McDonald’s and Its Crisis Essay Example for Free

McDonald’s and Its Crisis Essay What should a company do when its core product is considered â€Å"unhealthy† or even â€Å"harmful† by the public? Is it even possible for such a company survive and thrive; or will it have to shut down its business? McDonald’s fast food has for a long time been considered unhealthy by the public. In recent years, the health conscious trends have become increasingly popular. Moreover, many scientific studies and findings have surfaced and successfully confirmed that children’s increasing intake of fast food, which often contains high sodium content, sugars, saturated fats, and calories, for a long period of time would lead to childhood obesity. Moreover, obese children have a much higher risk of many health problems such as coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain cancersall of which are fatal if left untreated. In 2010, a mother from California sued McDonald’s over the company’s marketing practice of Happy Meal. The mother claimed that McDonald’s used alluring toys to lure kids into Happy Meal. This lawsuit, which might be viewed by many as senseless and absurd, was one of McDonald’s biggest cases. In order to come out of the lawsuit ahead, this largest fast food chain had to undergo some major organizational changes. In this paper, we would like to use the knowledge learned in the class to analyze the event (the lawsuit) and its effects on McDonald’s. The paper will have four main parts. In the first part, we provide a brief introduction of the company, McDonald’s, and the lawsuit. In the second part, we will use the concepts learned in class to analyze Happy Meal’s influencing strategies and the organizational changes during and after the suit. We believe that Happy Meal’s influencing strategies deserve our attention as they were the main causes of the crisis. Since its Happy Meal’s influencing tactics were so effectively and successfully executed, McDonald’s became the obvious target of the mentioned legal dispute. In the third part, we will offer our evaluations, pros and cons, of McDonald’s strategies and tactics in handling the crisis. Finally, in the fourth part, depending on our evaluation of how McDonald’s control of the situation, we want to offer our recommendation to parts of the company’s strategies which in our opinions could have been improved. Also, since we overall felt that McDonald’s managed the crisis extremely well, we recommend its strategies to be implemented to Jack in the Box, which faced a similar situation to McDonald’s. However, unlike McDonald’s which vigorously fight for the continuation of its using toys to push Happy Meal sales, Jack in the Box decided to drop toys in its Happy Meal when it was faced with the pressure from the public. We believe McDonald’s implementation of strategic changes could have helped Jack in the Box to put toys back to its Happy Meal. I Introduction McDonald’s Corporation is the worlds leading food service organization. The corporation started out as a small drive-through in 1948 by two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald. In 1961, Raymond Albert Kroc, a salesman, saw a great opportunity in the market at the time and bought the business from the McDonald brothers. By 1967, McDonald’s began its first business expansion to countries outside of the United States. This unyielding expansion resulted in the opening of 23,000 McDonalds restaurants in 110 countries in 1994. Today, McDonalds, the leading fast food chain, had twice the market share of its closest U.S. competitor, Burger King. In fact, McDonald’s market share represented 7 percent of total U.S. eating-out sales (Cohen, 2009, p8-2, p8-3). There are several major influences and factorssuch as government, customers, social trends, and so forthwhich play an important role in shaping organizational behavior.In the recent years, McDonald’s corporate image has been negatively affected by adverse publicity. For example, McDonald’s has been criticized of paying its employees low wages and enforcing an aggressive anti-union policy throughout its fast-food empire. Furthermore, the corporation was heavily condemned by the public for exploiting children market and causing childhood obesity. Indeed, McDonald’s has been using advertising which mainly targeted children. As a result, according to the survey to American school student in 1996, 96 percent of all children could identify Ronald McDonald (Cohen, 2011, p8-5). How was McDonald’s able to achieve the above result? McDonald’s children marketing strategies were very simple but extremely effectiveto give small toys as a treatment to children in order to appeal to their interests. With the repeated uses of this psychological influencing tactic, children would subconsciously make a connection between McDonald’s and toys. Therefore, children, who were under the influences of McDonald’s marketing strategies, could not help to think of McDonald’s whenever thinking of toys. The plaintiff, Monet Parham, a California mother of two, sued McDonald’s overly exploiting children market on Oct 2010 (Dan, 2011).She claimed that McDonald’s gave out alluring toys that come with the meals in order to lure kids into unhealthy diet. The mother also stated that â€Å"McDonald’s make it so much harder to say no to her kids when they are really want those toys† (York, 2010). The CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) confirmed that â€Å"kids do not have the cognitive maturity to understand the persuasive intent of advertising† (York, 2010). Later on, the ban of serving Happy Meals with toys was easily passed by the Board of Supervisors in an 8-3 vote, which would take effect on Dec 1st, 2011 if McDonald’s didn’t meets the nutritional standards of meal in San Francisco till that time (San Francisco Happy Meal Toy Ban Takes Effect,2012). McDonald’s quickly made response to this event. The fast food chain’s spokeswoman, Bridget Coffing, told the LA Times newspaper: We are confident that parents understand and appreciate that Happy Meals are a fun treat, with quality, right-sized food choices for their children that can fit into a balanced diet, (York, 2010). McDonalds said that it would defend itself against the lawsuit. Meanwhile, it started offering apple slices and milks in the new Happy Meals. Eventually, the San Francisco judge dismissed the suit since McDonalds was able to meet the required nutritional standards.†¨ In the next part, we will assess this problem relate to the concept of influence and organizational change. II Course Concepts Related To The Event Influence â€Å"Influence is any communication which produces a change in an action and/or an attitude in one or more people.† Influence is one of the most important management strategies in any organization. A strong influence tactic includes role of planning and dialogue, establish credibility, frame goals and common ground, vividly reinforce your position and connect emotionally (Wong, Influence and persuasion, 2012). In this case, although McDonald’s was sued by alluring children, they indeed occupied the children market successfully. In order to establish an influence, one must first establish communicationexchanges of dialogue. McDonald’s did good at emotional influence and ingratiation. The company created a clown character named Ronald and featured it on local TV in early 1960s. Then, people were employed to perform live Ronald McDonald clowns at children’s birthday parties held in restaurants. Ronald McDonald had a magic touch with children giving McDonald’s an important advantage over its competitors in the children market (Cohen, 2011, p8-5). With Ronald McDonald mascot so successful as a communication tool, McDonald’s went one step further to establish its credibility in children’s minds. This was not hard for the leading fast food chain as it is a common notionand quite truethat children are in most cases easy to influence. Then, how did McDonald’s make children trust it? The answer is easymake the children happy. For example, children were happy when gifts such as Ronald dolls and wristwatches were given free with every purchases of Happy Meals. McDonald’s also used toys of characters from popular movies appeal to children. In this aspect, they used influence of ingratiation effectively. Ingratiation means do something what the person likes. For example, a recent and very successful Happy Meal promotion was a tie-in with the popular DreamWorks Animation film Shrek Forever After. The meals included toy watches fashioned after the movies characters Shrek, Donkey, Gingy and Puss in Boots (Dan, 2011). Furthermore, McDonald’s needed to create a common goalas to what it stands forwith children. With free toys and the always smiling Ronald McDonald, McDonald’s convinced children that the company and its restaurants stands for happiness and enjoyment. However, just establishing common goal and credibility is not enough to make an effective influence, the communicating message and/or idea must be vividly reinforced and emotionally connected with the target audience. According to the Fast Food FACTS Report, young people viewed enormous amounts of fast food advertising. Every day, the average preschooler saw 2.8 fast food ads on television, the average child saw 3.5, and the average teen saw 4.7. Teens listened to approximately one radio ad per day. Children were exposed to more than 1,200 traditional fast food ads per year while teens saw and heard more than 2,000. (Harris, Schwartz Brownell, 2010, p132) Thus, with its spending of $900 million in media in 2009, McDonald’s made sure that the company’s image was vividly reinforced and emotionally connected in the minds of many children (Harris, Schwartz Brownell, 2010, p132). In sum, McDonald’s influencing strategies were so successful that 90 percent of the children go to McDonald’s once a month (Fast Food Marketing to Children, 2010). Nevertheless, McDonald’s effective influencing strategies made it a target for one of the biggest lawsuit in the fast food industry. In the next part, we will discuss how McDonald’s applied its strategic changes to overcome the crisis. †¨Organizational Change For years, critics have been criticizing McDonald’s and its role in America’s obesity problemspecifically the franchise’s aggressive marketing strategies toward children. As the lawsuit pointed out, McDonald’s used toys to lure children and in turn set kids up for a lifetime of health problems. The leadership and management of an organization must be prepared for a turbulent environment which demands more complex planning for the future. The phrase â€Å"organizational change† is about a significant change in the organization, such as reorganization or adding a major new product or service. In fact, there are six forces creating the need of change—the changing nature of the work force, technology, economics shocks, changing social trends, the â€Å"new† world politics, and the changing nature of competitions. (Stephen,1992, p.270) From this lawsuit, we could find evidences of a major force, changing social trend. As the health conscious became a more and more popular, people will be looking for healthy food that is low in calories, fat and sodium. In the American, childhood obesity has more than tripled in the last 30 years. Furthermore, according to the Centers for Disease Control, seventy percent of obese children have higher risk for cardiovascular disease, and are at â€Å"greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem† (Centers for disease, 2012). The publics pointed a finger at McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast food company, who use of Happy Meal toys to lure children. This situation made McDonald’s under heavy criticism from public health officials, parents, lawmakers and so on because they are frustrated with rising childhood obesity rates and weak anti-obesity efforts from fast food restaurant operators. Oftentimes, organizations are confronted with problems in the environment or with internal contingencies suggesting that â€Å"current ways of doing things are not effective† (Miller, 2012, p180). When facing the changing forces, organizations often make changes gradually. Of course, the implementation of planned change is neither a simple nor a straight-forward process (Miller, 2012, p181). In fact, it took McDonalds six years (from 1984 to 1990) to react to pressure group tactics and litigation before starting to adapt its service offer to the dietary concerns of its customers. At the very beginning, the company just made some modestly changes, such as using light oil, adding 2% milk into the menu before actually launching new products such as the McVeggie, the McLean, and pizza in the 1990s (Joanne Caroline, 2006). If we consider McDonald’s step-by-step changes, in the above examples, organizational planned change in response to social trend, the fast food franchise’ reactions to the CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) lawsuit then can be defined as â€Å"unplanned change†. According to Coombs (1999, p.2), organizational crisis is â€Å"an event that is an unpredictable, major threat that can have a negative effect on the organization, industry, or stakeholders if handled improperly.† In other words, crisis is unplanned change that can rock an organization and all the people associated with it. In response to this lawsuit, on December 15 2010, McDonald’s posted on its website a Response to CSPI Lawsuit: We are proud of our Happy Meals and intend to vigorously defend our brand, our reputation and our food. We stand on our 30 years track record of providing a fun experience for kids and families at McDonald’s. We listen to our customers, and parents consistently tell us they approve of our Happy Meals. We are confident that parents understand and appreciate that Happy Meals are a fun treat, with quality, right-sized food choices for their children that can fit into a balanced diet. (Bridget, 2010) Later on, McDonald’s made it clear that the fast food chain had begun to make changes to the composition of Happy Meals in response to parental and consumer pressure. It also pledged to reduce the sodium content in all of its foods by 15 percent, with the exceptions of soda and desserts. Moreover, it set a deadline of 2015 for limiting salt, and said that it would spend the rest of this decade cutting back on sugars, saturated fats and calories and making adjustments to portion sizes. The new Happy Meals were introduced in September and launched across the company’s 14,000 restaurants on April 2012. They would all include apple slices, but in a smaller amount of three to five slices than the current eight to 10 offered as an alternative (Stephanie, 2011). McDonald’s will also offer a fat-free chocolate milk option, along with the option of low-fat milk or the traditional soda. The price is not expected to change (Andrew,2011). Furthermore, as part of an effort to provide better access to nutritional information about its foods, McDonald’s developed its first mobile application for the public. Additionally, in 2011, McDonald’s executives toured the country to hear directly from consumers about their concerns (Alex, 2011). In the next part, we would like to offer our evaluations, pros and cons, of McDonald’s strategies and tactics in handling the crisis. III Evaluation As we could image, the sales of Happy Meals have been a large contributions to McDonald’s daily revenue. Thus, if McDonald’s had lost the lawsuit, the company would have faced a really huge lost on its total profits and taken serious damage on its reputation. On the side of the organization change, we believe that McDonald’s did quite well in the face of the crisis. Organization crisis could be divided into three stages: pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis (Miler, 2012, p187). In the pre-crisis stage, an organization should protect or prevent possible problems. It should make employees have a kind of consciousness of crisis all the time. Indeed, McDonald’s has always been accused of selling unhealthy, greasy food to grownups, and exploiting children through advertising since 1960s (Cohen,2009,p8-6). As a leading company in fast food industry, adverse publicity always be the major problem for McDonald’s. Still, McDonald’s couldn’t find a way to solve this problem at all. It is necessary that a company grow with self-awareness against any problem. After all, McDonald’s had got unfavorable publicity in this event what had happened before. During the crisis stage, it is very important that the company should make correct and wise decisions in order to salvage the damaged reputation. As we said before, on one side, McDonald’s projected itself as a company which was proud of its products and would vigorously defend its reputation in order to calm down concerned customers . On the other side, McDonald’s announced that it would reduce the portion of French fries in every Happy Meal by half and replace them with apple slices. It even promised to start serving healthier food in the new Happy Meal to meet the nutrition standards. Indeed, McDonalds made very quick response to this event, and they also pointed out that parents could always choose not to buy happy meals for their kids instead of criticizing the corporation’s marketing strategies. After making the changes, McDonald’s operation was not impacted too much. Lastly, in the post-crisis stage, company should take lessons from this and establish backup plans for similar crisis which may happen in the future. Apparently, even after the crisis, Happy Meal was not banned. Furthermore, it has become a huge hit for McDonalds and even made the company one of the worlds largest toy distributors. As a result, more and more companies wanted to corporate with McDonalds. For example, many animation film companies wanted to team up with McDonald’s in order to take advantage of this fast food franchise’ huge market influence in promoting their movies. In sum, with its achievements overweight shortcoming, McDonald’s had a good handle on the whole crisis. Nevertheless, even the crisis had passed, this leading fast food chain suffered from public criticism regarding its products. In the future, we believe that McDonald’s should develop an effective strategy to help improve its brand image and a better risk management methodology to help mitigating coming crisis. In the next part of the paper, we want to offer our recommendation to help McDonald’s better handling similar situation. Also, since we overall felt that McDonald’s managed the crisis extremely well, we would like to recommend its strategies to be implemented to Jack in the Box, which faced a similar situation to McDonald’s. However, unlike McDonald’s which vigorously fight for the continuation of its using toys to push Happy Meal sales, Jack in the Box decided to drop toys in its Happy Meal when it was faced with the pressure from the public. We believe McDonald’s implementation of strategic changes could have helped Jack in the Box to put toys back to its Happy Meal. IV Recommendation and Implementation Recommendation for McDonald’s Obviously, McDonald’s managed the crisis really well. In fact, the nutrition of Happy Meal was improved as the calories were reduced substantially. Because the lawsuit was dismissed, McDonald’s continued sell Happy Meal with toys. In the end, McDonald’s didn’t have to change its children’s influence strategy. Even though McDonald’s made its Happy Meal healthier, we believe that their changes to the meal could be bigger, such as change the cheeseburger to a healthier burger with vegetable inside and make chicken nuggets with real chicken instead of minced meat. Also, McDonald’s could reduce the attraction to children or change a different way. For example, the fast food chain could design an advertisement to advocate children to eat healthy, such as drink milk and eat fruit. Furthermore, McDonald’s could optimize the influence aspect. For instance, McDonald’s could use influence strategy to encourage more people to do char ity and educate children to eat healthy and exercise frequently. Recommendation for Jack in the Box In 2011, under heavy public’s criticism, Jack in the Box decided to stop giving out free toys with the purchases of Happy Meal. Obviously, the scale of the crisis faced by Jack in the Box was much smaller than that faced by McDonald’s. However, we felt that Jack in the Box could benefit greatly by learning from McDonalds way of handling its crisis. We also have some recommendations for Jack in the Box based on the successful influence strategy of McDonald’s. According to the survey, McDonalds Happy Meal accounted for about 10 percent of the chain’s U.S. sales in 2010. The sales of McDonalds Happy Meals alone were more than Jack in the Box’s total sales (Maureen, 2011). This fact showed us that the influence strategy used by McDonalds was extremely effective. A spokesman of Jack in the Box said that the franchise’s target customers were â€Å"the frequent fast food consumer† or adults from 18 to 34. Therefore, we recommend Jack in the Box to use the same influence strategy to their target customer. The fast food chain could also use emotion and/or ingratiation influence to attract customers. For example, Jack in the Box could design online games for adults who gained access to the games with free codes offered with purchases of Happy Meals. Moreover, the company could design a discount card for the customers who accumulate a certain sum of consumption. Unlike McDonald’s which vigorously fight so that it could continue using toys to promote Happy Meal, Jack in the Box decided to drop toys in its Happy Meal when it was faced with the similar pressure from the public. We believed that many of the McDonald’s organizational changes could be copied and apply in Jack in the Box. This would allow Jack in the Box to continue selling its Happy Meal with toys. For example, Jack in the Box could change the composition of Happy Meal toward a more healthier trends—such as reducing the sodium content, sugars, saturated fats, and calories to its foods; including vegetables and fruits in the menu; and offering tea, juice, and milk as alternatives to the traditional soda beverages. Jack in the Box also needed to let its customers know of its commitment in making its products healthier. The reason provided by Jack in the Box regarding its letting go of Happy Meal’s toys was that it waned the Happy Meal to appeal to parents. Brian Luscomb, Jack in the Box’s spokesman, commented: â€Å"Rather than promote a toy weve focused on the quality of products in our Kids Meals, like a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough, grilled or crispy chicken strips, or a hamburger. We believe that providing these kinds of options is more appealing to a parent than packaging a toy with lower-quality fare†(Bernstein, 2011). However, we believed that Jack in the Box could benefit greatly from expanding its Happy Meal’s target market to include children. To achieve this, Jack in the Box would need to facilitate strategic change†the process of formulating, implementing, and evaluating decisions that enable an organization to achieve its objectives† (Wong, Organizational change, 2012). In this case, the strategic plan would include extensive products innovation. For example, Jack in the Box could use popular toys and online games to attract children to its Happy Meal. The burger franchise chain could also build playgrounds inside its stores. This offered children with fun and healthy exercises. Implementation for Jack in the Box As we discussed above, Jack in the Box could drew on McDonald’s successful tactics to appeal more customers to consume their products. We found McDonald’s influence tactic could be successfully implemented on Jack in the Box due to two main reasons. The first reason is the industry similarity. Jack in the Box is one of the nations largest hamburger chains with more than 2,200 restaurants in 19 states. Also, just like McDonald’s, Jack in the Box is also a member of the fast food hamburger restaurant (FFHR) industry. This is an industry characterized by high competitiveness and risk. Although Jack in the Box is concentrated on the West Coastprimarily in California, the competition is still intensive. In this industry, McDonald’s is the only fast food chain to occupy nearly 13 percent of the US market (McDonald’s Report, 2010). There is no reason that Jack in the Box could not benefit from learning from the market leader, McDonald’s. The second reason is the easy-to-influence target customers. As we mentioned before, Jack in the Box’s target consumer are youth, aged 18 to 34. This group of customer is the most active part. They are independent buyers. This means that they could choose the thing they want without asking their parents’ permission or admission. Another character of this customer group is economic dependent. This group of customer typically has incomes and also can take charge of their money. The situation is much better than McDonald’s children market. Also, this group customer of Jack in the Box likes keeping pace with the trend. We think if Jack in the Box could use the influence tactic cater to its target consumers, they could further expand their market share in the future. However, in implementing aggressive marketing strategies, Jack in the Box would certainly be criticized by the public. Still, we believed that if Jack in the Box continues making its Happy Meal healthier and supporting the surrounding community through various charity activitiessuch as donating part of its Happy Meal’s profit to children hospitals, giving free Happy Meals to the homeless, and so forth, it can enjoy increase profit and at the same time maintain good public image. Reference: Alex, M. (July 26, 2011). McDonalds Happy Meal to include sliced apples, less fries. Retrieved from http://www.christianpost.com/news/mcdonalds-happy-meal-to-include-sliced-apples-52867/#gKDYWvXCIJGSO8g1.99 Andrew, L. (July 28, 2011). McDonalds adds apple slices, reaction to Happy Meal lawsuit?†¨Retrieved from http://chicagopersonalinjurylegalblog.com/2011/07/mcdonalds-adds-apple-slices-reaction-to-happy-meal-lawsuit.html Bernstein, S. (2011, June 20). Jack in the Box stops including toys in kids meals [updated]. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/06/jack-in-the-box-toys.html Bridget, C. (December 15, 2010). Response to CSPI Lawsuit. Retrieved from http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/newsroom/mcdonalds_statements_and_alerts/response_to_cpi_lawsuit.html Centers for disease control and prevention: Childhood obesity facts. (2012, June 07). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm Cohen, I. (2009). McDonald’s and its critics, 1973-2009. Dan, L. (2011, April 19). McDonalds grimaces at Happy Meal lawsuit. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/19/us-mcdonalds-lawsuit-idUSTRE73I4P820110419 Harris, J., Schwartz, M., Brownell, K. (2010). Fast food FACTS: evaluating fast food nutrition and marketing to youth. Research report, Yale Rudd Center For Food Policy and Obesity, Retrieved from http://www.fastfoodmarketing.org/media/FastFoodFACTS_Report.pdf Joanne, R., Caroline, B. (2006). Corporate Identity and Strategic Change: The Case of McDonald’s Miller, K. (2012). Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes. 6th ed. Boston: Wadsworth. Molland, J. (2010, December 15). California mom sues McDonalds over Happy Meal. Retrieved from http://www.care2.com/causes/california-mom-sues-mcdonalds-over-happy-meals-video.html Stephanie, S. (July 26, 2011). McDonald’s trims its Happy Meal. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/business/mcdonalds-happy-meal-to-get-healthier.html?_r=0

Miles and Flora in ‘The Turn of the Screw’ Essay Example for Free

Miles and Flora in ‘The Turn of the Screw’ Essay The children in the novella are very distinctive in a manner of how the reader can perceive them. They can be seen by many as good children or bad children. In Victorian times the majority of children were actually brought up in the lower class and the middle class, Miles and Flora were not, they were lucky enough to be in the upper class but they had to follow the ideals of their mother or father. They didn’t have a mother or father therefore the governess was the only option of a friend to have and confide in, this was seen as morally wrong in the society since many Victorians believed that their shouldn’t be friendships between different classes, they believed in a strict social hierarchy. The children can be seen as innocent in the novella by the governess’ first views of them. On her first sighting of Miles, the governess describes him as being ‘angelic’, this can be seen as quite confusing to the reader since she has only just met him, it is a very powerful word to use on first impressions. But mainly it has religious connotations, it conveys a very strong image of Miles being this perfect little child, and sets him up as an innocent character throughout the entire novella. Also the governess is ‘carried away’ by Miles as well as the Master; this suggests that the governess is always in awe of strangers making her seem very vulnerable. Miles is constantly referred to as ‘little’ by the governess throughout the novella. She calls him a ‘little fairy prince’ which shows how highly she speaks of Miles, this suggests how little he is in physical appearance but mainly the innocence of him, small things are usually very vulnerable and innocent and need comfort and support from somebody bigger than them. The use of ‘prince’ not only shows how pristine he is but also correlates with his Victorian upper class position in society. This perception of Miles stays the same even until the end when his ‘little heart, dispossessed had stopped’. Since there has been many sides to Miles in the novella, the end sentence conveys how innocent he really he is. He is only a little boy and that’s what the reader needs to remember. Flora is also spoken very highly of by the governess. Generally there is more of a loveable connection between the two because they are female, and the daughter looks up to both of her parents as role models but to the mother most of all. The governess thinks that Flora is ‘the most beautiful child she has ever seen’; this is kind of inferred in the quotation but also has a very loveable element to it and an innocence one too. The governess doesn’t really experience any problems with Flora in the novella; she wants to protect her all the time from the ghosts that she believes are terrorizing her. Flora’s position in society as being upper class is also linked to by the use of her ‘hair of gold’, ‘gold’ symbolizing money but also makes her stand out in the crowd, the author has made her out to be like a little prodigy. Another perception of the children’s innocence comes with the idea if there are actually ghosts corrupting them, which the governess thinks is happening. The fact that they are only children conveys the general idea that children tend to be scared of ghosts and don’t want to hear anything about them. The children may be getting scared by the governess’ dramatic reactions to her so called sightings of Quint and Jessel. When Flora is awake in the middle of the night looking out the window, the governess, straight away, believes that she is contacting ghosts and so her suspicions about ghosts are increased but they are only children and it turns out they were only having a joke. Children can still have fun even though they are of noble birth but the governess doesn’t seem to realize this. Maria Edgeworth commented on the grave dangers of leaving young children in the supervision of servants, in this case the governess is actually a servant in social hierarchy terms but the master in terms of profession terms. The children however can be seen as being ‘bad’. The quote in the title itself tells how Miles could be being sinister. When the governess wakes up to see why Flora is standing up at the window, she immediately believes that she is contacting either Quint or Jessel because she is extremely paranoid. But when she sees Miles on the grounds of Bly she panics because not only is he all alone without anyone supervising him, he is also looking above the window Flora is looking out so the governess believes he is contacting Quint. When talking to Mrs.Grose about what happened the previous night, she watches Miles and Flora walking the grounds and believes that ‘they’re talking horrors!’, this could have several implications, one could be that they are plotting and scheming against the governess to maybe overthrow her position and get their uncle back to them and another could be that they are talking to the horrors and in this case the horrors could be Quint and Jessel since the word horror is often associated with ghosts and the supernatural. One thing that could suggest that the children are deceiving the governess and manipulating her is the fact that the employer who is the children’s uncle is nowhere to be seen at Bly. Since being employed the governess is told strictly not to contact him about anything whatsoever, not even about his own nephew and niece. This surely arouses suspicion and could possibly make the reader think that maybe the children are actually bad. Perhaps the past between Miles and Quint had made the Master resort to madness like the governess possibly has as well. It could in fact possibly be that Quint corrupted Miles before the governess was at Bly which leads to the reason why he was expelled from his school which the governess believes is a massive concern. Are the children the cause of their uncle’s behavior? And maybe, what have they done to make him not want to stay at Bly? The governess has all these sorts of questions but knows that they she cannot contact him for the sake of her job, which drives her mad because she thinks she is being corrupted. The descriptions of the children actually change as the reader progresses through the novella. On first impressions the children are compared to being like angels and royalty which is all well and good but she has yet to meet their true personalities. She describes Flora as an ‘old, old woman’ which is honestly the most ridiculous thing that a child can be called. This obviously cannot be a description of her physical appearance since she is only 8 years old but possibly how the governess believes that she is corrupted by Miss Jessel. Perhaps every time Jessel is around, Flora’s soul seems to be aging or it could actually be that she is becoming smarter with every appearance of Jessel so she is scheming more. This could suggest a loss of innocence in Flora, she used to be ‘the most beautiful child’ and now she is an ‘old, old woman’. To conclude I believe that the children are actually innocent. They are only children so how in any way can they actually be sinister and possibly evil? Yes there is strong evidence that the children could be being bad and corrupting the governess but being evil is too much of an extent. Therefore I believe in the innocence of the children.

Tupac Shakur - Me Against the World Essays -- Music

Tupac Shakur - Me Against the World I was 13 years old. Anticipation thrilled my mind and body as the sea air wafted through the window. My best friend and I were nearing the beach and the mini-van we had inhabited for six hours felt as though it was closing in on us. Thoughts of the beach, the simplicity, and the freedom had controlled my mind for weeks, even months prior to our trip to the beach. Harnessing my recent hormone attack was still a challenge and images of tan girls plagued my mind. Then it happened. A song came on the radio that became my motto for the week; however even though that week ended, the artist never left my life. The voice I heard was that of Tupac Shakur and the song was "I Get Around." The lyrics of the song were boastful and egotistical. I loved it. With Tupac’s display of masculinity as my inspiration, my chances of picking up some of those tan girls were great. Unfortunately, I didn’t and my determined mission was in vein; however to this day Tupac’s music, spirit and camaraderie still gives me inspiration. At the end of that wonderful week we were forced to pack up and leave the freedom and the warmth of the beach. With me I took many memories, and a new tee shirt with the slogan "I Get Around" boldly written on the back. Years have passed. My best friend is still my best friend, but we rarely talk. Now, nearly nothing is quite the same. Friendships have passed; I've changed mentally and physically. Through all of the changes, Tupac has always been at my side. He elevates the highs in my life and illustrates the lows. Tupac Shaker is still influencing me, and I still own that tee shirt. I never lost touch with Tupac. I bought the album with "I Get Around," and I bought his preceding albu... ...ac. I'd lay on the warm sand, whip out my jackknife (headphones) and proceed to examine Tupac's music and life, down to its soul. I could rediscover his essence and get past the thuggish symbolic complex that is so often associated with Tupac. Although the shining serpent has departed this earth I am thankful that he brightens my world and eases my pain everyday. I think when my professor gave this assignment; he intended his class to contemplate for weeks about which CD we would listen to while wasting away on a desert island. What my professor didn’t understand was that I’ve been wasting away for years, and I need this CD to survive, stranded or not. Â   Bibliography: Anson, Robert. "To Die Like a Gangsta." Vanity Fair: Mar, 1997: 244-252. Percy, Walker. "The Loss of the Creature." The Message in the Bottle. New York: Farrar, Srauss, Giroux, 1975: 46-63. Tupac Shakur - Me Against the World Essays -- Music Tupac Shakur - Me Against the World I was 13 years old. Anticipation thrilled my mind and body as the sea air wafted through the window. My best friend and I were nearing the beach and the mini-van we had inhabited for six hours felt as though it was closing in on us. Thoughts of the beach, the simplicity, and the freedom had controlled my mind for weeks, even months prior to our trip to the beach. Harnessing my recent hormone attack was still a challenge and images of tan girls plagued my mind. Then it happened. A song came on the radio that became my motto for the week; however even though that week ended, the artist never left my life. The voice I heard was that of Tupac Shakur and the song was "I Get Around." The lyrics of the song were boastful and egotistical. I loved it. With Tupac’s display of masculinity as my inspiration, my chances of picking up some of those tan girls were great. Unfortunately, I didn’t and my determined mission was in vein; however to this day Tupac’s music, spirit and camaraderie still gives me inspiration. At the end of that wonderful week we were forced to pack up and leave the freedom and the warmth of the beach. With me I took many memories, and a new tee shirt with the slogan "I Get Around" boldly written on the back. Years have passed. My best friend is still my best friend, but we rarely talk. Now, nearly nothing is quite the same. Friendships have passed; I've changed mentally and physically. Through all of the changes, Tupac has always been at my side. He elevates the highs in my life and illustrates the lows. Tupac Shaker is still influencing me, and I still own that tee shirt. I never lost touch with Tupac. I bought the album with "I Get Around," and I bought his preceding albu... ...ac. I'd lay on the warm sand, whip out my jackknife (headphones) and proceed to examine Tupac's music and life, down to its soul. I could rediscover his essence and get past the thuggish symbolic complex that is so often associated with Tupac. Although the shining serpent has departed this earth I am thankful that he brightens my world and eases my pain everyday. I think when my professor gave this assignment; he intended his class to contemplate for weeks about which CD we would listen to while wasting away on a desert island. What my professor didn’t understand was that I’ve been wasting away for years, and I need this CD to survive, stranded or not. Â   Bibliography: Anson, Robert. "To Die Like a Gangsta." Vanity Fair: Mar, 1997: 244-252. Percy, Walker. "The Loss of the Creature." The Message in the Bottle. New York: Farrar, Srauss, Giroux, 1975: 46-63.

The Role of Chorus in Euripides Medea Essay -- Euripides Medea Essays

The Role of Chorus in Medea In section 18 of the Poetics Aristotle criticizes Euripides for not allowing "the chorus to be one of the actors and to be a part of the whole and to share in the dramatic action, . . . as in Sophocles." Aristotle may be thinking of the embolima of Euripides' later plays (satirized also by Aristophanes), but he is certainly wrong about the Medea. Its choral odes are not only all intimately related to the action but are also essential for the meaning of the play, particularly because here, as elsewhere (e.g. Hecuba), Euripides forces us reevaluate his main protagonist in midstream and uses the chorus (in part) to indicate that change. In her first speech Medea wins over the chorus by a plea to solidarity in the face of women's victimization by a male-dominated society, and this response by the chorus is an essential step in the poet's paradoxical task of winning sympathy and understanding for a mother who kills her children. But as that first speech itself indicates, Medea both is and is not a typical (Greek) woman: she is a foreig...

Marraige

Arranged marriage is happen a lot over seas in the western area, not so much in the United States. There is an article that is called â€Å"I’m Happy with an Arranged Marriage† by Gitangeli Sapra. In this article she discusses her view of arranged marriages. Ms. Gitangeli approves of arranged marriage, it is stated that people who get married for â€Å"love† has a 40% rate of divorce. She also states that arranged marriages have a lower rate of divorce for the fact that the couples do not want to start a wrath between their families. Is arranged marriage right or wrong?Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I disagree with arranged marriage; I believe that families should not have the right to set up their children with who they think best suits their child. I believe marriage is about two people who love, support and respect each other. I personally would not prefer my parents to set me up with someone who they think is a good match for me, because I have di fferent standards then they do and I have a different idea of who the type of person I would like to spend my time with. Parents want to see their children with successful spouses and who they think are a good person.If parents were to choose who they want their child to marry then they will be too involved in the couple’s relationship, so if the relationship is not working out the couple would be too scared to get a divorce because of what their family might do. A lot of countries make arranged marriage mandatory, and some people really do agree with it it are apart of some cultures, but others do not. Fatma Uncon was a twenty year old female who was forced into an arranged marriage, which she did not want. Since she was forced she decided to commit suicide by shooting herself

Plans for expansion of The new 3G technology

1. T-mobile already has a wide range of mobile phones available on different payment tariffs. Phones are always being updated and new innovations. The latest invention in the mobile world is 3G enabled mobile phones. Mobile phones have evolved a lot since the first 1G analogue phone. After the 1G mobile phone 2G phone was next this included GSM, TDMA and cdmaone. After the 2G phones came the 2.5G phones this included the ideas of the 2G phones but at a faster rate and the EDGE technology. The 3G phone will have wireless technology which will enable enhancements to current applications, including greater data speeds, increased capacity for voice and data and the advent of packet data networks versus today's switched networks. The new 3G mobile phones will enable users to access the internet. 2. The production processes will need to be carefully managed when manufacturing the new 3G mobile phones. There are three different types of production methods which could be used batch, flow and job production. I believe the best production method for this product would be batch production as this would suit the type of product well. The advantages of using the batch production system would mean increased output of the product. The costs of production would be reduced. Some flexibility is retained so that different types of the product can be made 3. I think that patents/trademarks/copyright would be a good idea to use for the new 3G technology of mobile phone however to enforce this business would need expensive court action. 4. The new product will need a good marketing strategy which keeps in theme with the other products available from the company. The marketing mix technique which is a combination of product, price, promotion and place. The price of the product is a very important factor to consider there are 2 factors that affect the price of a product the elasticity and supply and demand. If the product is price inelastic then it is not very sensitive to changes in price. If the product is price elastic then the product in very sensitive to changes in price I believe that the new 3G mobile phone is a price elastic product and if you changed the price the demand would vary a lot. Promotion is another important factor when introducing a new product. There are two types of promotion above the line and below the line promotion. Above the line promotion is through media such as TV, radio, and cinema. Below the line promotion is a range of promotional techniques such as personal selling, direct marketing in which the firms have control over as they are usually led by them not outside agencies. I believe that the new 3G mobile phone will benefit from promotion on the television, through direct mail shots and newspaper promotions. 5. Some of the advantages of the new 3G technology. The new 3G technology will improve communication skills due to the widespread access to information it will allow more sophisticated communication. The new 3G mobile phones will be better quality and the customers will have more choice. Some of the disadvantages with the new 3G technology would be the cost of the new technology is quite high there are also some risks involved in integrating the new product. There may also be some resistance to the change in the new mobile phone technology. Overall I think that the advantages out weigh the disadvantages. 6. For managing the change I would suggest recording how the sales of the original products are selling before the 3G mobile phones are introduced and then also recording the sales when the new 3G mobile technology is introduced. If the sales of the old product falls new marketing techniques could be used to increase the sale sof this product and to maintain the sales of the new product. 7. In conclusion I have found that the new 3G technology would be a good new product for the company to introduce alongside the other wide range of mobile phones t-mobile has on offer. My advice would be to introduce the new 3G technology for a trial and see how the product sells and what marketing techniques need to be used for the product.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart A Prominent Musical Genius

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Prominent Musical Genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian composer of the classical period. He was born in 1756. In 1782, he married Constanze Weber and had six children—four of which passed away when they were infants (Grout, 540). One of their two other sons that lived followed his legacy of becoming a composer (Grout, 540). Mozart’s father was both a composer and a violinist, who began training him and his sister Nannerl musically at a very young age and took them on tours to demonstrate their talents (Hanning, 354). Mozart was a prodigy. It has been said that at the age of three, he had already been recognized to have perfect pitch and at the age of six he began composing (Hanning, 354). He was a virtuoso on the keyboard and prominent violinist (Grout, 540). Without a doubt, he was a master in music. In 1791, at the young age of 35 Mozart passed away (Hanning, 354). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a renowned composer of the classical period. This prominent musical genius still impacts the world of music today in a significant way. His years of touring allowed him to explore many places in Europe as well as the music of those places (Taruskin, 439). Mozart’s experience of touring as a young prodigy allowed him to express the inner majesty of music. Through his compositions and performances, Mozart was able to depict the variety of moods and exposures within music in an effortless manner (Grout, 539). This depiction allowed Mozart toShow MoreRelated Life of Mozart Essays2866 Words   |  12 PagesRats and Mozart F.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ending Conclusion III.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Assessment and Evaluation A. Greatness of a Man B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   His Ideals C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mozart and Saleiri D. The Legacy Lives On. Chapter I Mozart’s Prodigious Life   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Without a doubt, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, was probably the greatest genius in Western musical history. 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Mozart was a musical prodigy all of his life starting to learn the keyboard at age three with his sister at the age of seven. By the age of six Mozart could play multiple instruments for the public. Mozart’s talents in music reach further than playing instruments; he once listened to a piece played only a single time in concert and wrote the entire score fromRead MoreEssay about Life of Ludwig van Beethoven1182 Words   |  5 Pageshad a strong liking to him from the beginning. Moreover, when he took a short leave of absence from Bonn, he appointed Beethoven, at only eleven years old, to fill his spot as an assistant. Neefe exclaimed, â€Å"He would surely become a second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart if he were to continue as he has begun† (Kerman 355). This great German composer did continue as he begun and published his first work in 1783. It was a variation of Dressler’s March. 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Studied under Christian Gottlob Neefe (1748-98) c. 1787: brief visit to Vienna, may have played for Mozart d. 1790: Haydn hears Beethovens music and urges the archbishop of Cologne to send him to Vienna 2. Studies with a number of

Essay on John Locke vs Thomas Hobbes - 509 Words

Locke versus Hobbes Locke and Hobbes were both social contract theorists, and both natural law theorists, but there the resemblance ends. All other natural law theorists assumed that man was by nature a social animal. Hobbes assumed otherwise, thus his conclusions are strikingly different from those of other natural law theorists. What would life and human relations be like in the absence of government? Thomas Hobbes was the first to attempt to illustrate this condition using an intellectual device- a thought experiment, known as the State of Nature. For Hobbes, the state of nature was not an actual period in history, but rather a way of rationalizing how people would act in their most basic state. He believed that everything in†¦show more content†¦Hobbes further believed that an individuals appetite constantly kept him or her in motion, and that in order to remain in motion, everyone needs a certain degree of power. Thus the pursuit of power is the natural state of humans. Hobbes then says th at nature ahs made men basically equal. He also says that people were constantly in a struggle for power and above all else, they wanted to avoid a violent death. In the state of nature, people were always at war with one another, a war of all against all. Every person had the right to do anything they pleased. Hobbes thought that this would go on until people discovered that they could prevent their demise by avoiding doing things that would purposely endanger their lives. Hobbes also thought that an authoritarian government would come to power in order to enforce the social contract by whatever means necessary. He called this Leviathan. Individuals exchanged their rights in return for peace, security, and protection from one another. John Locke embraced many of the ideas presented by Hobbes in his theories on the state of nature and the rise of government. They differed however, in that Locke believed that God was the prime factor in politics. 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