...BADM 372: Advertising Case 2: Barbie vs. Bratz 1. Provide an analysis of the Mattel Barbie brand. What factors shape perceptions of the brand in the eyes of parents and young girls? Barbie was billed as “a shapely teenage fashion model,” and made her first appearance at the American Toy Fair in New York City and soon became a hit. (http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=160) Barbie was then and still is a popular doll for young girls. In the beginning she was popular because she was the 3D version of the very popular paper dolls, with interchangeable clothing and accessories. Today she is still very popular and probably for the same reasons; you can buy a variety of different dolls with different ethnicities, different colored hair and even different careers. Girls like Barbie because she gives them something to strive for, someone to look up to, a hero of sorts. Barbie shows girls that they can be whatever they want to be, from a mom to a teacher or even an astronaut or police officer. From a parents point of view Barbie is great because she gives their daughters confidence and something to strive for as well as the affordability aspect. Last time I looked at Walmart you could buy a Barbie Doll starting at $3.99 for a basic doll in a swimsuit plus all the accessories you could ever want from shoes and purses to houses and cars. 2. What brand problems did the Bratz line of dolls create for the Barbie brand? Mattel and the Barbie brand sued the Bratz...
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...The rising cost of a college education is hitting one group especially hard: the millions of students who drop out without earning a degree. A bachelor's degree remains by far the clearest path to the American middle class. Even today, amid mounting concerns about the rising cost of higher education and questions about the relevance of many college degrees, recent graduates have lower rates of unemployment, higher earnings and better career prospects than their less educated peers. But as more Americans than ever before attend college, more too are dropping out before they ever don a cap and gown. That means millions of Americans are taking on the debt of college without getting the earnings boost that comes from a degree. Dropouts are more than four times as likely as graduates to default on their student loans. "Graduating with a lot of debt can be daunting," says Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access and Success, an advocacy organization promoting access to higher education. "Having a lot of debt and not graduating is even more daunting." The complexity of the student-loan system -- a web of public, private and subsidized loans that together add up to more than $1 trillion -- makes it difficult to know exactly how much debt is held by dropouts. But the scale is massive. A 2011 study by the Institute for Higher Education Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based research firm, found 58% of the 1.8 million borrowers whose student loans began to be due...
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...product categories and how it has extended to other categories as well. Do a case study of its success (or failure) and how it has changed the landscape of product innovations. For example, Thomas and friends has clothes, stationery, household products, jewellery etc. *** She is a successful independent woman, who lives in a world of pink, where she owns a dream house in Malibu. Every day, she wears high-heels to work, and even runs a fashion chain under her name. For many, she was the influential icon of American culture in the late 20th century. Until now, I dare say that her image is still very potent worldwide. Who is she? Never before has she ever starred in a Hollywood movie or performed at a famous fashion show. Surprisingly, she never exists in real life and she is literally a toy. Yes, it can hardly be any other toy but Barbie. Nowadays, girls can be seen wearing Barbie clothing, using Barbie perfume, carrying Barbie backpacks, and sleeping in Barbie pajamas, not to mention cosmetics, sneakers etc. (Morgenson 1991, 66). Mattel, Inc., the mother company of Barbie, should feel proud of her. Because on average, an American girl has ten Barbie dolls, a British or Italian girl may own seven, while five is the number of Barbie that a German or French girl has. It was Mattel’s purpose and will when introducing Barbie that she would become a lifestyle, a fashion statement, a way of life, something sacred more than just a doll. And in fact, she did! This plastic doll is worth...
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... Once upon a time long, long ago, two ambitious young cousins named Pablo and Bruno lived side by side in a small Italian village. The young men were best buddies, and big dreamers. They would talk endlessly about how someday, someway, they would become the richest men in the village. They were both bright and hard working. All they needed was an opportunity. One day that opportunity arrived. The village decided to hire two men to carry water from a nearby river to a cistern in the town square. The job went to Pablo and Bruno. Each man grabbed two buckets and headed to the river. By the end of the day, they had filled the town cistern to the brim. The village elder paid them one penny for each bucket of water. "This is our dream come true! "shouted Bruno. "I can't believe our good fortune." But Pablo wasn't so sure. His back ached and his hands were blistered from carrying the heavy buckets. He dreaded getting up and going to work the next morning. He vowed to think of a better way to get the water from the river to the village. Pablo The Pipeline Man: "Bruno, I have a plan," Pablo said the next morning as they grabbed their buckets and headed for the river. "Instead of lugging buckets back and forth for pennies a day, let's build a pipeline from the village to the river." Bruno stopped dead in his tracks. "A pipeline! Whoever heard of such a thing?" Bruno shouted. "We've got a great job, Pablo. I can carry 100 buckets a day. At a penny a bucket that's...
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...Instructor A research paper presented to Fayetteville Technical Community college in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Business Management Issues Capstone Course. Fayetteville Technical Community College July 20, 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page 1 Table of Contents 2 I. Executive Summary 3 II. Company Overview 4 III. Strategic Analysis 8 IV. Strategic Effectiveness Analysis 11 V. Conclusion 14 VI. References 15 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Starbucks has been one of most popular coffeehouses in the world. They started their business as just a coffee-bean retailer. This didn’t last long. Howard Schultz came to the company in 1981 to change things and that he did. After leaving and then returning to Starbucks in 1987 he decided after a trip to Rome that Starbucks...
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...“Each generation must out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it” - Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth In cultures all over the world, music can be seen encompassing many aspects of life for many individuals. It is a form of mass communication that speaks directly to society as a cultural form", and often reflects a collection and pattern of personal experiences. Hip-hop or rap, an art form and culture nearly thirty years old originating from The Bronx, New York, has provided a forum for Black and Latino youth to express their respective cultures and speak on a number of issues. Today, Hip-hop is a global phenomenon that appeals to almost all ethnicities and is synthesizing a new culture that goes beyond race, education, and income. Hip-hop has been under continual metamorphosis since its 1970’s inner-city inception. Some of the original artists like Kurtis Blow chose to lament everyday life in the ghettos. Others, Sugar Hill Gang among them, took a more dance inspired approach to the music. But for both these and other artists from the early years of rap through the late 1980’s including KRS-One, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah and LL Cool J, fast beats and socially relevant lyrics were among the primary components of the music. By the 1990’s a new face of rap music emerged. It began with Ice T and later gained popularity with artists such as NWA (Niggaz Wit Attitude) whose first album shocked and titillated the rap world with their...
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...no need to let the world know they can afford to live much better than their neighbors. Millions of other Americans, on the other hand, have a different relationship with spending. What they acquire and own is tightly bound to their personal identity. Driving a certain type of car, wearing particular designer labels, living in a certain kind of home, and ordering the right bottle of wine create and support a particular image of themselves to present to the world. This is not to say that most Americans make consumer purchases solely to fool others about who they really are. It is not to say that we are a nation of crass status-seekers. Or that people who purchase more than they need are simply demonstrating a base materialism, in the sense of valuing material possessions above all else. But it is to say that, unlike the millionaires next door, who are not driven to use their wealth to create an attractive image of themselves, many of us are continually comparing our own lifestyle and possessions to those of a select group of people we respect and want to be like, people whose sense of what's important in life seems close to our own. This aspect of our spending is not new--competitive acquisition has long been an American institution. At the turn of the century, the rich consumed conspicuously. In the early post-World War II decades, Americans spent to keep up with the Joneses, using their possessions to make the statement that they were not failing in their...
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...1. Will you buy a house and lot today or pay in installment of simply rent? Use time value of money. Should I Buy a Home or Just Keep Renting? Kristin Wong Should I Buy a Home or Just Keep Renting? Dear Two Cents, I’m out of debt, and I’m now saving for a down payment on a home. It’s always been my dream to be a homeowner. But lately, I read a lot of arguments against it in favor of renting. How do I know if it’s a good idea for me? Should I buy or keep renting? Sincerely, Hopeful Homeowner Dear HH, For a long time, conventional wisdom seemed to be that you grow up and buy a home because that’s just what you do. But lately, people are realizing that it isn’t always the smartest financial move. Obviously, the housing crisis has a lot to do with that—it’s made people question the standard assumption that homeownership equals financial stability. Five Things I Wish I Had Known Before I Bought a House Homeownership isn’t a good or bad idea on its own. It has everything to do with your own situation. Sometimes, buying a home is the smart thing to do; other times, it really isn’t. Whether or not it’s smart for you will depend on a few different factors. Here’s what you should keep in mind. Don’t Think of a Home as Your Main Investment Should I Buy a Home or Just Keep Renting? The biggest argument for owning a home is that it’s an “investment.” But a lot of people overestimate the return on this investment. People tend to believe that homes are appreciating assets,...
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...Whirlpool's Quest for Global Leadership Table of Contents Introduction Strategic Profile and Case Analysis Situational Analysis General Environment Analysis Industry Analysis Competitive Environment Analysis Internal Analysis Identification of Environmental Opportunities and Threats and Firm Strengths and Weaknesses (SWOT Analysis) Strategy Formulation Strategic Alternatives and Evaluation Alternative Choice Strategic Alternative Implementation Action Items Action Plans Epilogue Conclusion Works Cited Charts and Graphs Appliance Industry Market Share Whirlpool's Financial Analysis Business Unit Revenues and Operating Profit Global Home Appliance Industry: Saturation Level by Region Demand and Market Growth Introduction Whirlpool Corporation is a global leader in home appliances. Whirlpool began as a family company in Michigan making wringer washers. In the past fifty years, Whirlpool has expanded from a domestic company with operations in the United States to a global company with operations in Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. Whirlpool's great success can largely be attributed to its strategic actions. These strategic actions are a result of Whirlpool's vision, value creating objectives, shared values, and worldwide excellence system. Whirlpool Corporation has gradually built itself up through international expansion to be the...
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...Whirlpool's Quest for Global Leadership Table of Contents Introduction Strategic Profile and Case Analysis Situational Analysis General Environment Analysis Industry Analysis Competitive Environment Analysis Internal Analysis Identification of Environmental Opportunities and Threats and Firm Strengths and Weaknesses (SWOT Analysis) Strategy Formulation Strategic Alternatives and Evaluation Alternative Choice Strategic Alternative Implementation Action Items Action Plans Epilogue Conclusion Works Cited Charts and Graphs Appliance Industry Market Share Whirlpool's Financial Analysis Business Unit Revenues and Operating Profit Global Home Appliance Industry: Saturation Level by Region Demand and Market Growth Introduction Whirlpool Corporation is a global leader in home appliances. Whirlpool began as a family company in Michigan making wringer washers. In the past fifty years, Whirlpool has expanded from a domestic company with operations in the United States to a global company with operations in Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. Whirlpool's great success can largely be attributed to its strategic actions. These strategic actions are a result of Whirlpool's vision, value creating objectives, shared values, and worldwide excellence system. Whirlpool Corporation has gradually built itself up through international expansion to be the...
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... “Behind the Fair Façade” Representations of Femininity in Three Walt Disney Animated Features Bachelor thesis by Bethany Schouten, 3278972 Index Introduction 3 Methodological and theoretical Framework 4 Corpus 9 The Research: SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS 11 The Research: THE LITTLE MERMAID 18 The Research: THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG 24 Findings and Interpretation 31 Identity Formation 35 Conclusion 38 Literature 41 Media 43 Introduction The Walt Disney Company’s cultural products have been a great influence on popular culture since the 1930s and an inspiration for generations all over the world ever since. For many, including myself, the Princes, Princesses and fantastical creatures of Disney’s animated fairy tales have become symbols of their youth. Seeing the films gives rise to a feeling of nostalgia, they become a memento of one’s childhood world. But what kind of world is this? What kind of realities do Disney’s fantastical representations construct? In my thesis, I will analyze a specific element of Disney films: gender roles constructed through the representation of femininity in their animated features. I will study how this representation changes over time: has Disney’s highly criticized construction of gender roles changed over time, and if so, what realities do contemporary Disney discourses construct? I propose to research...
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...it’s not an omnipotent presence, controlling the universal subject (the reader). But this does make the reader all powerful. Barthes implies in his essay Death of the Author. The reader follows the patterns presented by the author but the final impression, overall opinion of the text and the reader’s reaction are not prefigured or controlled by the author. Thus the author and the reader together form the overall value of the text. Raymond Williams explains the formation of the category of Literature, its ever expanding and changing parameters\paradigms are explained in his essay Marxism and Literature. This paper will show the growing value of Latin American Literature, becoming a part of the literary canon, valued as a skillful piece of art. This novella is one of the hallmarks of the Latin American Literature, yet not falling into any one particular generic category, fulfilling all generic expectations simultaneously breaking\contradicting its rules. This resulted in expanding and extending the already diverse responses, the readers have to this novella. I will remind all that all authors are also readers, their works is an...
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...Philosophy………………… Gucci as a Brand………………… Marketing Distribution Channel………………… Revenue Breakdown Prices in Indian Market The Bumpy Road? . . 2010 ANNEXURES I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII KEY DATES………………… INDIA VS CHINA AS A MANUFACTURING HUB……………… THE INDIAN WEALTH LEAGUE………………… SHOW ME THE MONEY- WELATH DEFINITIONS…………… HNWI POPULATION GROWTH RATE 2007 (%)…………… INDIA’S ‘BRAND FREAKS’………………… 28 29 30 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 36 37 NO. OF CATEGORIES VS MARKET IMAGE………………… GUCCI GROUP DIVISIONS………………… DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS………………… REVENUES BY CHANNEL………………… GROUP REVENUES BY REGION………………… CAGR 1994- 2001………………… PPR CONSOLIDATED 2004…… FIGURES AT YEAR END 37 . . 2010 GUCCI Fashioning India 1. Introduction The House of Gucci, or simply Gucci is one of the more established premium fashion brands in the world. Its success worldwide has depended largely on its effective marketing strategies and a wide product range. Founded in Florence in 1921, Gucci as a leading luxury brand has been created assiduously over a period of many years. Helping in this brand...
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...little to lessen the inferno. Jennifer was trapped in the burning go-kart for two minutes when her seat-belt finally burned through and she fell to the ground. George grabbed his sister and pulled her away from the fire. Jennifer was alive. She was lying on the asphalt alert, oriented, and coherent. She had suffered 3rd and 4th degree burns covering ninety-five percent of her body. She was suffering the worst pain imaginable. At the scene, Jennifer begged the rescue personnel to “let me die.” Instead, Jennifer was flown to a burn center in Mobile, Alabama, where she remained for one year until she was overcome by an infection and died. Medical personnel described Jennifer as suffering from the most agonizing physical pain they had ever witnessed. They said there was no way to effectively alleviate Jennifer’s pain without permanently sedating her, which would have resulted in death. Thus, this was not done. Jennifer was so badly burned that her two children (age nine and five) were not permitted to see her for...
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...Personal Essay in Definition and Purview by Stuart Fischoff, Ph.D. Introduction The subject matter of media psychology is a mother lode of material that psychology has actively mined for decades, but only within the last ten to fifteen years has the enterprise emerged as a distinct and explicit subdivision of psychology. Media psychology found its inspirational roots more than 90 years ago within the discipline of social psychology and in the early work of social psychologist Hugo Münsterberg concerning the psychology and the psychological impact of film. Published in 1916 under the title, The Photoplay: A Psychological Study, it was the first empirical study of an audience reacting to a film. Münsterberg also provided such a keen analysis of a screenplay's (then called a photoplay) grammar of visual construction and nascent cinematic conventions and their psychological impact on the audience, that his incisive words still echo today in numerous film school lecture halls and classroom seminars. And there was psychologist L.L. Thurstone, arguably the Father of Attitude Scale Construction and Measurement (a signature area of theory and research in social psychology), who developed scales for the measurement of attitudes toward movies for the famous and notoriously politicized Payne Fund Research in 1928. This study’s practically avowed purpose was to indict (not investigate) the medium of film as a source of inspiration of bad behavior in a youthful audience. Few psychologists...
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