Lord Of The Dead Essay Example For Students

Lord Of The Dead Essay ( This essay is a response to Benhabib. ) EDUCATION, DISCOURSE, ANDTHE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY 1In order to see some of the strengths and weakness of identity politics as an approach to thinking about education, we need to make a distinction that is implicit, but not explicit, in Seyla Benhabibs essay. For there are at least two distinct conceptions of identity politics at work in her discussion, and criticisms appropriate to one may not apply to the other. The first perspective considers identity a rather static quality of persons, and views the process of identity formation in predominantly passive terms; the other perspective involves what Benhabib calls the fungibility of identity, suggesting that identities are more active and flexible constructions.2 Correspondingly, each of these views yields a different view of politics; both of which, I will suggest, can be seen as quite limited, but for different reasons. For example, many identity theorists, and postmodern feminists generally, will balk at having Catharine MacKinnon put forth as an exemplar of their views. If she is an advocate of identity politics, it is only in a very specific sense, assuming a reified identity that is decided for women, by men, who with their foot on womens throats do not allow them to speak for themselves. MacKinnon also has a crude, instrumental conception of power, especially in her view of the state as monolithic and fundamentally insensitive to womens concerns (as she says, the state is male3). As a result, her view of politics is strategic and somewhat opportunistic: she appears willing to forge single-issue coalitions with any group to advance her cause, as she has with right-wing groups in her antipornography crusade. MacKinnons expressed sympathy for Clarence Thomas in the Hill-Thomas case is rather stunning, given her larger views on sexual harassment, and Benhabib places considerable weight on these comments as representing some larger dilemma faced by postmodern feminists in that dispute; but I do not see that MacKinnons comments typify a position taken by postmodern feminists generally. MacKinnon is not postmodern in any sense that I can understand, and it seems rather misleading to characterize the weaknesses of identity politics and of postmodern feminism largely through her example. If she is an identity theorist, she has a quite reified and passive conception of identity, as I have said. For MacKinnon, there is no active component in the process of identity formation; identity is constructed for women, imposed from without by powerful others and by hegemonic cultural norms and beliefs. And because her politics are instrumental, she seems quite willing to denigrate the qualities and character of many women, as we see in Benhabibs quote from the Buffalo conference, not because their actions or attitudes are in any way objectionable, but because the genesis of those choices does not comport with the vision of womanhood authorized by a political vanguard. This sort of identity politics goes on in movements aside from MacKinnons, of course. Some groups within so-called new social movements are inbred, suspicious, and convinced that their issues are the preeminent ones. For many of them, any Realpolitik to advance their cause is justified; as Benhabib rightly points out, they have no larger vision of social justice and little interest in taking on the concerns of other progressive causes. But I do not see what is postmodern in any of this. The passive and reified sense of identity at work here, the crude conception of power, the instrumental and opportunistic politics, the embrace of difference only in the sense of leaving space for other self-interested and exclusionary groups to ply their trade, all seem out of step with a postmodern outlook. On the other hand, there is also a position stressing, as Benhabib terms it, the fungibility of identity, which, whatever its merits or shortcomings, refers to an entirely different strand of thought from MacKinnons. In such theories (Judith Butler is Benhabibs main example here), identity can be constructed in many different ways; and while this process is contingent, it can involve choosing, shaping, and reinterpreting the identity one has. Although I do not know much of Butlers work, it does not seem correct to characterize her view of construction as passive, as it is for MacKinnon.4 For Butler, and for many identity theorists, the politics of identity seems to be about the continuous formation and reformation of identity, about the free play of differance, and about a process of exploration and experimentation that is active and open-ended. However one judges this theoretical and political trend, it is clearly discrete from MacKinnons: it is postmodern in a way that her view is not, and if it has problems, they are different problems from hers. In fact, I would say that some of these views of identity may be too plastic and voluntaristic. If identity is a construction, it is not a mere construction; we cannot choose or reshape it in any way that we please, and a theory of constructed identities needs an account of how this process occurs.5 It is revealing, to me, that such theoretical positions often take the construction of sexual identity as their model. TOK Essay on the Matrix They are the communicative frames in which speakers interact by exchanging speech acts. Yet discourses are themselves set within social institutions and action contexts.7 By shifting the focus away from structures to discourses, this model provides a clearer basis for explaining the active and passive components of identity formation: Complex, shifting, discursively constructed social identities provide an alternative to reified, essentialist conceptions of.. .identity, on the one hand, and to simple negations and dispersals of identity, on the other. They thus permit us to navigate safely between the twin shoals of essentialism and nominalism.8 Language, in this view, is not a structure that stands over and against us, but a social practice that we change, and are changed by, every time we participate in it. Because communicative relations are situated in specific contexts and social institutions, the possibilities and limits of language to allow us to engage in a reflexive examination and reconsideration of identity provide a critical lens through which those contexts and institutions can be judged. Among other contexts and institutions, this is certainly true of schools. Whether they provide the discursive resources and the opportunities to engage in the reflexive examination and reconsideration of identity, or whether, instead, they tend to reinforce static and passive conceptions of identity, determines whether their aims are educational and enabling, or merely reproductive in the conservative sense. Yet, at the same time, this process of identity construction is not entirely flexible and voluntaristic. What the discursive model also provides is a basis for understanding how the process of constructing or reconstructing identities operates within a social context in which relations to others, material needs, and practical constraints interact with personal choices. Identities are undoubtedly more fungible than people generally acknowledge; but the other side of this dialectic is a human need for stability and sustainability in identity. A construction, as I have said, is not a mere construction. From a social pragmatic standpoint not all constructions are equally sustainable, nor are they free from moral assessments. Here, too, education can play a role that is liberating, not only by opening up identity possibilities, but by teaching ways in which this process can be undertaken thoughtfully and in due consideration of its consequences for the self and for others. | Home Page | Contents | Author Index |1. I would like to thank Melissa Orlie for helpful conversations as I was formulating the arguments of this essay, for valuable insights into the work of Judith Butler, and for useful comments on a previous draft. Thanks also to Cris Mayo for conversations that helped inform this project. 2. This distinction has been clarified, helpfully, in this revised, published version of her essay. 3. Catharine A. MacKinnon, Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989), 161. 4. See for example, Imitation and Gender Insubordination, in The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, ed. Henry Abelove et al (New York: Routledge, 1993), 307-320. 5. Butlers most recent work takes a similar position: A construction is, after all, not the same as an artifice. On the contrary, constructivism needs to take account of the domain of constraints without which a certain living and desiring being cannot make its way. Judith Butler, Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex (New York: Routledge, 1993), 94. 6. Benhabib argues that Butlers theory of the subject is inadequate for these purposes in Feminism and the Question of Postmodernism, in Situating the Self (New York: Routledge, 1992), 214-218. 7. Nancy Fraser, The Uses and Abuses of French Discourse Theories for Feminist Politics, in Revaluing French Feminisms, ed. Nancy Fraser and Sandra Lee Bartky (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1992), 185. 8. Fraser, The Uses and Abuses of French Discourse Theories for Feminist Politics, 191. For reasons that puzzle me, Benhabib does not consider Frasers work a version of postmodern feminism, because she considers it more neopragmatist than postmodern (Benhabib, Feminism and the Question of Postmodernism, 220-221). This seems to overlook Frasers own characterization of her work, but it also depends on a narrow conception of what counts as postmodern (which in my view can include neopragmatism and other theoretical perspectives): in this essay Benhabib uses the terms postmodern and poststructural almost interchangeably. 1996 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION SOCIETYALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Impact of Information on Business for Nature - MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theImpact of Information Technology on Business for Nature. Answer: Introduction Information technology has become a very important element in the present day business functions. Organizations that do not depend on some rudimentary type of technology are considered as redundant by nature. The primary factor associated with it is that the IT can very compatible with the usage of promotion of business function and any kind of business that completely fails to adopt right kind of IT based measures and this actually bounds to slowly die (Blais, 2015). The basic of any business becoming successful have remained the same for years and just increased the overall margins that exist between costs as well as revenues and also increase the coverage of the market as well as maintain a robust information based network where interaction remain operational. Every point is impacted by employing varied kind of technology. When a huge number of businesses are able to adopt a same kind of technology that reaches a place of equilibrium where every business is continuously pushing th e restrictions to get a small edge on the competitors. At the same time, whenever the business is able to execute the technology of higher grade than the competitor and it will expand quickly and hold rising percentage of market except all the competition actually die off. All the competition gets upgraded all tools to the similar level along with setting a new kind of equilibrium (Blais, 2015). The present time is based on human history that has been aptly called as era or age of information as well as IT based technology that decides not just related to success however crucial for the survival of the company. The report will discuss the significance, need, procedure, benefits as well as the risks related to the application of IT in this particular sector. It is obvious that healthcare is one of the most crucial and vital part of any kind of civilization. Overall demand for quality based healthcare services can actually never fall down and the overall potential for rising level of quality and also consist of variety of services. Also there is categorization in the present healthcare which is taken as business in specific incidences and it is obvious that the approach to function in a business or an industry can be applied readily on healthcare sector. Therefore, it is also important to discuss the advantages of IT specifically in healthcare from a specific point of view of actually treating the healthcare as an organization (Street et al., 2013). Need to Apply IT in Business Following is the detailed discussion: - Cost: that IT industry is presently one of the high earning sectors in the current time. There are so many successful as well as large as well as small businesses that work by giving IT based products and services to other organizations. This is why; the cost here is actually the application of IT to an organization where the whole infrastructure requires to get upgraded. Whenever a new business is set up, the overall cost put in the process consist of the cost of buying new tools as well as hiring or training the staff along with renting or commissioning the IT based products as well as tariffs for varied services in IT and also establishing an IT based structure and many more (Street et al., 2013). There is also an already existing business related transition process to an IT based infrastructure that will require having a account which is very similar to expenses if they are moving from one state of operations without any proper base for IT infrastructure. Planning: any successful organization is hardly ever constructed on a reflexive base for decisions and can be sudden by nature. So in place of putting so many efforts or related needs, it is important to completely pour in some plans based on development and different set of strategies in order to deal with so many issues. Implementation of IT is actually is not an exception. An average health based unit is based on so many different elements that work at one place to provide the intended services for healthcare. In addition, the services in healthcare are very crucial by nature and normally have high need associated with reliability (Charani et al., 2014). While setting a new service unit for healthcare, it is important that the stakeholders are more prepared for a plan on how many medical based facilities, tools and protocols can be integrated with IT tools as well as services in order to increase the effectiveness of work. Design: this part decides the overall efficiency on operational level along with number of elements of every performing as well as distinct function when utilized in connection with one another to achieve a complete set of goals. Therefore, a poorly designed unit for healthcare with the most advanced base for IT infrastructure cannot satisfy or serve the customer. But a properly designed unit along which has basic infrastructure in IT can generate a lot of praise as well as success. This is why, in all the cases discussed here, the stakeholder requires to base the interaction on any element in healthcare as well as IT based components and also make sure that IT can only help and never obstruct the healthcare based services (Bardhan and Thouin, 2013). Tools: in the era of modern technology and medical science there is heavy dependence on many tools. This is why, any effective facility in healthcare will be expected to have tools with many computerized technology. The IT based infrastructure can also interface with healthcare tools, if required. A typical IT based infrastructure needs a sub unit for networking which can be wired or wireless and also interact with other IT based tools. This is in addition to many human as well as computer interfaces that are normally based on current medical tools (Schwalbe, 2015). Installation: installing many elements of networking may based on wires which lays down or also upgrading them along with establishing the network based access points and also configuring the network based administration. Application of IT in Business Following is the detailed discussion: - Internal: the whole workforce can use the IT based infrastructure in order to organize the work based on optimal allocation of various shifts, quick interaction based on data like outcomes of many medical tests as well as examinations that conducts joint consultation and which also respond to many kind of emergencies or also keep a track of many kind of data as well as also handle accounts and manage a right record and many more. External: the patients find it of great amount of utility in many facilities related to IT in this sector like checking test results on internet or having an online consultation with the doctors with rapid form of reporting as well as response to various emergencies which is actually automated in many remote kind of monitoring of blood pressure or blood sugar. In the same way, there is also a line of communication based on IT which permits the suppliers of medical tools to comfortably interact with many healthcare units as well as permits easy communication of many types of data that exist between healthcare units like patient consultation (Cresswell and Sheikh, 2013). Benefit of IT Profit: the main motive of all kind of application in IT in an organization is providing a facilitation which is effective and efficient as well as conducted with fast pace operations. This consists of production which speed up and also give rise to revenue based generation. For example, in pathology there is a facility of autonomous blood testing and it can also speed up the overall delivery of outcomes and there are so many tests conducted each day that permits the solution to communicate automatically to doctors as well as patients through encrypted set of emails. In same case, an test when conducted online is based on many payment option that can speed up the whole process of customer ordering the tests on internet (Cresswell and Sheikh, 2013). Flexible structure: it is important that it is remembered that a large portion of many kind of utilities that is delivered by a proper robust and an IT based infrastructure based on software. This is why, it is easier to make changes and also be able to adapt the IT based services that suits the need of business. For example, any kind of business will require to make a storage of huge amount of data and usually, this is data is ordered and also arranged as per the set of so many pre-defined rules. At the same time, when the large amount of data is developed and there is any kind of transformation to such rules that actually resulted in the creating a huge task of properly arranging all the previously arranged data (Shortliffe and Cimino, 2013). Reduction in cost: there is one part which rises with efficiency and the motive is to increase the productivity and the other is based on increasing the overall profit and related margins. The related facilities can also assist drastically to decrease the cost of operations in a business. For instance, in a software based on management of inventory can be trusted than paper pen based record of inventory which is simply associated with the ability to develop some kind of alerts when the concept of inventory items can reach the end of any kind of shelf life (Shortliffe and Cimino, 2013). Risks in IT Following is the detailed discussion: - Security: IT based infrastructure entirely depends on computers and the computer carries a risk of cyber attack. The way no lock is secured fully, same way there is no computer system which can be considered completely fail proof. The overall survival of the organization is dependent on executing IT based services and this way have IT services that are able to host so many securities based issues in the form of attacks (Groves et al., 2016). Confidential: many organizations consist of lot of data or information based on the internal management like the overall status of the accounts and the overall plan for the coming fiscal year which is also marked as confidential. This is based on that it must not be viewed by people who are not authorized to get an access of information. Therefore, in case of any kind of leak in IT is based on confidential data that can be easily stolen by the attackers (Orlikowski et al., 2016). Conclusion The role of IT is very crucial in the current time and the overall survival of the business in the present is taken as a key which relies on the ability to effectively use the present IT based facilities and also protect them against any kind of risks. The advantages are related to the usage of IT in the present business with so many undeniable as well as direct evidences of which can be considered as a modern time dependency on IT (Orlikowski et al., 2016). Reference Bardhan, I.R. and Thouin, M.F., 2013. Health information technology and its impact on the quality and cost of healthcare delivery.Decision Support Systems,55(2), pp.438-449. Blais, K., 2015.Professional nursing practice: Concepts and perspectives. Pearson. Charani, E., Castro-Snchez, E., Moore, L.S. and Holmes, A., 2014. Do smartphone applications in healthcare require a governance and legal framework? It depends on the application!.BMC medicine,12(1), p.29. Cresswell, K. and Sheikh, A., 2013. Organizational issues in the implementation and adoption of health information technology innovations: an interpretative review.International journal of medical informatics,82(5), pp.e73-e86. Groves, P., Kayyali, B., Knott, D. and Kuiken, S.V., 2016. The'big data'revolution in healthcare: Accelerating value and innovation. Murdoch, T.B. and Detsky, A.S., 2013. The inevitable application of big data to health care.Jama,309(13), pp.1351-1352. Orlikowski, W.J., Walsham, G., Jones, M.R. and DeGross, J. eds., 2016.Information technology and changes in organizational work. Springer. Schwalbe, K., 2015.Information technology project management. Cengage Learning. Shortliffe, E.H. and Cimino, J.J. eds., 2013.Biomedical informatics: computer applications in health care and biomedicine. Springer Science Business Media. Street, R.L., Gold, W.R. and Manning, T.R., 2013.Health promotion and interactive technology: Theoretical applications and future directions. Routledge.

Birth by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye

Place is a simple term as pronounced and written. However, it can never be overlooked in any artwork because it carries a lot of meaning. The writer informs readers what he/she thinks is right based on the place.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Birth by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It starts with having an experience of a certain place and observing it carefully. Just as the writer, the reader cannot be left behind when the topic is brought on board. Any writer aims at influencing the reader to accept his/her ideas. The place therefore defines clearly the setting of the artwork. It enables the reader to have a better understanding because there can be a direct relationship between the written material and the place. When well considered, place improves the quality of written work as it enables the writer to bring out characters and themes clearly. This mesmerizes readers since it evoke s their feelings. The novel coming to Birth by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye can exemplify this. The novel revolves around Paullina Okello as the main character. She appears in different places that clearly shows her character. The novel starts by showing the relationship between Paullina and her husband Martin Were. The setting is in Kenya as the names Okello and Weri suggest. In the novel, the writer shows that place shapes the life of an individual. Paullina visits Nairobi, which is a different place with different characters. The urban setting is completely different from the rural setting because Paullina does not have a good understanding the place (Oludhe 34). Through place, the writer portrays Paullina as naà ¯ve since she could not behave according to the expectations of the city.Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Paullina could run away from vehicles because she was not used to busy and congested places. The setting shows Martin as a caring husband because he had to go by foot to pick his wife from the bus station. Martin lives in a slum area where human conditions are appalling. The place portrays the social class of martin. The reader is tempted to sympathize with Martin because of the tribulations he faces. Rooms are described to be too small and congested and the toilets are very messy, which brings out the theme of poverty. Place becomes very important because it discloses other tenets of human live. Paullina cannot withstand the environment that ends up causing health complications resulting to a miscarriage. The situation brings out Martin’s violent character after beating up his wife ruthlessly. This leaves the reader wondering whether it was Paullina to blame or Martin. Furthermore, the reader can attribute Martin’s violent behavior to the place. Slum dwellers are known to be violent and ruthless. This is because of hard lif e experienced in slums. Paullina can tolerate Martin’s bad behavior because she is used to cultural norms. Marjorie tries to capture the feelings of the reader by describing the awful condition in which this couple lives, if one would actually have any help to offer, he or she would do it without hesitation.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Birth by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As time goes, Paullina starts attending classes where she finds a different class of people. The environment challenges her to an extent of wanting to know how to read and write, of which she manages with time. This marks an outstanding turning point in her life. With education, she becomes a respected woman. She becomes very assertive to demand divorce from Martin. A woman who could not feed herself becomes well up to a point of being a breadwinner in her family as well as Martins family in the upcountry . This clearly brings out the theme of change. She actually decides to leaves her to Mr. and Mrs. M in the modern estate. Mrs. M is more learned compared to Paullina because she is a nurse and her husband is a Member of Parliament. Mr. M has cash that he uses during campaigns to earn votes from citizens. The writer uses place to bring out the theme of contrast. This comes out when the life of Mr. M is compared to that of Martin and Paullina. Martin could not afford even his own fare when he went to pick Paullina at the bus station. Mr. M can feed a whole congregation. In this environment, Paullina is portrayed as someone who knows politics. She could encourage women to fight for their rights. Marjorie tries to bring out the theme of politics and the subject of corruption. She elucidates that politics and corruption are tied in the third world.Mr. M responds to the wishes of citizens during campaigns but immediately forgets their interests after he is elected. He is no longer there f or citizens because he is in power.Advertising Looking for essay on literature languages? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Marjorie uses different places to bring out her reasoning. Marjorie uses place to show how events change with time. The novel starts by depicting the lives of Africans during colonial period and moves on sequentially to the postcolonial era. At the start, we see how the colonial regime erected curfews that restricted people from moving at night. This was witnessed mostly in towns, especially in slum areas. Place brings out the theme of fear and insecurity. The small group that is allowed to move at night has to speak loudly so that police officers may hear what they say. Operational anvil that denies people their freedoms characterizes the period. Works Cited Oludhe, Marjorie. Coming to Birth: Women writing Africa series. Nairobi: Feminist Press, 2000. This essay on Birth by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye was written and submitted by user Danielle Blankenship to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Definition and Examples of Semantic Satiation

Definition and Examples of Semantic Satiation Definition Semantic satiation is a phenomenon whereby the uninterrupted repetition of a word eventually leads to a sense that the word has lost its meaning. This effect is also known as  semantic saturation or verbal satiation. The concept of semantic satiation was described by E. Severance and M.F. Washburn in The American Journal of Psychology in 1907. The term was introduced by psychologists Leon James and Wallace E. Lambert in the article Semantic Satiation Among Bilinguals in the Journal of Experimental Psychology (1961). For most people, the way theyve experience semantic satiation is in a playful context: deliberately repeating a single word over and over again just to get to that sensation when  it stops feeling like an actual word. However, this phenomenon can appear in more subtle ways. For instance, writing teachers will often insist that students use repeated words with care, not just because it demonstrates a better vocabulary  and a more eloquent style,  but to avoid the loss of significance. Overuse of strong words, such as words with intense connotations or profanity, can also fall victim to semantic satiation and lose their intensity.   See Examples and Observations below. For related concepts, also see: BleachingEpimoneGrammatical Oddities That You Probably Never Heard About in SchoolPronunciationSemantics Examples and Observations I began to indulge in the wildest fancies as I lay there in the dark, such as that there was no such town, and even that there was no such state as New Jersey. I fell to repeating the word Jersey over and over again, until it became idiotic and meaningless. If you have ever lain awake at night and repeated one word over and over, thousands and millions and hundreds of thousands of millions of times, you know the disturbing mental state you can get into.(James Thurber, My Life and Hard Times, 1933)Have you ever tried the experiment of saying some plain word, such as dog, thirty times? By the thirtieth time it has become a word like snark or pobble. It does not become tame, it becomes wild, by repetition.(G.K. Chesterton, The Telegraph Poles. Alarms and Discursions, 1910)A Closed LoopIf we pronounce a word over and over again, rapidly and without pause, then the word is felt to lose meaning. Take any word, say, CHIMNEY. Say it repeatedly and in rapid succession. Within some seconds, th e word loses meaning. This loss is referred to as semantic satiation. What seems to happen is that the word forms a kind of closed loop with itself. One utterance leads into a second utterance of the same word, this leads into a third, and so on. . . . [A]fter repeated pronunciation, this meaningful continuation of the word is blocked since, now, the word leads only to its own recurrence.(I.M.L. Hunter, Memory, rev. ed. Penguin, 1964) The MetaphorSemantic satiation is a metaphor of sorts, of course, as if neurons are little creatures to be filled up with the word until their little bellies are full, they are sated and want no more. Even single neurons habituate; that is, they stop firing to a repetitive pattern of stimulation. But semantic satiation affects our conscious experience, not just individual neurons.(Bernard J. Baars, In the Theater of Consciousness: The Workspace of the Mind. Oxford University Press, 1997)Disconnection of Signifier and Signified- If you stare continuously at a word (alternatively, listen to it over and over), the signifier and signified eventually appear to fall apart. The aim of the exercise is not to alter vision or hearing but to disrupt the internal organization of the sign. . . . You continue to see the letters but they no longer make the word; it, as such, has vanished. The phenomenon is called semantic satiation (first identified by Severance Washburn 1907), or loss of the sign ified concept from the signifier (visual or acoustic).(David McNeill, Gesture and Thought. University of Chicago Press, 2005)- [B]y saying a word, even a significant one, over and over again . . . you will find that the word has been transformed into a meaningless sound, as repetition drains it of its symbolic value. Any male who has served in, let us say, the United States Army or spent time in a college dormitory has had this experience with what are called obscene words . . .. Words that you have been taught not to use and that normally evoke an embarrassed or disconcerted response, when used too often, are stripped of their power to shock, to embarrass, to call attention to a special frame of mind. They become only sounds, not symbols.(Neil Postman, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992) OrphanWhy has my fathers death left me feeling so alone, when he hasnt been a part of my life in seventeen years? Im an orphan. I repeat the word out loud, over and over again, listening to it bounce off the walls of my childhood bedroom until it makes no sense.Loneliness is the theme, and I play it like a symphony, in endless variations.(Jonathan Tropper, The Book of Joe. Random House, 2004)Boswell on the Effects of Intense Inquiry (1782)Words, the representations, or rather signs of ideas and notions in the human race, though habitual to all of us, are, when abstractly considered, exceedingly wonderful; in so much, that by endeavouring to think of them with a spirit of intense inquiry, I have been affected even with giddiness and a kind of stupor, the consequence of having ones faculties stretched in vain. I suppose this has been experienced by many of my readers, who in a fit of musing, have tried to trace the connection between a word of ordinary use and its meaning, repeating th e word over and over again, and still starting in a kind of foolish amazement, as if listening for information from some secret power in the mind itself.(James Boswell [The Hypochondriack], On Words. The London Magazine, or, Gentlemans Monthly Intelligencer, Volume 51, February 1782)

Answer the questions in Bold Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Answer the questions in Bold - Essay Example However, the deterrence of illness and injury, no matter how advanced, is unlikely to result in the total elimination of the need for further care. Where prevention is unsuccessful or not possible, the second step in the continuum is primary care. This is perhaps the most utilized part of the system, perhaps even overused, as people seek counsel at local doctors offices, and through other first-contact medical providers in their community. A large number of interactions at this level result in the satiation of the patients immediate healthcare concerns, eliminating the need to seek further types of care. When further treatment is required, secondary care services act as the next level in the continuum of care. Acute hospital services like emergency room visits, as well as appointments with specialists (that often require referrals from a primary provider) such as psychiatrists, and cardiologists. Tertiary care takes place when specialists and/or special hospitals (burn centers for example) are involved with inpatient care. Intensive rehabilitation services, and long-term inpatient care represent the next two continuum levels, respectively. The final stage in the continuum of care is comprised of end-of-life services such as hospices and palliative care treatments. As would be expected, comfort of the patient is the primary focus at the end of the healthcare continuum. Like any service, the success of delivering healthcare with consistently high quality across the continuum does not come without challenges. One of the most impactful determinants of care effectiveness is the geographic location of the population under study. As is the case with most industries, central hubs of operations tend to be placed in most populated areas (now commonly in the form of cities). While this approach is reasonable from a statistical perspective, the fact remains that this trend threatens rural populations with the unavailability

The Incorporation of Immigrants in Growing Urban Areas ( Style is Essay

The Incorporation of Immigrants in Growing Urban Areas ( Style is Annals of the Associatio n of American Geographers , AAAG) - Essay Example This has also led to discrimination and racial segregation when it comes to certain privileges. Immigration has been used as a means to human right violation and slavery in certain parts of the world yet in certain areas human rights have been observed with the best effort. While the phenomenon immigration has existed for centuries, it was after the Second World War that immigration started gaining momentum. This was due to factors such as religious conflicts, political instability, and economic constraints in their countries of origin. Migration has led to changes in how countries shape up in areas such as education, economy, culture, and even social life. The new environments that migrants experience present diverse challenges which have led them to adapt in different ways. In Greece, for example, the Cold War made natives flee their country which had a poor economy, in search of better life in places like the United States, Canada, Australia, and other more developed counties (Skandalis 2012). However, after the Cold War and with the fall of the communist era in Eastern Europe, Greece became an attractive place for immigrants from Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, and other less developed countries in Eastern Europe. Other immigrants in the country came f rom outside of Europe, from India and Afghanistan. This had a huge impact on the economy and society of Greece. What was once a homogenous society became a culture and linguistic mosaic. The immigrants managed to deal with barriers such as confusing legislation and unfriendly entrepreneurial climates to become farmers, construction workers, and employees in other sectors, overwhelming even the natives (Skandalis 2012). This led to Greece experiencing a transformation in regard to its occupational structure. Occupations such as manufacturing and small trading that characterised the traditional family are on the decline. On the other hand occupations such as salaried clerical

Above and below the line promotion

Above and below the line promotion 1 Introduction In terms of the general perception of all of the marketing mix elements that a firm may employ, it is perhaps promotion that is the most prominent P in the 4 Ps. In fact to many people promotion is marketing. Promotion is a part of a firms overall effort to communicate with consumers and others about its product or service offering. Both the company and the consumer have needs which they aim to fulfill; the profit making company wishes to improve or maintain profits and market share, and gain a better reputation than its competitors, and the consumer aims to reach his or her personal goals. The total product offering allows each party to move towards these goals, offering a bundle of satisfactions which fulfill needs in an instrumental and a psychological sense. The phrase Marketing Communications is generally preferred to the term promotion, this term being reserved for a branch of communications called below-the-line sales promotion. 2 Promotion or Marketing Communication? In a sense all marketing communication activity is a form of promotion, that is in one way or another is attempting to promote the interest of the brand, product range and/or company. What differentiates above the line activity from below the line activity is a somewhat arbitrary division. There is no universally accepted definition of either. Below the line activity is loosely classed as non-media advertising. Basically if an advertisement is submitted to a publication and a commission is paid to the advertising agency to feature the piece then this is deemed to be above the line communication. If no commission has been paid, for example in the case of a public relations press release, a trade exhibition or a sponsored sports event, this is referred to as below the line activity. This distinction is accepted by most and is the distinction adopted here. 3 Real and implied product attributes The role of marketing communications is to communicate the benefits of the product, service or firm to potential consumers and indeed the same process is undertaken in not for profit situations like political parties. The benefits marketing communicators try to convey can be real although many of attributes are implied through association or suggestion. This has been described as a total bundle of attributes that the consumer perceives in a holistic manner. In other words, consumers see the product or service offering as a unified whole, rather than a bundle of separate component parts such as its price, packaging, shape and so on. In this way, marketing communications conveys the meaning of the companys total product offering, helping consumers attain their goals and moving the company closer to its own goals. Many products, particularly in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) category, are very similar to other products in their class. For example margarines are basically similar no matter what brand is selected, and the same goes for many fmcg products. In times of shortage, such as during the war years, goods were treated as homogenous commodities, and basically soap was soap! In less developed countries the same is true today. From the study of buyer behaviour it was noted that Maslow described the different needs of human beings as being hierarchical in nature. At the bottom of the pyramid physiological needs such as hunger and thirst are of primary concern to the individual, almost to the exclusion in fact of anything else. Marketers can make use of this phenomenon and this can be witnessed in advertising soft drinks such as Coca Cola or fast food such as Burger King, McDonalds or KFC. Only when these basic, but important, physiological needs are satisfied will the individual turn his or her attention to the next category of need in the hierarchy. Their next need is safety and that of their family. In modern society these needs are reflected in goods and services such as burglar alarms, car locks and alarms, double glazing, external lighting, insurance, saving schemes etc. Marketers use the motive of fear in order to market such products. Thereafter loftier concerns assume more importance. People need to feel part of a group, appreciated by others and have the opportunity to both give and receive love. Fashion items like perfume, supporting the same pop group or sports team are all examples of how marketing uses social needs to sell products and services. Esteem needs can be translated into products and services through high status marquee cars, designer clothes or expensive holidays. Finally we reach the higher order need of self-actualisation. Only in very wealthy countries is it possible to have large sections in this category. The best example here is probably in California, especially in cities such as San Francisco where people can indulge in a variety of alternative life styles. Books by self help gurus, health supplements exercise videos are examples of products aimed at this motive. 4 The marketing communications mix Promotion describes the communications activities of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and publicity/public relations. Advertising is a non-personal form of mass communication, paid for by an identified sponsor. Personal selling involves a seller attempting to persuade a potential buyer to make a purchase. Sales promotion encompasses short-term activities such as giving coupons, free samples, etc. that encourage quick action by buyers. The company has control over these three variables, but has little control over the fourth variable, publicity/public relations. This is another non-personal communication method that reaches a large number of people, but it is not paid for by the company and is usually in the form of news or editorial comment regarding a companys product or service. Companies can gain some control over the publicity it receives by the release of news items. Put together, these promotional activities make up the promotional or communications mix with varying emphasis on each element according to the type of product or service, characteristics of consumers and company resources. Company size, competitive strengths and weaknesses and style of management all influence the promotional mix. Other communications elements with which promotion must be coordinated are the product itself, price and distribution channels used. Product communication, including brand name, design of packaging and trade-marks are all product cues which convey a message about the total product offering. Price can communicate different things under varying circumstances, for instance conveying prestige appeal for those buyers who perceive that a high price is equal to quality and prestige. The place in which the products are to be found also has notable communications value. Retail stores have personalities that consumers associate with the products they sell. Products receive a halo effect from the outlets in which they can be found and two stores selling similar products can project entirely different product images. For example, a perfume sold through an upmarket store will have a much higher quality image than one sold through supermarkets. 5 The Marketing Communications Process Effective communication means effective marketing. Buyers perceptions of market offerings are influenced by the amount and type of information they receive as well as their reaction to that information. There must be a good flow of information between seller and buyer to assist decision-making that precedes a purchase. An effective marketing communications system also allows feedback from the consumer to the seller. Some people have a psychological predisposition to buy products and services that are new to the market. This predisposition can be modeled with the use of a normal distribution. Certain people derive a great deal of pleasure from acquiring new products and being first in the market. Such people have a low level of perceived risk and in fact they positively like the risk and excitement associated with the purchase of new, innovative products. These people are referred to as innovators and, according to Everett Rogers account for about 2.5 % of the population. The next group of people displaying a tendency to buy new products are known as early adopters and account for approximately 13.5 % of the market. These are still highly adventurous purchasers and the possession of innovative new products gives them a high present value. They still have a low level of perceived risk but are slightly more risk adverse than the innovator category. The next two groups, Early Majority and Late Major ity account for the bulk of the potential market, 64% in all. Most people fall in to one of these categories. Finally the Laggards are people who are not really infested in new product development and tend to purchase products only when their old product is worn out and stops working. This theme is returned to later under product issues. A key question for the marketing communicator is: Are the innovators and early adopters also opinion leaders? The majority of potential customers are too risk adverse or too disinterested to be first in the market for an innovation. They are largely unaffected by the media communication about the innovation. Instead, they are influenced by people that they know who they regard as opinion leaders. Although some individuals my be innovators for many products and services, it is more likely that they will be classified as such for a limited range of products. For example a computer enthusiast may be regarded as a innovator for new computer products. Similarly, someone who is interested in photography may be regarded as opinion leaders in relation to this product but not others. A new brand of toothpaste containing baking soda is not really that new to people; after all, it is still just toothpaste. A vacuum cleaner for your garden is on the other hand quite a radical innovation. These products have recently come on to the market although most people, even keen gardeners seem a little unsure as to whether they should buy one or not. If these products are good, then the message will soon circulate by word of mouth and soon most households will own one, just as most own a lawn mower or a lawn edger and indeed these latter products were considered to be a radical innovation only a few years ago. 6 Marketing related messages. Marketing communications can be defined as the process of: presenting an integrated set of stimuli to a market target with the aim of raising a desired set of responses within that market target; setting up channels to receive, interpret and act on messages from the market to modify present company messages and identify new communications opportunities. As both a sender and a receiver of market-related messages, a company can influence customers to buy its brands in order to make profit. At the same time it can stay in touch with its market so that it can adjust to changing market conditions and take advantage of new communications opportunities. 6.1 The source of the message Receivers of a message are often greatly influenced by the nature of its source. If an audience perceives a communicator as credible, then they will be more likely to accept his or her views. If, on the other hand, the audience believes that the communicator has underlying motives, particularly ones of personal gain, then he or she will be less persuasive than someone the audience perceives as being objective. Some advertisers use candid television interviews with homemakers in order to enhance their credibility and eliminate intent to persuade, sometimes asking consumers to explain why they buy a particular brand or asking them to trade their chosen brand for another. Another method used by companies to increase credibility is to have the product endorsed by an expert with appropriate education and knowledge on a given subject. This source will be more successful in changing audience opinions. Specialized sources of information are often perceived as expert sources, and are successful due to the fact that messages are aimed at selected audiences, for example the use of sports professionals as promoters for brands. The credibility of a source is also a function of its perceived status or prestige. The higher the perceived status of a source, the more persuasive it will be. If a receiver likes a source, it will be more persuasive. It is clear that age, sex, dress, mannerisms, accent and voice inflection all affect source credibility and subtly influence the way an audience judges a communicator and his/her message. A source high in credibility can change the opinion of receivers, but available evidence suggests that this influence disperses in a short time after the message is received. It has also been observed that where an audience initially receives a message from a low-credibility source, their opinion change increases over time in the direction promoted by the source. This is referred to as the sleeper effect. Another aspect of this is that when a high-credibility source is reinstated, for example by a repeat advertisement, it has been found that audience agreement with the source is higher after a period of time than if the source had not been reinstated. For a low-credibility source, reinstatement results in less agreement with the source than with no reinstatement, and it is said that under these circumstances reinstatement negates the sleeper effect. 7 Media Advertising Media advertising communicates information to a large number of recipients, paid for by a sponsor. It has three main aims: To impart information To develop attitudes To induce action beneficial to the advertiser (generally the purchase of a product or service). An advertisement for washing powder is paid for by the manufacturer to achieve greater sales; a party political broadcast aims to increase votes. It must be remembered that advertising is only one element of the communications mix, but it does perform certain parts of the communicating task faster and with greater economy and volume than other means. How large a part advertising plays depends on the nature of the product and its frequency of purchase. It contributes the greatest part when: Buyer awareness of the product is low Industry sales are rising rather than remaining stable or declining The product has features which are not obvious to the buyer The opportunities for product differentiation are strong Discretionary incomes are high A new product or new service idea is being introduced. 8 Advertising models These have been drawn from several sources, particularly psychology, and from advertising practitioners in order to explain how advertising works. 8.1 The stimulus/response formula This was used at first, later models taking into consideration the environment in which the decision to buy is made. Daniel Starch said in 1925 for an advertisement to be successful it must be seen, must be read, must be believed, must be remembered and must be acted upon. This model assumed that the advertisement is the main influence on the state of mind of the consumer in respect of the product and makes no allowance for combined or multiple effects of advertisements. 8.2 The DAGMAR philosophy Colleys DAGMAR model in 1961 (Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results) allows for the cumulative impact of advertisements and also maps out the states of mind consumers pass through: From unawareness to awareness; to comprehension; to conviction; to action. This is described as the marketing communications spectrum. Advertising, along with promotion, personal selling, publicity, price, packaging and distribution, move the consumer through the various levels of the spectrum as follows: Unawareness/awareness The advertisement tries to make potential customers aware of the products existence. Comprehension The customer recognizes the brand name and trademark and also knows what the product is and what it does; knowledge gained from the advertisement or from an information search prompted by it. Conviction The customer has a firm attitude, preferring a particular brand over all others. Preferences may have an emotional rather than rational basis. Action Some move is made towards purchase, thus the advertisement has been acted upon. This illustrates the concept that the purpose of advertising is to cause a change of mind leading toward purchase, but it is rare for a single advertisement to have the power to move a prospect from complete unawareness to action. Effectiveness is judged by how far an advertisement moves people along the spectrum. 8.3 The Lavidge and Steiner model This consists of a hierarchical sequence of events on six levels: Awareness Knowledge Liking Preference Conviction Purchase These steps divide behaviour into three dimensions: cognitive (the first two), affective (the second two) and motivational (the third two). Although this differs from the DAGMAR model in the number and nature of stages, there is agreement that purchase is the result of the persuasion elements, making the assumption between changes in knowledge and attitude towards a product and changes in buying behaviour there is a predictable outcome. Dissonance theory, however, illustrates a two-way relationship, with behaviour influencing attitudes as well as attitudes influencing behaviour. After making a decision to purchase, the prospect will be involved in cognitive dissonance and will actively seek information to reinforce the decision, focusing on attractive features and filtering out unfavourable data. The major implication of this is that advertising for existing brands in the repeat purchase market should be aimed at existing users to reassure them in the continuation of the buying habit at the expense of the competition. 8.4 The Unique Selling Proposition This was developed by Rosser Reeves (1961) who reported the principles his agency had adopted for 30 years. This states that the consumer remembers one key element of an advertisement a strong claim or concept. This proposition must be one that the competition does not offer, which will be recalled by the consumer and will result in purchase at the appropriate time. 8.5 The brand-image school This was led by advertising practitioner David Ogilvy who focused on non-verbal methods of communication to invest a brand with agreeable connotations aside from its actual properties in use, such as prestige and quality. It must be remembered that an advertisement is the channel through which the sponsor communicates their message. The encoded message reaches recipients, through advertising or salespeople, who then decode and absorb it either fully or partly. The quality of the transmission can be distorted by noise occurring because the receiver does not interpret the message in the way the source intended (due perhaps to differences in cultural backgrounds of the two parties). It may however be because of cognitive dissonance which occurs when peoples receipt of the message does not agree with what they previously believed. Dissonance may cause a number of different reactions by the receiver: Rejecting the message Ignoring the message Altering the previous opinion Searching for justifications The first two reactions are of course negative, and from this feedback the source may change the message or stop communicating altogether with a particular receiver who is not receptive to the sources ideas. It can, therefore, be seen that advertising does not always convert people into users of a particular product. It can, however, have a positive effect in preventing loss of users, and increasing their loyalty. 8.6 Advertising by objectives Advertising situations are so varied and unique that it is not possible to generalize about how advertising works. Any potential advertiser should therefore adopt an advertising-by-objectives approach that will make clear what they are trying to achieve, how they will achieve it and how they are going to measure its effects. Few companies give any detailed scientific thought to exactly what they are trying to achieve through advertising. Clear objectives are needed to aid operational decisions, which include: The amount to be spent on a particular campaign The content and presentation of the advertisement The most appropriate media The frequency of display of advertisements or campaigns Any special geographical weighting of effort The best methods of evaluating the effects of the advertising. Corkindale and Kennedy (1976) found that systematically setting and evaluating objectives provided the following benefits. Marketing management has to consider and define in advance what each element in the programme is expected to accomplish. An information system can be set up to monitor ongoing performance, with the nature of information required clearly defined. Marketing management will learn about the system it is operating from accumulated experience of success (and failure) and can use this knowledge to improve future performance. Majaros (1970) major study on objective setting revealed that most managers saw increasing sales or market share as their main advertising objective. In fact, this is a total marketing objective and it is unreasonable to expect to achieve this objective through advertising alone (unless it was the only element of the marketing mix used, as in direct mail and mail order businesses). Majaros study also revealed that methods of evaluation used by most companies were not relevant, and that clear, precise advertising objectives, known to all involved, would rectify this situation. The following advantages of the advertising-by-objectives approach became clear. It helps to integrate the advertising effort with other ingredients of the marketing mix, thus setting a consistent and logical marketing plan. It facilitates the task of the advertising agency in preparing and evaluating creative work and recommending the most suitable media. It assists in determining advertising budgets. It enables marketing executives and top management to appraise the advertising plan realistically. It permits meaningful measurement of advertising results. When setting objectives, all personnel in a company who have an interest in, and influence on, advertising decisions have different ideas of the purpose of advertising. The Chairman may be concerned with corporate image, whilst the Advertising Manager may see it as an investment direct toward building a brand image and increasing market share. Marketing objectives have to be separated from advertising objectives. Overall marketing objectives should be defined, and the next step is to determine the contribution that advertising can efficiently make to each of these. An advertising objective is one that advertising alone is expected to achieve. Advertising objectives should be set with the following points in mind. They should fit in with broader corporate objectives. They should be realistic, taking into account internal resources and external opportunities, threats and constraints. They should be universally known within the company, so that everyone can relate them to his or her own work and to the broader corporate objectives. They need to be flexible, since all business decisions have to be made in conditions of partial ignorance. They should be reviewed and adapted from time to time to take account of changing conditions. Setting advertising objectives should not be undertaken until all relevant information on the product, the market and the consumer is available. Consumer behaviour and motivation must be thoroughly assessed, particularly that of the companys target group of customers. The statement of an advertising objective should then make clear what basic message is intended to be delivered, to what audience, with what intended effects and the specific criteria to be used to measure success. Corkindale and Kennedy used five key words to summarize the elements of setting advertising objectives: WHAT What role is advertising expected to fulfill in the total marketing effort? WHY Why is it believed that advertising can achieve this role? (What evidence is there and what assumptions are necessary?) WHO Who should be involved in setting objectives; who should be responsible for agreeing the objectives, coordinating their implementation and subsequent evaluation? Who is the intended audience? HOW How are the advertising objectives to be put into practice? WHEN When are various parts of the programme to be implemented? When can response be expected to each stage of the programme? 9 Below-the-line promotion. The terms below-the-line promotion or communications, refers to forms of non-media communication, even non-media advertising. Examples of non-media promotions are exhibitions, sponsorship activities, public relations and sales promotions such as competitions, banded packs and price promotions. Below-the-line promotions are becoming increasingly important within the communications mix of many companies, not only those involved in fmcg products, but also for industrial goods. For example dealer incentives, exhibitions and sponsorship activities are all growing in popularity. All forms of non-media communications are a form of promotion if we use the word in the broadest sense. Specific forms of below-the-line sales promotion are discussed below. 9.1 Below the line sales promotion Below the line sales promotions are short term incentives, largely aimed at consumers, but also aimed at the trade e.g. wholesalers, retailers, distributors, etc., along with company employees, usually the sales force. Over the past 20 years or so there has been greater pressure on marketing budgets and a greater demand on marketing management to achieve marketing communications objectives more efficiently. Hence marketers have been searching for a more cost-effective way to communicate with their target markets than conventional media advertising. A move to below the line promotion is one result of this. A definition of below-the-line sales promotion is given by Hugh Davidson: An immediate or delayed incentive to purchase, expressed in cash or in kind, and having only a short term or temporary duration. This definition highlights one important characteristic of below-the-line sales promotion that is its short term nature. Most conventional above the line advertising campaigns are medium to long term in nature. Below the line sales promotions tend to be short term in nature. Rarely does a sales promotion last for more than six months, and the majority last for much shorter periods. All promotions are variations of one basic type or another, but since the sales promotion is dynamic by nature new types will be developed in the future. The sphere of sales promotions generally include the following: Display materials (stands, header boards, shelf strips, wobblers) Packaging (coupons, premium offers, pack flashes) Merchandising (demonstrations, auxiliary sales forces, display arrangements) Direct mail (coupons, competitions, premiums) Exhibitions Industrial promotions also include the above elements, but with modifications to make them closer in type to those used by manufacturers of consumer goods for their retailers; designed to gain orders over long periods. 9.2 Sales promotion planning A full plan is needed to ensure that each stage of a promotion is reached: Analyse the problem task Define objectives Consider and/or set the budget Examine the types of promotion likely to be of use Define the support activities (e.g. advertising, incentives, auxiliaries) Testing (e.g. a limited store or panel test) Decide measurements required Plan timetable Present details to sales force, retailers, etc. Implement the promotion Evaluate the result 9.3 Advantages and disadvantages of sales promotions Advantages Easily measured response Quick achievement of objectives Flexible application Can be extremely cheap Direct support of sales force Disadvantages Price-discounting can cheapen brand image Short-term advantages only Can cause stress with retailers Difficulty in communicating brand message 9.4 The importance of sales promotion It is often difficult to know which marketing expenditures can be attributed to sales promotion. For example price reduction can cause confusion 10% off a packet of biscuits is a sales promotion, but what about price discounting by manufacturers? 10 Telephone marketing Telemarketing can be defined as any measurable activity that creates and exploits a direct relationship between supplier and customer by the interactive use of the telephone. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company define it as the marketing of telecommunications technology and direct marketing techniques. Telephone marketing can take the forms of in-coming call and out-going call. In-coming call telephone marketing usually makes use of special numbers, which enables the caller to call free-phone or at local call rates. Such campaigns are usually used in conjunction with other marketing communications tools. 11 Direct mail and direct marketing Direct mailing is the use of the postal service to distribute promotional material directly to a particular person, household or firm. It is often confused with the following related activities, which all fall under the general heading of direct marketing. Direct advertising One of the oldest methods of reaching the consumer, with printed matter being sent directly to the prospect by the advertiser, often by mail, but sometimes by through the letter box personal delivery, handing out to passers-by or left under the screen wiper of a car. Mail order Mail order advertising aims to persuade recipients to purchase a product or service by post, with deliveries being made through the mail or other carrier or through a local agent. Thus it is a special form of direct mail, seeking to complete the sale entirely by mail and being a complete plan in itself. Mail order is a type of direct mail, but not all direct mail is mail order. Direct response advertising This is a strategy of using specially designed advertisements, usually in magazines or newspapers, to invoke a direct response, such as the coupon-response press ad, which the reader uses to order the advertised product or request further information. Other variants offer money-off coupons and incentives to visit the retail outlet. The usage and acceptance of direct mail