Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Analysis Of A Cosmetics Advertisement

Analysis Of A Cosmetics Advertisement Free Online Research Papers Question: Select a full page advertisement from either a newspaper of a magazine and do a semiotic analysis of how the representation ‘works’. To whom is the advertisement addressing, and the whom is the message directed? Advertisements are a rich source for semiotic analysis. The term semiotics derives from the Greek word semeion meaning sign. The birth of the science of semiotics can be attributed mainly to the work of two men, the American philosopher Charles Peirce, and the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. The meaning of a sign is not contained within itself, or as Daniel Chandler says, the message is not the meaning but arises in its interpretation and context (Chandler, 1998: WWW). Semiotics therefore refers to a kind of social interaction between the individual as a meaning maker and the sign offering different interpretations. The semiotic analysis of advertising believes that meanings of adverts are to move out from the page, to lend significance to our experience of reality. We are encouraged to experience the advertised, in terms of the mythic meanings on which adverts draw (Bignell, 1997: 33). Successful advertisements commonly combine textual and visual images to produce a maximum effect of persuasion on the directed audience. However, these effects will predominantly materialize with individuals who identify with and share the same cultural knowledge. Nonetheless, cultural knowledge is more than simply comprehending what the codes signify; it is developing and maintaining an awareness of the things that might be suggested by the code through systems of difference, denotations and connotations (O’Shaughnessy Stadler, 1998: 82). What follows is a semiological analysis of a Clarins advertisement for a fragrance in women’s magazine, Harper’s Bazzaar, Australia. This Clarins advertisement reveals values and standards, as well as ideological attitudes present amongst women in contemporary Australia. Language is linear; we select from groups of similar terms (paradigms) and chain the selection together in an ordered sequence (syntagm). In the Clarins ad, the paradigm for the word ‘tranquillity’ may include; silence, unconsciousness, coolness, composure or even the after effects of drugs. However, the connotations of ‘tranquillity’ are associated with peacefulness, freshness, serenity, contentment, harmony, soothing; words which create and establish pleasant feelings. Saussure suggests that each instant of communication (parole) is drawn from a total system (langue) which must exist for possible performance. Hence, in order to communicate, we must be competent in the general language system to associate signs to meanings. Furthermore, colour signs contribute to effective communication. The Clarins ad is composed largely of light blue, selected from a paradigm of colours. Like all signs, these colour signs work at two different levels: denotations and con notations. The ad denotes a rounded bottle sitting on a water surface, whilst the light blue affect emphasizes the theme of ‘tranquillity’. Research reveals that colours have subconscious psychological significance, accordingly â€Å"Dark Blue represents ‘Depth of Feeling’ and it has emotional correspondence with tranquillity, calmness, recharging, contentment, tenderness, unification, sensitivity, love and affection† (Chandler, 1998: WWW). Consequently, the Clarins advertisement is a form of propaganda designed to appeal to the audience by means of establishing a sense of pleasure. The colour red is used effectively to pursue its purpose. Blood red is associated with vibrancy, rage, passion, stimulation, excitement, desire and liveliness. The contrast of the red against the light blue disrupts viewers from the position and ambience created by the blue. The red connotes the trendiness of the fragrance, as well as promoting the make Clarins. Viewers ’ acknowledge that although the fragrance is ‘cool’, the product is ‘hot and in’. Furthermore, the demeanour of the fragrance can be semiotically analysed. The bottle appears to be floating on blue surface, connoting water. It is lying back in a relaxed motion. This suggests the ease and freedom of the fragrance. Signs communicate through a system of difference, for example, if the bottle of perfume was presented lying flat down onto a brown surface, the entire meaning would change. Instead of tranquillity and cleanliness, the perfume would look dirty and unattractive. Hence, text, colour and demeanour are all carefully selected and combined. These paradigmatic and syntagmatic dimensions of language are crucial operations of communication, in that they structure its possibilities. Subsequently, the signifier and the signified are culturally shared and arbitrary; they depend on cultural knowledge. Further research shows that this knowledge is influenced by all sorts of social forces such as traditions, fads, politics, cultural norms and so forth. As aforementioned, the colour blue in the Clarins advertisement connotes water. However, the audience are not told that the blue surface is water. An interpretation of it as water is dependant on the context. The audience are not consciously aware of this ‘natural’ association. Roland Barthes refers to this naturalised cultural knowledge as a myth (Barthes, 1977: 32). According to Barthes, myths are powerful messages circulating in society. They appear to be natural, inevitable and normal when they are particular beliefs that circulate as a type of social maintenance. Myths work with pre-existing denotative language, distorting and stressing certain language and beliefs (Barthes, 1977: 32). In exemplificat ion of this, in the Clarins ad, the perfume denotes a certain fragrance in a rounded blue bottle, while its connotations are of beauty, remembrance, freshness, pleasant aroma, identity and stylishness. Hence, the sign ‘perfume’ is also part of an older set of myths which might include class, status, courtships, gender relationships, identity and remembrance. â€Å"The basic denoted meaning is greatly embellished and interrelated with other social value systemsA mythic method is superimposed on the ordinary meaning† (Chandler, 1998: WWW). Each image contains an implied view of society, of the world and our roles in it. These images reveal sets of values, beliefs and feelings that together offer an ideological view of the world (O’Shaughnessy Stadler, p.96). Ads often present ‘ideal’ situations to create pleasure. The Clarins ad offers us an image of a stylish yet relaxed fragrance. These feel-good feelings present the ideology of happiness and contentment. This image is conveyed through the signs and signifiers whose connotations are discussed earlier. Each instance (parole) of communication shows us parts of the implied whole. This is described as metonymy in semiology (O’Sullivan, 1994). â€Å"Metonyms are signs in which one part or element stands for something larger†. For example, the physical bottle of perfume in the Clarins ad can be interpreted as metonym for a woman. The implied narrative is: any woman using the perfume will feel a sense of contentment, balance, tranquillity and in essence, beauty. The bottle is lying back connoting any freedom and relaxation. The shade of the lid is cream, which may connote the woman’s facial skin colour. Hence, women viewers will spontaneously identify and empathize with the fragrant bottle. Due to the reason that the advertisement is located in the social context is of a leading woman’s magazine, relaxation and personal pampering proves to be a winner. Also, Clarins is a French brand and the French are world leaders in fashion. The ad connects to ideologies of happiness and ideologies of being a successful and modern (‘new’) woman. The ad connects to contemporary values through its use of signs and how their paradigmatic meanings are multiplied up syntagmatically through the selection and combination of those signs and codes. Finally, the Clarins ad proves to be successful because the signifier is effectively signified. The context of a women’s magazine is suitable in organizing what the ad ‘implies’ to its most predominantly female audience. Viewers spontaneously decode the ad because the signs used are culturally recognized which incorporate social influences such as tradition, fashion, economics and what the advertisement perceives and strives to persuade us as the audience to perceive as cultural norms. REFERENCES Bignell, Jonathan (1997): Media Semiotics: An Introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press Barthes, Roland (1977): â€Å"The Rhetoric of the Image.† Image, Music, Text. Ed. and trans. Stephen Heath. New York: Hill and Wang Chandler, Daniel (1998): Semiotics for Beginners URL aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem07/ (Accessed 3rd September, 2004) O’Shaughnessy, Michael (1999): â€Å"Semiology†, â€Å"Reading Images.† Media and Society: and Introduction 2nd Edition. Melbourne: Oxford University Press Research Papers on Analysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaThree Concepts of PsychodynamicRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesPETSTEL analysis of IndiaResearch Process Part One19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite Religion

Saturday, November 23, 2019

An Overview of Genetic Engineering essays

An Overview of Genetic Engineering essays Imagine a world full of 'mini Hitlers' seeking world domination, killing millions as their solution to establish a superior race or bunch or 2 headed humans eating a pig with 6 legs. These scenarios may sound like something out a science fiction novel, but this is the kind of things that people think about when they hear the words 'genetic engineering' Genetic engineering is now an important part of this world. It is used to cure diseases, develop food that grows faster and food that's healthier. Without genetic engineering, it will not be possible to feed the 10 billion humans expected by the year 2030. Only by using this new technology can we increase food production enough so that it is possible to feed this growing world. This can be done by producing plant varieties that are more precisely adapted to local conditions. This also helps poor farmers by reducing their expenses such as pesticides. In developing worlds, there are over 100 million children with vitamin A deficiency causing huge problems such as blindness. These people eat mainly rice and rice has no vitamin A. Right now the only way they can get enough vitamin A is by costly supplements that don't reach everyone. So scientists are genetically engineering rice so that it contains vitamin A, and this rice seed could be distributed to the poorest areas of the world, a brilliant and simple idea. So how can consumers live in the developed world benefit from plant biotechnology? Using modern biotechnology scientists have already produced food with improved flavor, food that is better for health and food with better qualities. Examples of these are apples and sweet corns that are insect resistant, frost resistant strawberries, and seedless grapes. One of the main reasons why people oppose genetic engineering is that they think biotechnology is an imprecise science and so it will likely to result in unanticipated outcomes and dangerous surprises. But did you know th...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Describe the methods used to calculate value added. How does value Essay - 4

Describe the methods used to calculate value added. How does value added contribute towards understanding the connections betwee - Essay Example Value added concept of income measurement has been viewed as the increase in the wealth of an economic body. It is traditionally rooted to the evaluation of national income in macro economics, measured by national economy productive performance.2 This concept is referred to as National or Domestic product and represents a specific period’s national economy. This is a common use of this concept but it has also been applied in many other different areas of business operations and economics as a positive performance and economic gauge. This makes value added a measure and indicator of an economic entity’s performance and has a fairly long period of application in the field of economics.3 Value added represents a calculated value, and for this reason, it is well related to accounting. It is also contrasted from the traditional calculation of income in that, it can be and has been used in all the three accounting systems i.e. managerial accounting, financial accounting and t he national accounting system. It is also distinguishable from income computation whereby value added is constantly described internationally as a difference of expenses from revenues. It can be defined in two ways that will be discussed below and this gives value added concept another critical characteristic commonly known as the dichotomy of value added.4 Subtractive method is the first method of calculating the value added and it is defined as: Value Added (VA) = O – I. Where O = Output; I = Input. This means that when being compared to accounting income, it is perceived as the net figure. The value expressed is the value that an economic body, such as a person, an industry or a company adds to the products and services it purchased or received from other entities during its creative or own productive economic activities.5 In the second one, additive method, the value added is represented by the total sum of the distributed parts that constitute the created wealth. This is done with respect to the reality that all the created wealth is well distributed i.e. by being allocated in some way. When considering a company, value added calculation is defined as: VA (Value Added) = RE + RG + RCP + NAP. Where RE = Remuneration of employees; RG = Remuneration of government; RCP = Remuneration of capital providers; NAP = not appropriated income i.e. retained earnings.6 The two formulas above disclose the characteristic content that value added concept has. This concept can be divided into social aspect, represented by the additive method, and performance aspect which is articulated by the subtractive method. This shows that in addition to economic information given by this concept, value added also offers social information through identification of the part of the yield that goes to every contributor of the whole process in a company.7 Value added concept has evolved besides its historical principal function in national accounting to several other uses and appl ications in the three; financial, national and managerial accounting. The two sided feature of value added i.e. performance and social characteristic, is depicted clearly by the concrete and possible applications. Hence it has been argued as a way to estimate productivity of an economic body through their way of using productive factors.8 This makes the

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Import Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Import Project - Essay Example 1. SWOT Analysis Firstly, with regards to why this product has been chosen, it has come to the attention of the stakeholders for this group that there exists a very large submarket for goods within the wine community. As a function of the fact that this community consumes goods based upon utility, function, and the level to which glasses and other tools of the trade can increase the overall experience as well as the taste of the wine. Accordingly, the product is relevant due to the fact that it fills a particular need for resilient wine glasses that are neither exorbitantly expensive no so cheap that they can be considered as little more than a novelty item to be disposed of or shelved away. Naturally, with regards to how the product itself is differentiating, this is of course denoted by the product name and description. Whereas there exist many fine examples of extremely expensive wine glasses on the market, there exist relatively few offerings that both serve to integrate consumer needs with the utility of a wine glass that is not highly fragile. In the past, cheap wine glasses had sacrificed form and function for their resilience; utilizing thick glass or crystal in order to prevent breakage; however, due to the new magnesium fusion process whereby the glass is blown, much thinner crystal is able to be used. In such a way, the glasses have the feel of the much more expensive crystal wine glasses, are able to exhibit the same benefits and/or weight, and are several times more resistant to breakage. Naturally, with regards to the simplicity of the product, it is difficult to get much simpler than a glass that displays a high resistance to breakage. Although it may be seen as something of a luxury good, due to the price range, the product itself is basic and simple as a function of what it is intended to do and the overall demand that exists within the market for a product that can integrate with such a need. In such a way, the glasses themselves fall adequate ly between the more expensive examples of fine wine glass crystal that sells for many times more than the going price for these break-resistant offerings. Furthermore, it is the understanding of the analysis that has been performed that the consumer rational to spend a bit more money on the break-resistant wine glasses will be affected by the added value that will be integrated due to the fact that having break-resistant wine glasses will necessarily reduce the overall amount of money spent over time due to the fact that such a high percentage of wine glasses of lower and higher prices tend to break. Furthermore, yet another added value that will help to integrate the product with the consumer is the fact that these glasses are also dishwasher safe. One of the greatest annoyances for individuals that drink a lot of wine is the fact that the best crystal wine glasses are never intended to go in the dish washer and take the high heat and temperatures therein. Naturally, a SWOT analysi s would begin by stating that the strength of the product is the fact that it fills a particular need within the customer base that is currently under-represented. This is accomplished due to the fact that these wine glasses are substantially more resilient than those other products that have been billed as break-resistant in the past. Similarly, the greatest weakness that is exhibited is the fact that very little is known or understood with relation to this product by the

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Analysis of Various Programs Essay Example for Free

Analysis of Various Programs Essay I will produce various systems to manage and run a supermarket. I will use a lot of different programs. Each will be used differently and for various tasks. Some of the packages and programs I will use are: Microsoft Word This program I cannot do without and is most important. I will use this word processing program to type up all of my documentation. Because of its many uses, I can also use this program to make posters, letters etc. The main use for this program, however, will be the word processing. Advantages: * Can change size, font, colour and shape of text. * Can insert pictures that can be resized and moved freely. * Has a formal layout that is easy to use. * Mistakes can be rectified easily. If writing by hand and you make a mistake, you would have to use liquid paper. Using a word processor you can just delete the mistake. * Spelling and grammar checks can be used. * Documents can be changed, saved and loaded an infinite amount of times. * Drafts of documents can be printed and proofread. If any mistakes are made, the document can be reloaded, changed, printed and resaved. * Text and pictures can be moved. Disadvantages: * The whole page cannot be viewed efficiently without first either zooming out or going into Print Preview. * Pictures and text boxes cannot be moved easily. * You must have access to a computer to open or view the document. * Cant put pictures on as easily as a DTP program. Microsoft Publisher This program would be useful for the advertisements and the posters, and possibly the letters. It would be best to use for these tasks as the program was purposely written to perform these tasks. Advantages: * Text boxes and picture boxes can be moved easily and more efficiently than Word. * The whole page can be viewed, zoomed in and zoomed out and still can be used efficiently. * Text can be placed anywhere on the screen instead of in set places on a page (like Word). * Borders can be placed on the page by just outlining a picture box that covers the page. Disadvantages: * Large file size. * Crashes now and again. Microsoft Excel This spreadsheet program is ideal for working out all of my costs. Its mathematical capabilities are very useful for this type of task. I could also use it to make graphs for business and financial statistics. (I could also use Microsoft Works for these tasks) Advantages: * It has the option of typing formulae into the cells. These formulae will perform mathematical calculations that are quicker and easier than working it out in your head. * The formulae in the cells work with each other and with the cells, so if you change a cell or a formula, the other cells with formulae in them will change to compensate. * Can produce graphs with one click of the mouse. * Has a layout that is easy to use and to see. * Can be used to make simple tables. Disadvantages: * I cant think of any, this program has no faults. Microsoft PowerPoint This program is wonderfully useful if you want to make a slideshow. It has the capability of making not just still slides, but slides that animate and move. I could also use it to make little presentations. Advantages: * Slides can be made up of images, text, animations and sounds. * Slides can be animated and changed automatically, making a fully working slide show. * It can be used for advertisements and educational shows. * Its many functions and efficient layout makes making slides easier. * Sound can be used. * Timings and transitions are fully customisable. Disadvantages: * The amount of different controls can be overwhelming. * Large file size can restrict the size of the presentation. Microsoft Works This program is very useful as it has all the major programs fitted into one. It has a Database, Spreadsheet and Word Processor in one. This could be useful in ways described below. Advantages: * Spreadsheets, Databases and Word Documents can be transferred from and to each other without exiting the program.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Middle Eastern History Essay -- essays research papers

1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Statecraft and the unity of state and religion The fact that three quarters of the Koran is focused on civil procedure makes us appreciate how important establishing the state was to Muhammad. He embedded in these procedures in the Koran because he wanted no separation between religion and state. For good reason, having no split between these two facets leaves no gray area of rule that conforms to one system and not the other. He did not want the loyalties of his people to clash between their faith and their government. This achievement originated through the Koran’s integration of scriptures and civil guidelines. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Absence of Clergy The absence of clergy within the Islamic faith is attributed to three causes.  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the early days of Islam, Muhammad would preach in the holy city of Mecca. During this time, Mecca was filled with Christians, Jews, and Pagans. The Christian and Jewish clergymen would mock Muhammad day and night; they discouraged and embarrassed him with hopes to break his will. Its safe to assume that from the start, Muhammad has a negative feel towards clergyman.  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Islamic faith is the much more self-serving than any of the other major religions. You convert yourself, marry yourself, & pray yourself. Muhammad did not feel it was essential or even necessary to institute a higher authority in the place of worship.  §Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before Muhammad become The Prophet, he was very established, and greatly successful as a businessman. And his business intellect led him to the conclusion that it would be a waste of funds to setup a higher authority in the mosques. After all if he were to succeed at spreading Islamic influence into the Persian and Arabian Empires, he would need all the funds he could get.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   3) Law Issues a.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Legal procedures The Islamic judicial system has somewhat a resemblance to the American judicial system. The greatest similarity is the practice that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Another likeness is the practice of Habeas Corpus. This provides that no person shall be held against his or her will without being formally charged with a crime. However, a major difference in regards to legal procedure between our two cult... ...nbsp;  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Toleration of other religions and traditions Muhammad the statesman felt that it would have been ridiculous and unproductive to be abusive of other religions. After all, Muslim religion was built on Christian and Jewish faith. To attack the foundation, would be undermining the very faith of Islam. Because Islam is both a religion and a state, Muhammad felt it would be easier to run his state welcoming other religions. This principle allowed the great Muslim conquests into the Arabian and Persian territories to be so successful. If communities did not convert, they simply followed the credo of Islamic statehood and kept their religion. 9)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Education Before Muhammad was a successful, lucrative businessman, he was a poor, illiterate orphan. In fact, when Muhammad first received revelations from Allah, he wasn’t educated enough to transcribe them on paper. Just as the absence of prejudice amongst genders and classes, the availability of high education to all is also a pillar in the Islam way of life. If you are of Muslim faith, the Koran states that it is a requirement to become educated.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

No Easy Task

The well being of a nation begins with the development of its younger generation. They are the ones that will assume the task of running and maintaining the well being of this nation in the future. Unfortunately the task of to lead these youths in the right direction is no easy task. Numerous articles and studies have confirmed that our youth problems is a rising issue and should receive extra attention. Youth problems range from poor school achievement to youth pregnancy, crime, and drug addictions. Many experts have noted that one of the major causes that contribute to youth having problems is the lack of strong family value and substantial home-life. Youth belonging to this category are normally ones that have single parents or weak or uncaring parents. The above perspective along with some other variables, such as income level, media influence, and educational level, should explain why the youth problem phenomenon occurs. One of the fundamental ways to view why youth develop problems is to view their family structure. Many youth do not have what is considered to be a healthy or complete family. For example, if a youth is raised by a single parent, he or she may lack many of the family essentials, such family warmth, love sharing, or normal family life. The youth may also develop shame feelings among his or her peers. Another scenario might be a youth raised by weak and uncaring parents. The youth might not receive the adequate attention and guidance necessary for their thoughts, actions, and perhaps wrongdoing. In this case the youth may develop two types of feelings. They will either feel abandon because of the parents uncaring nature, or, the youth might feel exceptional freedom because the parents simply is weak or do not care. In both cases, youths having such family structures develops much higher percentage to differentiate themselves from their common peers. The second variable that seems to have a large influence as to why youth develop problems is the income level in which they reside. Income level is one of the issues that can t be changed so easily. Government aid and subsidies could only do so much in the aid of poverty stricken neighborhoods. Generally a great percentage of youth growing up in such a poor neighborhoods have a higher chance in exposing themselves to the numerous problems, such as, pregnancy, drugs, crimes. It is unfortunate, but no doubt that environment in which these youth grew up in are surrounded by such factors. Government funding and local group activist have trying to cure these blighted neighborhoods. Local activity centers, and youth organizations, and schools are fighting there ways into these area in hope to help give youth of these communities a better chance to succeed. Another variable that should be considered in why youth develop problems is media influences. Like Debra J. Saunders noted in her December 1999 editorial, youth are constantly being expose to the electronic media set out to influence youth to follow certain trends and mode of thinking. This is very true in this cyberspace, electronic media era. The Internet, television, and other media unconsciously place many messages in the minds of the youths. The youth are spending more of their time attracted to these media than they are in their necessary duties. The power or the media is so great that many of the youths mode of thinking are drawn to the character lifestyles of movies idols. The media have directly manipulated what is reality and what is fantasy in the mind of the youths. Therefore youths often try to be somebody or do something they saw from these electronic media exposures. Perhaps that the numerous in school shootings by teenage youths across the nation are the indirect results from too much media exposures toward youths. The final area that seems to contributes to youth problems are the educational level in which the youths are associated with. Educational levels vary greatly in schools that youths attend. The educational achievement accomplished by students determines if new educational programs are needed to aid underachieving students build there necessary skills to advance. Because the lack of such programs in some school, many youths in this category, find it difficult to continue their educational course. Therefore the rate of youth problems is the dependent variable of the drop out rate. Many students choose to alternative course of action if they cannot succeed in school. Their minimum knowledge is insufficient to land them much hope in making it the real world. Consequently problems are prone to along the route for these youths. We have briefly looked into the issue on contributing factors in youth problems. The variables we discussed are family structures, income level, media influences, and educational levels. It is important to acknowledge how these links intertwine in the life of a developing youth. Though we cannot simply generalize that a youth will develop problems once they have encounters with any or all of these variables for there are numerous successful examples for us to refer upon. But numerous studies have shown that the risk for youth to develop problems such as teen pregnancy, crime, drugs, and violence is at a higher rate when they are being raised in an environment that contains the variable we have discussed today.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Assignment On Unilever Bangladesh Ltd Essay

Introduction Unilever is a multinational corporation, formed of British and Dutch parentage, that owns many of the world’s consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever employed 174,000 people and had worldwide revenue of â‚ ¬40.5 billion in 2008.[1] Unilever is a dual-listed company consisting of Unilever NV in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and Unilever PLC in London, United Kingdom. This arrangement is similar to that of Reed Elsevier, and that of Royal Dutch Shell prior to their unified structure. Both Unilever companies have the same directors and effectively operate as a single business. The current non-executive Chairman of Unilever N.V. and PLC is Michael Treschow while Paul Polman is Group Chief Executive. History of Unilever Unilever was created in 1930 by the amalgamation of the operations of British soapmaker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie, a merger as palm oil was a major raw material for both margarines and soaps and could be imported more efficiently in larger quantities. In the 1930s the business of Unilever grew and new ventures were launched in Latin America. In 1972 Unilever purchased A&W Restaurants’ Canadian division but sold its shares through a management buyout to former A&W Food Services of Canada CEO Jeffrey Mooney in July 1996. By 1980 soap and edible fats contributed just 40% of profits, compared with an original 90%. In 1984 the company bought the brand Brooke Bond (maker of PG Tips tea). In 1987 Unilever strengthened its position in the world skin care market by acquiring Chesebrough-Ponds, the maker of Ragu, Pond’s, Aqua-Net, Cutex Nail Polish, and Vaseline. In 1989 Unilever bought Calvin Klein Cosmetics, Faberge, and Elizabeth Arden, but the latter was later sold (in 2000) to FFI Fragrances. In 1996 Unilever purchased Helene Curtis Industries, giving the company â€Å"a powerful new presence in the United States shampoo and deodorant market†. The purchase brought Unilever the Suave and Finesse hair-care product brands and Degree deodorant brand. Mission of Unilever Our Vitality mission commits us to growing our business by addressing health and nutrition issues. We focus on priorities including children and family nutrition, cardiovascular health and weight management. The growing demand for more Vitality in life provides us with a huge opportunity for growth. The way we work and the products we develop are shaped by consumer trends, along with the need to help raise health and hygiene standards in both the developing and industrialised regions of the world. Mission Statement of Unilever is: â€Å"feel good, look good/and get more out of life† Purpose of Unilever At the heart of the corporate purpose, which guides us in our approach to doing business, is the drive to serve consumers in a unique and effective way. This purpose has been communicated to all employees worldwide. Values of Unilever As a responsible corporate entity, Unilever Bangladesh aims to play its part in addressing environmental and social concerns through local actions and in partnership with local government and organizations Range of Unilever Our work with academic groups and other third-parties ensures that we are connected with the very best and most up-to-date scientific thinking. Using the synergies across R&D, we define and design technology that brings vitality to life, delivering a continuous stream of innovation to our business. This map shows our six principal R&D sites.

Friday, November 8, 2019

The Royal Order of Adjectives

The Royal Order of Adjectives The Royal Order of Adjectives The Royal Order of Adjectives By Jacquelyn Landis Have you ever wondered why we instinctively say â€Å"the shiny new red car† and not â€Å"the red new shiny car†? The reason is that there is a royal order for adjectives, and most native English speakers learn to use it as we’re forming our first complete sentences. Adjectives fall into categories, and those categories comprise the royal order: Determiner (articles and other limiters: the book, your car) Observation or opinion (a genuine fraud, an interesting book, an expensive watch) Size and Shape (tiny, fat, square) Age (young, old, new) Color (blue, sea-green) Origin (American, Chinese) Material (describing what something is made of: silk, copper, wooden) Qualifier (final adjective, often an integral part of the noun: vacation resort, wedding dress, race car) Typically, writers know better than to string together more than two or three adjectives at a time, and we don’t seem to struggle too much in getter their order straight. Where it gets confusing is in deciding when to use commas to separate a string of adjectives. You probably already know that equal adjectives should be separated by commas, as in this example: The singer wore a beaded, feathered costume. â€Å"Beaded† and â€Å"feathered† are equal adjectives, ones that belong to the same category (material) in the royal order. You could switch their position, and the rhythm of the sentence would still be correct. However, when you create a string of adjectives, be mindful of both their proper order and of the fact that you needn’t use commas to separate adjectives of a different category. The singer wore an antique purple beaded, feathered costume. Only one comma is necessary in the above sentence because â€Å"beaded† and â€Å"feathered† are the only adjectives belonging to the same category. If you’re ever in doubt about where to place commas in a string of adjectives, refer to the royal order. It’ll be your faithful guide. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 Idioms with HeartRules for Capitalization in TitlesEmpathic or Empathetic?

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

The eNotes Blog Reading Round-Up April

Reading Round-Up April We asked everyone in the office to talk about their favorite books from last month. Take a look at our favorite reads from April, and let us know in the comments which books youll be adding to your to-read list. From poetry to physics, theres something for everyone here! Human Hours by Catherine Barnett Page count: 80 Genre: Poetry Publish date: 2018 I picked up Catherine Barnetts Human Hours after hearing her read her work here in Seattle. I was first taken by her reading voice- quiet and carefully holding the poems words- and I find that the experience of reading her poems on the page is similar. Her work is arresting in its simplicity and directness, its refusal to hide that it seeks something. Even when it doesnt explicitly ask, or when it isnt set off by a question mark, her poetry is a question of sorts, an invitation to hushed conversation. The first line of Barnetts poem â€Å"Epistemology† reads, â€Å"Mostly I’d like to feel a little less, know a little more.† And her poems, for me, stitch the gap between feeling and knowing. They can make emotion seem orderly, for a moment; they can make thought felt. - Emma, Editorial Intern The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene Page count: 569 Genre: Nonfiction; Science Publish date: 2003 This March, I read the Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene. Theoretical physics is a difficult topic for most people, but Greene is one of the few authors whos able to make it accessible to the average reader. In this book, he launches into an exploration of spacetime that challenges our fundamental conceptions of reality. His use of metaphor and analogy allows for a reader with little to no background in science to follow complex topics such as Einsteins theory of general relativity, quantum mechanics, and string theory. While the book is overall accessible, it ramps up in difficulty as it goes along, and the last section is particularly challenging and requires multiple reads to understand. Still, the topic is fascinating, and Greene is a fantastic writer. This book will challenge you and open your mind to new, unbelievable ideas. - Anna, Editorial Intern Good Omens by Neil Gaiman Terry Pratchett Page count: 412 Genre: Fiction; Fantasy Publish date: 1990 After trying- and failing- to read through a nonfiction book in March, I looked to my fellow book-loving colleagues to point me in the right direction and found myself speeding through Good Omens. The novel puts a spin on the classic â€Å"end of the world† scenario and asks, â€Å"What if no one knew what they were doing?† Heaven and hell behave akin to disgruntled colleagues or roommates, demons from hell don’t actually know how the world works, and an angel loves sushi too much to want Armageddon to occur. Gaiman’s and Pratchett’s writing styles perfectly complement one another, and I found myself laughing out loud while reading this book. I very much enjoyed Good Omens- it was the perfect novel to get me back in the swing of reading. - Kate, Marketing Coordinator The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders Page count: 368 Genre: Science Fiction Publish date: 2019 Set on a tidally locked planet where humanity has settled in the distant future, Charlie Jane Anders’s second novel explores themes of colonialism, trauma, climate change, and social justice, and carries icy echoes of Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic The Left Hand of Darkness. Anders has a gift not only for wildly imaginative world-building but for revealing her characters’ (often troubled) interior states with vivid realism; there were moments when I had to put the book down and take a deep breath. There’s bleakness and brutality in the future Anders has imagined, but there’s beauty too, as well as dark humor. Most strikingly, The City in the Middle of the Night offers the possibility of a paradigm shift in the idea that â€Å"to join with others to shape a future is the holiest act. This is hard work, and it never stops being hard, but this collective dreaming/designing is the only way we get to keep surviving.† - Jules, Editor Witchmark by C. L. Polk Page count: 318 Genre: Fantasy; Romance Publish date: 2018 This April, I read C. L. Polk’s debut novel Witchmark. Set in a charming world that combines magic and modernity with the aesthetics of Edwardian England, it follows Dr. Miles Singer, a psychiatrist in an underfunded veteran’s hospital, as he tries to escape his past and conceal his magical abilities. However, when a dying patient- and fellow mage- reveals Miles’s true identity to a handsome and mysterious stranger named Tristan, he is forced to decide between maintaining his anonymity and learning to control his abilities. From there, Miles and Tristan become embroiled in an increasingly high-stakes conspiracy that reveals shocking truths about the corruption plaguing their society. Equal parts romance, murder-mystery, paranormal drama, and political thriller, Witchmark left me both satisfied and wanting more. I will definitely be picking up the sequel, Stormsong, when it is released in 2020.    - Marissa, Edorial Intern Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett Page count: 265 Genre: Fiction; Fantasy Publish date: 1988 â€Å"Theres nothing wrong with cackling. In moderation.† - Esme Weatherwax I was given Wyrd Sisters for my birthday and now all I want to do is read Pratchetts Witches series over and over again. Wyrd Sisters features Esme â€Å"Granny† Weatherwax- now one of my favorite characters- and the two other members of the infamous Lancre coven, Gytha â€Å"Nanny† Ogg and Magrat Garlick. Its a fun take of a motley of Shakespeare plays, notably Macbeth and Hamlet: we get the three witches from the former and a play within a play for the latter. This book had me cackling out loud so frequently that I was side-eyed and shushed more than once. Ill never forget Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Oggs utter confusion watching a play for the first time (the concepts of acting and fourth walls and such are completely unknown to them), and young Magrat nervously informing Granny that, in theatre, â€Å"all the women are played by men†- because Granny Weatherwax has â€Å"Views.† Im so excited that I have four more â€Å"Witches† books to read, though Im struggling with whether to greedily gobble or relishingly savor the rest of the series. - Sam, Head of Marketing The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston Page count: 204 Genre: Autobiography Publish date: 1975 This month, I read The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. The book is a series of stories based on Kingston’s experience as a Chinese-American woman and focuses in detail on her mother’s experience both in China and in the United States. While partially autobiographical, Kingston incorporates elements of fiction into the narrative, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. It took me a little while to get into this book, but I ended up enjoying Kingston’s stories. I was especially interested in reading about the narrator’s mother, whose outlook on life is complicated and unconventional. The stories detail the difficulty of bridging traditional and contemporary values, illustrated by the narrator’s perception of her mother. The beautiful prose made it all the more readable. - Mary, Editorial Intern The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton Page count: 351 Genre: Fiction; Classic Publish date: 1905 This April, I read Edith Whartons The House of Mirth, which tells the story of Lily Bart, a self-possessed socialite looking for a comfortable life without compromising her values- which, lets be honest, sounds perfectly reasonable. However, we see Lilys desires contend time and again with the restrictions imposed on her class and, in particular, her gender in Gilded Age New York. Wharton’s novel is a heartbreaking tragedy and poignant indictment of a society whose debilitating limitations destroy a spirited woman. - Wes, Managing Editor

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Negotiations and strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Negotiations and strategy - Essay Example Due to this increase, News Corporation is currently liquid with an estimated cash flow of approximately $2.4 billion. Analysts believe that the cash flow of operations will increase to $3 billion within the next 2 years. This cash flow allows News Corporation to have greater flexibility to invest in capital-oriented projects as well as to prepare for the upcoming challenges it might face. On the downside, News Corporation has a large outstanding debt amounting to $11 billion. It is speculated that inflation of interest rates would increase its debt and cause a negative impact on its operating income. However, history tells us that the company was able to survive the largest bankruptcy restructuring in history when it suffered major setbacks in the 1990s. Not only did it survived the restructuring, it also bounced back to generate a 315% increase in its net profits in the mid-90s. 4. Under the license permit, the creative team of the Neighborhood obtains the total freedom of all necessary decisions included but not limited to the cast selection, crewmembers, cutting and editing. At this point in the negotiation, we would like to discuss further the creative issues involving the format of the show. We feel uncomfortable with Fox Entertainment’s proposal to change the format of the show to suit their Fox Sports Network programming. The fact that the is no clear showing that the focus on the lives of purely high school athletes in the inner city might prove to be quite limiting on our part. Furthermore, there are no current bases that will give us some ideas of whether or not such change would prove to be profitable. The current format of the neighborhood is analogues to the plot of Laguna Beach: The Real orange County, which is gathering huge following at the moment. To recall, Laguna Beach revolves around the lives of upper class

Friday, November 1, 2019

Marketing Research in Theory and Practice Essay

Marketing Research in Theory and Practice - Essay Example Marketing Research in Theory and Practice Before embarking upon discussing the research report on the given topic, it would be appropriate to define some concepts and terms used in the present study. â€Å"Marketing research†, according to the American Marketing Association, â€Å"is the function that links the consumer, customer and the public to the marketer through information-information is used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, evaluate and refine marketing actions; monitor market performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process.† In other words, marketing research refers to the systematic procedure for the collection and analysis of data regarding some specific market product. It enables the manufacturers, industries and companies to have a comprehensive and analytical assessment in respect of the views, preferences, requirements as well as prospects and perils of the consumers, retailers and stakeholders involved in sales and purchase of their product. The data gathered and interpreted during marketing research significantly supports the organizations draw out future plans according to the changing trends a nd scenario of the market. It is considerably helpful in enhancing the organizations’ volume of production and sales. â€Å"Marketing research† Zaidi & Javed opine, â€Å"concentrates on data collection related to market product while interacting with the consumers, gathering information from them and interpreting results about various aspects of a market product.†