Ku Klux Klans Effect on America Essay Example for Free

Ku Klux Klans Effect on America Essay The first Klan had first started around the year of 1860s. The first klan had lead up to the effects of the 1920s. The KKK had a tumultious start, and it had a major effect on America in the 1920s. The first klan began in Tennessee, by six Confederate Army Officers, in the winter of 1865. Ku klux Klan rose about four million and spread from the South into the Midwest region and Northern states and even into Canada. The name of the Ku Klux Klan is â€Å"derived from the Grrek word kyklos, meaning circle† (Wikimedia Foundation). ‘Klan was added for the purpose of alliteration† (â€Å"Ku Klux Klan†). The infamous burning-cross icon became a symbol of the KKK in the 1920’s, which was one of many tactics used for intimidation. Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of Klan members were the white robes they wore along with cone shaped hats that covered their faces. These costumes accomplished their goal of making them look more outlandish and terrifying, and for the intimidation of their victims (Smith). The Klan was pretty selective in accepting members, only WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) could become members. These members possessed the ideology of white supremacy to all other races and ethnic divisions, similar to the concept of Neo-Nazism, however they claim to have based their beliefs on Christian values and nativism. It is often thought that the KKK only hated African-Americans, but many other groups acquired hatred from the Klan, such as Jews, Catholics , homosexuals and various immigrant groups. Anti-Defamination League). Even though the stock started to gain their stocks and shares didnt stop the Great Depression from happening (Kelly). Many people wonder why any group of people would posses such a hatred Dubbs 3 for certain groups of people. While there is no legitimate justification, one factor contributing to their hate was the rapid economic progression in the North, and the stagnant economy of the South. This may have been what angered the white southerners so much that they put blame onto the black population, along with leftover racial disputes from the times of slavery (Trueman). People of today also wonder how society could permit such destruction of life, and also support it. Back then, the Klan had many sources of income including membership fees, funds acquired from various events and sales of Klan propaganda, as well as free will donations. â€Å"This income made the Klan’s many forms of media and strategy possible, such as mass mailings, pamphlets and public events and protests. They also did community service projects such as ‘adopt a highway’ programs to make themselves look good in the eyes of their communities† (Anti-Defamanation League). The members of the Ku Klux Klan did everything in their power to prevent the black community from exercising their newly acquired rights, which was often done during massive events. During a typical KKK event, they dressed in robes symbolizing their rank, then went on nighttime raids, during which they would whip and murder blacks and any of their supporters (â€Å"Ku Klux Klan†). These events, unfortunately, were extremely effective. This lack of a political presence is what allowed the Klan to exist for such a long period of time. KKK existed from the initial founding until around 1870, â€Å"when congress passed the KKK act which allowed authorities to end such activities by force and penalize anyone who affiliated with terrorist organizations† (â€Å"Ku Klux Klan†). At this time, blacks were the only targets of the KKK, for the most part.

Impact of Brexit on Cross-Cultural Management Practices

Impact of Brexit on Cross-Cultural Management Practices Critically analyse the long-term impact of Brexit for cross-cultural management practices in Europe. Consider the impact and issues for businesses from both the UK and other EU-partner perspectives. On 23rd of June 2016, United Kingdom (UK) had held Brexit referendum in desire of leaving European Union (EU) (Ford and Goodwin, 2017). The outcome of the referendum was 51.9% of British citizens voted leave EU, whilst 48.1% had voted to remain within EU (Hunt and Wheeler, 2017). The verdict of referendum to withdraw from the membership of EU, will have a huge impact to the country’s cross cultural relationship with the prime trade partner EU. This assignment has been prepared to critically analyse the long-term impacts of Brexit for cross-cultural management practices; the focus will be on the UK healthcare sector and how they will be enforced to cultural change, (Mundasad, 2017). Following onto UK banking sector and finishing off with summary on the impact of UK airline industry within EU. This essay will start off by an introduction regarding about the UK’s healthcare sector which will be the main focus of the essay; following on with brief implications on the UK banking sector and Low cost Airline industry. Describing how the healthcare sector will be hugely impacted by losing highly trained staff after Brexit, as majority of the nurses and doctors come from the EU to join UK’s healthcare sector. Furthermore this essay will analyse and identify the major impacts of cross culture management after Brexit. The main three effects of Brexit in the long run will be in regards to international staffing which includes: ‘immigration’,‘re-expatriation’ and ‘labour market’. These three difficulties will be linked to the long term impacts of Brexit and on the global staffing issue, this will be backed up with models to interpret and recognise the disputes. The word Brexit has been used throughout media and is a media terminology which has been used to show the exit of UK from EU. ‘Brexit’ has been created by combining two of the initial words of Britain with the word exit (James, 2016). The main question that was brought up to British citizens for the referendum was: â€Å"Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?† (Green, 2017).   The parliament gave the option for the public to decide whether it is best to leave EU, knowing the fact that the general public had no knowledge on the long-term impacts of Brexit and how it will bring challenges for the upcoming generations.  Ã‚   One of the challenges for Brexit that will impact the health care sector is global staffing that will be ‘immigration’. Before Brexit, UK was part of the EU and participated within the EU’s policies in relation to free movement of people. This allowed the healthcare sector to recruit their employees from any country within EU and permitted the citizens to move freely between EU and UK so they could work and live in their desired place. The latest statistics shows that the healthcare sector, has roughly around 55,000 recruits which come from EU countries (Fenton, 2016).   Conversely, because of the impact of Brexit there is a vulnerability that the privilege to freedom of movement would still relate to the EU citizens (Rankin, 2016). Many of the employees who work within the healthcare sector are categorised as ‘third-country nationals’ on their applications, these employees are mainly on a work visa in the UK.   However, after Brexit things will change and many of these ‘third-country nationals’ would be hugely impacted than the EU citizens that work in UK (Barnard, 2017). Because of this, the effects on global staffing of talent and ability planning within the healthcare sector occurs. Knowing that the implication of Brexit will lead to immigration issues, causing staff shortage within different industries, the healthcare sector should look into this matter and decide on different recruitment procedures whether they should make or buy the skilled force. Altogether, for a short period of time it will be best for the healthcare sector to make their talent rather than buying. It is smarter for the healthcare sector to concentrate on the internal labour markets after Brexit, on the grounds that this will build the dedication of employees in the job they do and giving them greater security so that they do not fear the consequences of Brexit. Since the matter of Brexit arose, the healthcare sector would in any case still want to keep their staff, as majority of these are EU national staff and are usually doctors or nurses that are highly skilled and qualified to serve the people of UK. For the healthcare sector to avoid any negative consequences which will begin to impact after the negotiations and agreement of Brexit, they should prepare themselves beforehand in regards to handling the workforce and retaining employees. Another challenge of Brexit that impacts the healthcare sector is ‘flexible to labour market’. The meaning of this is that the organisations have more freedom to hire and provide contracts to employees when the demands of work increases, and they have the power to fire the workers when demand of work decreases. On the other hand, healthcare sector has been in stress many times because of shortage in staff to fulfil the needs and providing service to the citizens of UK (Mundasad, 2017). Besides, the verdict of referendum could prompt to having a bigger number of issues than before on recruiting workers in the healthcare sector as majority of these workers are doctors and nurses who are recruited from EU nations (Triggle, 2016). When non-EU nationals apply to work within UK, they have to follow the ‘points-based system’ which causes difficulties in recruiting employees other than EU nationals (Landou, 2016). Once the Brexit is settled, there will be a risk off EU’s freedom of movement to be removed and this could cause huge implications on the healthcare sector as this will put on boundaries on recruiting employees, therefore this will lead to a huge deficiency of workers. These implications will affect the capacity of the employees who bring the right skills and abilities that is required by the healthcare sector. Therefore, to beat this issue it will be best for the healthcare sector to send their employees on an international project so they could develop on their skills and knowledge. The final implication after Brexit for the healthcare sector is ‘re-expatriation’, where the organisation will need to take to think through. The issues about freedom of movement as specified above, British residents who have decided to work and live in another country within Europe will fear their healthcare and right to remain will vanish post-Brexit (Carroll, 2016). Furthermore, British expats who work abroad within the EU could face difficulties if the country they’re at ask the expats to comply and act upon their prohibitive guidelines with regards to licenses, permits and setting up firms. Therefore, this could cause them in losing their right to work in EU countries and will need to gain a permitted stay to continue staying within the EU area because of the new policy that may be applied after Brexit. Thus, the effects of global staffing within the healthcare sector will be influenced. Conversely, if all the UK expats that live and work within EU nations are to return back to the UK following the post-Brexit, then it is conceivable that it will make it more difficult for new expats to look for some kind of employment within UK (Burton, 2016). Furthermore, the UK expats who work and live within the EU nations are entitled to free healthcare service but once Brexit is completed and agreed this will be affected and the right for free healthcare could be taken away (Parfitt, 2016). Expatriates give a lot of benefits to the firms which incorporates more prominent parent control and the right sets of aptitudes. It is believed that this is seen to provide greater prospects for personal and career development. With the post-Brexit, the expats are disturbed on playing out their parts and tasks bringing about the disappointment of expatriates. Precisely, re-expatriations will have complications on adjusting themselves when they return to UK. For instance, after the referendum and agreements majority of the expats will be required to return back to their birth country which will have an impact on culture, causing an experience of reverse culture shock by getting a habit of working and adjusting their life in the foreign country they have been sent to work at (Skyes, 2011). Therefore, this will cause the healthcare sector to experience a huge loss on collaboration and investments on expats who are sent to work from different EU countries. Overall, ‘re-expatriation’ will be a big test within the healthcare sector after Brexit primarily looking at the employment and managing role. Additionally, the healthcare sector should look into these long term impacts that have been mentioned above and plan into the future so they could avoid the consequences of managing global staff after Brexit. Now there will be analysis regarding about the banking sector and how Brexit will impact the cross cultural management style. The banking sector is a big sector within the EU and UK, majority of the UK banks work across EU and other international countries such as China and Japan as it is cheaper for non-EU countries to collaborate and work with EU countries rather than individual countries. The main impact on the UK banking sector will be in regards to the loss of â€Å"passporting rights†, a recent report has shown that almost 5,500 organisations in UK mainly rely on the passporting so that they could do business with the EU nations, and over 8,000 organisations of EU rely on passporting for trade with UK (Toptal Finance Blog, 2017). Majority of the banks within the UK are known for working cross-border to provide banking services to people across the globe. With regards to these services, the UK banks cover the needs of borrowing of the firms in various nations; thus, by losing the ‘passporting right’, it will hugely impact the banking sector and will be a challenge to overcome as they will have to terminate their cooperation’s with overseas consumers, a reality that could undermine the banks’ dependability in the market (Ford and Goodwin, 2017; Walsh, 2017). Hence, the banks will suffer a big loss towards cross-border collaboration and investments; so it will be a challenge to bring this up in the negotiations towards Brexit, however UK is leaving the EU so there will be less goodwill towards the negotiations and it will be tough. UK might have two options either to use the Swiss-style or the Norwegian way for Britain to benefit the passporting trade. Therefore the banking sector will need to look into this matter and come up with a solution so that they do not lose their overseas consumers. Ashurst (2016) clarified that the UK banks signifies high percentage of activities with regards to cross-cultural services. The activities are depended on the EU legislations. When the legislations are modernised and amended after Brexit, it could terminate the activities of the banks, this impact would be very hard to be overseen and managed, in both areas of lawful and as of its financial aspects (Ashurst, 2016). Simultaneously, the volume of bad loan under the impact of Brexit is predicted to be profoundly enlarged. The statistics shows that these loans in 2017, was expected to reach up to  £6.9 billion and in 2018 to reach up at  £9.7 billion; this impact will increase the loans by  £2.8 billion within one year (Gros, 2016). The Bank of England had made an announcement on March 2017, warning the banks within UK that they should be well prepared in the case of severe turbulence with the UK’s economy due to the Brexit outcomes; the Bank of England described the turbulences as â€Å"knee-jerk reactions† (Burton, 2017).   This statement that the Bank of England has stated has a negative connotation, they are giving a warning to banks that there will be sudden change within the economy and there will be no time to think about a solution because we do not know what the outcome will turn out to be. The UK is still undergoing their bill with negotiations, this bill will cover all the issues of Brexit and how UK could overcome it by EU been lenient to the bill, however it is predicted that this will cost the UK between  £66 and  £111 billion to complete the process (Lowe, 2017). Furthermore, the foreign investments within the UK business industry has been predicted to reduce by 25% by 2019, because of Brexit effect (Cox et al., 2017). This figure includes one of the Brexit cost. A survey conducted amongst the UK’s most influential businesses have exposed that the impact of Brexit on businesses within UK have been negative by far (Ross & Meakin, 2017). At the moment only in the result of the verdict UK have had negative effects on businesses but when the negotiations have been completed and Brexit is finalised this will severely impact the UK’s economy. Conversely, it is believed that the exit of EU will benefit the UK but in the long term. As the withdrawal from EU nations could potentially increase the UK’s economy as UK will not be included to contribute towards the EU’s assets and expenses. For instance, in 2016 UK had given an amount of  £13.2 billion to EU for the expenses and assets (Begg, 2017). But this benefit to Brexit on UK will take a while to appear. Certainly, UK’s growth has been predicted to be 1.6% in 2018 from 2% in 2017 having a decrease (Kottasova, 2017). PWC a leading accounting firm has produced a report, which the Bank of England has anticipated that they would avoid making any changes to Britain’s financial regulatory policy for a certain amount of time, mainly up until they get closer to the progression of Brexit negotiations (PWC, 2017). In conclusion Brexit will cause several implications on UK, both in a positive and negative scopes. Mainly in the context of economy, as there will be a potential increase of UK to do trade with other countries around the globe as the restrictions to legislations provided by EU will not be applied in UK. However, the Bill may create traffics and barriers between UK and EU trade and would potentially decrease the advantages of UK’s trade liberalisation. Simultaneously, the power of UK to make critical decisions on issues such as immigration, introduction of economy restrictions and involvement with conflicts around the globe would be unconditional. Additionally, it cannot be determined whether the full independency of UK from the rules of EU will be a condition of ‘hard’ Brexit or ‘soft’, if ‘hard’ Brexit is opted then this could potentially be dangerous for UK in several ways, mainly with the issues that have been analysed above. As a matter of fact, the aspects of UK’s economic, political and social environment has created awareness that the benefits of Brexit to the UK is virtually the same to it disadvantages. Therefore, with this nature the accomplishment of ‘soft’ Brexit through the negotiations should be the main aim for the UK’s government so that they could avoid complications in the future. Reference list: Ashurst (2016) Brexit: the potential impact on the UK’s banking industry. (Online). Available at: https://www.ashurst.com/en/news-and-insights/insights/brexit-potential-impact-on-the-uk-banking-industry/ (Accessed 12 Dec 2017). Barnard, C., 2017. Law and Brexit. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 33(suppl_1), pp.S4-S11. Begg, I. (2017) How Much Will Brexit Cost? Chatham House. (Online). Available at: https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/how-much-will-brexit-cost [Accessed 19 Dec 2017]. Burton, L. (2017) Bank of England warns lenders against knee-jerk Brexit reactions. The Telegraph. (Online). Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/03/27/bank-england-check-banks-ready-range-brexit-outcomes/ Burton, L. (2016). Brexit: What does it mean for expats, here and in the EU? BBC News. (Online) BBC News. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36606847 (Accessed 17 Dec. 2017). Carroll, L. (2016). It terrifies me: Britons in Europe on how Brexit is going to affect them. (Online) the guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/15/britons-expats-europe-how-brexit-affect-them (Accessed 18 Dec. 2017). Cox, J., Chu, B. and Rodionova, Z. (2017) Cost of Brexit: The impact on business and the economy so far. Independent. (Online). Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/brexit-economy-sterling-currency-investment-cost-impact-business-financial-banks-insurance-retail-a7695486.html [Accessed 18 Dec 2017]. Fenton, S. (2016). The government has admitted the NHS could struggle without EU staff following Brexit. (Online) The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/nhs-could-struggle-post-brexit-without-eu-citizen-staff-department-of-health-officials-admit-a7204551.html (Accessed 15 Dec. 2017). Ford, R. and Goodwin, M. (2017) Britain after Brexit.  Journal of Democracy, 28(1), pp.17-30. Green, D. (2017) The tale of the Brexit referendum question. Financial Times. (Online). Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/b56b2b36-1835-37c6-8152-b175cf077ae8 (Accessed 10 Dec 2017). Gros, D. (2016) How would Brexit affect finance for SMEs? (Online). Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2016/apr/05/how-would-brexit-affect-finance-for-smes [Accessed 18 Dec 2017]. Hunt, A. and Wheeler, B. (2017) Brexit: All you need to know about the UK leaving the EU. BBC News. (Online). Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887 (Accessed 11 December 2017). James, C. (2016) Brexit: What now for Study Mobility between the UK and the EU? Pà ©cs Journal of International and European Law, 2, pp.7-20. Kottasova, I. (2017) What Brexit will cost Britain: More debt, weaker growth and a final bill. CNN Money. (Online). Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/29/news/economy/brexit-article-50-cost-economy-debt/index.html [Accessed 19 Dec 2017]. Landou, P. (2016). Would Brexit make it harder to hire EU workers?. (online) the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2016/mar/29/would-brexit-make-harder-hire-eu-workers-referendum (Accessed 16 Dec. 2017). Lowe, J. (2017) How Much Will Brexit Cost? U.K. Conservatives Put Brexit Settlement in Manifesto. Newsweek. (Online). Available at: http://www.newsweek.com/brexit-eu-uk-conservative-party-manifesto-2017-how-much-will-brexit-cost-611677 [Accessed 19 Dec 2017]. Mundasad, S. (2017). NHS staff shortages: Why so persistent? BBC News. (Online) BBC News. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38640068 (Accessed 14 Dec. 2017). Parfitt, T. (2016). Expats in Spain could LOSE right to free healthcare after Brexit vote, PM says. (Online) Express.co.uk. Available at: http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/683708/expats-Brexit-EU-referendum-Spain-Mariano-Rajoy-Jean-Claude-Juncker (Accessed 17 Dec. 2017). PWC (2017) Brexit – Global Insights. (Online). Available at: https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/brexit.html [Accessed 19 Dec 2017]. Rankin, J. (2016). Freedom of movement: the wedge that will split Britain from Europe. (Online) the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/06/freedom-of-movement-eu-uk-brexit-negotiations-theresa-may (Accessed 15 Dec. 2017). Ross, T. and Meakin, L. (2017) U.K. Business Says Brexit Already Having a Negative Effect. Bloomberg. (Online). Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-06/u-k-business-says-brexit-is-already-having-a-negative-effect [Accessed 19 Dec 2017]. Skyes, A. (2011). Reverse culture shock: What, when, and how to cope. (Online) Expatica.com. Available at: http://www.expatica.com/nl/moving-to/Moving-home-Reverse-culture-shock_104957.html (Accessed 19 Dec. 2017). Toptal Finance Blog. (2017). The Impact of Brexit on the Financial Services Sector. [Online] Available at: https://www.toptal.com/finance/market-research-analysts/brexit-and-its-effect-on-the-uk-european-and-global-financial-sector [Accessed 19 Dec. 2017]. Triggle, N. (2016). Brexit will make NHS staff shortages worse BBC News. (Online) BBC News. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36664094 (Accessed 16 Dec. 2017).

Celebrity Endorsements

Celebrity Endorsements In the Beauty sector industry, LOreal ranks on the top amongst the other brands, and has also undertaken many celebrity endorsements (Wang W.S, 2006). To comprehend the influence of celebrity endorsement on LOreal Paris a methodical study is required. This chapter has been divided into two sections, the first begins with a brief description about celebrity endorsements, in addition the previous and the current scenario of celebrity endorsements, whereas the second section talks about the brand LOreal, its performance in the industry, the celebrity endorsements it has undergone, furthermore any risks it has faced while endorsing and lastly how has it been influenced by celebrity endorsements   A key challenge that marketing agencies face today to get noticed in the highly competitive market is that of designing an advertising execution. There are many ways through which agencies can secure consumers, amongst them one form is celebrity endorsement (Robert van Der Veen analysis of celebrity endorsement as an effective destination marketing tool, 2004).The concept of celebrity endorsement has been increasing over the decades and now is a widespread advertising strategy. Celebrity endorsement since ages has been used as an effective source of marketing to promote products and services. (Nathan Klaus, and Ainsworth Anthony Bailey, Celebrity endorsement: an examination of gender and consumer attitudes, American Journal of Business, 2008 vol.23 no.2). At present, one will find almost every advertisement involving a celebrity, these celebrities act as spokespersons so as to advertise and promote products, services and ideas. (Cited in Kambitsis et. al 2002, Rajakaski JJ, Simonsson R.2006). Now Celebrity endorsement is a well established form of advertising strategy, especially in the U.S where approximately twenty percent of all the television commercials present a celebrity or a famous person and in addition, approx ten percent of dollars spent on television advertising are consumed in celebrity endorsement. (Cited in advertising age Sherman 1985, Agrawal Kamakura, 1995). The celebrities when are endorsed for a product they are expected to accomplish a number of objectives such as increasing the brand image, brand name, product creditability, and also the likability of the advertisement.(Brunett et all 1993 cited in Marin 1996). Firms use celebrity endorsement not just for increasing revenues but also its importance lies in the f act that how celebrity endorsement add value to company, brand and product.(Clinton Amos, Gary Holmes, David Strutton, Exploring the relationship between celebrity endorser effect and advertising effectiveness, International Journal of advertising , 27(2), 209-234, world advertising research center) Using celebrities for advertising helps the brand by acquiring better and more attention from the consumers, they add glamour to the product/brand and make it more credible, desirable and trustworthy. (Spielman, 1981 cited in Renton , 2006).According to Friedman and Friedman (1979) a celebrity is an individual who is known by the public for his achievements in area other than that of the product class he is endorsing. Famous people achieve a high degree of attention from the public and media. As a result of their celebrity status they create a positive image of the product they endorse. Murdoch argues that Belch and Belch has written   Marketers recognize that people are more likely to be influenced by   a message coming from someone with whom they feel a sense of similarity, and that advertisers recognise the value of using spokes person who are admired: TV and movie stars, athletes, musicians, and other popular figure (Murdoch, Creativity in advertising).There are a variety of reasons why a firm might go for celebrity endorsement some reasons may be the experiences that the celebrity faced in his life may be similar to the message to be conveyed in the advertisement and if you are a fan of the celebrity you might trust them..(Kulkarni and Gaulkar,   2007). Hence, Choosing a celebrity should be done with at most care and importance since it is more than a marketing strategy as it is a decision that has an impact on the prospect of the brand. Choice of celebrity should be on the basis of factors like appeal, popularity, etc.(Naveen Blazey and Shashi Kanth Gan ti, Goa institute of management Goa, Impact of celebrity endorsement on overall brand) Celebrities endorsement are sometimes very expensive for the firm,   based upon the reputation and the status of the celebrity, their remuneration could run into millions of dollars depending on   the contract, overall it is an huge investment made by the brands for advertising(Agrawal Kamakura,1995).In today dynamic market conditions, there is huge risk associated along with the celebrity endorsement, what if celebrity advertising does not affect the consumer purchasing decision, furthermore endorsement does not give economic returns after a high cost of celebrity advertising involved and does not affect the profitability of the brand, and in addition there are situation where the celebrity himself is in a controversy, and its effects on the firm. LOreal Paris: LOreal was established in 1909, previously known as LAureale (Latin meaning: Golden crown). It began producing hair dye products in Paris and due to its success it quickly started branching out in other countries along with diversifying the product range whilst including soaps, shampoos and hair preparations. In 1974, LOreal undertook many dermatological and pharmaceutical activities, For instance a joint auxiliary undertaking between LOreal and Nestle which concentrates on medication of diseases and infections. In December 2003, an research and development centre was established. In 2004 acquisition of Mininurse and Yue-Sai, two Chinese brands had taken place, furthermore LOreal group had been ranked by Interbrand, as the 49th global brand for leading international branding consultancy. In 2005 LOreal had set up its first research centre in Shanghai, which mainly dealt with the issue on the texture of Chinese skin hair and other varied needs of the Chinese. Today LOreal has over 50, 000 employees, a research team of 3,000 employees, 30,000 active patents and 130 branches all around the world (Datamonitor, LOreal Paris). LOreal Group has divided its products under a) Luxury goods which includes brands like Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Cashrel, Lancà ´me exacta b) Consumer goods- Brands that come under this group are LOreal Paris, Maybelline New York etc. c) Professional products and d) Active cosmetics. LOreal Paris characterizes professionalism, and due to research and development technology it has always maintained its high quality. This brand has targeted those consumers which are willing to pay higher prices for good quality products. The most important strategy that LOreal Paris has adopted to diversify its operations is by undertaking tactics such as expanding its distribution and advertisements, especially in countries like India, where the current brand ambassador is the Hindi film actress Sonam Kapoor. On the other hand, in other international countries during the mid May, 2009 LOreal Paris has increased it celebrity endorsements by endorsing three new celebrities Elizabeth Banks, Freida Pinto and Evangeline Lily. These new Hollywood celebrities were announced as the ambassadors during the Cannes film festival, and now they will join the LOreal Paris hall of fame with the previous LOreal Paris ambassadors such as Penelope Cruz, Jennifer Aniston, Beyonce, and Scarlett Johansson (Datamonitor, Loreal paris). According to Cesar Zamudio, 2008 Currently LOreal Paris has 14 ambassadors of different ethnicities and professions (Zamudio, 2008) 1.2 Purpose of the study This research is undertaken to realise and comprehend the appealing concept of brand endorsement and also its influence on the LOreal Paris and the consumer purchasing decision. The purpose is also to reach a conclusion whether celebrity endorsement which is a huge investment does actually give a positive return to LOreal Paris 1.3 Aims and objectives An Aim is set up in order to achieve the goals and to solve the purpose of the study undertaken. The aim of this Study would be to examine the vivid concept of celebrity endorsement, and how does it affect the brand and the consumer purchasing behaviour, furthermore how brands handle the risk factor. Objectives: To identify, analyse and discuss relevant literature, about the use of celebrity endorsement and its effects on the consumer purchasing behaviour To indentify some theoretical framework able to model the influence that celebrity endorsement plays on the brand itself To Design a methodological approach that would enable the collection analysis of primary and secondary data. To show the findings of this research within the context of the state of the art literature. To critically reflect the influence of celebrity endorsement on consumer purchasing behaviour and also on the LOreal Paris. 1.4 Research Methodology Collection of primary data will be done through questionnaires, in order to reach the aims and goals of the research. Secondary data will be collected through reading various journals and books related to the concept of celebrity endorsement Furthermore, data will be collected through reading newspaper articles, magazines, advertisements, magazines and articles from the database The conclusion will be depicted from the findings gathered from the primary and secondary data. 1.5 STRUCTURE:   CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION: Introduction of this study has stated the research aims and objective, and the purpose of this study. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW: The literature review explains the aims and objectives of the previous researches and defends their view point from the research. CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY: The methodology explains how the research will be carried out. In this study from qualitative and quantitative research methods, quantitative research method will be made use of. CHAPTER 4: DATA ANAYSIS: The data collected through the research method, will be analysed through various computer programming techniques in order to arrive to a result. CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION: The findings and suggestions to readers will be stated which is on the basis of the result of the study. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. INTRODUCTION This section of literature review will deal with the synopsis of pertinent theories, models, subject matter and also illustrate previous findings. To start with introduction of the topic will be done followed by a detailed explanation of celebrity endorsement and sponsorship furthermore explanation of consumer behaviour and the factors or attributes affecting the consumer attitudes and the intension to purchase and lastly how celebrity adds value to the endorsed products. In the process of celebrity endorsement there are some risks and failures also involved, so such factors will also be discussed in brief. The literature review will comprise of: The illustration of celebrity endorsement process Factors that influence the consumer purchase intentions Differentiating the varied marketing tools. 2.2 CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS: The Celebrity endorsement issue gained apt importance after the Second World War, previously in 1666 where the sellers use to aggressively exhibit there endorsers. From the beginning of the twentieth century, people used to find celebrities in newspaper and magazines. (Segrave.2005).The endorsement process is time consuming and is worth a million dollar and is constituted by three important participants: Firms, celebrities, and the middle men. Busler (2002) states that in 2001, celebrities received around $800 million as their endorsement fees. Fees are still rising in this industry for instance in the sports industry, during 1997, Michael Jordan used to earn $47 million in a year which made him the h8ighest paid athlete , following ten years Le Bron James signed a contract worth $90 million with Nike additionally, he also discontinued using middlemen and commenced his own firm.(Arango 2007). Therefore the role of all the three participants can be understood, as the firms carry out c elebrity endorsements so as to increase their profits, celebrities accept it on order to earn and increase their popularity, while the middlemen take some commission for coordinating the celebrity and the firm (Agrawal and Kamakura 1995). The continuous development in this industry led FTC regulating it, where the FTC worked out a set of guidelines, which has to be followed whilst undertaking celebrity endorsements (Atkin and Block 1983). Since 1980s the contract fees have sky- rocketed (Segrave 2005). In 1986, Sylvester Stallone and Paul Newman were paid approx $1 million a year( Segrave 2005).   In 2007 the athlete Tiger woods was highest paid which amounted to a total of $100 million (Arango 2007). A celebrity has a distinct personality and reputation. Along with appearing in an advertisement, they are very talented and have exceptional skills in performing an undertaking, which makes them famous amongst the public besides gaining more respect and adoration. According to Pringle H and Binet L, Celebrities are those, who are famous and familiar amongst the regular people and are used by brands to add value to their advertisements by considering their image and reputation (Pringle H, Binet L, 2005). There are many studies carried out on the concept of celebrity endorsements, to begin with there are researches relating to who can be the best spokesperson for an endorsement amongst celebrities, the CEO, consumers or should it be an expert of the particular brand, the results were sketchy as not much research has been carried out on this particular issue so a vague and a blend of results were found, according to Atkin and Block (1983) and Frieden (1984) the celebrities are right choice but are not always found to be effective, but Martin et. al (2008) states that consumers can be found most suitable, in addition Harper 2007 and Simpson 2007 ends saying that the celebrities possibly may not be the best suited endorser furthermore Kamins,1989 undertook a two sided study the results were that celebrity were found to be more congenial and authentic over non-celebrity spokesperson.(Kamins 1989)   Agrawal and Kamakura (1995) and Mathur et al. (1997) argued on the effect of celebrity endorsement contracts on the profitability of a firm, Agrawal and Kamakura analyzed 110 celebrity endorsements contracts using event study analysis and found out that on an average the firms experience a 44% increase in their market value this will have a positive stock   return leading to increased   profits and furthermore   are considered as a worthwhile investment (Agrawal Kamakura,1995).Whereas Mathur (1997), emphasized on the issue relating to comeback Michael Jordan to NBA in 1995, which brought McDonalds (endorsed by Michael Jordan at that time) an approximate gain of $192 million, this figure is nearly equal to the price of 64 million McDonalds meals (Mathur et al. 1997). Another research was on the basis of how celebritys persona influences the consumers attitudes and product evaluations, According Friedman and Friedman (1979) and Roa et. al (1999) states that if the product is socially or psychologically risky then the celebrity endorsements will increase the chance of believing in the advertisement. Kalhe and Homer(1985) says when the celebrities image is equivalent to the product endorsed then only the celebrities physical attractiveness augment to product evaluations(Kalhe and Homer. 1985). Amos, Holmes, Strutton (2008) dealt with a relationship between the effects of celebrity endorser and the effectiveness of advertising using the Kruskal-Wallis non parametric test, they found that any off putting information or events concerning the celebrity can have an adverse effect on the brand, these researchers also used the source credibility model for evaluating consumer perceptions of a celebrity endorser, which consists of three important constituents- celebrity trustworthiness, celebrity expertise and celebrity attractiveness, the findings were that if there is advertisement clutter the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement might condense, in addition l arger influence of celebrity endorsement is found amongst the collage students.(Amos, Holmes, Strutton 2008). Endorsement effectiveness: According to Friedman and Friedman (1979) celebrities are more effective than an expert or a consumer, as they help in easily remembering and recollecting the band name of the product as the ad. (Friedman and Friedman 1979) . They also contribute to effectiveness of an endorsement by bringing in more depth, accuracy and polish to the meanings to be delivered and also to the advertisements, furthermore when celebrities deliver they do it with extra care along with offering a series of lifestyle and personality. (McCracken, 1989). Choi et al.(2005) states that domestic celebrities result in more effectiveness as they are constantly in touch with the existing cultural values compared to the international ones who might possibly more expensive and difficult to find to suit the brand (Choi et al 2005). For effectual use of celebrities and for successful endorsements, following guidelines have been mentioned by Till (1998). If the celebrity is utilised constantly or consistently, to reinforce the relation between the brand and celebrity, the celebrity endorsement will be more effective. The ad should contain relevant and true facts about the product, additionally it should be straightforward and uncomplicated. Those celebrities are recommended who are not allied with any other brand and are precisely appropriate for the endorsed brand. This marketing tool will be more accurate for those products for which the user has incomplete information. According to Shimp (2003), Creditability and attractiveness are the determinants of effectiveness of endorsers, Creditability consists of celebritys believability and dependability, while attractiveness involves physical attractiveness, respect and similarity between the endorser and publics age, gender, ethinicity. For instance Omega (Swiss watch) endorsed by Anna kournikova as they found her attractive Let us discuss celebrity performance, celebrity trustworthiness,celebrity expertise and celebrity attractiveness: Celebrity performance: According to Amos, Holmes, Strutton. 2008, celebrity performance (acting success, athlete success, music success etc.) refers to any given point of time of the celebrities profession where they accomplish achievement.(Amos, Holmes, Strutton. 2008) There is an direct impact of the celebrities performance on their popularity which might fall or even rise in their in the entire profession (Agrawal and Kamakura 1995). If their performance fall short it is likely that a celebrity endorsers effectiveness will deteriorate (Agrawal and Kamakura 1995).   Celebrity Trustworthiness: Trustworthiness refers to the amount of confidence that the consumers put on the celebrity for the message delivered by them which is believed to be most convincing (Ohanian 1990). According to Griffin (1967) Favourable disposition, acceptance, psychological safety and perceived supportive climate are favourable consequences of trust (cited in Chao et.al.2005). It is always found that a message coming from someone whom you trust, you tend to believe in the message more and bring about an effectual attitudinal change; on the other hand non trusted spokesperson influence tends to be lower. (Mc Ginnes and Ward 1980). The trustworthiness factor is an important element that constitutes the effectiveness of a celebrity endorsement. Celebrity Expertise: According to Erdogen (1999) celebrity expertise is the extent to which the spokesperson is observed to be an informant of valid assertations (Erdogen, 1999).   Ohanian 1990, states that investigating source creditability in settings involving persuasive communication generally indicates that a receivers perception of the sources expertises positively influences source effectiveness furthermore, a respondents actions in response to the sources perceived level of expertise and the target persons level of agreement with those recommendations and lastly subjects exposed to a source perceived as highy expert exhibit more agreement with the sources recommendations than did those exposed to a source with low expertise ( Ohanian 1990). Celebrity Attractiveness: It is multi-dimensional in nature, along with just the physical attractiveness it consists of other factors such as personality and ability (Erdogen 1999). This factor constitutes an important part in the effectiveness of an endorserment. The physically more attractive celebrities are normally seen as more approving on different personality attributes then non attractive corresponding person (Kalhe and Homer 1985, Eagly et. al. 1991). Joseph (1982) found out from his study that attractive spokesperson has more optimistic influence on the product then the non attractive ones. Baker and Churchill in 1977 concluded that even though attractive spokesperson had resulted in advertisement effectiveness but attractiveness did not have an impact on the purchase intentions of the consumer (Baker and Churchill, 1977). Negative effects/ Potential risks:   Even though celebrity endorsement is said to bring in many advantages and profits not only to the firm but also to the celebrities, there are many risks and negative effects associated with celebrity endorsement. The persona of the celebrity itself endures the customers to purchase the product, what if the celebrity gets caught in any controversy, criminal activities or is undergoing a personal problem The requirements or the must for a successful execution of celebrity endorsements starts with knowing where the brand is positioned currently which also includes where it wants to be in the future and how is it going to get there, then followed by developing a creative idea. After considering that celebrity endorsement is best and effective method for marketing communication, next critical thing to be thought about is selecting the appropriate celebrity. Furthermore the fame of the celebrity hastens up the message and in gain substantial return on investment is expected. (Pringle H, Binet L, 2005). CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT PROCESS: MEANING MOVEMENT AND THE ENDORSEMENT PROCESS   McCrackens meaning transfer process, has been divided in to three different stages, In stage ONE, he states that celebrities as compared to models and actors plays an extremely important role as they deliver a   variety of influential personality and lifestyle meaning which are extracted from the character they play in the movies, sports, military and other careers , Lastly the endorser comes in associate with the objects , persons and contexts, then the meaning is brought into the advertisement by the celebrity. In stage TWO, after the celebrity is finalised, the source of promotion should be identified and the product to be promoted should be furnished with meanings, in addition to this all the seize only those meanings related to the product which are to be acquired from the celebrity i.e. through campaigns, representative properties related to the product are conveyed by means of celebrity. Lastly the link between the celebrity and product is highlighted.   In the THRID stage, the representations of the celebrity are transferred to the product and also the meanings from objects, people and events surrounding them. With the use of products, celebrities create a self image before the audience that make these meanings accessible to the consumers, then the consumers understand the meaning and purchase accordingly (Mc Cracken Grant, 1989) 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 INTRODUCTION The literature review chapter discusses the literature in celebrity endorsement and its impact on the brand as well as the consumers. The next chapter of research methodology, is where a suitable method of research would be selected before carrying out the research. In this chapter description regarding the accomplishment of the research will be stated, furthermore the method selected, the approach, sample, and data collection will be depicted. 3.2 RESEARCH APPROACH: This research is both a quantitative and qualitative research, according to Bryman and bell quantitative research is a distinctive research strategy and in broad terms it can be said that it is collection of numerical data and as exhibiting a view of relationship between theory and research as deductive and as having a objectivist conception of social reality.( Bryman and bell,2007).. In the research along with primary data, secondary data will also be given importance where all the journals, text books, press articles and the internet where all the topic related websites including the companys website will be considered.   Primary research will be conducted using questionnaires and also interview. Qualitative research tends to be more concerned with words rather than numbers and a feature of qualitative research is inductive view where there is a relationship between theory and research and the theory is extracted out of the latter (Bryman and Bell,2007) an inductive view approach will help in completion of the literature review. From the literature review a number of research questions were formed. To start the research, the secondary data on celebrity endorsement and also its influence of this concept on brand and consumer behaviour was reassessed. The collection of secondary data involved journals, magazines, text books, press articles and the internet. In accordance to secondary data this research was found creditable for further investigation. Inductive approach has been chosen along with primary research and secondary data will help in completion of this research. Primary data will be collected with the help of questionnaire to obtain accurate results and contemporary data. 3.4 DATA COLLECTION SECONDARY DATA Secondary research helps in collection of data and understanding what has already been undertaken under this field. Examining the present and the past researches or studies will help in appropriate understanding of the concept under research. Collection of secondary data is comprised mainly from journals, press articles from news paper and magazine articles, books and reliable websites. Secondary data offers pertinent theories, models and concept based through which further research can be undertaken. PRIMARY DATA There are many ways through which primary data can be collected, for instance interview method, questionnaire etc. In this study questionnaire method is chosen. The questionnaire consists of both open-ended as well as close end questions References: Nathan Klaus, and Ainsworth Anthony Bailey, Celebrity endorsement :an examination of gender and consumer attitudes, American Journal of Business, 2008 vol.23 no.2 Agrawal J, Kamakura WA, July1995. The economic worth of celebrity endorsers: an event study analysis, journal of marketing Vol.59, pp.56-62 Rajakaski JJ, Simonsson R.2006, The subject of celebrity endorsement :what it was and what it has become.ISSN:1402-1773-ISRN:LTU-CUPP-06/137-SE. Clinton Amos, Gary Holmes, David Strutton, Exploring the relationship between celebrity endorser effect and advertising effectiveness, International Journal fo advaertising , 27(2), 209-234, world advertising research center. Naveen Blazey and Shashi Kanth Ganti, Goa institute of management Goa, Impact of celebrity endorsement on overall brand) Mc Cracken Grant, who is celebrity endorser? Cultural foundation of endorsement process, journal of consumer research, December 1989, vol. 16. Pringle H, Binet L, How marketers can use celebrities to sell more effectively, journal of consumer behaviour, 2005, vol.4,3, 201-214, Published by John Wiley and Sons, ltd. Wang .W.S., How culture influences the brand association in the United Kingdom and Taiwan: a case study of LOreal Paris. Segrave, Kerry. 2005. Endorsement in advertising. A social history. Mc Farland and company, Inc., USA. Busler, Micheal. 2002. Product differentiation, celebrity endorsement and the consumers perception of quality. Dissertation Drexel university. Arango, Tim. 2007. Lebron, Inc- the building of a billion- dollar athlete. Fortune Atkin, Charles , Martin Block. 1983. Effectiveness of celebrity endorsers. Journal of Advertising Research 23(1) 57-61. Frieden, Jon B. 1984. Advertising spokesperson effects: An examination of endorser type and gender on two audiences. Journal of advertising research 24(October/November) 33-41. Zamudio Cesar. 2008. Matching with the stars: the case of celebrity endorsements. The university of Texas at Dallas. Martin, Brett A.S., Daniel Wentzel, Torsten Tomczak. 2008. Effects of suspectibilty to normative influence and the type of testimonial on the attitudes towards print advertising. Journal of Advertising research 37(1) 27-43. Mathur, Lynette Knowles, Ilk Mathur, Nanda Rangan. 1997. The wealth effects associated with a celebrity endorser: The Micheal Jordan Phenomenon. Journal of advertising research 37 67-73 Kahle, Lynn R., Pamela M. Homer. 1985. Physical attractiveness of the celebrity endorser; A social Adaptation perspective. Journal of consumer research 11(4) 954-961 Amos Clinton, Holmes Gary and Strutton David. 2008. Exploring the relationship between celebrity endorser effects and advertising effectiveness, International journal of Advertising, 27(2).209-234. Friedman, Harshey, Linda Friedman. 1979. Endorser effectiveness by product type. Journal of advertising research 19(October/ November) 63-71. Rao, Akshay R., Lu QU, Robert W. Ruekert. 1999. Singaling unobservable quality through a brand ally.   Journal of Marketing research 36(2) 258-268. Erdogan, B.Z. 1999.Celebrityendorsement: a literature review. Journal of marketing management, 15(3), pp.291-314. Ohanian , R. 1990. Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity endorsers perceived expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness. Journal of advertising, 19(3), pp. 29-52. Giffin, K. 1967. The contribution of studies of source credibility to a theory of interpersonal trust in the communication process. Psychological bulletin, 68(2). pp. 104- 119. Chao, P., Wuhrer, G. and Werani, T(2005) Celebrity and foreign brand name as moderators of the country-of-origin effects, International journal of advertising, 24(2)pp. 173-192. McGinnes, E and Ward, C.1980. Better liked than right: trustworthiness and expertise as a factors in credibility. Personality and Social Psychology bulleti

Affirmitive Action in California :: essays research papers

Affirmative Action in California   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Affirmative action has been the subject of increasing debate and tension in our society. Affirmative action has divided political parties, communities and campuses across the nation. The basis behind affirmative action is that because of past discrimination and oppression, such as the unequal treatment of women, and the enslavement of African Americans, minorities and women have difficulty competing with their white male counterparts. Tax breaks for home buyers may not be wrong but what is wrong are those who take advantage of all kinds of breaks for themselves while denying affirmative action for the most oppressed of society. The government runs many programs to increase opportunities for various groups including women, racial and ethnic minority groups. Affirmative action is necessary to ensure the recruitment and employment of women, minorities, people with disabilities, and Vietnam veterans. Affirmative action is a term, which refers to a variety of efforts u sed by employers and educational institutions to overcome past and continuing discrimination in order to allow qualified women and minorities to compete equally for jobs, education, and promotional opportunities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When talking about affirmative action, there is a common misconception between meeting quota and satisfying goals. A quota is a number that must be achieved. Consequently, if a company fails to show it has made an effort toward following this quota the company can be fined. This is every different from an affirmative action goal. A goal is a flexible percentage, which is established by the company to achieve a diverse workforce. The percentage is based on the availability of minorities and females in the area. One of the goals is to make sure that many people are made aware of job openings as possible to ensure that the applicant pool is reflective of the number of people, who are qualified. To accomplish this, employers place advertisements in different types of journals, including journals for women and minorities. Goals and timetables encourage the hiring of members of women and minority groups. Before affirmative action, companies did not post their jobs on bu lletin boards. Somebody just happened to know someone who needed a job and the job was filled. That person was not always the best-qualified person for the job. How can a company possibly tell if it is hiring the best people if they only consider a small portion of the population? One cannot assume that all the white males out there are naturally qualified and all the minorities and women are given breaks because they could not possibly be qualified.

The Problem of Security Tools and Advisories Essay -- Internet Securit

The Problem of Security Tools and Advisories Introduction Whether the intent be malicious or merely curiosity, people will always try to circumvent barriers. Physical locks have bread lock picks, and so digital barriers have bread hackers. In the new ethereal world of the wired, this common problem has developed a new dimension. Whereas physical security measures for business, banks, and the like is at a more sophisticated level than for home users, the digital security is similar at just about any level. And, because everyone is connected, and its difficult to know what is behind a given IP address, everyone is a target. Clearly there is a problem, and something needs to be done to make sure the "bad guys" can't get into critical systems. The obvious fix is to write superior software. Unfortunately powerful software is extremely complicated, and even the most valiant efforts to build impenetrable system such as OpenBSD, have fallen short[1], and require post release patches. Given that holes are inevitable, the next line of defense is for the "good guys" to break systems faster than the "bad guys", and alert the proper people to produce and release patches as fast as possible. Unfortunately, if the details of the exploit are made known, it makes it that much easier for less skilled malicious parties to take advantage of unpatched systems, and therein lies the problem with the solution. Personal Inspiration Exploration of this problem is of particular interest to me, as it relates to my current work. The current biggest source of tech support calls at SCU is viruses. Unfortunately, in that group, the largest virus attacks have been though E-Mails that the users must open in order to get infected, which could have ... ...rnegie Mellon University, 2003. <http://www.cert.org/meet_cert/meetcertcc.html> "Online NewsHour: L0pht on Hackers", PBS, 1998. <"http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/cyberspace/jan-june98/l0pht_hackers.html> Martin, Kelly, "Delivering the 12kb Bomb", SecurityFocus/The Register, 2004. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/36345.html> "Limitation on exclusive rights: reverse engineering", U.S. Code : Title 17 : Section 906, 2002. <http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/17/chapters/9/sections/section_906.html> "Reverse Engineering" IEEE, June 2003 <http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/POSITIONS/reverse.html> Mishra, Rohan "Reverse Engineering in Japan and the Global Trend Towards Interoperability", Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law , 1997. Volume 4, Number 2 <http://www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/issues/v4n2/mishra42.html#[52]n>

Government’s Expenditures during the Cold War

Even though the Cold War era is a distant memory, encased in glass forever like some museum piece, our government is still spending as if the Soviet Union was in its prime. If the arms race is a forgotten memory, then why is the military still spending 86% of what it was spending during the Cold War. It†s not that us Americans do not want a solid military, we just believe that our military is wasting billions of dollars at the expense of our children†s education and well being. 50 years ago our country, and the entire world was in disparate need of a strong U.S. military. We inflated our military budget, and gave the government and private businesses an enormous appetite. Without a major threat to the United States since the collapse of the Soviet Union, our government seems to be in competition with itself. 50 years ago we sent tons and tons of troops overseas to fight in a foreign land, while we pumped private businesses up with the manufacturing of military equipment. The need for such products and the need for an over-healthy military allowance is long gone. While we sunk billions after billions of taxpayer†s money on wars that we were boisterously proud to spend (it gave us all the prestige we could ever ask for), our Allies were investing in their children†s education and well being. The result now is that while we have the most elite military capabilities, our children†s educational level is extremely under developed. European and Japanese children significantly outperform American children in math and upper-level reading. This should not be too surprising, our children are studying history books that are from a decade ago. This creates difficult obstacles for our children to keep up on current politics and other global events. Also the over crowding of classrooms makes it extremely difficult for your child to get that personalized learning which may determine his or her ability to learn at all. Every child learns at a different rate and possibly in different ways, this makes it virtually impossible for teachers to tap into every child†s full learning potential. If your child needs that extra, personalized attention, but is not â€Å"defined† as handicapped their specific learning needs will most likely be overlooked and that may be the beginning of your child†s inability to learn. According to a study done by the state of Tennessee, reducing classroom size in early grades (K-3rd) can improve a child†s performance even after being placed back into their regular sized class. Another major problem hindering our children†s education is the fact that the teachers with the priceless responsibility of developing our child†s mind are absolutely underpaid. Teachers barely make an honest living and are often subliminal role models to our young students. Although there are countless exceptionally dedicated teachers in America, a significantly higher salary would ensure the quality of almost all teachers. Remember what we were taught about incentives at a young age, the carrot in front of the rabbit, well that would definitely apply for these individuals we need to count on everyday. So, where is all of the money going to come from to improve our children†s education, well, remember our friend with that uncontrollable appetite? During the Cold War†s prime the U.S. was spending $325 billion a year. And today, with the Cold War boxed up and put on a shelf, the military is still spending $290 billion a year (NCR,1999). This is an alarming figure that we are spending on a military without any outside threat to contend with, in fact it seems to be their only real mission is to play servant to the United Nations, fighting little skirmishes in countries that don†t want our help. One would be hopeful that since we are in an era of peace time that we could enjoy â€Å"peace dividends.† However, the military and those private sector businesses that created such an enormous appetite refuse to exercise a Post-Cold War diet. Maybe we need to e-mail the pentagon, they might be reading our children†s decade old history books, in that case they wouldn†t know that the Berlin Wall is down and the Soviet Union has collapsed. Another astonishing fact is that our country has become the world†s largest arms dealer, selling to almost any country with the money to do business. And if they can†t afford them, our government will put them on a payment plan, acting much like a scene right out of The Godfather. Is this our government, or is this Don Corleone, striking deals with some pretty shady characters. One can†t help wondering where all of this cold hard cash is going from these deals. It is no mystery that our government budgets are in desperate need of reform, well, there are active groups lobbying to change the spending habits of our government. One of the most effective of these groups is the Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, which is comprised of influential individuals like Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry†s; and former assistant secretary of state, Lawrence Korb, along with a cabinet of ex-military and big business leaders. The group is most certainly not an anti-military faction, however they are dedicated to refocusing the military†s useless spending (NCR, 1999). They are not opposed to our military having the best equipment possible, that is if someone were to donate it to them. If the decision is for the military to have a great new ship, or for our children to have a better education, of course the military is going to have to make due. Currently the federal government only participates in 7% of the funding for our schools, while the state and the local community split the rest. This is an raises enormous concerns due to the fact that poorer communities are at a significant disadvantage. Some communities can spend up to five times as much as less fortunate ones (NATIONAL PTA, 1996). To achieve these goals for a better future for our kids and further more, our country, we need to make education our biggest priority. Adding up the military†s inflated $290 billion a year, and comparing it to what†s left over for all other spending, including education, a meager $246 billion (NCR, 1999). This is an insult to our children†s development as growing intellectuals. 6% of the entire budget is allocated for our children†s education, this states the true fact that their education is not important. The money is truly there, we simply need to redirect it and our governments priorities. Like stated by Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, † The winners and losers are not going to be determined by the size of their gunboats, but by the level of their children†s level of education.†

Succubus Heat CHAPTER 16

â€Å"Georgina.† My name came to me from far away, from far down a tunnel without an end. It echoed off the walls of my mind, loud at first and eventually fading to nothing. â€Å"Georgina. Look at me, sweetie.† â€Å"Let her sleep, Hugh.† â€Å"No, I need to talk to her and make sure she doesn't have a concussion. Georgina, come on. Open your eyes for me.† Through a mist of black fog, my brain parsed the words and slowly found meaning in them. Some basic response in me wanted to comply, but my eyelids felt like they were stuck together. Thinking-let alone answering-was too hard, but more words came to encourage me. â€Å"There you go, sweetie. Try it again. You almost had it.† With much effort, I finally managed to open my eyes. It was excruciating. My lids felt like they were made of lead. At first, I could only perceive one thing: light. I winced, wanting to sink back into that oblivion I'd been pulled from. And with this slight stirring of consciousness, all the pain I'd escaped from before suddenly returned. My head throbbed. My back burned. The clich? ¦ about breaking every bone in the body seemed like a very real possibility all of a sudden, and I was pretty sure I'd broken a few that weren't in my body. Sure, that didn't make sense, but with as bad as I felt, little did. â€Å"Oh God.† At least, that's what I tried to say. It came out as more of an indistinct moan. â€Å"Easy there. You don't have to say anything.† I opened my eyes again, this time making out a figure leaning over me. I knew his voice so well that I didn't need to see his face, which was a blur anyway. â€Å"Hugh,† I croaked. â€Å"Hey, ask her what-â€Å" â€Å"Shut up,† Hugh snapped. The jerky movement of his head made me think he'd glanced behind him, but I couldn't be certain. He moved his face closer to mine, bringing his features into sharper relief. He was paler than I'd ever seen him, his face filled with lines of worry and fear I'd never thought him capable of. He looked even more upset than when he'd come to tell us about Jerome's summoning. Reaching out, Hugh held the lids of one of my eyes open and shone a small light into it. I squirmed at the brightness-or at least I tried-but he was fast and did it to the other eye before it caused too much discomfort. When he finished, he moved his finger around in the air and studied my eyes as I followed it. â€Å"What's your name?† he asked. The voice behind him piped up. â€Å"You already said her name.† Hugh sighed and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. â€Å"What's his name?† â€Å"Cody,† I said. It was getting easier to speak, but the pain was going up the more conscious I became. Cody's voice was as familiar to me as Hugh's, and I felt certain Peter was here too. Hugh asked me a few other factual questions, like the current year and the location, and also if I was nauseous. â€Å"It all hurts,† I said, voice still slurred. I couldn't even move, let alone distinguish nausea from the rest of my pain. â€Å"Yeah, but do you feel like you're going to throw up? Right here? Right now?† I thought about it. My stomach hurt, but it was less of a queasy discomfort and more of a someone-just-kicked-me-with-stilettos discomfort. â€Å"No,† I said. Hugh sat back, and I heard him sigh in relief. â€Å"It all hurts,† I repeated. â€Å"Can you†¦make it stop?† He hesitated, and a moment later, Cody appeared beside him. â€Å"What's the matter? You've gotta give her something. Look at her. She's suffering.† â€Å"Understatement,† I mumbled. Hugh's face was still drawn. â€Å"I'm not gonna knock her out if she's got a concussion.† â€Å"She passed your tests.† â€Å"Those are field tests. They're not one hundred percent accurate.† â€Å"Please,† I said, feeling tears well in my eyes. â€Å"Anything.† â€Å"We know it won't kill her,† I heard Peter say. I'd been right about him being here. Hugh hesitated only a little longer. â€Å"Go get some water.† Cody disappeared, and Peter replaced him by Hugh's side. Hugh's expression was still grim. â€Å"Sweetie, I've got to clean up your back, and it's going to hurt.† â€Å"Worse?† â€Å"A different kind of hurt. But this has to be cleaned up so you don't get an infection, and then I need to shift you to check out the rest of you. The drugs'll help, but it's all going to hurt at first.† â€Å"Go for it,† I said, steeling myself. At this point, I couldn't really imagine worse pain. Besides, Hugh was a doctor. Everything was going to be okay now. Cody returned with a glass of water. Hugh made me drink some first, just to make sure I could keep it down. When I did, he gave me two pills to take with the rest of the water. I nearly choked on them-my throat felt raw and swollen, maybe from screaming-but I got them down. I wanted to ask what I'd just taken, but it seemed like too much work. â€Å"Should kick in in about twenty minutes,† Hugh said. I could see him fumbling with something in his lap. Standing up, he leaned over my back. Something wet touched my skin. â€Å"Son of a bitch!† Again, my words were slightly incoherent, but I think he caught my meaning. Stinging pain-a â€Å"different† pain, indeed-raced across my skin where he'd touched it. It was electric, sharp where the rest of my body throbbed. My desire to get away from that horrible stinging was so strong that I actually managed to move a little, but all that did was trigger the hurt in the rest of my body. The world blurred once more. â€Å"You're making it worse,† he warned. â€Å"Stay still.† Easy for him to say. I bit my lip as he continued. He was using antiseptic to clean the places Nanette had cut me. Necessary, as he'd said, but God, did it hurt. â€Å"Talk to her,† Hugh said to no one in particular. â€Å"Distract her.† â€Å"What happened?† asked Peter. â€Å"Who did this to you?† â€Å"Nice distraction,† said Hugh. â€Å"Nanette,† I said. Saying her name made my stomach turn, and I hoped I wouldn't have to go back on what I'd said to Hugh about throwing up. â€Å"She was†¦mad.† â€Å"I guess,† said Peter. â€Å"Mad I told Cedric about her†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Doesn't this kind of confirm your suspicions, then?† asked Cody. Yeah, if beating up the person who'd ratted out your secret plans didn't sound suspicious, I didn't know what did. But if Nanette really was behind Jerome's summoning, why not just kill me outright and leave no witnesses? Explaining that would take too many words and too much effort, so I just said, â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"There,† said Hugh, straightening. â€Å"That wasn't so bad, was it?† I tried to glare, but I don't think he noticed. He rummaged in his kit once more and then leaned back over to start bandaging up the wounds. With as much as he was piling on me, I had the feeling I was going to look like a mummy. â€Å"Why didn't Dante stick around?† asked Cody. â€Å"Huh? Dante?† The bandage pressure wasn't as bad as the cleaning, but it was still uncomfortable. I wondered when those goddamned drugs were going to kick in. â€Å"He was here,† said Cody. â€Å"He called Hugh and told him to come over.† Some of the exact details of what had happened with Nanette were foggy, but I felt pretty confident, head trauma or no, that I would have remembered Dante being around. â€Å"Dante wasn't here,† I said. Hugh paused and looked me in the eye. â€Å"Then who called me? It was a guy, from your cell phone. Said to get over here and bring medical supplies-that you'd been hurt.† I frowned, and it came back to me, a shadow in the pain-filled haze of my memory. The strong arms and gentle voice. â€Å"There was someone here†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I began slowly. â€Å"Not Dante. Someone else. He put me to bed.† Silence fell. A slight fuzziness was starting to tingle the edges of my senses, which I took as a good sign. It was more of a pleasant, dreamlike fuzziness-not the I-can't-handle-this-pain-anymore kind. There was still a fair amount of that, though. The guys exchanged puzzled looks. â€Å"Are you sure it wasn't him?† asked Cody. â€Å"Why would Dante leave her, though?† asked Peter. Hugh snorted. â€Å"No telling with him.† â€Å"Stop,† I mumbled. â€Å"It wasn't him.† â€Å"You can't remember a face or anything?† Peter asked. â€Å"Was it even someone you knew?† I thought again, desperately trying to dig out the memory. There was nothing, though. Only that he'd been someone familiar. â€Å"I knew him†¦Ã¢â‚¬  That pleasant drowsiness was growing stronger. I wished it would hurry up. â€Å"There,† said Hugh. â€Å"All bandaged up. Help me move her so I can look at her ribs.† That was not fun, and the discomfort of the three of them turning me over-no matter how gentle they tried to be-was enough to momentarily break me out of the drug's soothing embrace. They managed to flip me over, putting moderate pressure on my back when I rested back against the bed, but allowing Hugh to examine the rest of me. He poked and prodded and had me take deep breaths. His final analysis was that I had a couple of broken ribs and a lot of bruising and pain that would just go away with time. â€Å"Great,† I said. I was so loopy by that point that I didn't even know if I was being sarcastic or not. Cody was still unable to give up my benefactor. â€Å"But who was here?† â€Å"The man†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I said. â€Å"You aren't going to get anything else out of her,† said Hugh wearily. â€Å"Not for a while. She's going to be in Dreamland any minute now.† â€Å"Dreamland. The man†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I repeated. Suddenly, I giggled. â€Å"The man in the dream†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I saw them exchange pitying looks, just before my eyelids drooped closed. They thought I was talking nonsense. None of them knew about the story of the man in the dream, of that alluring and improbable alternate life that Nyx had shown me. But as I drifted off to Dreamland, it wasn't Nyx's vision I saw. It was more of that same, painless black†¦at least, it was until I got jolted by a million volts of electricity. I let out a small cry of surprise, my eyes popping open. It felt like hundreds of icy needles were dancing along my body, piercing every nerve. The room's details, as well as my friends, came to me in sharp, crystalline detail. No more fuzziness. Turning my head slightly, I saw a fourth person. Mei. She stood beside my bed, face blank and emotionless, arms crossed across her black silk blouse. â€Å"What happened?† I asked. My words were still thick, but my speech capabilities had improved by leaps and bounds. â€Å"I healed you,† she said flatly. â€Å"Inasmuch as I can. You're still going to hurt.† Demons, though once angels, didn't possess that power to heal that their heavenly counterparts had. They could do it in small bursts, however, and in expanding my senses to assess my body, I could feel how she'd gotten rid of the worst of my pain. I still ached in some places, and even bandaged, my back still stung. I no longer wanted to die, however, so that was definitely an improvement. â€Å"Thank you,† I said. Mei didn't look particularly compassionate or benevolent. Her expression darkened. â€Å"They say Nanette did this?† I hesitated. I'd already gotten in enough trouble with the archdemoness for telling on her. Of course, my friends had undoubtedly already told Mei the truth, and anyway, she was the closest I currently had to a boss. I wasn't entirely sure if I could trust her, but if I had to place my money on the demon most likely to have my back right now (no pun intended), it was her. â€Å"Yeah,† I admitted. â€Å"I told Cedric that Nanette had met with Jerome. She'd met with Cedric too, so it seemed kind of like she was manipulating both of them.† Mei's face grew harder still. Whether she agreed with me or not, she didn't reveal. â€Å"Nanette won't bother you again.† And with no more than that, the demoness vanished. â€Å"Girl fight,† said Hugh, looking the happiest I'd seen him today. â€Å"I don't think it's going to be in creamed corn or anything like that,† I remarked dryly. â€Å"Her sense of humor returns,† said Peter. â€Å"Definitely on the road to recovery.† I tried to sit up and winced. â€Å"Or not.† â€Å"Don't push it,† warned Hugh. â€Å"Mei can only do so much-â€Å" â€Å"What the hell's going on?† We all turned. Dante stood in the doorway to my bedroom. His face was a mixture of incredulity and utter confusion. Without waiting for an answer, he hurried over to the bed and knelt down so that he was at my level. â€Å"Are you okay? What happened?† His expression was so tender, so full of concern that I was momentarily taken aback. Dante was indeed selfish and arrogant, but he did care about me, no matter what my friends thought. And in dire situations-like now-that bitter faà §ade of his fell, revealing someone whose soul hadn't turned completely black yet. He tried hard to hide this side of himself, but I knew it was there. â€Å"I had a run-in with a demon,† I said. I gave him a brief explanation of what had happened. He grew more and more incredulous as I spoke. When I finished, he glanced around the room, studying everyone accusatorily. â€Å"How does something like this happen? I thought demons couldn't go around roughing people up. Aren't you under some kind of protection?† â€Å"Technically Jerome's,† I said. â€Å"But he's kind of busy right now.† â€Å"Maybe you're under Grace and Mei's protection now,† mused Cody. â€Å"Mei looked pissed.† â€Å"She always looks pissed,† said Hugh. â€Å"I should hope so,† snapped Dante. â€Å"Are they going to go kick this other demon's ass?† â€Å"She's not likely to smite her, if that's what you mean,† said Hugh. â€Å"Grace and Mei are under the same scrutiny as everyone else, but I bet Mei'll bitch Nanette out.† â€Å"Great,† said Dante. â€Å"A stern talking-to. That'll show her.† â€Å"It's unlikely Nanette'll do anything else. If she was going to kill Georgina, she would have already.† There was an almost gentle tone in Peter's voice. I think Dante's outrage and concern had convinced the vampire that Dante might not be the complete and total bastard he'd always believed. My immortal (or not so immortal) friends finally decided I was in reasonable enough condition to leave me in Dante's care. Hugh promised to check on me tomorrow, and I thanked him again for his help. He and the others looked like they wanted to hug me, but with my back, they knew better. When they were gone, Dante went out to the kitchen and came back with a bowl of ice cream. â€Å"Good for what ails you,† he said. I was surprised to discover I had a considerable appetite. Judging from the time, I'd been out quite awhile before Mei had shown up. It had only felt like a few seconds. â€Å"Careful,† I teased. â€Å"People are going to think you're a nice guy.† â€Å"Well, I'll have to go rob some orphans to save my reputation.† He lay in bed beside me, curled on his side so that he could gently keep his hand on my arm and talk to me. As the evening passed, our conversation mostly touched on inconsequential things, topics to distract me from Seattle's increasingly dangerous situation. Finally, when it came time for both of us to sleep, Dante brought up the attack again. â€Å"Succubus†¦who was here earlier?† I knew he didn't mean Hugh and the vampires. I frowned. Even with Mei's healing, my memories were sketchy. â€Å"I don't know. But I think†¦I think it might have been Carter.† â€Å"Really? I still can't believe that angel hangs out with you guys. But if it was him, why didn't he heal you? He could have fixed everything.† Through the fog of that ordeal, I recalled my rescuer's words. I can't heal you . â€Å"Because he's not supposed to interfere,† I said slowly, remembering my earlier rumination on whether blowing up a stove was interference. â€Å"Heaven's supposed to stay out of this. He probably shouldn't have even carried me to bed-which is why he would have then gotten out of here and left it to Hugh to patch me up.† â€Å"An angel breaking the rules and a demon healing the sick,† Dante said. â€Å"You and your associates just get more and more fucked up.† I shifted slightly, cautious of my back, and rested my head against him. â€Å"That's for damned sure.†