Gender Stereotypes in Gary Winick’s Bride Wars Essay Example for Free

Gender Stereotypes in Gary Winick’s Bride Wars Essay 2009 has not exactly been a fruitful year—so far—for the American filmmaking industry, at least in terms of quality and originality. If the latter part of 2008, as in most years, was marked by the release of some of the most memorable films in history, the first four months of 2009 have mostly made-for-children movies, romantic comedies, and guy-bonding flicks. Bride Wars is a relatively superficial take on women’s obsession with weddings, and is currently ranked at number nine in the list of top-grossing films worldwide. Directed by Gary Winick and starring Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson, Bride Wars narrates the lifelong friendship of Emma and Liv—women in their mid-20s who, as young girls, made plans for almost identical weddings. When they hire the same wedding planner who schedules them both on the same time, day, and venue, the conflict begins and the ‘wars’ take place. A series of impossible schemes hatched by each to hinder the other’s plans ensues, yet ultimately end in happy endings for both. Despite its arguable shallowness and lack of believability, Bride Wars may still be evaluated according to specific themes inherent in the discussion of the female psyche: conforming to cultural and social traditions, particularly in terms of gender roles and expectations. The pivotal scene is revealed at the very beginning of the film, as the young Emma and Liv are shown with their respective mothers at The Plaza Hotel, an upscale location for weddings. They both witness a newly-married couple—the groom looking dashing in a suit and the bride in an exquisite gown—in a moment of utter romance and love; this singular image drives both girls to make a pact to have their own weddings in the same place. But more than the desire to be wed at The Plaza, the most notable element in this scene is the accepted—even expected—notion of marriage, without essentially considering the function of the process as a partnership. By being presented with an image that fully conforms to the traditional concept of women and their social roles, the young girls immediately associate this with their own goals and ambitions. Though later scenes show how they both pursued their individual interests—public relations for Liv and teaching for Emma—it is apparent how getting married is still their priority. The concept of marriage in this film is limited to the actual wedding, with a few flimsy forays into the discussion of sharing a life with another person. That first image set the boundaries of the ideology chosen by the filmmaker, as evidenced by the dreamlike treatment accorded to it; it sends the message of perfection and idealism as befitting women by being a bride. After all the events that had taken place, Emma and Liv kept their friendship and even resulted in Emma marrying Liz’ brother Nate. Unsurprisingly, the last scene proved to be the answer to the first—with the two women meeting after their honeymoons, and revealing that they were both pregnant. It is evident how this scene was meant to provide the punchline to the film, leaving its audience assuming that the same ‘war’ would take place later. However, it also reinforces the established parameters set by weddings, since pregnancy and giving birth is the traditional next step after the union. The happy occasion of revelation and reconnection exhibits the place of childbirth in the context of the female role, yet it fails again to make any argument regarding the personal significance of bearing children. Bride Wars, though peppered with pup culture references and modern concepts, is centuries behind in terms of gender issues and breaking free from stereotypes. Light romances and comedies are not strictly confined to such superficial subjects, which shows why Bride Wars is a film only meant for commercial objectives. How We Think, Speak, and Feel: An Understanding of Human Behavior in Three Films Visitors from another planet are perhaps the best test subjects for the assessment of texts, particularly films. Since cinema is a depiction of human behavior and portrays concepts gleaned from human experience, having extraterrestrials view films—given that they understand the language—will allow them to achieve a sense of what and how humans are. Rather than take them through a historical representation of human life through films, it would be best to introduce them to the inherent traits found in most cultures—through intelligence, language, and psychology. The three films that may be able to communicate these are A Beautiful Mind for intelligence, When Harry Met Sally for language, and Doubt for psychology and its permutations. Ron Howard’s 2001 film A Beautiful Mind is based on the life of gifted scientist and mathematician John Forbes Nash, and narrates his journey into schizophrenia and depression. But the film is also a real-life account of a man given an extraordinary amount of talent, which shows the extent to which the human mind can progress. This information would be essential to the extraterrestrial visitors, for it will let them know how humans think; whether it reveals similarities or not is the ultimate goal of the exercise. Since Nash’s expertise is in numbers and formulas, logic is the knowledge represented in the film, which may be more ‘universal’ compared to politics, economics, or other contextual topics. In the film, Nash is shown as having his own world apart from the people around him, only surrounding himself with equations and other methods pertaining to scientific and explainable phenomena. This is clearly presented in the scene where he writes his formulas on a glass window, consumed by the process and unaffected by his environment. Seeing a human engage in such intellectual activity may inform extraterrestrials of the workings of the human mind, specifically this advanced depiction of thinking processes. On top of that, Nash’s account of seeing UFOs and aliens may appear to be a point of connection with this particular audience, as it shows how human validate their existence. The 2008 film Doubt, directed by John Patrick Shanley, is set in a Catholic Church in New York in 1964. During this time, the notions of faith and religion were primarily dictated by priests—portrayed as almost immortal beings who could do no wrong. However, assumptions about the unusual behavior of Father Flynn, the parish priest, were made by the nuns tasked to care for and educate the children in the school run by the church. The result was doubt in authority and in the general power of organized religion, and eventually in the faith of the nuns in their chosen vocation. Introducing the alien guests to these concepts will acquaint them with the complex values and traditions of humans, which are directly associated with the idea of faith in a Higher Being. The image of Father Flynn is meant to symbolize faith itself, and accusing him of improper behavior—in this case, an illicit relationship with a young boy—shows how humans are capable of acting against established rules. What the aliens may glean from this could be the debate between the human need for something to believe in, whether seen or unseen, and the alternative human quality of logical analysis based on observable phenomena. When Harry Met Sally, released in 1989 and directed by Nora Ephron, is one of the most effective portrayals of the differences between men and women. Language is one of the issues illustrated by the film, and it would benefit the extraterrestrials to see how men and women think and express themselves differently. The film narrates the friendship of Harry and Sally, which eventually ended in romance after years of struggling to keep it platonic. The iconic scene where Harry and Sally are in a restaurant arguing over sexual attitudes of men and women reveals both mindset and language, as their discussion is progressed by their opposing views and the final act of Sally faking an orgasm. Aliens and non-humans will find this portrayal extremely significant, for it almost shows how men and women are of different life forms as well. It also illustrates the mating habits of both men and women, which may be similar to their own. These three films will definitely equip the extraterrestrials with enough information and knowledge to guide them toward a better understanding of human behavior. But while these films tackle some of the basic realities present in most societies all over the world, more complicated concepts—such as war and poverty—can only be understood after fully comprehending the abilities and capacities of humans, since these are effects of a misguided use of innate human traits. References Ephron, N. (Dir. ) (1989). When Harry Met Sally. Columbia Pictures. Howard, R. (Dir. ) (2001). A Beautiful Mind. Universal Pictures. Shanley, J. P. (Dir. ) (2008). Doubt. Miramax Films. Winick, G. (Dir. ) (2009). Bride Wars. 20th Century Fox.

Collective Memory :: essays research papers

Anthony D. Smith who wrote â€Å"National Identity and Myths of Ethnic Descent† discussed how myths are formed and how they can lead to the ethnic regeneration within a group of people. He associated his ideas on ethnic regeneration with the countries of Turkey, Greece, England, France, and Israel. His ideas clearly outlined the steps that are taken to regenerate when people are influence by myths created sometimes thousands of years ago in such cases as seen by Jews. There were eight steps which all of these nation-states were said to have followed, in order to be where they are today. Of these eight steps I do not agree with the one that says, â€Å"they designate a space and time for their action.† I do not feel that a specific time is designated. Instead I feel that the time is determined at a moment’s notice. This can be seen presently when referring to the future state of Palestine. The date for this states declaration of existence has changed numerous time s during the past few years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yael Zerubavel writes about Collective remembering and Zionist reconstruction of the past. I do not agree with the historian that Zerubavel talks about in his writings. I feel that Halbwach’s view of history expressed as â€Å"collective memory†. Collective memory is what gives a society is goals that they must seek in the future. It also creates a bond between the people of that society. As a result it leads to these people wanting to settle together in a nation-state. The Zionist movement is an example of something caused by collective memory. Through generations the Diaspora and other events in the lives of Jews have been passed on, which eventually led Jews to create a homeland in 1948.

South African Airways Case Analysis

South African airways Presented by: Hadeir Shahin Khaya Ngqula, the CEO of South African airways is facing a big challenge, which is the striking of SAA ground staff and cabin crews, this action won’t affect only the overall performance of the company and slows down operations, but it will have a negative long term consequences as well, it may affect the company’s reputation, and thus affecting it’s prominence and perceived quality in the mind of the public.The major problem of SAA is the lack of trust, justice, ethics and commitment in the company, as the employees don’t trust there mangers, they believe that the decision making process is not fair, and managers are always violating the accepted norms of morality within the company.Firstly the absences of the authority’s trustworthiness negatively affected the employees, as mangers failed to show employees there capability of taking over the helm specially that executive’s lack aviation back ground, also employees didn’t perceive the authority to be benevolent or to have integrity, and that was clear when Ngqula decided to cut his management stuff in half to control costs, and suspending four managers for misconduct and failure to prevent wasteful expenditure, at the same time he was criticized by the media for incurring luxury travel expenses, more over his strategy revolved around efficiency, growth and outstanding service, without emphasizing about being helpful, supportive or loyal to his employees apart from any selfish or profit motive, all those factors resulted in the fact that SAA’s employees lack of trust to their managers. Secondly the country’s history over the past years regarding the racial discrimination influenced the companies’ policies which resulted in the feeling of injustice and a biased code of ethics among employees, in addition to, the pay raise issue. Despite of the good performance and the growth of the company, mana gers are referring to the fuel price as a constrain that preventing them from raising the pay, as a result employees belief that the decision outcomes are not allocated using the proper norms because they have contributed to the company’s good performance and they deserve more outcome specially that the company had a year profit of $155 million and can easily afford the wage increase, also knowing that there managers are spending money on helicopter travels and luxurious hotel rooms made them feel that they are not receiving distributive justice. As a result of the former problems, employees don’t feel committed to the company, and therefore Ngqula has to fix those problems by regaining employees trust and treating them fairly, this can be done by: approving the 8% increase in wages and start to implement an evaluation performance plan, in order to keep track of employees performance, and lay a roadmap for planning and development.He should include employees training p rogram in his development strategy, this program should not only stress on their skills but, on the importance of positive communication and culture of kindness in the company as well; to increase SAA’s employees commitment. It’s known that integrity should come from the top managers first, that’s why telling the truth to the employees and sticking to promises will be a good start to regain their trust, also the company should introduces a solid code of ethics that prohibits racial discrimination, protects employees’ rights and preventing the misuse of the companies’ resources. Finally introducing different ways to keep employees motivated such as bonuses, pay raise and recognition, this way employees performance will increase, they will be more competitive, creative and committed to the work.

Hip Hop Music and its Impact on American Culture - 2432 Words

It was a Tuesday morning in the Information Technology class at State College. An older student was doing his best to ignore the loud, obscene disruption occurring next to him, the result of two younger students ignoring the lesson at hand. Finally, he gave in and spoke up against their sanctimonious display, and was quickly bullied and threatened with violence in front of the entire class. Both aggressors exemplified and embodied every aspect of the hip-hop culture: Ebonics spewing out of their mouths, expensive and baggy clothing draped and sagging from their bodies complete with headphones around their neck blaring expletive laden song lyrics. The dynamic duo mentioned here certainly aren’t the only members of this ilk, nor are they†¦show more content†¦Now ask yourself, what dominated black airwaves in the 60’s and 70’s? During this time of social upheaval, were Dr. King and Huey Newton and Angie Davis listening to songs of women holding a â€Å"mot or booty contest† (Too $hort)? Did they turn on the radio and embrace the struggle of life that blacks, 40 years after the civil rights movement, portray as â€Å"the way it is†? The answer simply, is no. Throughout history, when times were excruciatingly hard, people have listened to positive, up building music to keep their minds off of their current situation, not to embrace it as an excuse to ease their conscience of their misdeeds. Still, some people argue that rappers like 50 Cent and Twista and Too $hort are just simply bringing to light the state of mind and life that exists within the ghetto. But were conditions this bad during the civil rights movement? Dr. King and his followers only got sprayed with fire hoses, attacked by dogs and lynch mobs right? That’s not â€Å"real† though. That won’t give you â€Å"street cred.† The Man wasn’t trying to hold them down and keep them in their place right? And yet somehow, they were abl e to rise higher than any other before them without a ghetto anthem singing about the death of police as true liberation. This ‘hood mentality arguably becameShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Violent Music On The Youth Culture1316 Words   |  6 Pageseffect of violent music, both positive and negative towards African American men, women, and children. The articles also provides information that will support the reason how Hip-hop has such an impact on the youth culture, how Hip-hop is valued, and how the music and its lyrics are interpreted. Changing Images of Violence Rap music lyrics: 1979-1997 Hip- hop has both a negative and positive impact on African American lives. Over the past three decades, Hip-hop has arisen asRead MoreThe Hip Hop Generation And Its Impact On Society1371 Words   |  6 PagesArgumentative Essay 6 December 2015 The Hip Hop Generation and its Impact on Society. Throughout history, Hip Hop has manifest into more than a simple form of life, but as a powerful cultural movement. Hip Hop plays a major part in African American culture, dialogue, fashion, and self expression. Today, Hip Hop has a joined people of many nationalities, races, and ethnicities as a society. The Hip Hop Generation has begun to redefine African American cultural norms and practices in AmericaRead MoreSomething for Nothing: The Art of Rap1032 Words   |  5 Pagesof Hip-Hop has never been as great as it is in this day and age. Often dismissed by a majority of America as simply a fad, hip hop has become a global phenomenon and has arguably been the most popular form of music for the past three decades. Hip-Hop has influenced art, language, fashion, culture, and sports. This music has been used to teach elementary level children, it has been taught in undergraduate universities and serves as a bridge for hundreds of philanthropies. The influence of Hip-HopRead MoreHi p Hop Culture And Rap Music996 Words   |  4 PagesOver the past few years, hip-hop culture and rap music has stirred up controversy throughout America and it’s media. Whether it is Dr. Dre’s 1992 hit single â€Å"A Nigga Witta Gun† or Bobby Shmurda’s 2014 hit single â€Å"Hot Nigga† that boasts about shooting other African-Americans, it seems that the media has denounced the hip-hop culture and criticized them for the continuous increase on inner-city youth violence. If people would just listen closer to hip-hop’s message instead of assuming it has negativeRead MoreThe Mafia s Influence On Hip Hop1603 Words   |  7 PagesThe Mafia’s influence on Hip-Hop In Rap, there is a unique culture, history, social impact and influence on society. Hip-Hop/Rap is one of the most popular genre of music. It has helped shape the pop culture into what it is today. What is popular culture? The ideas, activities or products, which are popular among the general mass. In today’s pop culture, one subject that is at the top of the list is hip-hop/rap. Hip-Hop music highlights verses consisting of slang and catchy phrases, which someRead MoreThe Effect of Hip-Hop on Female AAE Speakers Essay1044 Words   |  5 Pagespopular RB/Hip-Hop songs in 2013. Because hip-hop is a very large part of the African American culture, and many speakers of African American English (AAE) are portrayed through these songs, women are often highly influenced by the objectification of their bodies in hip-hop songs. Since the emergence of the hip-hop genre in popular culture in the 1960s and 70s, women’s bodies have been sexually objectified through this music. Al though the impact of the sexualization of women’s bodies in hip-hop songsRead MoreThe Birth Of Hip Hop Essay1695 Words   |  7 Pagesthe birth of hip-hop was actually in 1520 on Sedgwick Avenue. DJ Kool Herc was acknowledging as the founding father of hip-hop at the time because of his unique ear of hearing and creating different music. It’s very rare that people will mention this because at the time hip-hop wasn’t a force in the music industry until the late 1990’s. It’s been approximately 30 years since the pertinent genre was actually recognized for its production in the music business. Over the time, hip-hop became legendaryRead MoreEssay on The Globalization of Hip Hop Music1498 Words   |  6 PagesAccording to Wikipedia, Hip-hop music, also called rap music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, breaking/dancing, and graffiti writing. Hip hop is also characterized by these other elements: sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing. Hip hop music developed from partyRead MoreWhat is Hip Hop?1057 Words   |  5 Pagescontroversy regarding the derogative nature of Hip-hop, One cannot downplay the cultural influences that hip-hop has impressed on the world. Merriam-Webster defines hip-hop as the stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rap (citation). Although the conventional definition of hip-hop is generally correct, it does not adequately portray the gravity of the movement. Coined by the urban youth, Hip-hop has forced its way to the pinnacle of mainstream America. Hip-hop’s massive influence on the EnglishRead MoreHip Hop : The Rise Of The Post Hip Rap Generation1168 Words   |  5 Pagesis the author of It’s Bigger than Hip-Hop: The Rise of the Post Hip-Hop Generation. In this article, Asante predicts that the post-hip-hop generation will embrace social justice issues including women’s rights, gay’s rights, and the anti-war movement. To challenge these stereotypes, As ante speaks to the personification of the African-American ghetto and the need to stop glorifying black suffering. For Asante, the post-hip-hop generation no longer expects hip-hop to mobilize disenfranchised youth

Cardon Carpet Mills - 1345 Words

Marketing Cluster May 9, 2012 Cardon Carpet Mills, Inc. Case Study The Cardon Carpet Mills Company is a carpet company that distributes its line through seven different floorcovering wholesalers around the United States. This company focuses on manufacturing a full line of medium to high priced carpet primarily used residentially. The senior executives, looking to integrate direct distribution and bypassing wholesalers, are seeking the best outlet for increasing profit. With increased pressure from retailers to shave their profit margins to accommodate pricing demands the wholesalers wanted Cardon Carpet Mills to consider a reduction in its prices. This will play a large part in how the company will decide if direct distribution is a†¦show more content†¦So far, the company has stayed afloat with the 4,000 retail accounts and advertising strategies. However, if Cardon Carpet Mills decides to establish distribution centers, they have opportunities in other markets such as Dallas and Atlanta. This alternat ive will add to their expenses as well as cause a rift in their long-term relationship with the seven wholesalers, so it is important to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages to continuing with current wholesalers or opening more warehouses. Porter’s five forces can be used by senior management to assist in the decision-making process on whether or not to venture into direct distribution. The first force to be evaluated is the threat of new entrants into the floorcovering market. Cardon Carpet Mills must be aware of the likelihood that new competition may enter the market and target their customer. In the floorcovering market, however, Cardon Carpet Mills does not need to put much energy into preparing for new entrants. The number of competitors began to shrink in the 1980s due to mergers and acquisitions. The number of floorcovering manufacturers decreased from over 300 in the 1980s to near 100 by 2000 (Kerin and Peterson). The demand for floorcoverings has decreased enough for Cardon Carpet Mills to observe that the attraction to the industry is minimal for new entrants as well as existing companies. The second force for management to consider is the existingShow MoreRelatedCardon Carpet Case Analysis2378 Words   |  10 Pagescompany Cardon Carpet Mills, Inc. is a privately held manufacturer of a full line of medium-to high-priced carpet primarily for the residential segment. Given recent developments within the floor covering industry Robert Meadows, the president of Cardon Carpet Mills, Inc is considering the possibility of establishing distribution centers or wholesale operations for the company. II. Situation Analysis Industry Background Wholesale and retail distribution in the U.S. carpet and rug industry

Essay on Abortion - 2716 Words

Abortion is a very controversial subject that has been continually argued over for the past few years and probably many years to come. The main controversy is should abortion be legalized? First before we get into the many sides of abortion we must first define abortion. Abortion is the destruction of the fetus or unborn child while the child is still in the mothers womb. This can be done by almost anyone from the mother herself to back alley abortions and even to abortions by clinics set up especially for this purpose. There are two sides to this abortion topic the PRO-LIFE which is those who are against abortion altogether and the PRO-CHOICE or those who believe it is the womans right to choose if she wants to have an abortion.†¦show more content†¦A woman has been raped and made pregnant: quot;Oh, shes got to have an abortion.quot; No one has studied the rape and incest victims needs; abortion is presumed to fill her needs.quot; Various studies and research indicate that rape and incest victims fall into a high-risk category of abortion. But what happens after a victim has an abortion? Jackie Baker a victim states: quot;I soon discovered that the aftermath of my abortion continued a long time after the memory of my rape had faded. I felt empty and horrible. Nobody told me about the emptiness and pain I would feel deep within causing nightmares and deep depressions. They all told me that after the abortion I could continue with my life as if nothing ever happened.quot; (Reardon 21-22) This is the story we hear from a lot of aborted women. Today in our society it is believed by most people that it is the womans fault just as much as the mans fault, if not more. many people think women are responsible for contributing to the rape itself. Then the rape victims feel self-blame and guilt. And even then a rape or incest victims family members or close friends may reinforce these negative feelings. Or they drop the problem because they dont know how to talk about it. We even see the same thing in the abortion experience. When a person becomes pregnant because of rape or incest there is aShow MoreRelatedAbortion : Abortion And Abortion998 Words   |  4 PagesAbortion Abortion is defined in several ways all of which stop a pregnancy. There are different ways of abortion, which are spontaneous abortion, surgical abortion, and medical abortion. Abortion has been arguable topic for decades. One can neither believe abortion to be good nor bad. The idea of individuality and human life is not quite the same. Idea of human life has come from conception; simultaneously on the other hand, fertilizer eggs used for in vitro fertilization are also human lives butRead MoreAbortion : Abortion And Abortion Essay921 Words   |  4 PagesPaper: Abortion Laws The topic of abortion is a widely debated and very heated topic in Texas. The Republican party’s platform supports family values and are completely against abortion under any circumstances, including abortifacients. The Democrat party’s platform supports the rights for women to make choices about their own bodies. They support abortifacients and a person’s right to have an abortion. There is also a large percentage of those that are in the middle in that they believe abortion shouldRead MoreAbortion, The, And Abortion998 Words   |  4 PagesIn the United States there are more than a billion abortions performed each year. Since the court case Roe vs Wade in 1973 more than 56 million babies have been murdered in the United States before they had the chance to take their first breath (Snyder, Michael). These statics along with many more show the huge injustice that is happening in the country I call home. Abortion is defined as the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy. It can include any of variousRead MoreAbortion : Abortion And Anti Abortion1624 Words   |  7 Pagesa very large controversy between the ideas about abortion and anti-abortion. Different religious views, beliefs, peoples many different customs and even people of different cultures all have their own preferences and ideas on the take of this political issue. Views against abortion can lead to as much of an impact as a violent/non violent riots outside of an abortion clinics, to something as simple article in the newspaper. The belief on abortion that leads to a lot of the controversy is that inRead MoreAbortion, The, And Abortion Essay1656 Words   |  7 Pages An abortion is when the pregnancy of a women is ended; it is called sometimes Termination of pregnancy. There are two types of abortion. The first type is the spontaneous abortion; it occurs within the first two months. What causes it is frequently unknown yet is probably the results of intra-uterine contamination, or limited attachment in the building unborn child to the interior coating walls in the womb (uterus). Such conditions this unborn child, if the idea advances further, mayRead MoreAbortion, The, And Abortion953 Words   |  4 Pagesdebates that is constantly talked about is abortion. When it comes to abortion, the laws vary depending on the state you live in. Whether people support or are against abortion, few actually know about the abortion process. Have you ever heard of suction aspiration or prostaglandin chemical abortion? Those are two of the various methods that are performed in the different trimesters of pregnancy. According to writer Steven Ertelt of Li feNews.com, Oklahoma’s abortion laws are restrictive compared to otherRead MoreAbortion : Abortion And Abortion1930 Words   |  8 PagesAbortion has been around for quite some time. Laws have been set allowing it and banning it during different periods of time. The procedures that can be done are all very different. There is a medical abortion involving drugs and there are surgical abortion involving a more invasive procedure. There are also different points of view on it. There are those who fully support the termination of a pregnancy and those who are completely against it. There are many factors to consider and very differentRead MoreAbortion And Abortion2038 Words   |  9 PagesMostly seen as a religious issue, abortions are anything but that. Biology and science are the only deciding factors when it comes down to it. Science is the only thing that can prove whether an unborn child is living; no religion can do that. Through modern science and technology, it has been proven and well documented that human life does in fact begin at conception. The scientific evidence also contradicted the court ruling in the Roe v. Wade case, where it was stated that the Court could notRead MoreAbortion : The Fight For Abortion1543 Words   |  7 PagesAlthough abortion was decriminalized in 1973, the fight for abortion rights did not end with Roe v. Wade. Just in the past three years, there have been systematic restrictions on abortion rights sweeping the country sate by state. In 2013, 22 states enacted 70 antiabortion measures, including pre-viability abortion bans, unnecessary doctor and clinic procedures, limits on medicated abortion, and bans on insurance coverage of abortion In 2011, 92 abortion restrictions were enacted, an in 2012, thatRead MoreAbortion : The Issue Of Abortion1212 Words   |  5 PagesThe topic of abortion has been an ongoing debate for many years. According to ProChoice.org, abortion was legal in in the days of the early settlers . At the time that the constitution was adopted abortions were legal. Abortions were openly advertised and performed before the first fetal movement (13-16 weeks from the start of a women’s last period). The concern for abortion started in the late 1800’s when immigrants were coming into the country in large numbers and the fear was that they would produce

Global Retail Banking Digital Marketing Report †Free Samples to Stude

Question: Discuss about the Global Retail Banking Digital Marketing Report. Answer: Introduction This research would investigate the role of social media for engaging consumers in the banking sector. A case of HSBC is considered for understanding issues that are causing hindrance to the development of the engagement strategies that are effective for the organization. The research would explore various engagement strategies used by the banking sector to identify best practices that can be used for HSBC to improve its engagement with its customers. This document is the research proposal which suggests use of a mixed methodology involving a secondary case study analysis on engagement strategies, secondary quantitative data analysis of HSBC social media campaign results, and thematic analysis of the interview responses of marketing managers of HSBC. With drastic changes in social media technologies in the past decades, multiple industries are now adopting the technologies for various purposes including consumer engagement. The use of social media is on rise even in the banking and financial sector. Banks are able to directly interact with their customers and engage them in different ways using social media (Marous, 2014).. In HSBC, customer satisfaction is seen to be declining in recent past as the organization is unable to fulfil the demands of the technology savvy consumers. The bank is unable to engage consumers over social media sufficiency despite its heavy usage. HSBC has a very low like ratio with only 7-8 posts getting likes between 1000 posts. This suggests that the company is unable to understand consumers sufficiently or are unable to engage them properly over the social media. Thus, there is a need to explore the challenges that the company is facing in the social media space while engaging consumers and identify best practices used by other banks so that the same can be recommended for HSBC so that its social media engagement can be enhanced (Ahluwalia, 2015). Research aim, objectives and research questions The Aim of this research is to explore how social media is used by Banks for engaging their customers so that an engagement strategy can be formulated for HSBC, UK to improve their engagement with consumers over the social media. The research objectives include: Understanding the need for the use of social media in modern business Understanding how consumer engagement works in social media Exploration of benefits and challenges of using social media for consumer engagement in banking sector Investigating the use of social media in HSBC, UK for consumer engagement Identification of best consumer engagement strategies used by other companies in the banking sector Coming up with recommendations for building a consumer engagement strategy over social media for HSBC bank. The potential outcomes of this research would be: An analysis of the current situation of HSBC with respect to customer engagement over social media Identification of challenges faced by the company in building engagement strategies Understanding of cases of different social media engagement strategies used in banking sector The output of these outcomes of the research project would be: Description of the current situation of the bank with assessment of the social media engagement strategy of the bank Recommendations o n the social media engagement strategy for HSBC bank Conceptual framework Banking is growing in its usage over the digital that includes online banking and mobile banking. There is a trend of increasing use of internet by banking consumers over past decade. Thus, this digital presence of consumers demand banks to use digital media also as a channel for marketing and promotion. Thus, over past few years, banks have taken significant efforts to use digital channels to run their marking campaigns with social media playing a major part which is used for engaging consumers by banking organizations(Desmares Sharma, 2013). Consumer engagement involves interactions between a brand and its consumers who resposd to the marketing efforts taken by the companies in different ways such as by participating in activities, providing feedback through answering questions, spreading word of mouth through referrals and recommendations or participate in community activities. Consumer engagement can be viewed considering two dimensions that include development of the relevant offer or message that can add value to customers and sharing of these offers or messages using a right mix of the social media channels in a convenient, consistent and contextually appropriate manner. Customer engagement is an important goal for organizations as it can bring customer satisfaction and loyalty in them. An emotional attachment could be achieved with this engagement in consumers. When considering the use of social media by banks, most often organizations use social media to allow customers to share their personal information such that in return financial advice is given to them. Such engagement builds trust in consumers and thus, helps in forming relationships between customers and the bank. Engaging with consumers this way is only one consumer engagement strategy out of many. Customer Engagement Strategy Choice of strategy can also be dependent on the social media channels and their popularity. For instance, YouTube is a very popular channel through which companies can post their advertisements in the social videos as they have high social engagement and there the chances of a consumer or customer clicking the ad posted in the social video can bring in engagement. Snapchat is another social media platform that has become very popular over the past few years. The platform can be used for providing real time updates about what is happening in the bank or the industry to consumers. Snapchat has over 10 billion video views daily that include views from consumers in the age range of 18 to 35 who use live stories and geofilters or smart lenses to engage with brands. For instance, March Madness Live Story that ran around NCAA basketball tournament was used by an insurance company to create a buzz on social media for consumer engagement. To build a sound engagement strategy for customers, it is essential that the whole customer life cycle and customer touchpoints during the same are analyzed to understand how they can engage with the brand at different levels and times. More personalized the interaction is between the bank and the customers, more influential would be the engagement strategy as t would increase the confidence in consumer on the capabilities of the bank(Pilorge, Ebstein, Schrezenmaier, Turner, 2017). Before developing any strategy for customer engagement, the first step would involve identification of the profiles of the target customers for each type of social media platform. Various platforms that can be explored for demographic profiling of customers include Facebook, twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and several more. There are also some third-party solutions that can help organizations identify customer segments in the finance industry such as Acxiom and Datalogix. These solutions can help identify customers that have similar potential through the use of CRM for segmentation. This data can help companies understand consumers and even make predictions about their future behaviour as consumers. For instance, 47% of the digital consumers who are active Pinners are seen to be having some major life even within 6 months as per Milward Brown study. These events could be purchase of a home, purchase of a car, marriage or birth of a baby. Thus, Pinterest engagements can be exp lored to understand their affinities such that their future plans can be predicted(Johansen, 2012). While social media can be used to connect with the customers, it also provides metrics that can help company assess its situation with respect to the capability of engagement to build awareness about the brand, bring favourability in customers or lead a customer to a purchase intent. Social media is like a live platform that allows banks to engage with a large number of consumers and customers. Event targeting, a popular strategy is used by banks for reaching users in real time moments through the use of engagement tactics like tailored tweets that drive conversations. For instance, insurance brands in the financial sector have used sporting events like Super Bowl madness to engage with its customers (Adaptly, 2016) Besides engagement of users, banks can also make use of the data obtained from these engagements to understand customers and serve them better as well as enhance their engagement strategy in future for increasing engagement. The data provides both qualitative and quantitative insights that can help banks build a unique experience for the customers through personalized strategies that create a value add over their regular services received directly through the bank. While customers see no difference between the services offered by different banks, this social media engagement can make a difference. A study conducted on 10,000 respondents of banking communication over 3 years by Viacom has revealed that people who face any trouble accessing services online are more likely to connect with the customer services of a bank immediately. Most of these consumers include the youth and young adults. Reaching older generation through the digital media is more challenging as they need more assist ance for learning how systems work in the digital space. Several banks have taken effort to fill this gap such as Barclays bank that initiated Digital Eagles Program for providing basic teaching on internet skills to elderly consumers. Banks today have their customers as the central point of considerations while deciding channel strategies. Forrester Research has conducted a study on customer experience which suggests that the holistic experience of the consumer can drive revenues for the bank. The study found that 10 incremental purchases made by the existing customers of the bank can generate up to $81 million of the revenue benefit while reduction in customer churn can help banks gain retained revenue of up to $73 million. Incremental sales that banks have received from the positve word of mouth of existing customers were found to be $7 million(Cooper, Jayakumar, Kim, Palmer, Ruddenklau, 2011). BNP Paribas bank had started a multi-channel model for servicing by migrating data from all its contact centres, websites, and branches to bring into a single CRM environment. Socit Gnrale uses a similar strategy for building relationships with its customers relying on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Satander, another banking organization from Spain used CRM for creating demographic segmentation and explored the data obtained from them for measuring the customers propensity towards future purchases. HSBC, UK makes a choice of a preferred channel for carrying out banking transactions by exploring the data for identification of most profitable customers and allows them to take more control over their transactions(Lee, Mathena, Goodall, Finklestein, Wong, 2013). To understand what is keeping HSBC bank from creating a good customer experience over social media, there is a need to assess its strategies and results against the industry benchmarks. Integration of different media channels may be done for gathering customer data for analysis of the customer utilization and identification of their preferences across different media channels. A consistency is required to be built in communications spread across media channels(Cognizant, 2014). Newer strategies that are not used currently by HSBC may be explored to understand their potential to increase customer engagement. For instance, merchant funded offers are given to consumers using credit or debit cards for making purchases. For this, targeted offers can be shown to customers via different touch points such as while making ATM transactions or while browsing HSBC website(Taylor, 2011). Choice of appropriate strategy would be largely dependent on the data provided by the consumers which would help the bank understand the behaviour and preferences of customers. A study conducted by Cisco Systems, Inc. Shows that a majority of 78% of customers prefer to share more of their information in return for the personalized services provided by the bank. 56% of the consumers receiving simplified management services for their finance are likely to give away more information to the bank. Thus, these strategies of engagement can bring up the customer satisfaction as well as help the organization in keeping consumers engaged throughout their experience journey (DeLaCastro, Pande, Kulkarni, Vaidyanathan, 2014). This research would use a mixed methodology as it first needs to understand the situation of HSBC so that the need for improvement can be identified and then it needs to qualitatively explore various engagement practices used by other banking organizations such that appropriate recommendations can be made for improving the situation of HSBC in UK. For understanding the situation of HSBC, a quantitative inquiry would be done in which figures would be collected on the consumer engagement over social media by HSBC which would include the use of social media including number of posts and the engagement of consumers including the maximum and minimum likes they have given and the number of followers HSBC has over social media. Analysis of this data would help the research understand the effectiveness of the current social media engagement strategies and identify the needs for improvement. It would suggest what strategies are actually engaging consumers and what are not working. Further, a qualitative inquiry on the use of social media by other banks would be helpful for the researcher in identifying the best practices in the industry such that appropriate recommendations can be made for HSBC to improve their social media engagement with consumers (Bryman, 2012). This research needs an analysis of how social media is used for consumer engagement and why banking organizations are using it. As this research does not have any specific attributes defined for testing, there would not be any hypothesis development possible. Hence, a descriptive and exploratory research approach would be used for understanding the situation of HSBC and then exploring the best practices in social media engagement (Daniel Sam, 2011). For the exploration of the current situation of HSBC, a data would be collected from 50 consumers engaged with HSBC some way over social media for understanding how they can be segmented using parameters of demography and social media behavioural data. Further, it would include collection of the data on 100 social media campaigns run by HSBC with identification of the approaches taken by the company such as personalization of the marketing offers, testing and learning strategy, and event driven marketing. The data would also include the respective likes, shares, and comments gained from the consumers on these social media posts. For identifying specific challenge that the company may be facing while defining consumer engagement strategies, two marketing managers would be chosen from the bank and would be interviewed. For more qualitative data, secondary data sources would be used for collecting case studies of different marketing campaigns run by different banking organization. Each case would investigate a specific type of engagement strategy used by banks over social media to assess its effectiveness and potential to be used by HSBC. MS excel would be used for the analysis of the consumer engagement data obtained from HSBC exploration and statistical tables, bar graphs and pie charts would be used to present the results of the analysis. For the analyses of the qualitative interview data, a thematic analysis would be used which would include identification of the thematic codes explaining the situation of HSBC and identification of gaps for improvement. For the analysis of the qualitative industry data ob best practices of consumer engagement on social media, case study analysis would be used such that multiple case studies would be explored sequentially and then a comprehensive view of the same would be presented by combining the findings from the case study analysis which would be used for coming up with engagement strategy recommendations for HSBC. Each case study would deal with specific consumer engagement strategy used by banks over social media including personalized offers, and real time driven marketing. The objectives of these case studies would be to explore how these strategies are used and to assess how effective they have been in engaging consumers over social media as well as run a feasibility check on them to understand if the same can be effectively used by HSBC for engaging their consumers. Organisation of the study Chapter 1: Introduction - This would be an introduction to the research including its significance aims and objectives Chapter 2: Literature review - This would contain the conceptual foundation of the research including al the related stories and models as well as pasts studies conducted in the field. A gap would be analyzed in the research that would be filled with the current research. Chapter 3: Methodology - This section would explain the mixed research methodology that would be used in this research identifying methods that would be used for collecting data and analyseing the same. Chapter 4: Data Analysis - The data collected would be analyzed and the results would be presented in this section with interpretations and relevant discussions on the object Chapter 5: Conclusions and recommendations - In this section, the discussions and research findings would be summarized and appropriate recommendations would be made on the engagement strategy for HSBC based on the discussions. Project budget and schedule The budget allotted to this project is $1200 and the project would be completed in 6 months as per the timeline presented below: Research Task Starting Date Milestone Date Duration Full project proposal 10th Sept 2017 4th Oct 2017 14 days Refining objectives 4th Oct 2017 6th Oct 2017 3 days Literature review 7th Oct 2017 7th Dec 2017 60 days Data collection 8th Dec 2017 10th Feb 2018 62 days Data Analysis 11th Feb 2018 10th Mar 2018 30 days Report preparation 11th Mar 2018 20th Mar 2018 9 days Proofreading and editing 20th Mar 2018 31st mar 2018 12 days Report submission 1st Apr 2018 5th Apr 2018 5 days Conclusions This paper proposes a research to be conducted on the use of social media for customer engagement for the Banking sector. A case of HSBC would be taken and the inquiry would be run on the system using data analysis for understanding their challenges and interviews would be taken of the managers to explore the challenges and opportunities in detail. The interview responses would be analyzed using thematic analysis. The mixed approach would also involve secondary case study analysis on various best practices of social media engagement. References Adaptly. (2016). Money Matters on Social Media: How Financial Services Brands Can Engage Customers with Paid Social. Adaptly. Ahluwalia, L. (2015, August 18). Social Media in the Financial Industry. Retrieved March 02, 2017, from https://www.hallaminternet.com/social-media-in-the-financial-industry/ Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cognizant. (2014). How Banks Can Use Social Media Analytics To Drive Business Advantage. Cognizant. Cooper, J., Jayakumar, A., Kim, W., Palmer, G., Ruddenklau, A. (2011). 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