marketing process called Youth Market Systems. The System ensures marketers consider all aspects of marketing to children or teens for any category of goods or services that companies want to sell. There Isa great need for a system of analysis and interpretation as the authors feel that information pertaining to cognitive, emotional and social needs of age groups could transform the programs or product features that target them. Cuff and Reiner’s (1998) strategy merely opens window to the world of advertising to children. As one investigates the categories of products and services that are available to young children, one also tend to develop the consistent belief that children are a separate kind of consumer group and must be treated differently, from advertising to the designing of products. All these efforts no doubt are valid and justified in their own place and position, however a niggling thought crosses the mind when one observes the various approaches and efforts that marketers adopt to reach out to the vulnerable youth consumer segment. There are reasons for these tactics. Cuff and Rehire record approximately $1 billion annual gross revenue for Mattel Incorporated that sells Barbie’s. There are others such as Garfield, He-Man, Cabbage Patch Kids, Power Rangers, LEGO, GI Joes and a myriad of upcoming products invading the market with the sole purpose to tap on these young consumers who are bound by childish emotions and penchant for toys and games. Schemes and strategies are being devised to win over these young consumers for high stakes amounting to billions of pounds. What is more, advertising and marketing to children does not only involve the youngsters but their parents also. For example the Youth Market System identifies parents, grandparents and other close family members as the most influential on children’s purchasing decision. Exploring this group is critical because they are the ones who have control over the wallet and it is on them that children are dependent. The complexity in children marketing therefore lies in attracting both the youngsters and appealing to the parents. A winning formula must be developed to attract both the parents and children. The complexity of this formula makes success rate low which induces marketers to resort to all kinds of schemes and strategies to achieve their desired target, including crossing the line of ethics especially in the field of advertising of children related products (Cuff and Rehire 1998). Scholars and parents alike feel that there are no avenues that advertisers and businesses will not exploit to reach to the young consumers. Exploitations through mental, moral and physical developments of children are common. The strategies to target children involve creation of wants to satisfy the impulse rather than actual needs. For example consoles such as Mattels Hot Wheels, and Barbie’s fashion collections are not really required by children but wants created by advertisers and marketing campaigns. Long term needs satisfaction has been replaced by short term needs. They are not the only ones exploited. Their parents are also plagued with different kinds of created needs for their children such as the wellbeing; status symbol; and their selfish need to have their child preoccupied with the multitude of products and free them from child responsibilities. Statement of the Problem These aspects portray not only the ugly but also the unethical sides of the world of advertising. How true are these aspects and to what extent do advertisers reach to capture their target consumers? Do they cross the borders of ethics or not to maximise gains from vulnerable consumer market? And what, if anything, should be done to control and ultimately restrict the freedom of advertising aimed at children are some of the areas that the following research will endeavour to enumerate. Literature Review Children have become the key target for many advertisers. Children are vulnerable, easy to exploit consumers and they perceive things as advertisers want them to perceive, or so many of us believe. Despite the fact that children are nowadays smart and knowledgeable of the marketplace nevertheless for many marketers they are relatively easy to target due to the sheer size of the childrens consumer market. Advertisers thrive by earning billions of pounds with the backing and funding of the profit seeking organizations that hire them. These companies are not only producing goods that appeal to the children but they are also exploiting their parents. The dual targeting approach makes this market segment attractive as well as representative of high yield for investment. For example in many regions of the world including the US, Europe and Japan, companies are investing billions so that they can capture and tap the youth market segment but at the same time they are also reaping billions in return. Advertisers and marketers are entrusted with the task to achieve sales targets by generating desired actions from the segment. The wide appeal has motivated many professionals to enter and adopt whatever means and measures to achieve their targets. Ethical implications surpasses but few in the field of advertising that target children. For these reasons the authority, lobbyists and parents are demonstrating their concerns regarding the impact of media and advertising on children. The following literature review will first outline why and how children are targeted, followed by a review of the kind of ethical implications advertising and the media has on children. This will be followed by an exploration of the measures that are being taken to counteract the problem, if any. Children Advertising Advertising to children has not been an issue until recently with the boom of the media. More and more parents are concerned about the legal controls that the authority levy on advertising criteria as most are concerned about the kind of tactics advertisers are using to influence children for the sake of maximizing their profits. For example Begot and Dottie (2004) note that pornography, cigarette and tobacco related, alcohol and other products prohibited for children are being promoted on television freely without restriction. Advertisement messages for these adult related products are tailored for adult consumption but due to the appeal of mass viewership and the higher profits, the advertisements are aired during children television primetime. As a result the advertisements expose children to contents that are not meant for them. Had that been the only case then the issue of advertisement would not have been so controversial. Research suggest that children between the ages of 6 and 14 years old watch about 25 hours of television per week in the US and they are exposed to 20,000 commercials in a  year (Moore and Lutz 2000).Children at this age are vulnerable because they are developing a sense to comprehend and evaluate messages in the environment. Stimulated messages on television not only have a harmful impact but they are also detrimental in persuading children to develop wants for products that are not meant for them. According to Moore and Lutz (2000) Beyond advertisements, children gain marketplace information from the products they encounter, advice from friends and relatives, and their own consumption experiences. Through consumption, children learn what products are good and bad, whether advertising claims are truthful, what brands they prefer, and even products that convey social meanings apart from their functional properties. For children the experiences that heighten their importance in their social circle and the adult world have the most meaning. They do not have the ability to counteract or check on the viability or the authenticity of the message initially when they are young as they are dependent on adults for explanatory information accessible only through print media. By the time children grow to the teenage level the functionality of literacy diminishes tube replaced by their desire and need to fit in their social life. Without consideration for product usefulness or content, children develop wants for products beyond their pockets and reach. Similarly, children are also exposed to advertisements for fashion products that are actually designed for adult consumers but they are often condensed to tailor to the younger audience with the purpose to include the young consumers in the marketing campaigns. For this reason children develop receptivity for fashion products without the required information for decision making.  Moore and Lutz (2000) recognize the importance of childrens advertising and its impact on young audience by revealing that children are receptive to advertising demonstrated in experiments of relation between ads and products. They write: Research investigating childrens receptivity to television advertising has studied what children understand, under what circumstances they are persuaded, and how their responses evolve as they mature (e.g. Macklin 1987; Redder 1981). Drawing extensively on information processing and stage models, researchers have gained substantial insight into the development of childrens cognitive skills and their deployment during ad processing. (Moore and Lutz 2000) Their research indicates that children are at a stage where they are developing cognitive abilities. Advertisers vie on this susceptible developmental stage by targeting the limited processors of children that have not yet acquired efficient information processing strategies, a fact that may be reflected in their inability to distinguish between central and peripheral content in message learning. (Moore and Lutz2000). They further this idea by writing that at the stage of ages 8and 12 children are susceptible to information that are stimulated and that target the vulnerability of the strategic processors.   Because at this age group children tend to spontaneously employ efficient information storage and retrieval strategies. They organize and retrieve information based on available information and stimulus. Unless their knowledge of advertising is expressly activated by such acute, these children tend not to think critically or generate counterarguments spontaneously. They may also neglect to differentiate between central and peripheral content when learning new information. When there is an appropriate cue in their environment, however, they are likely to retrieve and use relevant information. (Moore and Lutz2000). Therefore children may develop recognition mechanism on how advertising should be viewed but that is dependent on external factors like parental guide, government policies or other mediating channels. Evidence suggests that there is substantial amount of influence on this age group when they are not guided in the preliminary stages in understanding the intent of advertisements. Research reveals that significant guidelines must be levied before children rationale and deliberate on the content of advertisements shown on television. â€Å"Advertising is thus implicitly accorded substantial power to shape children’s thinking until they acquire sufficient cognitive and attitudinal defences. (Moore and Lutz 2000). Other than the cognitive development impressions on children, advertising also influence them to take actions. In a study by Smithland Wynyard (1982) on consumer behaviour and response towards product trials offer through advertisements suggests that because consumers know that advertisers wish to present their brands in a favourable light, they react to ads by partially discounting claims and forming tentatively held brand beliefs and attitudes. In contrast when consumers have direct usage experience, they form stronger, more confidently held brand beliefs and attitudes. This phenomenon has been observed in a number of studies with adults and may be consistent with the case of children. The same expectations is held with regard to children advertising as researchers are of the opinion that with age, the capacity to form brand opinions tend to be more among older children. For example children of age groups 10 and 12, and 12 and 14year olds tend to tell the truth and more likely to be sceptical towards the institution of advertising rather than blindly accept advertisement claims. According to Michel Begot and Barbara Dottie (2004) children advertising are dynamic and highly appealing. The authors are of the opinion that children are the key target for advertisers because brand preferences in this age group remain unchanged for a long time. Children remain loyal to the brands they are used to yet at the same time they have growing pockets to afford more expensive items as they grow older. The above aspects indicate that children though are smart and knowledgeable to sceptically evaluate and experiment with products through advertisement claims they are also aware of the fact that these advertisers claim may not be true. At this point it is arguable to note that some school of thoughts separate the vulnerable youngsters from the smart young consumers who have the cognitive ability to critically examine the advertisement claims and disregard them if not proven true. According to Robertson and Resister (1974) if ads present information different from a childs actual experience, confusion may result and trust in advertising may be determined. Conversely, others suggest that until children actually experience discrepancies between products as advertised and as consumed, they are unable to fully comprehend advertisings persuasive intent. For this reason Moore and Lutz (2000) claim that advertising use frames for product trials known as transformational advertising in which adult consumers are drawn towards the products prior to advertising exposures by asking them to participate in the process of experimenting and interacting with the product with the view to interpret, evaluate and subsequently form their experience impressions. The expectancy or discrepancy frame sets are formed for comparison of later product trials which help in determining discrepancies or consistencies of product qualities. Mooreland Lutz (2000) present the testing paradigm to show that rational consumers are clever in testing advertising claims of product performances. Testing paradigm enable them the opportunity to evaluate and form opinions. Children, on the other hand do not have the same reaction or taste for distinguishing discrepancy in the same manner. On the other hand Ziegler (1996) believes that advertising and product trials have different effects on childrens capacity to integrate multiple sources of information for consideration. Young children tend to engage in one-dimensional thinking pattern and rely on multiple dimensions for a given task. Integration is imperative for children because they are dependent on this integration processing of information for forming perceptual domains and consumer behaviour. When younger children are presented with information it is encoded and stored in the recesses of the mind, and whenever needed retrieve it for evaluation. Information integration is basically combining new information presented in the media with the old information, and comparing the two. Disparate media information result in discrepancy inexperience. This in turn results in loss of trust in advertisement messages. Not all children however are wise enough to discriminate information. Moore and Lutz (2000) believe that age differences differentiate expectations and credibility of advertising. They write Younger children have been found to hold more positive attitudes about advertising, to be more likely to believe its claims, and to be less likely to understand its essential purpose. Thus, among younger children advertisings credibility is not likely to arise as a concern, and they are likely to perceive both advertising and a product trial experience as believable sources of information. (Moore and Lutz2000). Clearly, this statement identifies with the fact that younger children are more susceptible to advertising and they are prone to take actions without critical evaluation. For older children advertisers may not integrate strong expectations about a brand and instead focus on the stronger results to generate confidence in product usage (Fazio1986). Alternatively there are groups of advertisers who vie on the physical habits of children. For example one of the most invidious techniques is to use junk food in advertising for children. The use of celebrities to endorse these foods without any consideration for balanced diet or fitness is common in the industry. In the UK the BBC which is funded by licence and tax payers, received around 32 million pounds in 2001for franchising its Tweenies’ characters to McDonalds the Food Commission found that the Tweenies’ products were high in junk elements. Despite this fact the UK government continues to allow brands such as Cadburys to market its products and launch campaigns that have negative effects on the physical health of children. These efforts are designed to generate more profits and not the public interest. They are aware of the fact that the lack of exercise coupled with high calorie food result in obesity and other related diseases in children. The rate of obesity has doubled in the past 10 years from 8.5percent to 15 present among children under 16 years (The Lancet 2003).Yet advertisements continue to infiltrate the media and other channels with the objective to vie on children. Advertising Strategies Children have long been recognized as the target market for many companies due to its economic potential. Recent estimates by Moore(2004) indicate that children and associated markets account for 24billion dollars of direct spending and it has an additional 500 billion dollars influence over family purchases. Children are considered to be potential gold mines for campaigners and advertisers alike. Television channels and the print media as well as companies are constantly engaged in complex product placements, sales promotions, packaging design, public relations, and in-school marketing activities with the view to reach out to children and their parents. Given the time children spend in front of the television, on the Internet and media gadgets, marketers realize that children form a huge consumer base for â€Å"toys, breakfast cereals, candy and snacks etc. For this purpose there are more and more commercials on television to induce buying preference and action. TV commercials especially are being developed to induce children to purchase and participate in programs promoting cars, fashion, cell phones and other such adult related products. According to Moore (2004) At the root of the childrens advertising debate is the question of childrens unique vulnerabilities. Concerns about young children range from their inability to resist specific selling efforts to a fear that without benefit of well-developed critical thinking skills they may learn undesirable social values such as materialism†(Macklin, 1986 qt. Moore 2004). Her view is also affirmed by Cuff Andrei her (1998) who indicate through their study that children are susceptible to advertisements because of the extensive measures and strategies adopted by the advertisers. Their study reveals that marketers devise winning formulas to gain the confidence of children by sending out messages that winning children are those who are associated with certain brands. These may be Barbie, He-Man, Teletubbies or Spider-Man. Identification and association are the keys to the winning formula. The success rate of the winning formula depends on how deep an impact the product or brand has through the advertisements. These are developed based on the knowledge of the development of the mind of the growing consumers. The product leverage mix is formed based on qualities that are demanded by children such as characteristics of aero, power of a character and/or qualities of the product. The product leverage matrix is a comprehensive model formed for analysing the needs and wants of the young consumers and a guide to allow marketers to have look at the bigger picture. Once the matrix is determined the medium, concept, content, context, process, characters or personality, and attitude or style are established. Elements to be noted include: What is the psychological point of view of the target audience? What are the visual and verbal contents that will be used for the product? How marketers will form the context of the advertisements for the target audience and the kind of processes that will be involved to create an interface for interaction with the potential consumers? Character association or the use of personality to denote product quality is also common in the designing of the matrix etc. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). The marketers are also aware that young children are intelligent individuals who exercise their developing cognitive abilities by associating qualities with certain images. For example Bugs Bunny is clever rabbit or Kellogg’s Pop Tarts are fruity flavoured etc. They are able to associate as well as distinguish between products and characteristics of the products. Identifying the points of difference from the children’s perspectives is critical but not impossible. Acuffand Rehire (1998) also note that these are assumptions that adults make regarding the preferences of children such as teens wanting more energy; identifying with hero athletes; wanting great taste or new product names. Yet at the same time they also warn the marketers that: more often than not these assumptions are left unexamined as to veracity and strength. Its an important practice to check assumptions: check what the leverage actually is, and its relative power versus what has been assumed. More often than not, adults make erroneous assumptions about what kids perceive to be important and powerful because adults are looking at their product or program through adult eyes. It is critical to get at the actual leverage rather than the assumed leverage. With the above hypothetical Enerjuice example in mind, adults may be surprised when testing directly with kids focus groups reveals that the new products blue colour is its most powerful point of leverage and that the majority of kids tested dislike the new name. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). The basic premise in such a condition is that marketers need to ensure they give promises and fulfil them too thereby gaining competitive advantage. This kind of positioning helps them to organize and categorize products in the mind of the targeted consumers. In the end however, the marketers must realize that it is the bigger picture that needs to be satisfied that is product leverage matrix. At the centre of the matrix are the crucial elements that should not be neglected such as gender, stage, age, structure, dimension, style and past experience. The consumers are at the end of this list and are the most powerful deciding factor that can make or break their products. They conclude that Successful products and programs are those that satisfy their needs and wants in the short term (impulse) or in the long term. While a colourful and involving Tricks cereal package with a maze on the back provides for short-term needs satisfaction, Mattels Hot Wheel scars year after year continue to provide young boys with something they need and want small, easily manipulability, colourful minibars that are fun and involving to play cars with (Vroom! Vroom!) And to accumulate and collect. (Cuff and Rehire 1998). Ethical Implications Children advertising have attracted legal, scholars and parental attention. Proponents of the children targeted marketing and advertising argue that the financial backing that children programs are getting derive from sponsors who make programs on television possible. Advertising to children are therefore motivated by profitability. Furthermore they also argue that these sponsors target a separate niche market of children of age group 12 and 14. Advertising provides them with product information and does not really provide stimulus as children in this age group are more like adults with their specific ideologies, attitudes and behaviours where preferences of products and services are concerned. They have been exposed to persuasive messages for a long time and can distinguish persuasive messages from empowering ones. Thus they are product and advertising savvy. On the other hand opponents such as parents and consumer protection groups argue that advertising directed at children are not only unethical but they are also manipulative stimulants that promote consumerism in children from a very young age. Advertisements create wants and poor nutritional habits that induce children to pester parents for products that are harmful for them (Berger 1999). Their opinions have been affirmed by Cuff and Rehire (1997) who suggest that preschool children at two and three years old tend to identify with frequently seen images and therefore would be attracted towards spokes-character in advertising and marketing. The desire to see these characters and related products they see on television, packaging and promotions induce demand for the same among children. According to DelVecchio (1998, p. 225), The objective is to select an effective piece of advertising that will break through clutter, communicate the name of the brand, its key feature and benefit, and do so in a cool way that will elicit a childs request. Those advertisers are successful who successfully use innovation, meticulous marketing, planning and massive exposures in their key characters according to Schneider (1989). The ethical dilemma enters the scenario when one refers to the degree and extent of the use of stimuli. Research indicates that spokes-characters use role play and features that would relate animated with human characters and thereby influence childrens attitudes(Cheat et al 1992). The issues surrounding the use of advertising characters to children stem from the fact that the characters are commoditized without consideration for its impact on the children. Without regulations, advertisers tend to deviate from the conventional use of these characters. They treat children and adult related products alike. That is perhaps the reason why Cross (2002) indicates that there has been a rise in restrictions on tobacco advertising during the 1990sto curb tobacco companies from targeting children by the use of spokes-characters in their advertising and marketing campaigns. In this context advertisements have a deep ethical impact on the cognitive and development of growing children and the authority needs to recognize this fact. According to Redder (1981) children are vulnerable and fail to utilize cognitive plans for storing and retrieving information. The categorization of processing deficiencies stem from the childs inability to use the actual strategies and aids for storing information in the memory. Limited processing capabilities in young age group especially induce children to learn through memorization and are not capable of using tools for separating, segregating and processing information according to utility. Instead they use information incidentally. Television uses fast pace visual graphics and audio-visual medium to influence pre-schoolers and around that age group. The effects become consistent when children are regularly exposed to these audio-visual images so that they become imprinted on the minds of the young children (Alit et al 1980).Animation and other stimulus have double impact on the information processors of children. As children become receptive to advertisements or images that are regularly shown they come to recognize it in their daily experiences. Once the images are imprinted in the targeted group’s mind it is easy to generate brand recognition through triggering keys which may be in the form of visual or audio effects. Spokes-characters such cartoon characters have this essential effects on the children. Studies have found that young children often discriminate between products on simple heuristic of whether one particular quality (which may include brand name or character) is present or not (Rust and Hyatt 1991 qt.Neeley and Schumann 2004). Another aspect of advertisements is that children tend to associate with the characters and brand that they prefer. Instilling a brand in children’s minds is easy when spokes-characters are used to define the qualities of the products. For example in Ban’s (1996) study four and five year olds proved to be receptive to product characteristics by inferring spokes-characters. Bah gives the example of cereal boxes. Boxes with cartoons are associated with sugary and sweet cereal meant â€Å"for kids while those that do not have cartoons are bland and not sweet, and are meant for adults. This logic for cereal preferences and choices indicate that advertisements with their logos, characters and cartoons all have a great impact on the minds of young children in this age group. While Ban’s example seem harmless whereby advertisers are merely using the characteristics and qualities of products to appeal to the young consumers, Fischer et all’s (1991) example raises ethical dilemma. In their study the researchers asked children ages three to six to identify logo brands with the appropriate product. They observe that children tend to associate the Old Joe character with cigarettes. This association has been developed through the inference of the Camel advertisements that uses Old Joe a cartoon character for brand personalization. Hence, the researchers conclude that regardless of the intentions of advertisers and marketers, the effects of advertising on children are inevitable. Yet there are arguments against this view by psychologists such sapient (1929). This group of individuals are of the view that preoperational children between ages two and seven do not really process information logically or abstractly. They rely on processing strategies such as â€Å"transductive† to connect between thoughts and reasoning and therefore not susceptible to the underlying qualities. They may understand simple expressions of but have difficulty in associating it with product differentiation. Consequently Neely and Schumann (2004) write: While research findings show that young childr

Evaluation of brand management at Odeon cinema

Evaluation of brand management at Odeon cinema Brand management module has been a crucial part of my masters program, me along with my group members worked really hard in accomplishing this task. All the four group members are really cooperative and every individual contributed considerably in writing the group report. Our group report is all about defining the various branding aspects such as brand image, brand positioning and brand effectiveness. We have chosen three brands which are related to entertainment industry such as Odeon cinemas, Cineworld cinemas and Vue cinema which are well known and most influencing market players in United Kingdom entertainment sector. I would like to thank university management for giving access to international databases such as EMERALD and EBSCO as I have used few journals and articles related to Brand and Branding concepts from these databases. Each individual of the group worked extensively on gathering the information and writing the report without plagiarism. We have taken all necessary st eps in order to avoid plagiarism. I have gathered information related Odeon cinemas and compared with other two cinema brands namely Cineworld and Vue cinemas. I worked extensively on Odeon cinemas website and recent interim report in order to find its rank and market share details. Introduction: Brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them, intended to define the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. In the present day competitive business scenarios the concept of branding product or services is important and properly built brands lasts long in market. Companies invests huge amount in building brands and maintaining brand image as it plays vital in making businesses successful. Branding helps the organization to gain competitive advantage for their products/services in markets. Odeon cinemas and Branding: Odeon has evolved as a market leader in entertainment industry of United Kingdom and it has been leading the market since decades. Being a prominent market player Odeon is one among the largest cinema chains of UK. Decades experience in entertaining UK audiences made Odeon cinemas to capture more market share and today it is entertaining more people when compared to other entertainment companies such as Cineworld and Vue cinemas. Odeon sells one third of tickets sold in UK which shows that Odeon is the most influencing cinema company in the market. Odeon cinemas was founded by Oscar Deutsch in 1930 which was later acquired by J Arthur Rank 1941 who was fond of film distribution and production. The Rank organizations lead Odeon cinemas for further 58 years. Brand Slogan: Odeon Cinemas Fanatical about Film Brand Image: Brand image is the current view of the customers about a brand. It can be better defined as unique group of associations in target customers mind about a particular brand. It is an impression on companys product/services in customers minds. Brand image can be further reinforced by enhanced brand communication activities such as promotional tools, advertising, publicity through word of mouth and packaging. Brand image promotes the service/products differently from competitors. After extensive re-branding campaign in 1998, Odeon has evolved as strong brand in UK. Re-branding process enhanced the existing brand image of Odeon making it market leader. Odeon with brand slogan Fanatical about film has reached more number of customers than earlier and provided UK audience with outstanding services. Brand position: Brand positioning refers to target consumers reason to buy your brand in preference to others. Brand positioning should take various aspects in to consideration and it is necessary that the brand should be unique and distinctive when compared to competitors. Is the brand suitable to all major geographic markets. Odeon has entered other markets in Europe and successfully running business operations. Odeon has achieved strategic financial goals and has been performing really well at all locations in UK and Europe. Odeon is sustainably growing and updating itself with changing technologies in order to give optimized customer satisfaction. Odeon is well known and occupied position in worlds most influencing cinema chains and it is considered to be largest in Europe. Odeon under Terra group has undergone considerable changes and the Terra group successfully transformed 350 screens in to 3D during the first quarter of the financial year 2010. Brand Effectiveness: More recently the Odeon cinema was acquired by Terra firm which is a private equity firm on September 2004 and also it also acquired United cinema International in October 2004, Now Odeon cinema group is looking ahead to enhance their market share and expecting positive growth which ensures to continue its unique position in cinema industry of United Kingdom. Odeon cinema has been unique in its style and always gave tough competition to other key market players of United Kingdom Cinema industry. Branding Slogans Odeon Cinemas- Fanatical about Film Cineworld Cinemas- Leading the way in digital and 3D cinema Vue Cinemas- The ultimate cinema experience References: Definition of Branding-03, Nov, 2010- http://0-web.ebscohost.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1hid=109sid=c1be809a-db3a-46fe-b3ff-02e29105dda2%40sessionmgr111 Introduction to Brand management- 03, Nov, 2010- http://0-web.ebscohost.com.brum.beds.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1hid=109sid=458837c7-8692-4ec9-b8b7-b5fc274daf69%40sessionmgr112 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brand-image.html http://www.iabuk.net/richmediaroadshow/media/pdfs/6_Measuringbrand.pdf http://www.screendigest.com/news/vue-cinemas-switches-ads-to-rivals-dcm/view.html http://www.myvue.com/about_ustxt.asp?SessionID= http://www.myvue.com/corporate/index.asp?SessionID=cn=1ci=39ln=1ic=1 http://www.cineworldplc.com/strategy http://www.myvue.com/corporate/news.asp?sb=1SessionID=cn=1ln=1intThisPageStructureID=10809 http://www.managementstudyguide.com/brand-image.htm Cineworld Group plc Interim Report 2010, Definition of Brand positioning, http://www.va-interactive.com/inbusiness/editorial/sales/ibt/branding.html http://www.myvue.com/corporate/vuecompany.asp?sb=1SessionID=cn=1ln=1intThisPageStructureID=111 Paul Marsden, (2002), Brand positioning: memes the word,307-312 Ries, A. and Trout, J. (1982), positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Warner Books, New York, NY. Strategic Brand Management by Kevin Lane Keller, second edition. http://www.brand-image.com (function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "https://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })() http://www.tut.fi/units/tuta/tita/2006-2007/TITA-2300/Allegretti_Brand.pdf Yamen Koubaa,(2007),Country of origin, brand image perception, and brand image structure, University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences, Kobe, Japan. Erickson, G.A, Johansson, J.K. and Chao, P. (1984), Image variables in multi-attribute product evaluations; country of origin effects, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 10 No. 2.

Internal Combustion Engines :: essays research papers

Internal Combustion Engines Introduction Internal Combustion Engine, a heat engine in which the fuel is burned ( that is, united with oxygen ) within the confining space of the engine itself. This burning process releases large amounts of energy, which are transformed into work through the mechanism of the engine. This type of engine different from the steam engine, which process with an external combustion engine that fuel burned apart from the engine. The principal types of internal combustion engine are : reciprocating engine such as Otto-engine, and Diesel engines ; and rotary engines, such as the Wankel engine and the Gas-turbine engine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In general, the internal combustion engine has become the means of propulsion in the transportation field, with the exception of large ships requiring over 4,000 shaft horsepower ( hp).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In stationary applications, size of unit and local factor often determine the choice between the use of steam and diesel engine. Diesel power plants have a distinct economic advantage over steam engine when size of the plant is under about 1,000 hp. However there are many diesel engine plants much large than this. Internal combustion engines are particularly appropriate for seasonal industries, because of the small standby losses with these engines during the shutdown period. History The first experimental internal combustion engine was made by a Dutch astronomer, Christian Huygens, who, in 1680, applied a principle advanced by Jean de Hautefeuille in 1678 for drawing water. This principle was based on the fact that the explosion of a small amount of gunpowder in a closed chamber provided with escape valves would create a vacuum when the gases of combustion cooled. Huygens, using a cylinder containing a piston, was able to move it in this manner by the external atmospheric pressure.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first commercially practical internal combustion engine was built by a French engineer, ( Jean Joseph ) Etienne Lenoir, about 1859-1860. It used illuminating gas as fuel. Two years later, Alphonse Beau de Rochas enunciated the principles of the four-stroke cycle, but Nickolaus August Otto built the first successful engine ( 1876 ) operating on this principle. Reciprocating Engine Components of Engines The essential parts of Otto-cycle and diesel engines are the same. The combustion chamber consists of a cylinder, usually fixed, which is closed at one end and in which a close-fitting piston slides. The in-and-out motion of the piston varies the volume of the chamber between the inner face of the piston and the closed end of the cylinder. The outer face of the piston is attached to a crankshaft by a connecting rod. The crankshaft transforms the reciprocating motion of the piston into rotary motion.

Dioxin and The Times Beach Evacuation :: Nature Place Essays

Dioxin and The Times Beach Evacuation The Jingle Bells of 1982 did not bring in a merry Christmas for the residents of Times Beach, Missouri, a small town of some 1400 people. During the annual town Christmas dinner the residents finally received the news that they had hoped would never come. The residents of Times Beach were to be relocated and the town were to be bought out by the federal government. This was the first time such a thing was done since the founding of the nation. The buyout of Times Beach and some 50 other sites in Missouri by the government beginning in 1983 was prompted by the largest civilian exposure to dioxin in the United States. Dioxin is a member of the family of organic compounds known as aromatics. Dioxin is the shorthand that refers to a family of polychlorinated dibezodioxins or PCDDs. Their general structure is that of two chlorinated benzene rings joined by two oxygens, hence dioxin. Dioxin is not made intentionally but are usually formed as by-products in many large scale chemical processes such as paper pulp bleaching with chlorine and most significantly, the manufacture of chlorophenol chemicals. This last process is significant not only because it brought dioxin the current notoriety but it also is a chemical process used to make products that were used and are still been used in many applications. These applications include pesticide, herbicide, defoliating agent such as Agent Orange, cleaning agent and electrical insulation. Consequently, human exposure to dioxin is not a recent phenomenon and the dangers of dioxin are not unknown. Only in recent years, especially after the Vietnam War, has the media concentrated on the dangers and impact of dioxin. The physical effect of exposure to dioxin was first seen in skin diseases developed by chemical plant workers in 1895. The exposure to dioxin results in a type of skin disease like acne called "chloroacne," since its cause was initially and incorrectly linked to chlorine gas. In 1957, in Germany, Dr. Karl Schulz of the University of Hamburg identified chloroacne in several workers from a Boehringer chemical plant. The disease in its mildest form resembles teen-age acne but differs in that the blackheads and cyst cluster in two locations: appearing in a crescent shape outside of and under the eyes and ears. In more pronounced cases, pus-containing spots erupt and spread across the rest of the face, neck, shoulder and down to the rest of the body.

Elements of the Gothic Genre

The gothic novel was invented almost single-handedly by Horace Walpole, whose The Castle of Otranto (1764) contains essentially all the elements that constitute the genre. Walpole's novel was imitated not only in the eighteenth century and not only in the novel form, but it has influenced writing, poetry, and even film making up to the present day. It introduced the term â€Å"gothic romance† to the literary world. Due to its inherently supernatural, surreal and sublime elements, it has maintained a dark and mysterious appeal. However, the roots of the Gothic? precede the Gothic? works of Horace Walpole.The focus on the grotesque in the medieval period (visible especially in the paintings and architecture of the period) provides a key backdrop against which Gothic must be read, as do the violent and often grotesque tragedies written for the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre, with their detailed, almost surgical exploration of the supernatural, vice, corruption, imprisonment, br utality and sexuality, all of which were to provide the very substance of the Gothic authors. (Note particularly ‘Macbeth? and ‘Dr Faustus?) Gothic literature is devoted primarily to stories of horror, the fantastic, and the â€Å"darker† supernatural forces.These forces often represent the â€Å"dark side† of human nature— irrational or destructive desires. Gothic literature derives its name from its similarities to the Gothic medieval cathedrals, which feature a majestic, unrestrained architectural style with often savage or grotesque ornamentation (the word â€Å"Gothic† derives from â€Å"Goth,† the name of one of the barbaric Germanic tribes that invaded the Roman Empire). The Gothic genre (in both literature and architecture) is therefore associated with savagery and barbarism.Generally speaking, gothic literature delves into the macabre nature of humanity in its quest to satisfy mankind's intrinsic desire to plumb the depths of t error. The key features of gothic texts are: 1) the appearance of the supernatural, 2) the psychology of horror and/or terror, 3) the poetics of the sublime, 4) a sense of mystery and dread 5) the appealing hero/villain, 6) the distressed heroine, and 7) strong moral closure (usually at least). ELEMENTS OF THE GOTHIC IN TEXTS 1. Setting in a castle or haunted house. The action takes place in and around an old castle, sometimes seemingly abandoned, sometimes occupied.The castle often contains secret passages, trap doors, secret rooms, dark or hidden staircases, and possibly ruined sections. The castle may be near or connected to caves, which lend their own haunting flavour with their branchings, claustrophobia, and mystery. (Translated into modern filmmaking, the setting might be in an old house or mansion–or even a new house–where unusual camera angles, sustained close ups during movement, and darkness or shadows create the same sense of claustrophobia and entrapment. ) It is usually a dwelling that is inhabited by or visited regularly by a ghost or other supposedly supernatural being.Example: Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto. Walpole's novel first introduced to gothic literature its single most influential convention, the haunted castle. The castle is the main setting of the story and the centre of activity. Cemetery /Graveyard. A cemetery defines a place which is used for the burial of the dead. Cemeteries are widely used in Gothic Literature as oftentimes frightening places where revenance can occur. Catacombs are especially evocative Gothic spaces because they enable the living to enter below ground a dark labyrinth resonating with the presences and mysteries of the dead. . The Weather is used in a number of ways and forms, some of these being: Mist – This convention in Gothic Literature is often used to obscure objects (this can be related to the sublime) by reducing visibility or to prelude the insertion of a terrifying person or thing; Storms – These frequently accompany important events. Flashes of lightning accompany revelation; thunder and downpours prefigure the appearance of a character or the beginning of a significant event (eg thunder precedes the entrance of the witches in ‘Macbeth?;Sunlight – represents goodness and pleasure; it also has the power to bestow these upon characters. 3. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense. (or a sense of dread) The work is pervaded by a threatening feeling, a fear enhanced by the unknown. Often the plot itself is built around a mystery, such as unknown parentage, a disappearance, or some other inexplicable event eg. Ghosts walking or a painting coming to life. There may be an ancient prophecy connected with the castle or its inhabitants. It is usually obscure, partial or confusing.This serves to captivate the reader and encourage further reading. The atmosphere may also be seen acting upon the protagonists in texts, influencing them by excitin g their curiosity or fear. 4. Claustrophobia / Entrapment & Imprisonment: A favourite horror device of the Gothic finds a person confined or trapped, such as being shackled to a floor or hidden away in some dark cell or cloister. This sense of there being no way out contributes to the claustrophobic psychology of Gothic space. It consists of an abnormal dread of being confined in a close or narrow space.Often ttributed to actual physical imprisonment or entrapment, claustrophobia can also figure more generally as an indicator of the victim's sense of helplessness or horrified mental awareness of being enmeshed in some dark, inscrutable destiny 5. The supernatural may be intrinsic to the plot. This is generally in the form of some kind of supernatural being or object, such as a vampire, witch, devil or ghost, which is frightening due to its refusal to adhere to the laws of nature, God or man. In ‘Macbeth? there are three witches. Dr Faustus communicates with a demon and indirec tly with Lucifer.All of ‘Paradise Lost? involves the supernatural. 6. Dreams, omens, portents, visions. Dreaming is characterised as a form of mental activity that takes place during the act of sleep. Dreams invoke strong emotions within the dreamer, such as ecstasy, joy and terror. Dreams dredge up these deep emotions and premonitions that reflect tellingly upon the dreamer, what one might conceal during waking hours but what emerges in sleep to haunt and arouse the dreamer. It is most likely due to this heightened emotional state that dreams are used so often within Gothic Literature.By invoking dream states within their characters, authors are able to illustrate emotions on a more unmediated and, oftentimes, terrifying level. Dreams reveal to the reader what the character is often too afraid to realise about himself or herself. Dreaming also has an ancient relation with the act of foretelling wherein the future is glimpsed in the dream state. Perhaps the most famous Gothic example of significant dreams occurs in Shelley's ‘Frankenstein? after Frankenstein ‘awakes' his creature: he falls into a dream state that begins with his kissing of Elizabeth, his love.However, this kiss changes her in the most drastic way as she transforms into the rotting corpse of Caroline, Victor's dead mother. Upon awakening from this horrifying dream, Victor finds himself staring into the face of the monster he has created. Interpretations of this dream lead to explorations of Frankenstein's psyche, relational ability and sexuality. A character may have a disturbing dream vision, or some phenomenon may be seen as a portent of coming events. For example, if the statue of the lord of the manor falls over, it may portend his death.In modern fiction, a character might see something (a shadowy figure stabbing another shadowy figure) and think that it was a dream. This might be thought of as an â€Å"imitation vision. † Banquo in ‘Macbeth? dreams of the â €˜weird sisters?. Lady Macbeth?s suppressed guilt emerges when she is seen sleepwalking. 7. The stock characters of Gothic fiction include tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, angel, fallen angel, the beauty and the beast, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew, and the Devil himself. .Villain-Hero (Satanic, Promethean, Byronic Hero) The villain of a story who either 1) poses as a hero at the beginning of the story or 2) simply possesses enough heroic characteristics (charisma, sympathetic past, etc) so that either the reader or the other characters see the villain-hero as more than a simple charlatan or bad guy. Three closely related types exist: Satanic Hero: a Villain-Hero whose nefarious deeds and justifications of them make him a more interesting character than the rather bland good hero.Example: The origin of this prototype comes from Roman tic misreading of Milton's Paradise Lost, whose Satan poets like Blake and Shelley regarded as a far more compelling figure than the moralistic God of Book III of the epic. Gothic examples: Beckford's Vathek, Radcliffe's Montoni, and just about any vampire. Promethean: a Villain-Hero who has done good but only by performing an over-reaching or rebellious act. Prometheus from ancient Greek mythology saved mankind but only after stealing fire and ignoring Zeus' order that mankind should be kept in a state of subjugation.Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is tellingly subtitled the â€Å"Modern Prometheus. † Consider whether Dr Faustus is a Promethean hero. (The vaulting arches and spires of Gothic cathedrals reach wildly to the sky as if the builders were trying to grasp the heavens , an ambition for the eternal that is likewise expressed in many works of Gothic literature (consider Manfred's quest for supernatural power in Byron's poem, or Frankenstein's quest to become godlike by cr eating life or Dr. Faustus pact – offering his soul for 24 years of power).Byronic Hero: a later variation of the â€Å"antithetically mixed† Villain-Hero. Aristocratic, suave, moody, handsome, solitary, secretive, brilliant, cynical, sexually intriguing, and nursing a secret wound, he is renowned because of his fatal attraction for female characters and readers and continues to occasion debate about gender issues. Example: Byron's Childe Harold and, more gothically, Manfred are the best examples, but this darkly attractive and very conflicted male figure surfaces everywhere in the 19th and 20th century gothic eg Heathcliff or Wilde?s Dorian Gray.Byron himself was described as â€Å"mad, bad and dangerous to know. † The Byronic hero in literature and life: A. Robin Hood B. Richard III C. Iago D. Faust/ Dr. Faustus E. Milton's Satan F. Victor Frankenstein G. Frankenstein's Creature H. Dracula I. Byron?s Manfred J. Cain K. Lara L. Conrad M. Childe Harold N. Byron, Shelley O. Ambrosio P. Peter Quint Q. Miss Jessel R. Stalin S. Hitler T. The Unabomber U. Prometheus 9. The Pursued Protagonist This refers to the idea of a pursuing force that relentlessly acts in a severely negative manner on a character.This persecution often implies the notion of some sort of a curse or other form of terminal and utterly unavoidable damnation, a notion that usually suggests a return or â€Å"hangover† of traditional religious ideology to chastise the character for some real or imagined wrong against the moral order. The Wandering Jew is perhaps the archetypically pursued/pursuing protagonist. –Drew McCray 10. Pursuit of the Heroine This is the pursuit of a virtuous and idealistic (and usually poetically inclined) young woman by a villain, normally portrayed as a wicked, older but still potent aristocrat.While in many early Gothic novels such a chase occurs across a Mediterranean forest and/or through a subterranean labyrinth, the pursuit of the he roine is by no means limited to these settings. This pursuit represents a threat to the young lady's ideals and morals (usually meaning her virginity), to which the heroine responds in the early works with a passive courage in the face of danger; later gothic heroines progressively become more active and occasionally effective in their attempts to escape this pursuit and indict patriarchy. eg. Angela Carter?s ‘The Bloody Chamber. ?Women in distress. As an appeal to the pathos and sympathy of the reader, the female characters often face events that leave them fainting, terrified, screaming, and/or sobbing. A lonely, pensive, and oppressed heroine is often the central figure of the novel, so her sufferings are even more pronounced and the focus of attention. The women suffer all the more because they are often abandoned, left alone (either on purpose or by accident), and have no protector at times.Women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male. One or more male chara cters has the power, as king, lord of the manor, father, or guardian, to demand that one or more of the female characters do something intolerable. The woman may be commanded to marry someone she does not love (it may even be the powerful male himself), or commit a crime. 11. The Outsider: The one theme that cuts through virtually all Gothic is that of the â€Å"outsider,† embodied in wanderers like Frankenstein's creature.Gothic fiction is concerned with the outsider, whether the stationary figure who represses his difference, or the wandering figure who seeks for some kind of salvation, or else the individual who for whatever reason- moves entirely outside the norm. In any event, he is beyond the moderating impulses in society, and he must be punished for his transgression. He is gloomy and melancholy, full of self-pity and self-hatred. Like Cain, he is the perpetual outsider, marked by his appearance, doomed to wander the four corners of the earth, alone and reviled.It may be argued that Frankenstein himself becomes an outsider as he grows more and more like his creation. . While the society at large always appears bourgeois in its culture and morality, the Gothic outsider is a counterforce driven by strange longings and destructive needs. While everyone else appears sane, he is insane; while everyone else appears bound by legalities, he is trying to snap the pitiless constrictions of the law; while everyone else seems to lack any peculiarities of taste or behaviour, he feels only estrangement, sick longings, terrible surges of power and devastation.Take for example, Heathcliff in ‘Wuthering Heights?. 12. Possession The popularity of belief in demonic possession seems to have originated within Christian Theology during the Middle Ages. During this time, Christians lived in fear concerning the war being waged between God and the Devil over every mortal soul. Hence, this fear of possession seemed to culminate into an act that could be viewed by t he mortal eye. This act is defined as the forced possession of a mortal body by the Devil or one of his demons.There are two types of possession and either can be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary possession seems to involve a willing exchange in the form of some compact between evil spirit and mortal, often involving wealth, power or goods (eg. The pact Faustus makes); involuntary possession occurs when the devil randomly selects an unwitting host. The two types of possession consist of the transference of the Devil or demon directly into the mortal body or the sending of the Devil or demon into the body by a third party, usually a mortal dabbler in the dark arts.Following the act, the possessed is said to show many symptoms including abnormal strength, personality changes, fits, convulsions, bodily odours resembling sulphur, lewd and lascivious actions, the ability to levitate, the ability to speak in tongues or the ability to foretell future events. Many religions acknowledge t he act of possession still today, most notably the Catholic Church. There seem to be three ways in which to end a possession. 13. Revenance This is the return of the dead to terrorise or to settle some score with the living.4. Revenge Revenge is characterized as the act of repaying someone for a harm that the person has caused; the idea also points back generically to one of the key influences upon Gothic literature: the revenge tragedies of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. Revenge may be enacted upon a loved one, a family member, a friend, an object or even an area. Within Gothic Literature, revenge is notably prominent and can be enacted by or upon mortals as well as spirits.Revenge can take many forms, such as harm to body, harm to loved ones, and harm to family. The most Gothic version of revenge in Gothic Literature is the idea that it can be a guiding force in the revenance of the dead. 15. Unreliable Narrator A narrator tells a story and determines the story?s point of view. A n unreliable narrator, however, does not understand the importance of a particular situation or makes an incorrect conclusion or assumption about an event that he/she witnesses.An important issue in determining the The Turn of the Screw. 16. Multiple Narrative/Spiral Narrative Method The story is frequently told through a series of secret manuscripts or multiple tales, each revealing a deeper secret, so the narrative gradually spirals inward toward the hidden truth. The narrator is often a firstperson narrator compelled to tell the story to a fascinated or captive listener (representing the captivating power of forbidden knowledge). (Note ‘Wuthering Heights?) 17. High, even overwrought emotion.The narration may be highly sentimental, and the characters are often overcome by anger, sorrow, surprise, and especially, terror. Characters suffer from raw nerves and a feeling of impending doom. Crying and emotional speeches are frequent. Breathlessness and panic are common. In the fi lmed gothic, screaming is common. 18. The Sublime: The definition of this key term has long been a contested term, but the idea of the sublime is essential to an understanding of Gothic poetics and, especially, the attempt to defend or justify the literature of terror.Put basically (and this really is basic – a fuller understanding of the Sublime would be useful to students of Wordsworth or any Gothic Literature), the Sublime is an overpowering sense of the greatness and power of nature, which can be uplifting, aweinspiring and terrifying, caused by experience of beauty, vastness or grandeur. Sublime moments lead us to consider the place of humanity in the universe, and the power exhibited in the world. 19. Darkness as intrinsic to humanity:Generally speaking, gothic literature delves into the macabre nature of humanity in its quest to satiate mankind's intrinsic desire to plumb the depths of terror. 0. Necromancy This is the black art of communicating with the dead. This is usually done to obtain information about the future, but can also be used for other purposes, such as getting the dead to perform deeds of which humans are not capable. The conjurer often stood in a circle, such as a pentagram, in order to protect himself from the dead spirit, yet he was often overpowered by the spirit. Examples: The most famous examples of necromancy can be found in literary renditions of the Faust legend, from Marlowe to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Byron with his Manfred.In these works, Faust not only speaks with the devil in order to strike a deal but necromantically invokes various dead, famous figures from the past for his amusement and edification. 21. Blood -This is a prominent symbol in Gothic works often intimating the paradox of the human condition; blood can represent both life and death, or both guilt (e. g. , murder) and innocence (e. g. , redemptive blood). Consider references to blood in ‘Macbeth?, Byron's Manfred and Mary Shelley's Frankenste in. 22.Marriage as Resolution: The importance of marriage in this scheme cannot be overstated. Not only does movement toward matrimony in the Gothic's present trigger the appearance of the buried past, but that buried past itself always contains information tied to the institutions of matrimony or family interest. 23. Sadism : The word â€Å"sadism† was coined to describe the writings of Donatien-AlphonseFrancois, the Marquis de Sade. Sadism is a sexual perversion where one person gains gratification by inflicting physical or mental pain on others.It can also mean a delight in torment or excessive cruelty. (Heathcliff in ‘Wuthering Heights? / or the husband in ‘The Bloody Chamber?. 24. Strong Moral Closure: If de Sade is to be believed, the Gothic genre arose as a response to the brutality and bloodiness of Romantic society, and it as part of this response that Gothic fiction usually contains a strong moral. 25. The metonymy of gloom and horror. Metonymy is a subt ype of metaphor, in which something (like rain) is used to stand for something else (like sorrow).For example, the film industry likes to use metonymy as a quick shorthand, so we often notice that it is raining in funeral scenes. Note that the following metonymies for â€Å"doom and gloom† all suggest some element of mystery, danger, or the supernatural. wind, especially howling doors grating on rusty hinges footsteps approaching lights in abandoned rooms characters trapped in a room ruins of buildings thunder and lightning rain, especially blowing sighs, moans, howls, eerie sounds clanking chains gusts of wind blowing out lights doors suddenly slamming shut aying of distant dogs (or wolves? ) crazed laughter 26. The vocabulary of the gothic. The constant use of the appropriate vocabulary set creates the atmosphere of the gothic.Here as an example are some of the words (in several categories) that help make up the vocabulary of the gothic in The Castle of Otranto: Mystery dia bolical, enchantment, ghost, goblins, haunted, infernal, magic, magician, miracle, necromancer, omens, ominous, portent, preternatural, prodigy, prophecy, secret, sorcerer, spectre, spirits, strangeness, talisman, vision Fear, Terror, or Sorrow fflicted, affliction, agony, anguish, apprehensions, apprehensive, commiseration, concern, despair, dismal, dismay, dread, dreaded, dreading, fearing, frantic, fright, frightened, grief, hopeless, horrid, horror, lamentable, melancholy, miserable, mournfully, panic, sadly, scared, shrieks, sorrow, sympathy, tears, terrible, terrified, terror, unhappy, wretched Surprise alarm, amazement, astonished, astonishment, shocking, staring, surprise, surprised, thunderstruck, wonder Haste anxious, breathless, flight, frantic, hastened, hastily, impatience, impatient, impatiently, impetuosity, precipitately, running, sudden, suddenlyAnger anger, angrily, choler, enraged, furious, fury, incense, incensed, provoked, rage, raving, resentment, temper, wrath , wrathful, wrathfully Largeness enormous, gigantic, giant, large, tremendous, vast 27. Elements of Romance In addition to the standard gothic aspects, many gothic novels contain elements of romance as well. Elements of romance include these: Powerful love. Heart stirring, often sudden, emotions create a life or death commitment. Many times this love is the first the character has felt with this overwhelming power. Uncertainty of reciprocation. What is the beloved thinking?Is the lover's love returned or not? Unreturned love. Someone loves in vain (at least temporarily). Later, the love may be returned. Tension between true love and father's control, disapproval, or choice. Most often, the father of the woman disapproves of the man she loves. Lovers parted. Some obstacle arises and separates the lovers, geographically or in some other way. One of the lovers is banished, arrested, forced to flee, locked in a dungeon, or sometimes, disappears without explanation. Or, an explanation ma y be given (by the person opposing the lovers' being together) that later turns out to be false.Gothicism: In literary criticism, this refers to works characterised by a taste for the medieval or morbidly attractive. A gothic novel prominently features elements of horror, the supernatural, gloom, and violence: clanking chains, terror, charnel houses, ghosts, medieval castles, and mysteriously slamming doors. The term â€Å"gothic novel† is also applied to novels that lack elements of the traditional Gothic setting but that create a similar atmosphere of terror or dread. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is perhaps the best-known English work of this kind. Grotesque 1) This term originated from oddly shaped ornaments found within Roman dwellings, or grottoes, during the first century. From a literary standpoint, this term implies a mutation of the characters, plants and/or animals. This mutation transforms the normal features and/or behaviours into veritable extremes that are meant to be frightening and/or disturbingly comic (Cornwell 273. (2) The term grotesque also defines a work in which two separate modes, comedy and tragedy, are mixed. The result is a disturbing fiction wherein comic circumstances prelude horrific tragedy and vice versa.

Toni Morrison’s Beloved

Throughout Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, there are many obvious themes and symbols. The story deals with slavery and the effects that the horrifying treatment of the slaves has on a community. Another major theme, apparent throughout the story, is the supernatural. The notion of haunting is very evident since the characters are not only haunted by Beloved at 124, but are also haunted by their past. The story of Beloved is not only about freeing oneself of a ghost, but also about releasing one’s hold on what happened in the past. Sethe is the most severely haunted throughout the book, both by her past and by Beloved. Her past haunts her with what happened to her and what she did. She was beaten so badly that her back has a permanent blossoming scar, one that she calls â€Å"A chokecherry tree. Trunk, branches, and even leaves. Tiny little chokecherry leaves. But that was eighteen years ago. Could have cherries too now for all I know† (pg 16). The great significance of the scar on her back is that it is just one more thing she cannot see, but knows it is always there, similar to her past. Also, the line â€Å"Could have cherries too now for all I know† shows that she understands how she is not only stuck with her past, but that it is growing and affecting her in many different ways. The story revolves around the haunting of 124. Beloved's presence is apparent to Sethe, Baby Suggs and Denver, and they live with it for some time. It is not until the day that Paul D steps into the house that things change. He wastes little time in antagonizing the spirit to leave. God damn it! Hush up! †¦ Leave the place alone! Get the Hell out! † (18). The spirit leaves, much to Paul D's delight. This may have occurred because Paul D is not only a figure from Sethe's past, but is also the first man to enter 124. Beloved is able to play off of Sethe's own haunting, that of her past, to get what she wants. Sethe's judgment was blurred as she focused primarily on the daughter she had murdered years ago. Beloved made ridiculous demands. Anything she wanted she got, and whe n Sethe ran out of things to give her, Beloved invented desire† (pg 240). Sethe wound up quitting her job, completely neglecting Denver, and completely neglecting herself as she dwindled away. Beloved, and her past, drained Sethe with their constant nagging. There is also significance to the word choices of the characters when talking of the past. It is clear they will never forget their past and what had happened to them. So rather than forget, they â€Å"disremember. † They push it to he back of their mind where they won't think about it, but it is always there, waiting for them to â€Å"rememory† it. This shows how they will always be haunted by their past. Through the addition of a supernatural dimension in Beloved, Morrison pushes the limits of usual interpretation. The characters settle into believing the supernatural is normal. To them ghosts and premonitions is a way to understand the world around them and through this, Morrison is able to draw a comparis on to one’s past and a troublesome ghost. ? Toni Morrison’s Beloved In Toni Morrison's Beloved, Denver is introduced to us as somewhat of a simple child, unnaturally reliant on her mother and unusually immature for a girl of eighteen years. Nevertheless, as the novel progresses, she undergoes a great amount of learning and personal growth. However, Denver's procurement of knowledge is not attained through her experiences with formal education at Lady Jones' school, rather, Denver learns through life's challenges. It is Denver's eventual entrance into the world of knowledge and maturity that saves Sethe's life and rids 124 of Beloved's vengeful spirit. Denver's initial experiences with the conventional education of Lady Jones' school are very positive. She finds herself intrigued by learning and looks forward to the two hours she spends every afternoon with Lady Jones. However, Denver extracts more from schooling than just book knowledge. She begins to realize that she can be independent from Sethe and looks forward to school because she does everything â€Å"on her own and [she] was pleased and surprised by the pleasure and surprise it created in her mother and her brothers† (102). This newfound learning is something that Denver can cherish as her own, thus acting as the impetus of Denver's self-confidence. However, Denver's love for learning does not last long. Although in the beginning, â€Å"she was so happy she didn't even know she was being avoided by her classmates,† (102) her oblivion does not last forever. Denver finds out the truth about Sethe's murderous past, and, as Morrison writes, â€Å"she never went back† (102). Her conventional education is swiftly and effectively squelched. Instead of trying to overcome this severe loss in her life, Denver reacts to it by drawing back from the world around her. She is not mature enough to face her troubles and instead she walks â€Å"in a silence too solid for penetration† (103), thus extending her loss of an education to a loss of contact with the outside world. Denver's obvious failure to conquer her adversities in life show us that her conventional schooling has failed to educate her in the ways of the world. Even though it appears that Denver's education will never progress past the elementary level she reaches in Lady Jones' school, she eventually does experience a great amount of growth after the arrival of Beloved. When Beloved first enters 124, Denver is nothing short of obsessed with her. She craves Beloved's attention and companionship and childishly seeks out her approval. But as the novel progresses, â€Å"the job she started out with, protecting Beloved from Sethe, changed to protecting her mother from Beloved† (243). Denver, with the newfound responsibility of acting as the caretaker of 124 and Sethe, rises to the occasion. â€Å"Denver knew it was on her. She would have to leave the yard; step off the edge of the world† (243). Morrison's use of the phrase â€Å"off the edge of the world† tells us that Denver's actions are monumental for her. She â€Å"served them both. Washing, cooking, forcing, cajoling her mother to eat a little now and then, providing sweet things for Beloved as often as she could to calm her down† (250). Denver's acceptance of her responsibilities signifies an unprecedented amount of growth. She is educated through her experiences, rather than through traditional learning. It is Denver's search for her internal strength that leads to the eventual exorcism of Beloved and the restoration of Sethe's psyche. She is able to overcome the challenges life throws her way and succeeds in saving her life as well as her mother's. Denver's education is unattainable from traditional learning. She thrives in the face of adversity, showing us that she learns best from experience rather than study. Although it takes the actions of a malicious spirit to awaken Denver to her responsibilities in life, her pivotal growth signifies the great power in learning through experience. Denver's unconventional education proves to be much more worthy than her traditional education, especially for the life that she must lead. The stark difference between Denver's original self and the woman she becomes as she emerges in Beloved as the savior of both Sethe and 124 shows us just how truly and deeply one can be altered by learning.