‘They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.’

- Ernest Hemmingway 1

The technological advances of the post-war era in the machinery of warfare have made human suffering and death in conflict-zones acutely brutal. Innocuous sounding weapons used in the public lexicon such as ‘daisy-cutter’ and ‘rocket propelled grenade’ are weapons used in modern conflict to inflict heinous death and casualty. However, public perceptions of the reality of war have been consistently censured by the press – in this case the American media establishment – since as early as the American Civil War. While the obvious reason for this is to maintain public morale and support for life-threatening conflict, American military intervention since that civil war has been projected internationally. During the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, the explosion of media communications technology has mirrored military R&D in that it has allowed instantaneous access to global conflict.

In three case studies that chart American intervention – the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War, and the Second Gulf War – I will argue that the development of communications technology combined with traditional economic pressures in the Network News medium have reduced public perceptions of American intervention to a form of ‘entertainment.’ I will contrast the pressures and prejudices of journalists and producers on the ground with the economic pressures facing competing media networks to enlarge this debate. Specifically, this will address the ‘rolling news’ format that the Central News Network (CNN) established during the first Gulf War. Finally, the relationship between the media conglomerates and their target audience will be considered in reaction to the ‘entertainment’ label.

The emergence of the CNN Effect can be categorized as ‘the negative effect on the economy caused by people staying home to watch CNN or some other news source during a crisis such as a war.’ 2 It would be a misconception to place the ‘CNN effect’ as one simply referring to ‘rolling news’, a concept adopted by many international media outlets but pioneered by CNN in the first Gulf War. If one takes the CNN effect as an amalgamation of these two definitions, then the overall CNN effect has been to transplant Hollywood mentality onto a daily level, where producers denigrate genuine human suffering in favour of securing a wider audience from competing economic media giants such as CNBC; MSNBC; Fox; ABC; and Bloomberg.

In one example, it is widely held that the presence and reportage of CNN in Somalia prior to the October 3rd battle – where 29 U.S. soldiers were killed and up to 80 injured – pressured President Clinton significantly to intervene militarily and deploy Special Forces to that region. CNN knew what images would appeal to the American public’s conscience and how public pressure could convince an incumbent leader into intervening in humanitarian crises. So, while the economic benefit to CNN was an overriding concern, so too was the power to manipulate what in the Somali example was a highly complex international response to a highly complex national emergency. Then Secretary of State Madeline Albright’s policy of ‘assertive multilateralism’ involved actors and considerations reaching far beyond the humanitarian dimension of a Somali famine. Yet, CNN producers and executives chose only to present human suffering vis-à-vis the humanitarian dimension when presenting that particular conflict to the American public. In one assessment, the use of human suffering to influence foreign policy imbued in the Somali context had tragic consequences:

Even when the Mogadishu tragedy was followed a few days later by the outbreak of massive genocide in Rwanda – one that saw from 600,000 to one million men, women and children murdered – American public opinion did not criticize or challenge the contortions engaged in by the Clinton Administration to avoid intervening. 3

The U.S. media establishment, in the above, aided U.S. policymakers to secure public support for non-intervention in Rwanda, a decision which is universally recognized as irresponsible and an intervention which, unlike Somalia, could actually have benefited the country in question and stalled an unprecedented genocide. The concept of this distinction – between journalists as presenters and journalists as moralists – was discussed most ardently after the U.S. defeat in Vietnam. During the Nixon Presidency, the television and print media acted moralistically in its presentation of the Vietnam conflict and questioned the national interest by mobilizing the public:

‘The president couldn’t sleep. Long afflicted by insomnia, Nixon had special reason for distress on the night of May 8, 1970. He was being pilloried in the press and by the anti-war movement, first for ordering the invasion of Cambodia, then for reacting coldly to the killing of four Kent State students by National Guardsmen. Now protesters had descended on Washington and the capital was in a state of siege.’ 4

Nixon’s paranoia and megalomania saw the media establishment purely in political terms, with a grand liberal conspiracy engaged in machinations to destroy his Presidency. The Watergate scandal which ultimately broke Nixon’s Presidency was a watershed in American media history as the media saw themselves as the purveyors of that society’s morality. Established journalistic rules regarding political character attacks which had prevented Clintonian scandals in John F. Kennedy’s era had now been deemed redundant. The media, in short, had free license to report anything and everything. In Vietnam, this became evident in how the media reported the War. The depiction of violence was no longer censored by the media establishment; it was sensationalized to mirror the mood of a radical American public, morally appalled at the legitimacy of the Vietnam War:

Any viewer in the United States who watched regularly the television reporting from Vietnam – and it was from television that 60 percent of Americans got most of their war news – would agree that he saw scenes of real-life violence, death, and horror on his screen that would have been unthinkable before Vietnam. 5

The effect of this on the American public was obviously an integral tool to the anti-war movement. Correspondents did not question themselves when taking footage of self-immolating monks, as in response to President Diem’s pro-Catholic policies during the Kennedy Presidency. Appalling images such as those, designed to shock the American public and enhance the career of a correspondent, would re-emerge during the height of the war. De-sensitized to the everyday realities and horrors of a soldier in Vietnam, Americans such as Norman Morrison effectively questioned not only the legitimacy of the war, but the media’s representation of it. Morrison infamously set fire to himself outside Secretary of Defense McNamara’s Pentagon office in 1965, thereby inviting the American public to compare domestic, as opposed to foreign, representations of human suffering in conflict zones. Samuel Huntington, when describing the new world order as The Clash of Civilizations, also alluded to a domestic media’s perspective when describing foreign intervention:

A world of clashing civilizations…is inevitably a world of double standards: people apply one standard to their kin-countries and a different standard to others 6

It must also be considered that Nixon’s view of the media as conspiring against Republicans alone was misguided. The previous Democratic Presidents involved in Vietnam – Johnson and Kennedy – both endured a hostile press. In Johnson’s case, even Cabinet members defected to the press in an effort to discredit what they perceived as an unsteady Presidential leadership descending into chaos. In Vietnam, the television media establishment recognized the power of shock tactics to induce the government to relinquish control of ambiguous foreign policies not clearly in the national interest. However, the power of the media in Vietnam to influence public opinion has often been exaggerated, as James Hoge notes:

[As in Vietnam,] public attitudes ultimately hinge on questions about the rightness, purpose and costs of policy – not television images. 7

In the Iraq conflict of 1991, CNN established itself as the dominant American media network. This was due to the efforts of producer Robert Weiner, who urged that CNN should stay in Iraq to report the war Live From Baghdad, as the title of the book chronicling his experience suggests. Due in part to Weiner’s ability to secure a relationship with then Deputy Minister of Information Naji Sabri Ahmad al-Hadithi, CNN procured a ‘floor wire’, a device similar to that of a two-way radio. The advantage for CNN when air strikes on Baghdad became a certainty was that the ‘floor wire’ communicated directly to the Atlanta head office using underground communications cables. Thus, even in the event of U.S. air attacks striking traditional communications centres, the network would be able to broadcast live and uninterrupted. Once direct warnings emerged from U.S. embassy officials warning of an imminent bombing, the remaining international media networks pulled their journalists out of Baghdad, a move designed to protect journalists’ lives and the credibility of President Bush’s bombing campaign.

CNN engineered a historic moment in international broadcasting when veteran journalists Bernard Shaw; John Holliman; and Peter Arnett were flown in to report the first wave of U.S. attacks. ‘Rolling news’ had found both a niche and an audience, as few of us can forget the live images of U.S. air strikes combined with up to the minute reporting. In addition, the U.S. and global audience were simultaneously transported to live events and extensions of the Iraqi conflict by journalists as far as Tel Aviv and Jordan.

Weiner and his team were hailed as journalistic ‘heroes’ and the envy of the U.S. media establishment. During the first wave of U.S strikes, competing media networks could only feed directly into CNN’s broadcasting to retain a minor portion of the market. Americans tuned in live round the clock to watch the U.S. air strikes on Baghdad, yet the immediacy of the devastating effects on Iraqis went unnoticed by the American public. Additionally, the Executive Branch now had to contend with a competing information source, as the government was unable to counter military losses or Hussein’s aggression with pacifying statements to the public: the media now controlled the distribution and content of information.

Underlying this paradox is the concept that the CNN audience was becoming de-sensitized to the realities of a Patriot missile strike or Iraqi Scud launch to the extent that the choice of watching the war on television was not an exercise in information procurement, but a perverse and horrifying form of entertainment. Writing recently in Foreign Affairs, Secretary of State Powell laments:

These days, it seems that an administration can develop a sound foreign policy strategy, but it can’t get people to acknowledge or understand it. 8

Secretary Powell refers here to reinvigorated U.S. government public diplomacy efforts to counter anti-Americanism. In the aftermath of 9-11, the Executive Branch established an Office of Global Communications (OGC) with the mandate: ‘the Office assists in the development of communications that disseminate truthful, accurate, and effective messages about the American people and their government.’ 9 In essence, OGC’s job is to monitor foreign media broadcasts and cultivate effective counter-attacks to perceived propaganda. However, OGC is also competing within a larger paradigm that sees CNN and Al-Jazeera as the principal methods of disseminating ‘truthful, accurate, and effective messages’ related to the demands of their audience. Al-Jazeera has a pro-Arab and anti-American stance, a position which invited their broadcasting (in mid 2003) of bloodied Iraqi carcasses killed by American armed forces.

This was not necessarily a ‘shock’ tactic. Al-Jazeera’s defence of its inflammatory journalism is that it is a network, like CNN, cultivating its content to the requirements and beliefs of its audience. It is the content of the message, however, which also reiterates the concept of mass media as entertainment. Al-Jazeera tailors its coverage of the current Iraqi reconstruction to favor its audience, often at the expense of its international credibility. However, Al-Jazeera also provides a balanced portrayal of events important to the Middle East region with the aim of countering purely Western portrayals of Arab conflagrations which include the Arab-Israeli conflict. 9-11 and the ‘globalization’ of mass media also contributed to an enhanced and increasingly complex relationship between a network and its audience. When assessing U.S. media presentations of 9-11 and the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, one has to take into account that:

[Thus,] the difference between news coverage of terrorism inside and outside a target country is striking: when terrorists hit their enemies at home, they can inflict greater damage but they lose in the battle over media access and predominant perspectives. 10

In the U.S. media’s haste to assuage the nation’s thirst for justification and retribution in response to the 9-11 attacks, the legitimacy of intervention in Iraq – and the methods employed to gain that legitimacy – were not called into question by the media until too late. If the media does not exercise control on its moral obligations – as it did in Vietnam and Watergate, but only reacts to the government’s supply of information and their audiences need for military action to counter unlimited domestic terrorism, the public can only be expected to treat the media as another form of entertainment in their lives. Consider CNN’s article of May 8, 2003, reporting President Bush’s dramatic arrival on the USS Abraham Lincoln:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Several administration officials Wednesday defended President Bush’s flight on a Navy jet to an aircraft carrier last week, saying there was a minimal difference between the cost of the president flying to the ship in a jet versus flying in a helicopter. 11

This extract, and the subsequent article in its entirety, fails to acknowledge that the true cost of that political maneuver. The event was ‘staged’, much like a theatrical trailer, to enhance President Bush’s image as a war-time leader with previous combat experience in Vietnam. International media executives and producers could not simply exercise a moral high ground and refuse to cover the event: that would be tantamount to economic suicide. However, CNN et al. are inconsistent in their coverage of the Iraq war and reconstruction efforts by not pressuring Administration officials to reveal accurate casualty and death rates, or to cover with as much zeal and attention items such as President Bush’s visit to the relatives of deceased combat soldiers. The latter are not stories of success and triumph, yet for an audience to comprehend the nature of an all encompassing ‘war on terror’, the audience must be allowed a balanced portrayal of the realities of American intervention. In addition, the cost of American national security can only be understood in a wider context of universal injustices precipitated worldwide in the name of ‘terrorism.’

Appalling images of suffering in the world are interrupted by advertisements for car insurance: barbarism and banality, cheek by jowl. 12

If the American public becomes increasingly de-sensitized to violence, policy makers may well become less emotionally attached to human suffering. In terms of future American military intervention, this could prove beneficial when having to make decisive action in delicate operations, as the recent Haitian example suggests. However, sensitivity to human suffering – epitomized in how governments react to global conflict and international intervention of any description – is not only a fundamental aspect of participating in international affairs, but what legitimizes the foreign policies of mature western democracies. If continually editorialized media representations of war are promoted with the same guidelines as those used by producers to market programs such as ER or Friends, this moral conviction erodes. The increasingly belligerent undertone taken by the U.S. media television establishment in its efforts to secure economic stability should throw a caution to the prevailing wind that American intervention is always justified when the national interest is at stake. War and violent conflicts, however marketed, are not enjoyable enterprises for any potential actor involved. CNN and the larger U.S. media establishment may well benefit from this reminder.

Cited

Bunting, Madeleine. ‘Reasons to be Cheerless’, The Guardian

‘The CNN Effect‘

Goshko, John M. ‘Bush, Clinton, and Somalia’, in Abshire, David, ed., Triumphs and Tragedies of the Modern Presidency: Seventy-Six Case Studies in Presidential Leadership (Praeger: Westport, CT), pp. 226-232

Greenberg, David. Nixon’s Shadow: the History of an Image (Norton: New York)

Hemmingway, Ernest. ‘Top Ten War Quotes‘

Hoge, James F. ‘Media Pervasiveness’, Foreign Affairs, July/August 1994, pp. 136-144

Huntington, Samuel P. ‘The Clash of Civilizations?’, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72. No. 3, pp. 22-49

John King, ‘Administration Defends Bush Flight to Carrier‘, CNN

Knightley, Phillip. The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker from the Crimea to Vietnam (Andre Deutsch: London)

Nacos, Brigitte L., Terrorism and the Media: From the Iran Hostage Crisis to the World Trade Center Bombing (Columbia University Press: New York)

‘Office of Global Communications‘

Powell, Colin, ‘A Strategy of Partnerships‘, Foreign Affairs

1 ‘Top Ten War Quotes‘

2 ‘The CNN Effect‘

3 Goshko, p. 231

4Greenberg, p. 232

5 Knightley, p. 410

6 Huntington, p. 36

7 Hoge, p. 141

8 Colin Powell, ‘A Strategy of Partnerships‘ Foreign Affairs

9 ‘Office of Global Communications‘

10 Nacos, p. 47

11 John King, ‘Administration Defends Bush Flight to Carrier‘, CNN

12 Madeleine Bunting, ‘Reasons to be Cheerless’, The Guardian

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Culture

Mexico is home to some of the earliest and most advanced civilizations of the western hemisphere. This area in Latin America was formerly known as Mesoamerica, a tern that refers to the geographic area and cultural traditions of the pre-Colombian civilizations. There are many native cultures that have their roots planted in Mexico, but there are six that are considered to have been the most influential; the Olmecs, Teotihuacans, the Toltecs, the Mayans, the Zapotex/Mixtecs, and the Aztecs. Each one of these civilization existed in their own geographical area and traces of the original civilizations are still being uncovered today. The Mexican culture is interesting mix of Native American traditions and Spanish colonial influences. The official and predominant language is Spanish and is spoken by nearly the entire population. However, there also exist dozens of indeginous languages although spoken by few in comparison. One thing the Mexican culture is known for is the unified nature of the family. The country’s divorce rate is among the lowest in the world, and children usually live with their parents until they marry. The culture is predominately patriarchal with the father acting as the ruler of the family and the mother being the heart that holds the family together.

Politics

Mexico is a federal republic constituting of thirty one sates and one federal district. There are three agencies that govern the country, the independent executive, legislative, and judicial branch. The chief of state who is also the head of the government is the president. The president is elected by a popular vote resulting in a six year term. There are a few political parties present in Mexico; however, the three prevailing parties are the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN), and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). There is not one single party that holds majority in either house of congress.

Economics

Mexico has a free market economy that recently entered the trillion dollar class. It contains a mixture if modern and outmoded industry and agriculture, increasingly dominated by the private sector (“CIA World Fact Book”). The government is phased with serious continued chronic problems such as corruption and crime. Together these two may constitute for as much as 25% of Mexico’s GDP. Continued financial problems prevent the government for doing things such as adequately subsidizing its universities or the basic research that would provide full employment for Mexican scientist and engineers, and ultimately improving the national economy (Wikipedia). In December of 1994 the Mexican government at that time headed by Ernesto Zedillo was forced to devalue the peso by 50% which eventually led to the collapse of the Mexican stock market. In an effort to address financial market imbalances, on December 22, 1994 the government allowed the peso to float and substantially raised short term interest rates. To ensure orderly conditions in foreign exchange markets with the new floating exchange rate and Exchange Stabilization Funs of US$18 billion was established with contributions from the North American Financial Agreement and from the monetary authorities from major countries and from private commercial banks (IMF). In order to receive payment Mexico had to institute cutbacks on social, infrastructural and educational spending. Accepting this money further instituted Mexico’s dependence to the United States as well as other foreign countries which some say further reduced their sovereignty. Mexico has seen annual average real growth rates of about 4.1% consistently high unemployment. There was a continued decline in the exchange rate from 2000 (9.456 Mexican pesos/US dollar) to 2004 (11.286 Mexican pesos/US dollar), however, Mexico is currently experiencing a slight increase with the present exchange rate set at 10.5715 Mexican pesos/US dollar. The graph below illustrates Mexico’s exchange rate trend for the past 10 years.

Economic Rates

One issue that has been in the area of contention in regards to Mexico’s economy has been the real impact the North American Free Trade Agreement had on Mexico’s growth rates. Mexico has been a member of NAFTA for ten years and has made some incredible developments in term of human development. Mexico has been successful in improving health and educational rates but continues to fight low and inequitable growth that has resulted in present high poverty rates. “According to 2000 date, 53 percent of the country’s population is poor (living on less than $2 per say) while close to 24 percent is extremely poor (living on less than $1 per day)” (World Bank). Policies put in place to deal with the 1994 economic crisis have helped Mexico on the road to recovery. “After a 6.2% GDP’s contraction in 1995, form 1996 onwards the Mexican economy has grown at and annual average rate higher than 5.0%, a rate not achieved during the past two decades” (Ministry of Finance). The growth rate experienced by the Mexican during this time period is higher than the world’s average and higher than any other Latin American country during that same period. Today the GDP per capita amounts to $US 9,600 which is 59% higher than just five years ago. At the moment Mexico continues to experience a decline in inflation rates. The inflation rate in 2000 was 8.96% which was an important milestone for Mexico to reach since it was the lowest it had been since 1994. The country has continued its downward inflation trend, “twelve month inflation dropped to its lowest rate of 3.05% at the end of October, well within the target of between 2 and 4 percent set by Mexico’s central bank for 2009” (Yahoo Finance). Literacy rates in the country have also experienced an increase within the last 10 years. In 1995 78.2% of the population over 15 was able to read and write. Numbers for 2010 have not yet been calculated, but as of 2003 92.2% of the population of 15 was able to read and write, a 14% increase in just eight years.

Natural Resources

The natural resources of Mexico are petroleum, silver, cooper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, and timber. The country is recognized as being one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet. In 1992 Mexico’s secretary of urban development and technology stated, “the costs and benefits of the use of natural resources…which annual rates of between 2% and 4.5% in tropical rain forests, must be incorporated into Mexico’s accounting” (SUDE).

FDI Inflows and Outflows

Since about 1995 foreign direct investments (FDI) in to Mexico have increased substantially. A New foreign direct investment law instituted in 1993 abolished restrictions to foreign ownership in the majority of Mexico’s economic activities. In recent years Mexico has come in second place as a leader in receiving the most FDI from any other Latin American country. In the year 2000 “by country, the United States alone account for 60.4% of FDI in the country through 11,630 subsidiary companies established in Mexico” (Ministry of Finance). The textile, garments, automotive and electronic sectors have been the largest and fastest growing investments in recent times In 2009 manufacturing alone was responsible for 77% of FDI in Mexico.

The following graph illustrates Mexico’s rank as compared to 132 other countries in the levels of FDI Outflow in the years 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010.

International firms are investing into Mexico primarily in regards to three different industries. The industries have been sectioned of by either being primary, secondary, or tertiary. A primary industry is considered as one that includes agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing, mining, and or quarrying and petroleum. A secondary industry includes areas such as food, beverages and tobacco, chemicals and chemical products, metal and metal products, machinery and equipment, and any other manufacturing products. The final type of industry is what is called a tertiary industry and it includes, electricity, gas and water, construction, trade, hotels and restaurants, transport, finance, real estate, and other services. The following graph illustrates the amount of FDI allocated to ach of the three industries mentioned above from 1994 to 2002. Information has been taken from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development website.

There are several countries that are investing in Mexico, with the largest of these investors being the United States. Information as to what countries are investing in Mexico are usually separated as the type of country that each is. For example countries are separated into developed or developing countries. There are many countries that fall into the developed section, but for purposes of this report I will only give information on the top four developed countries (European Union, Canada, US, and Japan). Another source of FDI for Mexico comes from developing countries. These will be grouped together in the graph to make things easier to read. Some developing countries investing in Mexico include but are not limited to, Chile, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Panama, India, China, Korea, and Taiwan). The following graph illustrates the breakdown as to how much each country contributes to Mexico’s FDI inflow. The graph includes numbers compiled from 1994 to 2002.

Mexico’s FDI in Foreign Countries

Mexico’s FDI is concentrated in the United States, but is also does some small investing in countries such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain and Chile. The graph below gives an idea in the amount it invests in foreign countries. For simplicity reasons I have chosen to provide information on only a few countries (those which receive the most FDI from Mexico).

World trade

Mexico has become a great example of trade as a vehicle for economic modernization and growth. Mexico’s overall performance over the last five years has been positive. ‘Between 1997 and 2000, GDP expanded at an annual average rate of 5.2%; Mexican trade in goods grew at an annual average rate of 17.1%, the fastest among WTO’s twenty largest single members, with imports slightly outpacing exports” (WTO). Mexico’s trade policy remains closely related with the advancement of FDI.

Trading partners

Mexico’s major trading partners are the United States, Canada, Germany, China, and Japan. Mexico has been through a significant economic transformation becoming a much more open economy welcoming free world trade. The World Trade Organization in 2000 ranked Mexico as the 8^th leading exporter and the 7^th leading importer. The European Union is Mexico’s second largest trading partner. The structure of the Mexican and European Union economies trade flows between the two countries tend to be paired with a high relationship in intra-industrial trade that include goods such as chemicals, cars, and electronics. “European Imports total volume in 2004 amounted to € 14,628 million mainly in machinery (27.5%); followed by energy (22.8%), transport equipment (14.7%, automotive products (12.5%), chemical products (8.3%) and agriculture products (5.6%)” (Trade Issues).

Trade Volume

Trade volume is an indicator of how much a country depends on foreign trade. Goods that are not possible to produce locally are sought after in the international trade market. Imports reflect dependence on foreign made goods while exports a countries dependence on foreign markets that will buy their goods. A country with a high level of trade volume is an indicator that the country has a strong responsibility towards the global economy. Mexico’s merchandise exports from 1994 to 2004 are illustrated in the graph below.

Import and Export levels

After the creation of NAFTA Mexico’s trade volumes with the United States and Canada have increased. The next step is increasing trade between Mexico and the European Union under EFTA (European Free Trade Agreement). Mexico is a producer of high quality goods in sectors such as alcoholic beverages, coffee, construction, food manufacturing, and textiles. By the same token Mexico is currently seeking investment, supplies and partners in sectors such as agriculture, airports, automotive, and communication. According to the CIA World Fact Book, exports accounted for $182.4 billion in 2004 while imports totaled $190.8 billion that same year. Mexico’s export commodities include manufactured goods, oil and oil products, silver, fruits, vegetables, coffee, and cotton. Their import commodities include metalworking machines, steel mill products, agricultural machinery, electrical equipment, and car parts for assembly. Its three most import export partners are the US (53.7%), China (7%), and Japan (5.1%).

Trade balance

Currently Mexico is running a $36.5 million dollar deficit. The following table and graph illustrate Mexico import and export levels from 1996 to 2008. Information has been taken from the U.S Census Bureau.

Current Account

Mexico’s current account, which is made up of its services, net income, net export of goods, and net current transfers is currently suffering a $4.113 billion dollar deficit. Slow GDP growth taking place over the last few years and the historical depreciation of the peso have caused Mexico’s current account deficit to narrow. The following exhibit shows Mexico’s current account compared to that of the U.S

Attractiveness

Mexico’s new economic policies put into effect in the 1990’s have been highly successful in promotion trade and in attracting greater flows of foreign investment. The presence of free trade agreements, such as NAFTA, ant the new economic policies have made Mexico one of the most attractive countries for FDI. “Manufacturing activities have especially benefited from increased foreign capital inflows, accounting for more than 75 percent of total FDI in Mexico: 57% went to the production of metal goods; machinery and equipment; 16 percent to food and beverages, and 9% to chemicals and plastics” (Maquilaportal). Mexico’s increased attractiveness in the eyes of foreign investors may also be the result of an important skilled labor force that is young and willing to work for lower wages which attract Multinational Corporations trying to maximize profits.

Future expectations

Mexico’s economy continues to grow, inflation rates are declining and FDI inflows continue to rise. There are many signs of increasing confidence in the future. The exchange rate has just started an upward trend than can be thought to continue to improve. Foreign companies continue to view Mexico as a country of opportunities for increased profits. The Mexican government’s liberal view on free trade allows for Multinational Corporations to set up shop with minimal requirements. One of the major factors that will be playing an important part as to how well Mexico’s economy does will be based on what the U.S economy looks like in the future. Due to Mexico’s strong ties with the United States. Almost 90% of Mexican imports are destined for the United States and as much as 60% of Mexican imports come from the U.S.

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Though usually viewed as a violent play about turbulent marriages, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? should be regarded as an early feminist text. Bonnie Finkelstein writes that the 1962 play portrays and analyzes the damaging effects of traditional, stereotypical gender roles, particularly for women; the play serves to point out how unrealistic, useless and extraordinarily damning they ultimately are.

Finkelstein notes that the 1963 publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique unofficially began a re-evaluation of gender roles in the United States (Finkelstein 55). Friedan explores the idea that women need more fulfillment in their lives than can be provided by the drudgery of childrearing and housekeeping. The book also carefully lays out what society has determined to be the ideal gender role requirements for women:

“They could desire no greater destiny than to glory in their own femininity. Experts told them how to catch a man and keep him, how to breastfeed children and handle their toilet training…how to dress, look, and act more feminine and make marriage more exciting…They learned that truly feminine women do not want careers, higher education, political rights…All they had to do was devote their lives from earliest girlhood to finding a husband and bearing children.” (Friedan 15-16)

And, more specifically:

The suburban housewife…she was healthy, beautiful, educated, concerned only about her husband, her children, her home. She had found true feminine fulfillment.” (Friedan 18)

Albee echoes this, noting by contrast what the ideal men and women in 1962 should be. In other words, his characters have failed at living up to gender roles and the play shows us how this quest has destroyed them. The most shocking thing Martha does is pack away the booze: “My God, you can swill it down, can’t you.” (16) She drinks straight, tough-guy booze, like whiskey and bourbon. She no longer favors the tastes of her youth: “brandy Alexanders, crème de cacao frappes…seven-layer liqueur things…real lady-like little drinkies.” Martha once behaved as a woman should, but no longer does and this is off-putting and unsettling to George. The reason women should drink sweet-tasting but really lethal drinks is because they make women more willing to serve men sexually, as pointed out in the Paula Vogel’s feminist (and set-in-the-early 1960s) drama How I Learned to Drive: “In short avoid anything with sugar or anything with an umbrellas…don’t order anything with sexual positions in the name…I think you were conceived after one of those.” (Vogel 44)

Indeed, the 1962 woman was not in tune with or even in charge of her own sexuality; according to Friedan, women would use sexuality as a means to achieve the fulfillment they were so sorely lacking:

“Are they using sex or sexual phantasy to fill needs that are not sexual? Is that why their sex, even when it is real, seems like phantasy? Are they driven to this never-satisfied sexual seeking because, in their marriages, they have not found the sexual fulfillment which the feminine mystique promises?” (Friedan 261)

While at an overprotective, women-only college (78), Martha was sexually active and chose her own husband. It was a real slap-in-the-face to her intelligence and identity when her father had her marriage annulled because it was not proper for a woman to be sexual or to make her own decisions. George himself comments on how Martha’s sexual expression is improper with lines like “your skirt up over your head.” (17)

The twenty-six year old “thin-hipped…simp” Honey is the incredibly stifling, unfulfilled result of what happens if a woman conforms to what 1962 society told her to be. In order to quickly show that Honey, the prefeminist-era ideal woman, is a farce, Albee makes her uninteresting, remarkably unintelligent and absolutely loathsome. She characteristically says boring, solicitous, giggly things like “Oh, isn’t this lovely” (21) and “Well I certainly had fun…it was a wonderful party” (21), even “put some powder on my nose.” (28). She is inoffensive, always agreeable, and, as Friedan points out, devoted to her husband, the ideal of femininity: “Their only dream was to be perfect wives and mothers; their highest ambition to have five children and a beautiful house, their only fight to get and keep their husbands.” (Friedan 18) Still, because she is the perfect woman and Martha is decidedly rebellious of the stereotype, Honey is everything Martha is not.

Similar to the Martha-Honey dynamic, Nick is the ideal man and is thus everything George cannot be. Martha tells George he is “a blank, you’re a cipher…a zero” (17) because of his lack of manly attributes, such as a commanding nature, athletic ability, good looks and ability to control his emotions. She berates him for sulking early on: “are you sulking? Is that what you’re doing?” (12) Men should not sulk; they must be stoic. Years prior, George refused to box his taunting father-in-law and was made to feel like less of a man because of it (56). Enter Nick, the macho-man, everything George is not. Instantly, he is commanding: “I told you we shouldn’t have come.” (21); he is also stoic– he dryly responds “I am aware of that” (22) when Honey tells him he’s being “joshed.” Most of all, Nick is far more attractive and athletic than old, pudgy George, described often as “about thirty, blond, and…good-looking” (9) and once as “quarterback.” (151) He was even a middleweight boxing champion (51). Martha has physical competition issues, too, with the young, skinny Honey: “I’m six years younger than you are,” (15) George says to Martha, implying that she is old and useless because she’s no longer young and pretty. Martha then foreshadows George’s inability to measure up against Nick: “Well…you’re going bald.” (15) Thus, George is ugly, unmanly and no longer virile. He feels threatened: “I said I was impressed, Martha. I’m beside myself with jealousy.” (49)

Albee uses George and Martha to show the effects when a society crams definitive, non-pliable gender roles down the throats of women and men. Nick and Honey’s presence shows that even those that strive to be the ideal cannot sustain the image without serious consequences. All four characters are damaged irrevocably and act out via violence, alcoholism and infidelity as substitutes for happiness and ways to forge identity. Engaging in this behaviors makes them feel something, anything when their gender identity feels nonexistent. Being seductive makes Martha feel like a woman and being violent lets George play out his macho fantasies.

Additionally, each of the four characters has ways in which he or she loses any sense of gender identity (they don’t feel like real women or real men) because of certain events. As Friedan repeatedly notes, the sole purpose for the 1962 woman was to be a good wife and produce babies: “All they had to do was devote their lives from earliest girlhood to finding a husband and bearing children.” (Friedan 16) Martha is unable to have children and is thus incapable of fulfilling her only supposed purpose in life. Finkelstein points out that:

Martha reveals to us the emptiness and loss she feels when, childless, she is an outcast at sex-segregated faculty parties and is tempted to mention their imaginary son…Martha feels that she doesn’t exist: she had no other dreams but to be a mother, and then she couldn’t do that. (Finkelstein 55)

For all intents and purpose, she feels she is not a woman and it eats her up. Conversely, we have Honey, who embodies all the attributes of the perfect early 60′s woman. She rebels against the path by refusing to have babies. Laura Julier points out this juxtaposition, that Martha cannot be a stereotypical woman and Honey to refuses to be the stereotypical woman.

Since he doesn’t fit the manly-man image, George feels almost non-existent: “Don’t I sort of fade into the backgrounds…get lost in the cigarette smoke?” (32) Though he agrees, other comments from Martha emasculate George further: “he’s not completely sure it’s his own kid.” (71) Here, Martha overpowers George to humiliate him and elevate herself, but there are fewer things more threatening to manhood in 1962 than by claiming someone’s (albeit imaginary) child is not their own; a man does not want to be a cuckold. Albee uses George’s emasculation once more to make a clear parallel to the lack of options for women in that period of America: “I did run the History Department, for four years, during the war, but that was because everybody was away. Then …everybody came back.” (38) George’s colleagues essentially see him as the then-current idea of a woman: useless, but able to fill in at a job of prestige in an absolute emergency. This is exactly like the woman-dominated home front workforce of World War II because the regular male workers were in the armed forces. George, like the enraged female workers of 1941-1945, was degraded when he was forced to return to his proper place.

Also, both George and Nick married their not out of love or because they were sexual conquerors, which would be preferable. Nick married Honey for money: “GEORGE: Sure, I’ll bet she has money, too!…NICK: Yes.” (102) George married Martha in an ultimately futile attempt to rise in the hierarchy of the college. Julier notes that the revelation that both men married their wives for money is ultimately an emasculating and embarrassing revelation because it shows they are reliant on women for their livelihood, a big no-no for a true macho man. (Julier 36)

Nick’s relationship with Honey is tenuous at best. They first knew each other as children, playing doctor (104). “A scientist even then,” (105) as George points out. Nick goes on to speak of their loveless marriage: “I wouldn’t say there was any…particular passion between us, even at the beginning.” Nick reveals that he had to marry Honey mostly because they thought she was pregnant. It’s almost as if Nick, who was forced to marry Honey and doesn’t particularly like her is harboring a latent homosexual nature. This is simply unacceptable in 1962, as Honey quietly notes: “Two grown men dancing…heavens!” (124)

In order to prove, or fake his manly, heterosexual nature, Nick engages in a quick, lurid sexual encounter with Martha (163). In fact, it is their problems with identity and self-expression within a sexist culture that lead the four characters to act out via near infidelity and heavy drinking. Alcohol is a social lubricant and a social liberator; alcohol gives Martha courage to say what she wants, it gives Honey a personality and proactivity, it gives George wit and Nick a dark side. Only through drinking and possibly by blaming it on the booze later, can these characters ever communicate and express themselves openly.

Though what the foursome do (making up a son, drinking, violence, “hysterical pregnancies,” latent homosexuality) isn’t necessarily the real-life result of gender roles, they are examples to get across Albee’s point that gender roles destroy the ideas of “man,” “woman,” and make determining personal identity difficult for those who don’t fit the mold. It’s also highly prescient and protofeminist that Albee structures this analysis of gender roles within a marriage. Finkelstein theorizes that marriages cannot stand under such highly regulated gender role circumstances and that marriage is thus outmoded because women are given so few options in their lives. (Finkelstein 51)

The most telling prophecy lies in Nick’s genetic project that aims for the perfection of the human species, a clear reference to 1962′s quiet, forced demand to conform to the images of the ideal woman and man. George notes: “we will have a civilization of men, smooth, blond and right at the middleweight limit.” (65) There will be no room in society for the unfit (George), the unintelligent (Honey) or female (Martha). Only Nick remains, and even he is flawed, proof that these gender roles are impossible to emulate. As Finkelstein notes, all four characters are afraid of Virginia Wolf, because she is, in 1962, the only icon of female equality society had. (Finkelstein 64)

Works Cited

Albee, Edward. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? New York: Atheneum House, 1962.

Finkelstein, Bonnie Blumenthal. “Albee’s Martha: Someone’s Daughter, Someone’s Wife,

No One’s Mother.” American Drama (5) no. 1, Fall 1995. pg. 51-70.

Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: WW. Norton & Company, 1963.

Julier, Laura. “Faces to the Dawn: Female Characters in Albee’s Plays.” Edward Albee:

Planned Wilderness. Interviews, Essays and Bibliography. ed. Patricia De La

Fuente. Edinburg, Texas: Pan American University Print Shop, 1980.

Vogel, Paula. How I Learned to Drive. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1998.

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However, if we say, as William G. McCollom does in his essay «The Role of Wit in Much Ado About Nothing,» that «the governing action (the activity guiding the characters) could be formulated as the search in love for the truth about love» (165), then we can view the two sets of lovers as contrasting commentaries by Shakespeare about what constitutes «true love.»  Looking at the play in this way, we can say that in Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare makes the point that true love is achieved with understanding, trust, and commitment by examining the relationships of the contrasting sets of lovers: the shallow relationship of Hero and Claudio, and the deeper relationship of Beatrice and Benedick.

Before this subject can be tackled, it seems important to define what we are talking about when we say «true love.»  This subject alone could probably fill several philosophical essays, so for this essay let us define true love as being a relationship that is based on something more than outward appearances or material goods, and being a relationship in which both lovers are prepared to be committed to the other despite any hardships or mistakes their partners might make.

It seems self-evident that in order for a couple to have a romantic relationship, they need to have a strong understanding of one another.  They need to have connections and shared experiences built through past encounters.  Claudio and Hero, however, have no past encounter, while Beatrice and Benedick have a previous history.

Despite never having met her before the start of the play, Claudio has an immediate attraction to Hero.  When he is alone with his friend Benedick, Claudio tells him that «In mine eye she  is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on» (I.1.180-181).  It would seem that this attraction Claudio has for Leonato’s daughter is purely the result of, first, physical beauty and, second, the desire to marry a noble and virtuous woman. While Claudio can’t be faulted for desiring such qualities in a wife, it is telling that he is ready to marry her after only this first meeting and that he goes to Leonato, not Hero herself, to purpose marriage.

In his essay, «Deception in Much Ado About Nothing,» Richard Henze writes, «…as Claudio falls in love with Hero’s beautiful face but not with her feelings while Don Pedro arranges a profitable marriage, convention is excessively restrictive and sincere human feeling is deficient» (192).  This «window shopping» manner of selecting a wife co!mpletely eliminates any meaningful interaction between the couple and doesn’t allow for any understanding or emotional connections to develop.  This lack of connection is in large part what allows Claudio to be tricked by Don John later in the play.

In contrast to Hero and Claudio, Beatrice and Benedick have a previous history with one another before the opening moments of the play, and though they play the part of not liking each other, it is clear that the seeds for a blossoming romance are already in place.  Beatrice’s first line in the play, in fact, in response to the news that Don Pedro is returning to Messina, is to ask, «…is Signor Mountanto  returned from the wars or no?» (I.1.29-30).

Though she pretends indifference, Beatrice asks several questions about Benedick and seems generally interested in his current welfare.  Not only do Beatrice and Benedick know each other at the start of the play, but there is evidence that at one point they may have even tried to start a romantic relationship.  In response to Don Pedro’s jest that she has «lost the heart of Senior Benedick,» Beatrice replies, «Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile, and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one.

Marry, once before he won it of me with false dice; therefore your Grace may well say I have lost it» (II.1.263-268).  Clearly, unlike Hero and Claudio, Beatrice and Benedick have the past history with one another in order to build a relationship that is based on something other than physical beauty or money.  Instead, the relationship «is characterized by sincere feeling and trust» (Henze 193).  In short, Beatrice and Benedick understand each other, while Claudio and Hero don’t even know each other.

It is this type of understanding between people that leads to the second ingredient that Shakespeare is demonstrating to be a part of a successful relationship, which is trust.  On two occasions during Much Ado About Nothing, Claudio is shown to have no faith in his relationship Hero, accusing both friends and Hero herself of betraying him.  This lack of trust grows from the fact that Claudio and Hero haven’t had the chance to connect with each other in any meaningful way.  Beatrice and Benedick, once they have finally admitted to having feelings for the other person, do have strong level of trust, however, as demonstrated by their staying together when the actions of Claudio threaten to tear them apart.

Claudio’s lack of trust is first demonstrated by the ease in which Don John is able to persuade him that Don Pedro has wooed Hero for himself.  When Don John, pretending to think that Claudio is Benedick, tells Claudio that Don Pedro has confessed his love to Hero, Claudio doesn’t bother to seek further proof, instead immediately lamenting:

Thus answer I in name of Benedick,
But hear these ill news with the ears of Claudio.
‘Tis certain so.  The Prince woos for himself.
Friendship is constant in all other things
Save in the office and affairs of love;
Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues.
Let every eye negotiate for itself
And trust no agent; for beauty is a witch
Against whose charms faith melteth into blood.
This is an accident of hourly proof,
Which I mistrusted not.  Farwell therefore Hero! (II.1.166-176)

With no other evidence other that the word of Don John, Claudio is ready to believe that his friend Don Pedro has betrayed him.  Without any emotional connection to Hero, Claudio cannot trust her or anyone who interacts with her on his behalf, and so he is quick to believe the worst.

Claudio’s lack of trust is preyed upon by Don John again later in the play, with much harsher results, when Don John convinces him that Hero has been having an affair with Borachio.  Again, Claudio makes no attempt to investigate the situation further once he is shown the false scene in the window, and he immediately makes plans to humiliate Hero at their wedding tomorrow.  This event is also important because one of the most attractive features of Hero to Claudio, her virtuousness, has in his eyes been spoiled.  Without an emotional attachment to Hero, Claudio has no reason to trust her, thus she is easily made into a villain in his eyes.

Claudio’s humiliate of Hero at their wedding, interestingly enough, is the event that proves Beatrice and Benedick’s trust in one another.  After Claudio has made his accusations and left, Beatrice is the first and, along with the Friar, only one to come to Hero’s defense, immediately denying the charges Claudio has put upon her cousin.  Later in the scene, when Benedick tells Beatrice he loves her, she asks him to kill Claudio.  He refuses, but Beatrice makes her case for Hero’s innocence.  Although Benedick is still reluctant, he puts his trust in her opinion:

Benedick.  Think you in your soul the Count Claudio hath wronged Hero?
Beatrice.  Yea, as sure as I have a thought or a soul.
Benedick.  Enough, I am engaged.  I will challenge him.  (IV.1.327-330)

We see, in the face of Claudio’s lack of trust, the trust Benedick has in Beatrice, as he is willing to challenge his friend to a duel on the word of the woman he loves.

When a romantic relationship has understanding and trust, commitment follows close behind according to the view Shakespeare is demonstrating in Much Ado About Nothing.  Consequently, because they lack understanding or trust, Claudio and Hero’s relationship feels flimsy, and Claudio himself shows in several scenes a lack of emotional commitment to the woman he wants to marry.

With our second couple, however, the relationship seems to be much deeper and more likely to persist into the future, not only because of Beatrice and Benedick’s understanding and trust of one another, but also, as David Bevington writes in his introduction to the play, «…because of their refusal to settle for the illusory clichés of many young wooers» (219).

Claudio’s commitment to Hero is in question from the play’s very beginning.  As Don Pedro and Benedick are inquiring about Claudio’s feelings for the young woman, Claudio says, «If my passion change not shortly, God forbid it should be otherwise» (I.1.209-210).  According to Carl Dennis, in his essay «Wit and Wisdom in Much Ado About Nothing,» Claudio in this passage «seems to admit a lack of complete confidence in the strength and stability of his emotions» (231).  Later, immediately upon seeing the scene in the window between Borachio and Margaret, Claudio rejects Hero in his mind with no further proof.  We are told of his reaction through Borachio’s retelling of the story to Conrade, when he says, «away went Claudio enraged; swore he would meet her, as he was appointed, next morning at the temple, and there, before the whole congregation, shame her with what he saw o’ernight and send her home again without a husband» (III.3.156-160).

This, again, seems to be a very sudden rejection of a woman he supposedly loves based on minimal evidence, but Dennis notes that «Claudio is disposed to accept flimsy appeals to his senses because he has never fully committed himself to Hero, never rejected his suppressed doubts about the value of love.»  He goes on to write that «If love means anything here it should mean a special will to believe in the goodness of the beloved.  Because Claudio’s love is superficial, that special will does not exist» (232-233).  Claudio’s opinion of Hero quickly reverses yet again towards the end of the play when he finds out she has been framed by Don John and Borachio:

Don Pedro
But did my brother set thee on to this?
Borachio.  Yea, and paid me richly for the practice of it.
Don Pedro
He is composed and framed of treachery,
And fled he is upon this villany.

Claudio
Sweet Hero! Now thy image doth appear
In the rare semblance that I loved it first. (V.1.241-246)

Because Claudio is only concerned with Hero’s virtuousness, his commitment to her is only as strong as his belief and faith in this fact about her.  Since we have already seen that this faith is easily shaken, we know his commitment to her cannot be very strong.

Projecting the patterns of behavior we see from the characters in this play, it is quite easy to create a «virtual future» for Claudio, Hero, Beatrice, and Benedick.  Without a solid base of understanding or trust, there can never be a real commitment from Claudio to Hero unless they can develop emotional connections during their marriage.  This seems difficult to imagine, being the pattern that emerges in the play of Claudio’s complete lack of trust in Hero.

It seems more likely that, since he was so easily made to believe that Hero had betrayed him before, Claudio will constantly be battling against jealousy and concerns about Hero’s faithfulness to him, a battle that would surely drive a wedge into their relationship.  Beatrice and Benedick, however, seem destined to have a strong marriage built on their mutual understanding, trust, and commitment to one another.

Although it may appear at first that Much Ado About Nothing is just another of Shakespeare’s romantic comedies with a typical happy ending in which everyone gets married and lives, presumably, «happily ever after,» a closer examination shows that Shakespeare has actually used his young lovers as a comment on the meaning of love and relationships.  Given how common the Claudio/Hero type of quickly arranged marriage was during the Elizabethan age, this message would have been of importance to the audience of the time.  In Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare is giving his opinion on the issue of true love versus sudden romance, and he is weighing in favor of true love.

Works Cited

Bevington, David.  «Introduction to Much Ado About Nothing.»  The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Fifth Edition.  New York: Pearson, 2004.

Dennis, Carl.  «Wit and Wisdom in Much Ado About Nothing.»  Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 13.2 (1973): 223-237.

Henze, Richard.  «Deception in Much Ado About Nothing.»  Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900  11.2 (1971): 187-201.

McCollom, William G.  «The Role of Wit in Much Ado About Nothing.»  Shakespeare Quarterly 19.2 (1968): 165-174

Shakespeare, William.  Much Ado About Nothing. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Fifth Edition.  David Bevington, ed.  New York: Pearson, 2004.

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To answer any question thoroughly, there must be no ambiguity in the question itself, and no room left for debate as to what the answer may be (in the eye of the answerer, at the very least).  If these criteria are not met, the answer is invalid.

First and foremost, one must define the term “violence.”  Once this is done, one must successfully define “property” and determine its relationship to the definition of violence that one has reached.  Finally, one must define “nonviolence.”  The third term should seemingly be defined by default in defining the first, but nonetheless it must be defined.

Violence is conventionally known as the use of force or harmful action on a being.  Standard definitions do not account for property damage to be defined as “violent,” but I intend to prove that it is.  This definition can be further broken down by defining the terms “force” and “harmful,” for the sake of eliminating ambiguity as stated earlier.

Force, in this sense of the word and not in a natural sense, can be defined as a means of achieving an ends by upsetting, changing, or removing something that stands in the way of the achiever.  That is to say that if something is blocking one from achieving ones goal (whatever it may be), one must use some sort of force to remove whatever is impeding them from doing so.  Whatever is standing in its way either naturally (assuming not a human or animal) or willfully does not wish to get out of the way, but rather to stay in the way.  The use of force leaves them or it no other option.  The terms “in the way” and “blocking” are not intended in these usages to be taken literally.  That is to say that I do not merely intend the definitions and usage of the terms to solely refer to items physically standing “in the way” of some kind of motion, but to prevent an ends from being achieved, regardless of what the ends/means may be.  The same holds true for the term blocking.  Therefore, force can be simply defined as the disturbance, un-willful moving, or pressure applied to any item.  In most cases involving violent action, force would be used in order to eliminate the item or being as an opponent to one’s progress (In this sense, progress need not refer to positive, forward movement or change but only progression toward an ends, whatever that ends may be).

The term harmful can be easily enough defined as anything that negatively affects someone or something.  Therefore, the use of force can be considered harmful to a person or objects “wishes” to stand in the way and impede whatever progress they are stopping.  However, force is not the limit of applications of the term harmful.  More so, it is merely one example of an act that could be deemed harmful to a being or object’s well being, wishes, etc.  Essentially, anything happening to an object that is against its nature or intended purpose, and anything happening to a being that the being does not desire can be considered harmful (In some cases, even things desired by a being can still be harmful, for instance when talking about a drug user, the drugs are not being taken against their will and in fact suits their desire, but the drugs still negatively affect the user and therefore, fit the definition of harmful).

Hence, violence defined as the use of force or harmful action against a being must include anything done to someone or something that is not in accordance with their wishes, or that is done in accordance with their wishes but still affects them in a negative way.  This definition also includes any action that disrupts someone or something by the use of force, as to be understood by the definition given earlier.

Without even defining property, it is clear that, given these definitions of force and harmful, objects should be included in the definition of violence alongside humans and animals as things that may have violence done toward them.  By the same token, plants and natural forces could also fit into the same category.  However, since conventional definitions of violence don’t include these things no matter how much I think they should, I will define property and show its relation its owner with regards to any violence against it fitting the definition of violence.

We are taught to think of property as the land and things that a person owns.  For my own purposes, I will define property as any nonliving thing that a person is attached to by ownership.  This is meant simply to eliminate pets from the definition of property, since violence against animals can be seen and is well regarded as violent action in the world, in cases of animal abuse, bestiality, and other crimes against animals and I don’t need to make the argument that this is in fact violence.  In cases of food purposes and for clothing, violence against animals is justified as being natural; however that argument is a whole other can of worms.  Sticking with the idea of property as any nonliving thing that a person owns, one can say that this definition includes land, structures, foods, clothing, machinery, toys and anything other objects that a person may own (I will not enter the realm of intellectual property as it is unnecessary for my argument).

By this definition, it can easily be seen how the destruction of property might have a negative (by our definitions:  harmful) effect on a person.  For example, if a person’s job entailed driving 45 miles to work every day and their tires were slit, that person would have no way of getting to work and could lose their job.  This destruction of their property, in this case their tires, fits our definitions of violence as it keeps the person from getting to their job and resulted in the loss of the job, which is harmful to the person and their well-being, and may also be harmful to those who rely on the directly affected person’s income for their own support.  The idea that these people may have to go without food and other things is of course, the reason they can be considered harmful.  At the same time, the tire slitting could be considered the use of force because it is an action that is throwing a person and a thing (the car) off of their normal routines and intended activity for the day.  Since the person and car are staying home and not going to work against their will, the tire slitting is forceful action in addition to being harmful, and thus fits the definition of violent action perfectly as the use of force or harmful action against a person.

Since people often rely on or hold their property to extremely high value, it is not hard to see why, in cases outside of my own example, the destruction of property is indeed a violent act to the person who owns the property.

We learned that some subscribers to nonviolence use violence against property as a way to prevent more violence from occurring, in the sense of plowshares actions and other such action, where the property being destroyed belongs to some one or some company that intends to use it in a violent way.  In these cases, nonviolentists may try to argue that their property destruction is not harming anyone, and therefore does not fit the definition of violence the way I suggest that any property does.  However, I argue that since property can not exist without an attachment to at least one person, someone is being harmed in the process.  It is safe to say by simply citing the example learned in class, the Molly Rush story, that the destruction of nuclear-arms components by the Plowshares Eight may have been an affordable loss to the company involved (G.E.).  However, the destruction caused still meant that they lost money, which can be considered harmful to any entity or person no matter how much of it they have.  Not only that, but the actions of smashing of the parts with hammers was certainly done by forceful break in, and using force, force which was fully in opposition of G.E.’s best wishes.  Since the action was undeniably harmful and disrupted of the routine of the company and its workers by use of force, it fits the definition of violence.

One may try to further argue that, since I have defined violence as being done toward a being, that I am arguing incorrectly based on my own definitions (since a company is not a being).  However, all companies are owned by someone and cannot exist otherwise.  Even in the cases of corporations where the ownership is simply shared among many people, someone (or many people) still own the property being destroyed and are harmed by the actions.

By each of these definitions and examples, all property destruction is violence.  Even if you refuse the idea that objects and property should be included to the definition of violence alongside beings as things that violence can affect, violence of property harms a being or disrupts their will in some way or another, and therefore violence against property is tantamount to being violent against a person.

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The Illinois voter registration policy requires all Illinois citizens who wish to vote in local, state, and federal elections to register as voters in their respective counties. The registration process must be completed at least twenty-seven days before the election in which the potential voter wishes to participate. In order to qualify as a registered voter, one must meet the following criteria: 1) must be a U.S. citizen, 2) must be at least eighteen years of age on or before election day, and 3) must have been a resident of the precinct for at least thirty days prior to the election (CBEC, 2004). Those wishing to register may do so at a number of locations, some of which include the County Clerk’s office, any township office, some schools, at the Department of Motor Vehicles, public aid offices, and health department offices (CBEC, 2004). At the time of registration, each individual must present two current forms of identification, one of which must bear the person’s current address. If a person chooses to register by mail, that person must vote in person for the first time, unless he/she is disabled or serving in the military. After registration is completed, and the voter receives his/her registration card in the mail, the voter becomes a permanent, registered Illinois voter, unless he/she moves to a new address or changes his/her name (CBEC, 2004).

Some confusing stipulations during this process occasionally prevent legitimate voter registration, which ultimately leaves a number of people unregistered, and thus unable to cast a vote in a given election (Hayduk, 2004). For instance, a person who changes residence within twenty-seven days prior to an election, and within the same voting precinct, is allowed to vote on a full ballot only is he/she signs an affidavit swearing his/her identity, address, and registration are valid (SBE, 2004). Similarly, if a person moves within the same precinct more than thirty days prior to an election and has failed to transfer registration, he/she is allowed to vote only for candidates competing for federal office, upon completing a change-of-address document (SBE, 2004). However, if a person moves more than thirty days before an election, “has moved out of the previous municipality under the board of election commissioners,” and failed to transfer registration, he/she is not allowed to vote (SBE, 2004). Any abuse of the registration process is considered a Class 4 felony, subjecting perpetrators of a fine of $25,000, as well as the threat of one to three years in a state penitentiary (Sanford, 2000).

By preventing people from voting, the Illinois voter registration policy inadvertently skews the voting pool (PFAWF, 2004). Voter discrepancy, the inconsistency between a voting population’s representation of its state in an election and the actual majority political inclination of that population, can create devastatingly inaccurate representation of that state in an election (Freeman, 2004). For instance, Chicago is known for its overwhelmingly Democratic political tendency. The city is partisan to the degree that it has developed a reputation for repressing or otherwise nullifying Republican votes (Grimshaw, 1992). Chicago’s dense population of nearly 2,900,000 comprises a significant portion of Illinois’ total population of 12,500,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). If a large number of Democratic Chicago votes were invalidated due to residency issues, registration failure, etc., it is possible that the Illinois electoral votes could count toward the Republican candidate (Sterling, 1981). Most of Chicago (and thereby, a significant portion of Illinois) would still strongly favor the Democratic candidate, and would lose their voices to the flawed system. A Republican leaning would be incorrectly attributed to Illinois overall, and in a close election (such as those of 2000 and 2004), this could dramatically affect the outcome of the race (Sterling, 1981).

There are many populations who are at risk of having their voices stifled through invalid voter registration (NCH, 2004). For instance, homeless individuals, with no permanent address, may face obstacles when attempting to register. If the registration is completed, they have no mailing address at which to receive their registration cards, and likely no identification with an accurate, current street address. A similar situation faces transient, displaced, and certain other severely marginalized individuals; therefore a lack of a stable, permanent home address makes it impossible for an individual to register to vote (NCH, 2004). In many cases, non-homeless, non-transient, and non-displaced individuals simply forget to register before the deadline (SBE, 2004). Consequently, they cannot vote, and they, combined with others unable to register for various reasons, will not be represented in the election. This situation could ultimately lead to a misrepresentation of state opinion, as well as present ample opportunity for voter fraud (PFAWF, 2004). Voter fraud is the direct, intentional misrepresentation of a voting population achieved through intimidation, refusal of, or attempts to discourage from voting certain voters or potential voters who may pose a threat to a specific political party or interest, or the act of physically interfering with or removing these ballots in an act called “ballot tampering” (Grimshaw, 1992). Another form of voter fraud is the submission of multiple votes, which is achieved by submitting inaccurate registration information in an invalid voting precinct, often in addition to valid registration in one’s own precinct (Harris, 2004). As previously mentioned, voter fraud is a Class 4 felony, punishable by one to three years in a state penitentiary and/or up to a $25,000 fine (Sanford, 2000).

In recent elections, Illinois voter registration policy, and others similar to it, have come into question because of the inherent bias in the system (PFAWF, 2004). Homeless and other marginalized individuals are often excluded from voter eligibility due to their lack of stable residence, or proof of identity/address (NCH, 2004). Similarly, homeless, transient, and other individuals facing registration difficulties are most often members of a racial minority group, commonly African-American (Grimshaw, 1992). The Illinois voter registration system does not simply make it difficult for those of low socioeconomic status to register, but also silences thousands of Illinois residents whose lives are affected by decisions made in the voting process (Grimshaw, 1992). This situation is reminiscent of the poll taxes and literacy exams of the post-Civil War era, in which anyone wishing to vote was subject to either a tax or a test proving literacy. Both of these restrictions were disadvantageous to African-Americans and of the time, as they had only recently been released from slavery, were poor, and had received limited or no education (Barton, 2003). Although less direct and more subtle than the poll taxes and literacy exams of the 1800s, the Illinois voter registration system creates a parallel atmosphere of frustration and restriction for those of lower socioeconomic status, and therefore, for many African-Americans and other racial minorities. By repressing these populations’ votes, the system creates a continual probability that the middle and upper-classes maintain control of Illinois politics (Grinshaw, 1992).

In striking contrast to the Illinois system, Wisconsin voter registration policy offers significantly more opportunity for interested citizens to register as voters (SEB, 2004). In order to register to vote in Wisconsin, one must meet the following conditions: 1) must be a U.S. citizen, 2) must be a resident of Wisconsin, and 3) must be at least eighteen years of age on or before election day (Haas, 1996). To prove citizenship of Wisconsin, voters are required to furnish a driver’s license or state I.D., or provide the last four digits of his/her social security number (SEB, 2004). The potential voter in Wisconsin has three options for completing the registration process. The first is registration by mail, which requires the resident to complete and mail the registration form to the county clerk’s office by 5:00 PM on the 13th day before the election (as compared to the 27th day in Illinois). For a first-time registration applicant, identification must be included with this application. Acceptable forms of identification include a driver’s license, state I.D., other photo I.D., or any piece of mail or government document indicating the voter’s name and current address (SEB, 2004). The second registration option is to register in person at the County Clerk’s office, which may be done up until 5:00 PM on the day before the election. After the “by mail” deadline, potential voters must present identification with the following characteristics: bears the voter’s name, including given and family name, and bears the voter’s residential address, including street number and municipality. Also required is a utility bill or other proof of living at the current address for at least ten days prior to the election, as opposed to the strict 30-day requirement in Illinois (SEB, 2004).

Clearly, Wisconsin voter registration policy offers more ample opportunity for voter turnout. Because of the fact that the only strict requirements for registration in Wisconsin are proof of age and proof of 10-day residency, there is a degree of flexibility allowing for a broad scope of populations to register (SEB, 2004). Transients, the homeless, or other persons in shelters can use a shelter address as a place of residence, because the time frame is so much shorter than in Illinois. An example of homeless persons being empowered to vote in Wisconsin is the Hope House of Milwaukee (NCH, 2004). This organization, a shelter for homeless families, developed an innovative program to utilize community resources in an effort to make voting more accessible to the shelter’s residents. Prior to the 2000 election, the Hope House staff gathered information and research about the candidates; in addition, they wrote a letter to each candidate requesting a brief reply explaining his stance on major issues relevant to residents (NCH, 2004). The candidates complied with this request, and shelter residents began forming informed opinions on the issues. Also, the staff arranged for the City Elections Committee to set up a voter registration site on the shelter premises, to counteract transportation problems (NCH, 2004). Before election day, the City Elections Committee traveled to Hope House and employed a mock voting session, to ease the residents’ anxieties and familiarize them with the voting process. The staff also created a document, to be completed by residents, declaring residency at the shelter. For families that had recently transitioned out of the shelter, the staff offered maps illustrating election districts and directed the ex-residents to their respective polling places (NCH, 2004).

Although Wisconsin voter registration policy offers more opportunity for residents to register and vote, it also arguably offers more opportunity for voter fraud. Challengers of the Wisconsin system maintain that such lenient registration guidelines offer more loopholes than states with stricter statutes (Bennett, 1990).For instance, critics argue, people can easily claim residency at any address for which they receive utility bills, and may inadvertently be allowed to vote in multiple precincts (Harris, 2004).While this assertion is theoretically sound, the voting system offers stringent control for such oversights (Haas, 1996).In 2003, Mark Grebner, Co-Owner of Wisconsin Voter Lists, gave a speech before the Senate Committee on Education, Ethics, and Elections. Grebner stated, “My firm, which does business here at Wisconsin Voter Lists, has built a complete and accurate voter database for Wisconsin. Our file includes names, addresses, dates-of-birth, phone numbers, political jurisdictions, and voter history from 1996 to the present for over 4 million eligible voters” (Grebner, 2003). Access to this database can readily identify multiple names, addresses, and duplicate or falsified Social Security numbers, as well as names of deceased or non-eligible individuals (Grebner, 2003). Despite any criticism of Wisconsin’s voter registration system, it is clear that the combination of ample security controls, coupled with its flexibility, make this policy more accommodating to a greater population than do many other states (Grebner, 2003).

Several organizations in the past have recognized and responded to Illinois’ current mandatory voter registration policy. For instance, the Rainbow Coalition and Operation PUSH have helped launch the Illinois Freedom Bus Tour (RPC, 2004). This “tour” is actually a chain of buses and other vehicles that traverse the entire state of Illinois each day for a month preceding an election, transporting unregistered voters to registration sites (RPC, 2004). The Rainbow Coalition, founded in 1971, and Operation PUSH merged to become the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition (RPC), overseen by Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. (RPC, 2004). On a smaller scale, certain colleges, universities, and other organizations offer transportation to and from registration and election sites (NAICU, 2004). Hope Haven, a DeKalb, IL emergency/transitional shelter similar to Milwaukee’s Hope House, offers rides to polling places, declaration of residency at the shelter, and informative political literature to shelter residents.* Interestingly, much of Illinois’ efforts in counteracting voter inequality have been focused on alleviating social repercussions of current policy, rather than reforming the policy itself. It is this author’s opinion that lobbying for policy reform is the next logical step toward empowering marginalized populations to vote, in order to effectively service the largest population possible.

The Illinois voter registration system became strict policy in 1995, with the implementation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) by President Clinton in 1993 (Jackson, 1996). The NVRA is commonly known as the “Motor Voter Law” (Cain, 1996) becauseit calls for unregistered or relocated voters to register/re-register when applying for or renewing their drivers’ licenses. The NVRA goes beyond the scope of registration opportunity at the DMV. It allows for non-partisan registration in numerous settings, some of which include libraries, schools, churches, military recruiting centers, and social service agencies (Jackson, 1996).Individual state law dictates how each state handles voter registration. Illinois’ rigorous requirements were initially met with strong resistance, namely by Governor Jim Edgar, whose opposition decelerated implementation of NVRA (Jackson, 1996). Edgar’s stance was faced with criticism of its own, cynically attributed by some to the “Chicago Democratic Machine” at work (Grimshaw, 1992).Some conservative Illinoisans denounced criticism of Edgar’s reluctance to accept NVRA, implying that NVRA was essentially a liberal ploy to slant the vote to the left, by empowering populations (minorities, the poor) who would likely be inclined to vote Democratic (Grimshaw, 1992). A stated goal of the NVRA is to register and empower disenfranchised people. Reverend Jackson states, “The poor, the less educated, the young, and people of color register and vote at a much lower percentage. The purpose of the law and its design was to register these most disenfranchised people” (Jackson, 1996, p. 30). Ironically, registration requirements appear to hinder those individuals they intend to aid, as several categories of “disenfranchised individuals” lack the required materials for voter registration.

History offers conflicting views on effective and ineffective approaches to voter registration policy. Since the beginning of formal elections there has been voter fraud, and there has been at least moderately discriminatory policy design (Barusch, 2002). Likewise, there will always be contradicting views on how to deal with these problems. However, upon analyzing current Illinois voter registration policy, the necessity of reform becomes clear. Eligible voters are being turned away at the polls because of loopholes and flaws in the system. This puts the state at risk for gross misrepresentation in the polls, which contradicts the inherent purpose of voting policy. By switching to a polling system more conducive to the needs of all populations within the state, Illinois would more accurately convey the opinions of its citizen. The recent 2004 election, with its publicly-decried surge of fraud and polling mishaps (Freeman, 2004), serves as a frank reminder to Americans that despite promises of democracy, a corrupt system can always manipulate its preferences into policy. However, it is the duty of the government to provide beneficial, accommodating policies to citizens, and Illinois voter registration policy has much room for improvement.

The acute awareness of voter fraud and other faults of Illinois voting policy is a relatively recent development (Grimshaw, 1992). Sketchy historical research is available on the correlation between registration policies and instances of fraud or other mishaps. Recent history serves to educate the public on what sorts of consequences follow unsatisfactory policy (Freeman, 2004). The 2000 and 2004 elections provide significant education regarding both Illinois and national voter registration policies and their consequences (PFAWF, 2004). The registration system itself, the foundation of modern American elections, also proves itself the backbone of voter fraud development (Harris, 2004). In states with strict registration regulations, such as Illinois, fraud evolves as a response to the relative ease with which restrictions can be imposed upon politically-undesirable populations (Hayduk, 2004). For instance, in a heavily Republican area, poll judges and other officials may be biased in favor of a Republican candidate. Thus, they may attempt to discourage or void the vote of a voter belonging to a Democratic-leaning demographic, perhaps nullifying the vote based on a technicality forgiven for voters appearing more Republican-friendly (Grimshaw, 1992).

Efforts to resolve the problem of voter discrepancy are certainly in accordance with research findings (Bennett, 1990). Young, first-time voters are being informed of their “duty” to register. Organizations broadcast their respective messages about voting and registration and civic duties for months preceding elections. In spite of these public urges to vote, many individuals of low socioeconomic status remain most discouraged from the polls, due to lack of resources and information (Hayduk, 2004). These oppressed populations comprise a significant component of society, and their votes alone would be sufficient to offset many previously-elected officials (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). With higher numbers of impoverished, homeless, transient, invalid, or otherwise disenfranchised groups concentrated in large cities (such as Chicago), it is outrageous for such populations to be virtually ignored in elections in which officials often speak to topics and policies relevant to the oppressed. The people who most rely on officials for social survival are constantly edged out of important electoral processes, simply because they lack something as considerable as a home address or proof of long-term residence.

Through examination of the aforementioned Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, similar smaller-scale groups, and policy reform issues, it is evident that oppressed populations are moving into central focus as being underserved in the political arena (PFAWF, 2004). Significantly more attention must be directed toward reforming laws and enabling such populations to register and vote, lest the system defeat its own purpose.

A major goal of the Illinois voter registration system is to allow every eligible citizen the opportunity to vote in a fair election through a non-biased, non-partisan polling process (Jackson, 1996). This manifest purpose is eloquently described by Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr.:

“[The law] allows non-partisan voter registration to take place in a wide variety of ways and settings…Who you vote for, Republican, Democrat, or Independent, is your own private business. That we as a society go out of our way to make sure that all eligible people are registered to vote should be the business of the public and public officials who are charged with the responsibility of implementing the law.” Jackson continues, criticizing Illinois officials: “In this instance, those officials are failing in their public trust” (Jackson, 1996, p. 30).

An underlying, unspoken goal of democracy permeates the topic of voting policy in Illinois. There is a general consensus of residents regarding the goals of policy. People want their votes to count; otherwise, they would fail to register, appear at the polls, or profess concern over disparity in policy. However, simply adopting agreement regarding goals is a far cry from approving a given policy. An implicit assumption of the Illinois voter registration system is that it will yield fair, non-partisan assurance that each vote will count toward accurate state representation (SBE, 2004). This hypothesis fails to account for human nature. Good intentions of policy makers cannot undo the corruption of others. On the contrary, inherent defects in the system “accidentally” invalidate the votes of thousands of disenfranchised populations in each election (PFAWF, 2004). Good intentions aside, it is impossible for policy hypotheses to control for human greed.

Theoretically, Illinois voter registration policy successfully accomplishes its goals of providing a fair, non-partisan registration and vote to registered voters. For those who remember to register, and those who are fortunate enough to meet the strict registration criteria, this process appears accommodating and seamless. But for those populations lacking homes, identification, transportation, physical capacity, or other resources, the Illinois registration system has failed. By modifying this policy to include accommodations and allowances for disadvantaged populations, the Illinois state government could offer its residents an opportunity to achieve the satisfaction of having their voices heard, their citizenship acknowledged, and their votes counted.

References

Barton, D. (2003). Black History Issue: 2003. Wallbuilders: Search issues, articles, and newsletters. Retreived Dec. 4, 2004 from http://www.wallbuilders.com/resources/search/detail.php?ResourceID=95.

Barusch, A.S. (2002). Foundations of social policy: Social justice, public programs, and the social work profession. Itasca, IL: F.E. Peacock Publishers, Inc.

Bennett, S.E. (1990). The uses and abuses of registration and turnout data: Ananalysis of Piven and Cloward’s studies of nonvoting in America.PS: Political Science and Politics, 23(2), 166-171.

Cain, B. (1996). On the road with motor voter. Update on Law-Related Education, 20, 15-16.

Chicago Board of Election Commissioners (CBEC) (2004). Judge of Election Handbook 2004. Chicago: Board of Election Commissioners.

Freeman, S. (2004). The unexplained exit poll discrepancy. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, Penn School of Arts & Sciences, Center for Organizational Dynamics.

Grebner, M. (2003). Wisconsin voter lists. Testimony on 2003 on AN 600 & AB 601, relating to HAVA. Retrieved Dec. 7, 2004 from: http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/strat.html.

Grimshaw, W.J. (1992). Bitter fruit: Black politics and the Chicago machine, 1931-1991. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Haas, S.P. (1996). Overview of the election process in Wisconsin (staff brief). Madison, WI: Wisconsin Legislative Council Staff.

Harris, B. (2004). Black box voting: Ballot tampering in the 21st century. Renton, WA: Talion Publishing.

Hayduk, R. (2004). Democracy for all: Restoring immigrant voting rights in the U.S. New Political Science, 26(4), 499-523.

Illinois State Board of Elections (SBE). (2004). Voting information: registering to vote in Illinois. Retrieved Nov. 29, 2004 from: http://www.elections.state.il.us/VotingInformation/Register.htm.

Jackson, J.L. “Implement the National Voter Registration Act.” (1996, April 15). The Chicago Sun Times, 30.

National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU). (2004).

National campus voter registration project: Examples of campus voter registration, education, and get-out-the-vote activities.

National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH). Model Wisconsin program excels at voter registration. Retrieved Nov. 28, 2004 from: www.nationalhomeless.org/vote/wisconsin.html.

People for the American Way Foundation (PFAWF). (2004). Election protection:

Protecting voters’ rights in 2004 and beyond. Retrieved Nov. 28, 2004 from: http://www.electionprotection2004.org/coalition.htm.

Rainbow/Push Coalition (RPC). (2004). History of RPC. Retrieved Dec. 4, 2004 from: http://www.rainbowpush.org/about/.

Sanford, W.H. (2000). State of Illinois crime and punishment chart: Year 2000. Retrieved Dec. 4, 2004 from The National Crime and Punishment Learning Center: http://www.crimeandpunishment.net/IL.

Sterling, C.W. (1981). Electoral college misrepresentation: A geometric analysis. Polity, 13(3), 425-449.

United States Census Bureau (2004). Population finder. Retrived Nov. 28, 2004 from: http://www.census.gov/.

Wisconsin State Elections Board (SEB). (2004). How to register to vote. Retrieved Nov.

29, 2004 from: http://elections.state.wi.us/faq_detail.asp?faqid=119&fid=27.

* This author spent one year as a case manager at Hope Haven, and assisted with providing election information to residents. Information in this paper referencing Hope Haven is drawn from this author’s direct experience in the shelter.

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Throughout this report, I will show how these two organizations use key marketing concepts to attract consumers to their products. Also, I will compare and contrast the way that PepsiCo and Coca-Cola use the Internet as a planning tool and as a communication medium for advertising and promotions.

The Websites: www.cocacola.com and www.pepsi.com

On first approach, one is struck with the obvious differences between the two companies’ web pages. Many companies follow the lead of their competitors and model their web pages after their rival’s. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, however, did not follow this model. Their pages are very different in style, aesthetics, and content. When you arrive at Coca-Cola’s front page, you are greeted by three page links. These links connect to Coca-Cola company information, their worldwide site, and their U.S. site. By clicking the company information link, the user is transported to Coca-Cola’s official company website where one can find information for investors, job information, and a company history. The company information page is set out in an easy to navigate manner with “pull-down” menus for each of the links within the company page. The worldwide and the U.S. sites on www.cocacola.com are very similar in content. The worldwide site provides international users with a link to Coca-Cola’s country-specific sites that provides information on products and Coca-Cola themed games and downloads. The Coca-Cola in the U.S site provides many of the same marketing tools that the international sites provide. There are “pull-down” menus on the site for music downloads, product information, sports, message boards, as well as links to all Coca-Cola television advertisements.

Each of Coca-Cola’s web pages is easy to navigate. However, most of the pages are not aesthetically pleasing. With the exception of a few of the international sites (www.zambia.coca-cola.com), most Coca-Cola sites are mainly done in different shades of red and black. This provides a very dull experience for the user while searching the Coca-Cola website.

Coca-Cola’s website focuses on not only current customers, but it also focuses on building strong relationships with existing customers by providing large amounts of company and product information.

The Pepsi website (www.pepsi.com) offers users a very different experience than Coca-Cola’s website. The Pepsi site greets users with an animation and sounds of a glass being filled by ice and Pepsi, which is then paired with a food item such as onion rings or a fajita. There are four main links in Pepsi’s main page, two of which deal directly with Pepsi marketing campaigns. The first link is entitled “promotions.” By clicking this link, users of PepsiCo’s website are taken to a contest that involves consumers buying Pepsi and having a 1/3 chance of receiving a free music download courtesy of Apple’s iTunes. The second link, called “street motion” allows PepsiCo website users to enter a drawing where the winner will receive a free luxury automobile. The third link is for “Pepsi sports” where the NFL’s Rookie of the Year is named and consumers are reminded time and time again that Pepsi is the official drink sponsor of the NFL. This link also includes streaming video of every Pepsi Super Bowl ad. The final link is entitled “Pepsi music.” This link takes users to Pepsi’s website touting their sponsorship of a summer music tour that involves some of the biggest names in pop-music.

Pepsi’s sites are very easy to navigate if one is looking to find information about PepsiCo’s promotions or marketing campaigns. If a user is looking for company or product information, however, it can be difficult to find. At the bottom of the main page is a small link for company information. By clicking this link, users are taken to a different page called PepsiWorld.com. At PepsiWorld.com, users can find the company’s history, job information, and information on other brands that Pepsi owns such as Quaker Oats and Frito Lay.

Aesthetically, Pepsi’s websites are very nice. They use bright colors and large, animated links. The site can prove to be frustrating for those that are looking for company information, but for everyone else, they are very interactive and fun.

PepsiCo’s sites are geared much more towards customers that are already Pepsi drinkers and have an idea of PepsiCo’s marketing campaigns. The goal of PepsiCo’s sites are not to build new customers, rather they aim to reinforce current customers’ concepts of the organization.

Key Marketing Concepts and the Internet

Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo use their company’s Internet webpage to promote some of the key marketing concepts that we have learned about in Environments of Business: Marketing.

The first of these key marketing concepts that both websites speak to is the concept of demographic data gathering. The idea of demographic data gathering is a tool that organizations use in order to find which specific consumer groups are using their products. These consumer groups can be divided and sub-divided based on such factors as age, sex, country of residence, ethnicity, and interests. Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo’s websites offer ways for the two companies to gather demographic data. Both companies have e-mail based newsletters that customers can sign up for. When signing up for these newsletters, the user must enter their age group, sex, world location, interests (sports, music, etc.), type of company-specific product that they use (ex. PepsiCo: Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, etc. Coca-Cola: Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, etc.), and users also have the option of giving ethnic data. By filling out this survey before receiving the newsletter, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are able to find out very important demographic data about their website users. This information will help the companies update their websites with information that is interesting to their consumers.

Another key marketing concept that both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo use with their websites is customer relationship management (CRM). Kotler and Armstrong ( pg. 16) define CRM as, “The overall process of building and maintaining profitable customer relationships by delivering superior customer value and satisfaction.” In other words, companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo use the idea of CRM to build and maintain lasing relationships with customers by providing excellent customer service and keeping the customers satisfied with a high quality product. This will not only keep the customer base of the two businesses growing, but it will prove to be quite profitable for the companies. On their websites, both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo work hard to maintain high CRM standards. They both provide e-mail links and telephone numbers so that customers can contact the company with questions or complaints. Furthermore, both www.cocacola.com and www.pepsi.com provide FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) sections in which customers can find questions that are frequently asked about customer service issues. By providing these areas on the websites, both companies are working to create stronger, long-lasting relationships with their customers that will, inevitably, provide larger profits for the company in the future.

A third key concept that Coca-Cola and PepsiCo use on their websites is the idea of demand management. Demand management involves an organization taking steps to raise or lower the demand of its products. For Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, this generally involves creating more of a demand for their products. The two organizations go about this on the website by allowing users to customize the site once they register with the site. While customizing, the user can set which icons are seen on the site and which links are readily available. This process allows Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to market their products to specific groups, therefore increasing demand by those target markets. Also, PepsiCo’s website allows customers to download coupons for Pepsi products. Coca-Cola offers no such service.

A final marketing concept that both www.cocacola.com and www.pepsi.com present is product positioning. Kotler and Armstrong (pg. 259) define product positioning as, “The way the product is defined by consumers on important attributes-the place the product occupies in consumers’ minds relative to competing products.” The key phrase in this definition is defined by consumers. As Kotler and Armstrong point out, “To simplify the buying process, consumer organize products, services, and companies into categories and “position” them in their minds,” (pg. 259.) Coca-Cola and PepsiCo attempt to take advantage of this idea on their websites by working to promote the differences between their product and the other company’s product. By promoting the differences between the two companies’ products, and touting their products as superior, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are working to position their products in consumers minds as being superior and, therefore, worth purchasing.

The Internet as a Planning Tool and Data Source

Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo use the Internet in order to plan their marketing strategies and collect secondary data about their marketing campaigns and consumer information.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo both use the Internet to plan marketing strategies using the information that they receive from web-based surveys, “hits” on certain products websites, and actual sales of their products. As an example, PepsiCo has a counter on the bottom of each product page that tells the user how many other users have been to the same page. By using these counters, PepsiCo can see which of their web-based marketing strategies work the best. Furthermore, by using online polls on the web pages, both companies can update their marketing strategies to suit their website users.

Both organizations are able to use the Internet in order to collect secondary data and use the data to formulate their web-marketing strategies. Kotler and Armstrong (pg. 148) define secondary data as, “Information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose.” An example of the use of secondary data can be found when the companies use online databases to search for customer and target market information. Furthermore, by using sales numbers, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are able to feature high-selling products on their websites and in their online marketing campaigns.

Competitors

Because Coca-Cola and PepsiCo is each others main rival, I have chosen to look at the number three soft drink manufacturer in the United States, Cadbury plc (www.cadbury.com), in order to compare the effectiveness of the web pages. The Plano, Texas based Cadbury plc manufactures such drinks as Dr. Pepper, 7-Up, Motts Apple Juice, and Snapple Iced Tea. Cadbury plc web page is not flashy, and is very straight forward. The website is full of company information, as well as brand information. However, unlike Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, Cadbury plc is not using their website as a marketing tool. They offer no downloads, newsletters, or online games to their site users. Rather, they use the site as and information center where users can receive company financial information and view employment opportunities.

Recommendations/Conclusion

There is no doubt that Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have nearly perfected the use of an Internet website as a marketing tool. Both organizations’ sites have been both innovative and have proven to be an example to many companies that want to use the Internet as a marketing tool. After viewing the website for Cadbury plc, there is no doubt that Coca-Cola and PepsiCo will be the number one and two soft-drink companies in the United States for a very long time. The way that the two organizations have used market research, demographic data, secondary data, and customer relationship management has put them far beyond the reach of most organizations. There are very few recommendations that can be given to Coca-Cola and PepsiCo based on their Internet websites. Both do an excellent job of marketing to specific target audiences as well as integrating their products into other forms of entertainment such as sports and music. Furthermore, they are able to do this in an entertaining, sometimes flashy manner.

By completing this project, I have had the opportunity to see the way that a relatively new technology, the Internet, is able to reach new and existing markets in such a way that the Internet can now be used as a major, and sometimes exclusive, marketing tool.

Works Used

1. Kotler, Philip and Armstrong, Gary. Principles of Marketing, 10th edition. Prentice-Hall. United States of America.
2. The Coca-Cola Company. Official Website: www.cocacola.com.
3. The Pepsi Cola Company. Official Website: www.pepsi.com.
4. Cadbury plc. Official Website: www.cadbury.com.

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Some wilderness enthusiasts will tell you that this is because a clean, natural landscape is the only place in our modern world that is capable of connecting us to something larger than ourselves.  Surrounded by concrete and skyscrapers, we forget what trees and flowers look like when they’re not surrounded by mulch. Eating fast food and prepackaged meals, our bodies have forgotten what it is like to take sustenance from the pure, un-preserved forms of food found in the wild.

If you find yourself feeling continually bored, lethargic, stifled, moody, or stressed out, mother nature may be able to help you. There is a new school of thought about the benefit of outdoor exposure, and it seems it may be even more helpful than we at first thought.

Wilderness therapy is the moniker given to the many forms of controlled outdoor exposure. There does not have to be an underlying therapeutic objective, although some programs are designed that way. Simply being in a wilderness setting as part of a group is often enough.

In 1999, psychologists Frederickson and Anderson took two groups of twelve female participants on either a six-day backpacking trip through the Grand Canyon or a seven-day canoe trip through the Minnesota wilderness. Some of the women were from high-stress corporate settings and some were full-time homemakers; all were struggling with stress or depression in various forms.

During the course of the trip, the participants all became visibly more relaxed. Many cited the purity of the outdoor environment as a large part of the cause. They felt that the solitude they were able to enjoy in the wilderness gave them time to ponder some of life’s more difficult questions, and added to their spirituality. As one woman said, “I express my spirituality when I am deeply in tune with the forces of nature and feel a certain interconnectedness with all other living things- that is when I am experiencing my spirituality to the fullest.”

Many studies echo the findings of this one. Wilderness experiences can reduce depression through relieving stress and stimulate the body physically, which can also energize the mind. All of the participants felt that they were able to abandon the perplexing social rules and restrictions they were obliged to follow in their daily lives for a feeling of acceptance and freedom seldom felt anywhere else.

You may question the lasting effects of such a trip, but in a follow-up interview conducted 30 days after the initial experience, 92% of participants still felt a reduced level of stress from the time before the trip. Many of the women also stated that, when they did feel stressed or depressed, they were able to use the uplifting feelings they had on their trip as a meditation tool to help them feel better again.

Types of wilderness therapy are many and varied. There are trips that are designed specifically for men and deal with some of the issues that commonly cause stress and depression in men, as well as general trips for men and women that simply rely on outdoor exposure to be the healing balm. Many small, independent companies offer these types of programs in all regions of the country, and provide a more personalized experience. You can find these companies in your area by doing an internet search for wilderness therapy, or by visiting www.wildernesstherapy.org, a non-profit website that offers people helpful and accurate information on agencies that offer wilderness therapy programs.

Larger companies such as Outward Bound use wilderness therapy to help adolescents cope with difficulties in their lives or behavior problems by using the natural landscape as a teaching and learning tool. Perhaps the largest-scale organization,  National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) has classes ranging from 10 days to several months, where intense outdoor survival skills are taught in an effort to heal the earth and humanity as one.

There is no question that NOLS students learn the hardest and longest-lasting lessons about the wilderness. Students learn to practice Leave No Trace, an environmentally-friendly practice that means whatever you pack in, you must pack out, including trash and feces (don’t worry, there are special bags and containers for this purpose!) They also learn how to live off of nature, navigate the wilderness, and study the flora and fauna of the environment. Many former NOLS students learn a rewarding way of life that they adopt as a permanent part of their lives, and most leave NOLS with such a deep love and respect for the wilderness that they return year after year.

Even if you are not looking for such an intense or time-consuming experience, there is no population on earth that cannot benefit from some form of wilderness exposure. It has not only been clinically proven to help reduce stress, depression, anxiety, and a variety of social disorders, but it also has enumerable positive physical effects, increases overall life-satisfaction, and can help your corporation achieve goals and increase productivity in a fun and team-building way. Co-workers who undergo a wilderness experience together emerge feeling part of a cohesive team, valued for their individuality and experience.

If you undertake a wilderness experience, you may get wet, dirty, have to do your business under a tree, and at times be bone-weary, but you will feel a sense of personal satisfaction and achievement that no modern diversion can offer. No matter how uncomfortable you may be at times, when it is all over you will fervently wish to return to the woods.

As the veteran of thousands of hours spent in the wilderness, I can say with authority that firsthand knowledge of the ageless healing beauty of nature really can enhance your everyday life.  Simply being aware that there is something larger out there is enough to give life more meaning, for you will have seen firsthand how we are all a part of one whole, striving for common goals. It helps us realize that the decisions we agonize over are really not life-or-death. Knowledge of the wilderness puts things into a grand perspective and affects an attitude change whose effects are omnipresent. Outdoor exposure is the healing panacea that we modern humans have been searching for, and it has been firmly beneath our feet since the dawn of time.

Works Cited

Fletcher, T. B., & Hinkle, J. S. (2002). Adventure based counseling: An innovation in counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, 80(3), 1-15.

Frederickson, L. M., & Anderson, D. H. (1999). A qualitative exploration of the wilderness experience as a source of spiritual inspiration.  Journal of Environmental Psychology, 19, 21-39.

Glass, J. S., & Myers, J. E. (2001). Combining the old and the new to help adolescents: Individual psychology and adventure-based counseling. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 23(2), 1-9.

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Even though the “blends of the earth” settled well, the government of these islands have change many times. Mostly, the islands have been singled-owned. Jamaica, for instance, was owned firstly by Spanish powers, then by English authorities, next by France, followed by Holland, Denmark, and the United States. Despite the flip-flop of regime, the Island’s uniqueness has yet to be disrupted. Their special techniques and equipment have developed into modern-aged necessities in most household kitchens, such as the egg beater originated in the 18th century. As the “meeting rooms of the seas”, the islands represent the place of infusion and holds a legacy unlike no other.

Within this long chain of islet lies a special island dear to all natives of this area nicknamed the “Spice Island”, Also known as the Grenada Island. The “Spice Island”, Grenada is an independent, three-island nation. Grenada has more spices per square mile than any other place in the world: cloves, cinnamon, cocoa, mace, Tonka beans, ginger, and a third of the world’s supply of nutmeg. “Drop a few seeds anywhere,” the locals will tell you, “and you have an instant garden.” The central area is like a jungle of palms, oleander, bougainvillea, purple and red hibiscus, crimson anthurium, bananas, breadfruit, birdsong, ferns, and palms. The main ingredient used by most Caribbean Islanders is the hot pepper, otherwise known as the chili pepper (Wolfe 46). Good island cooks recognize, however, that even their favorite peppers must be handled with discretion if they are to enhance, not annihilate, other flavors.

On the island of Jamaica, the scotch bonnet and the country pepper are used more often but still used with respect to the other flavors of the dish. Its innumerable varieties range from the familiar bell and sweet red peppers to the little fiery habaneros and others so hot that their oil is literally lethal (Wolfe 46). The best dishes, most islanders concur to, are the dishes consumed with spicy mixtures of island flavor. The dishes are blended with tomatoes, and of course the hot peppers. Some of the indigenous dishes to the many islands include vegetable fritters, blood pudding, and stuffed land-crab backs. The vegetable fritters produced in the Caribbean Islands are made up of mashed black-eyed peas or beans perked up with hot peppers. And so finely ground and thoroughly beaten before it is deep-fried, the fritters, that it seems to be doubled in bulk like yeast cake (Wolfe 21).

And finally, the inter-island specialty, the stuffed land crab backs; which is superior in flavor to the local sea crab. This tantalizing crab is boiled, minced, and sautéed with hot peppers and herbs, spices and bread crumbs then stuffed invitingly back into their shells (Wolfe 23). In Trinidad, where the Indian influence is strong, Dry or wet massala, which is curry powder or paste, and ghee, which is butter oil, is found most frequently in most delights.

A strong French influence can be seen in the use of seasoning, especially on island which change hands between Britain and France innumerable times, persisting even when island ended up English (Ortiz 1). Along with the unique dishes come the unique techniques of the Caribbean. The Jamaicans use coconut oil in the sautéing process of many dishes, while like many, the Haitians use butter and olive oil.

Also, unlike many starters, many Caribbean chefs serve hot soups. But tourist prefer something cool to start their meals, so to suit them a rainbow of new cold soups has been devised from local ingredients (Wolfe 24). Some of the most popular soups are the chilled orange soup and the chilled avocado soup. Going back to their culture, many chefs of the islands naturally cook how they know, but in the sake of exploring new-comers, they seemingly hold back on a few of their local cuisine.

Certain techniques used in Caribbean cooking are what give their characteristic flavors to many of their dishes. In the Spanish-speaking Island, Sofrito, a highly-seasoned tomato-sweet pepper sauce, adapted from the original Spanish version, is widely used. (Ortiz 1). During the Caribbean’s early years, all cooking preparations were done by hand, or by man-made products, but overall kept simple. In the 19th century, worker of the local plantation would squeeze juice from the sugar cane in a wind-powered mill. Since sugar was a major export, the discovery and design of the mill played an important role in economic advancement.

Slaves that worked on these plantations were 250, the minimum amount. A century earlier, the wooden egg beater was invented. The egg beater, then, was no more than a bowl with a horizontal rod that would be pushed and pulled through pegs, allowing the metal beater tip to revolve rapidly. Another piece of equipment would be the herb mill. Fresh or dried herbs would be placed at the bottom of the elongated canoe-like base, and then the wooden toothed disk would crush and pulverize the herbs place at the bottom. These simple items helped the tedious work of cooking and creating that much easier and allowed for quicker prep time for spices and such.

Mainly, the islanders of the Caribbean keep their equipment very simple, but efficient. In Puerto Rico, the Caldero, basically a cauldron, is a heavy cast-aluminum or iron casserole, round or oval with a tight fitting lid. This dish is used for many of their delightful meals. A couple of dished prepared in great success in the Caldero is Fillet of Beef and Arroz con Pollo.

Traditional island cuisine results from a mélange of cultural influences. The islands have been fought over and owned by various European powers – mainly the British, French, and Spanish. All of these cultures, as well as their respective culinary traditions, have played a role in forming the multi-national cuisine of the Caribbean (Beatty 3). Minute and casual influences have been made by Holland and Denmark, but not worth giving kudos to in conjunction with the impressively made cuisine. Originally, two Native American tribes occupied the islands – the Arawaks and Caribs. Food historians claim that the Caribs began the institution of spicing food with chili peppers, a culinary feature maintained today. The Caribs were also cannibals, a gastronomic trend that fortunately did not carry through to present (Beatty 3).

The one tribe, the Arawaks, were said to be the ones who started the cooking technique known today as barbequing. This was established by fabricating grills with native green sticks called barbacoa. The influences of the islands are a mix of many, because the islands are multicultural there are distinct regional differences in the authentic cuisines of the Caribbean. Islands like Puerto Rico and Cuba have distinct Spanish-influenced food. Guadeloupe and Martinique are French-owned Islands. Their native cuisine has obvious ties to France. Jamaica, which was once a major slave-trading center, is rich in African culture even though it was a British owned (Beatty).

The Caribbean islands are the “Garden of Eden” here on earth. This place is blended nicely with many textures, styles, flavors, and cultures; this goes not only for the food, but for the people. The truth of the matter is, all cultures mix at one time or another, but to say that these group of islands had the same effect as everywhere else would be an insult to the isles. This blessed place is the cornucopia of the seas.

Works Cited

Beatty, Theresa M. Food and Recipes of the Caribbean.

Ortiz, Elisabeth Lambert. The complete Book of Caribbean Cooking. New York: Ballantine books, 1973.

Wolfe, Linda. The Cooking of the Caribbean Islands. New York: Time-Life Books, 1970.

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Moreover, the capacity to fund the increasing number of people became very scarce. Supplies needed to be obtained from outlaying villages. This is a very clear consequence of any expanding organization. A formal structure needed to be enforced and a chain of executive party needed to be established so as to monitor the increased number of people in the organization.

New Strategy

The initial mission of the band, “Rob the rich and give to the poor” was no longer effective to the band. The funds obtained from the outright confiscation of the rich were no longer accommodating the increasing number of the people in the band. The mission statement had to be revised to accommodate the changing ways of the organization. New strategies also need to be introduced to meet the fund requirements of the band. Moreover, there needed to be a revision to the objectives of the band so as to limit the number of people being recruited. This, in my opinion, is a primary concern that needs attention.

Robin Hood’s proposal to run a policy of adopting a fixed transit tax to whomever passed through the Sherwood Forest seems feasible but the Merrymen’s concern of jeopardizing the allies’ support in their fight against the Sheriff is also relevant.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis to this problem would make the situation easy to manipulate. We can analyze the different compartments of the situation by identifying the internal and external factors. The Strengths and the Weaknesses of the situation are internal factors since they are within the band’s direct influence. Opportunities and Threats are external problems since the band cannot influence their creation. They are induced by other factors beyond the band’s reach. We will analyze each segments of the SWOT to this problem

Strengths

• Numbers in the band are increasing which would give Robin and his men the upper hand when fighting the Sheriff’s administration
• Robin’s close encounters each have specific duties and somewhat organized.

Weaknesses

• Too large…expanding number of recruits but less accommodation available
• Vigilance and discipline lacking between the men…between raids, the men milled about talking and playing games
• Disorganized and still caught up to the ways and methods of the early days

Opportunities

• The plot to restore power to King Richard will solve the problem to the Sheriff administration’s schemes from the top…Cause will be answered and there would be no need to steal from travelers.

Threats

• Sheriff is growing much stronger and becoming better organized
• Sheriff has political connections and powerful friends and he was well regarded by the regent, Prince John

Policy Revisions

The policy suggested by Robin Hood to impose tax on travelers will only be feasible under certain conditions. First, the band’s mission should be clearly stated. Was the band initially created to fight against the sheriff’s administration or to help the poor by stealing from the rich? Or are these two points interconnected? If the former point is the mission statement, then posing tax on the town’s people traveling through the forest will only undermine the band’s purpose which will result in the lack of allies. If the latter point is the mission statement, then posing transit tax will provide a steady provision of funds to the needy.

Band’s Expansion

The expansion of the band into the different geographical areas in all corners of the compass will only allow the creation of a bigger national corporation. This will definitely require a formal structure from the headquarters in Robin Hood’s area. Recruits specializing in management also need to be heavily recruited. If all these requirements are fulfilled, then there will be minimal concern of not generating revenues and cash flows.

Mission to Restore King Richard back to Power

By assisting the barons to restore King Richard back to power has many pros and cons. The mission is very dangerous and King John’s Spies are everywhere. If this plan fails, the consequences are very grave. The retributions that would follow will be swift and very dangerous.

Pros

• King Richard will be able to answer to the peasant’s needs and concerns
• Sheriff will not be in power and hence his threat will be minimal
• There will be no need to steal from the rich

Cons

• Dangerous proposition with very swift retributions
• It would be risking everything that the band stood for but the benefits would sure be grand
• The Barons or King Richard himself might not live up to their words

Recommendations

In my opinion, Robin Hood’s first priority should be to appropriate structure and organization in the band. He needs to allot someone in charge of curbing the number of new recruits and seek other ways of finding provisions for his men. Once all this is done, he needs to take the great risk of assisting the barons in their mission to rescue King Richard and restore back in power. By doing so, Robin will have gotten his revenge and will not have to require the band’s presence any longer.

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Tourism of the past and present has served as a way to define oneself. As time went on experience instead of material goods became the way of establishing status. Tourism provided that experience for many Americans. According to Rothman, through tourism, people acquire intangibles, making it the successor to industrial capitalism because material goods no longer fulfilled or created status.[3] During the period of 1880 to 1940, promoters touted tourism as a patriotic duty in which Americans reaffirmed their American-ness by following the footsteps of history first-hand.[4] Tourism was a form of commercial patriotism in the early 20th century. During World War I, promoters advertised domestic tourism as a way to support the American economy.[5] Shaffer’s stated thesis is that the production of tourist landscape and consumption of the tourist experience was central in developing national culture.[6] According to Shaffer, tourism reshaped and redefined the built and natural environment and influenced the way people defined and identified themselves as Americans.[7]

Dilworth points out that many tourists’ motivation at the turn of the 20th century was to seek “Columbian” moments in which they could discover something.[8] Dilworth calls tourism during this period “imperialist nostalgia,” a sense of longing for what one is complicit in altering or destroying.[9] As the 1963 Leopold report suggested, Americans see national parks, then and now, as “vignettes of primitive America.” The same can be said of Native Americans after the turn of the century, as Dilworth describes in her chapter about the Fred Harvey Company. The company showcased Indians in a controlled environment, such as the Native American building in Albuquerque. Tourists were always the centerpieces in Fred Harvey operations, while Indians represented a “commodity to be consumed visually.”[10] During that same time, national park promoters touted the reserves, in essence, as a scenic commodity — a place where visitors could allegedly see America as it looked before white settlement. Barringer explains time and time again that the NPS and its concessionaires presented their product to fit the perceptions of the natural setting prominent at the time. The parks and their concessions did whatever necessary to attract visitors, answering more to capitalistic demands than preservation mandates. Dilworth argues that the representations made by the Fred Harvey Company embodied imperialism and nostalgia by erasing and preserving at the same time.[11] National parks employed much the same method. According to Dilworth, tourism helped to turn nature and culture into a “commodified landscape of scenic goods.”[12]

Railroads spared no effort in selling Western national parks to Eastern tourists seeking a nostalgic connection to nature and the frontier past. Dilworth explains how railroad executives, such as the Great Northern Railroad’s Louis Hill, who heavily promoted travel to Montana’s Glacier National Park, pitched parks as refuges from the ills of modern society, such as immigration and labor unrest. Stephen Mather, the first director of the NPS, said national parks helped “break down sectional prejudice by bringing tourists from all sections of the country together.”[13] Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane called national parks “the public laboratories of nature study for the nation.”[14] These early national park promoters were biased towards their product and clearly did not realize that national park tourism depended on the same urban industrial infrastructure that visitors were trying to escape.[15] Ironically, Robert Sterling Yard, early NPS head of education and staunch park promoter, celebrated the national parks’ educational value, calling them dramatic landscapes raised above the crass commercialism and cheap amusements of common tourist attractions.[16] Yard’s assessment proved completely false.

As Barringer explains thoroughly in his volume, capitalism is at the heart of national park tourism, shaping them into idyllic forms of nature. Early Yellowstone concessionaires created an idyllic form of nature that would appeal to tourists, even to the point of falsely raising expectations.[17] Such imperialistic forces rendered national parks, and other tourist destinations, inauthentic. The “vignettes of primitive America” the Leopold report described are nonsense. In order for national parks to be authentically primitive, they cannot include roads, trails, lodges or commercial establishments. All five volumes resoundingly agree that one of the distinguishing factors of tourism is its lack of authenticity.

The Fred Harvey Company, as Dilworth describes it, is a prime example of the inauthentic side of tourism. The company claimed visitors were seeing American Indians in their natural environment, when in reality each venue was a “scripted space” that placed Indians where they could entertain tourists. Hannigan heavily highlights tourism’s inauthentic nature throughout his volume. He argues that places he calls Urban Entertainment Developments (UEDs) greatly lack authenticity. For example, Sea World, one well-known UED, is not accurate but a “carefully crafted version of the marine world which is meant both to humanize dolphins and other sea creatures and to make concern for them a badge of bourgeois status.[18] Rothman agrees that tourist towns and resorts are scripted spaces trying to lure visitors through an attractive theme or image.[19]

Commercialism compromises national parks’ authenticity. As Rothman explains, Carlsbad Caverns National Monument was not tuned to the reverential notions of the meaning of nature, but to convenience and methods of attracting more tourists.[20] For example, a tour of the Carlsbad before 1944 included the darkening of the caves largest room and the playing of the tune “Rock of Ages.” ceremony was a popular part Carlsbad until 1944. Until 1969, Yosemite visitors saw the Firefall, embers from a large campfire, plummet off of Glacier Point, which was a gimmick to attract tourists.

Non-governmental natural attractions’ commercialism is more blatant than national parks. Desoto Caverns in Alabama showcases a large cave with some of the largest stalactites and stalagmites in the world. On the same vain as the Rock of Ages ceremony, the cave also includes a laser light, sound and water show. As if the cave itself is not a sufficient draw, the park’s owners placed tawdry attractions near the cave entrance, including the “Lost Trail Maze,” “Wacky Water Golf,” and “Pedal Go-Karts.” A bona fide cave would not be attractive to a run-of-the-mill tourist because it would not include lights, handrails or paved trails. On the other hand, such a cavern would be a spelunker’s dream. Tennessee’s Lost Sea, reportedly the largest underground lake on earth, features “authentic” 19th century cabins, which house a trading post, country store and ice cream shop. In actuality those cabins are reconstructions. In order for such structures to be truly genuine, they must not have been relocated or refurbished in any way.

According to Dilworth, tourism constructs authenticity in such a way that it is never attainable; the very presence of the observer spells the end of the authenticity of the observed.[21] Commercialism, as illustrated by the natural attractions’ examples, further diminishes authenticity. Hannigan explains that the premise of authentic can only be observed in working-class job settings, such as steel mills, housing, such as tenements or cultural activities, such as bingo, bowling and bars, whereas the rest is an example of “false consciousness.”[22] Both natural attractions and UEDs have become scripted spaces. Hannigan explains that these “McDonaldized” developments exude efficiency, calculability, predictability and control.[23] These “McDonaldized” locations, such as Disneyland, strive for the routine and predictability.[24]

Just as the volumes agree on tourism’s lack of authenticity, they also concur that propaganda is at the heart of the industry. Shaffer explains through a national publicity campaign, early 20th century promoters touted national parks as “quintessentially American landscapes that objectified the American character and embodied the essence of the nation.”[25] Commenting on a boy scout trip, John Patton, president of the Far Western Traveler’s Association said “We want them to see America because it will help them grow up to be better Americans.”[26] Later on, Shaffer suggests that car travel was “an extension of America’s heroic past,” arguing that through the process of touring, tourist could become better Americans.[27]

Throughout his volume Barringer illustrates the key role advertisements and presentations, either by the concessionaires or the NPS, had in shaping public opinion. These efforts tried to mold the perceptions of their audiences into thinking the products presented were ideal. Through its “interpretation” – campfire programs and ranger-led activities – the NPS hoped to increase public support and thus appropriations.[28]

According to Rothman, every town in the West sought to show its attributes were special.[29] For example, Winslow, Arizona boasts of its distinct “Standin’ on the Corner,” park, a downtown landmark that pays homage to a famous line in the Eagles’ first hit song, “Take it Easy.” Towns try to boast about anything that might set them apart. Thousands of tourism websites brag about their destination communities, saying the location has a “rich history,” a “small-town feel,” or that the place “has it all.” The websites, however, fail to mention all of what. Without evidential backing, their claims are hollow.

Tourism promoted as a means of generating patriotism also proved hollow because consumption is at the very core of the industry. Rothman explains that one of tourism’s drawbacks is its reputation as a panacea. Tourism often functions as a replacement for declining industries and causes a diminishing sense of pride in work.[30] Furthermore, lost factory job wages far outpaced income earned from tourism.  Rothman argues that when communities succeed in attracting so many people, those people’s presence destroys the cultural and environmental amenities that made the place special.[31] Tourism causes a diminishing sense of pride in work; locals find that selling themselves is much harder than selling a product.[32] Hannigan argues that so-called UEDs are isolated from surrounding neighborhoods physically, economically and culturally.[33] Many UEDs promote themselves as a method of revitalizing economically waning neighborhoods, but in reality have little or no redeeming effect. Case in point is Atlantic City, where Hannigan states a “glittering strip of casino-hotels along the Boardwalk stand in stark juxtaposition to a declining local community.”[34] In Schaffer’s last chapter, she frames tourism primarily in terms of consumption in order to stress how it consistently drew Americans away from civic consciousness.[35] In short, tourism teaches Americans how to be consumers, not builders.

Though tourism helped shape American ethos and can allegedly generate patriotism, as Shaffer contends, it also fosters a consumptive culture, lacks authenticity and is centered in propaganda. Popular tourist sites, not only in the United States but also around the world, have become hotbeds for hucksters. For instance, visitors to the Roman Coliseum, one of the premiere tourist attractions in Europe, will see an architectural marvel. Unfortunately, they will also see street vendors coming at them on all sides trying to sell them shoddy souvenirs. As if that is not annoying enough, they will also view men sporting imitation Roman soldier costumes hoping to get their picture taken with each guest. As the tourists will notice, most of these hawkers are not even native Italians and the majority of them are not making a good living selling their wares.

Motivated by wanting “to get away from it all,” tourists, in actuality, are not getting away from anything they already see at home. Capitalistic forces are as pronounced at tourist attractions as they are anywhere else. Tourists may find the nostalgia they seek at their destinations, but they most likely will not find anything completely genuine. As Hannigan suggests, tourists will have to tour a factory, visit a slum, go to a bar or go bowling if they seek real authenticity. If they want to truly escape capitalism, they will have to take an excursion into the backcountry.

• Barringer, Mark D. Selling Yellowstone: Capitalism and the Construction of Nature.
• Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002. 238 pp.
• Dilworth, Leah. Imagining Indians in the Southwest: Persistent Visions of a Primitive
• Past. Washington D.C. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. 274 pp.
• Hannigan, John. Fantasy City: Pleasure and Profit in the Postmodern Metropolis.
• London: Routledge, 1998. 239 pp.
• Rothman, Hal K. Devil’s Bargains: Tourism in the Twentieth Century American West.
• Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998. 434 pp.
• Shaffer, Marguerite S. See America First: Tourism and National Identity, 1880-1940.
• Washington D.C. Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001. 429 pp.

• [1] Shaffer, 3
• [2] Rothman, 166-67
• [3] Rothman, 19
• [4] Shaffer, 4
• [5] Ibid, 101
• [6] Ibid, 6
• [7] Ibid
• [8] Dilworth, 105
• [9] Ibid, 79
• [10] Schaffer, 109
• [11] Ibid, 104
• [12] Dilworth, 272
• [13] Ibid, 119
• [14] Ibid, 104
• [15] Chiang, Connie. Book Review of See America First. Environmental History. Vol. 8, Issue 4
• [16] Shaffer, 106
• [17] Barringer, 7
• [18] Hannigan, 8
• [19] Rothman, 12, 17
• [20] Rothman, 160
• [21] Dilworth, 121
• [22] Ibid
• [23] Hannigan, 81
• [24] Ibid, 82-83
• [25] Shaffer, 114-115
• [26] Shaffer, 116
• [27] Ibid, 142
• [28] Barringer, 133
• [29] Rothman, 145
• [30] Rothman, 26
• [31] Ibid, 27
• [32] Ibid
• [33] Hannigan, 4
• [34] Ibid
• [35] Schulten, Susan. Book Review of See America First. American Historical Review. April 2002. 561-562.

Related:

• American Indians in National Parks
• The History of American Capitalism
• History of Public Relations
• The Early History of Hypnotism

Introduction

Five months after the Gulf war in 1991, on The New York Times Richard Bernstein was writing: “If this war has produced a surge of national pride reminiscent of 1918 and 1945, there is no guarantee that it will, like the Civil war, the two World wars, and the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, produce a commensurate art”. Nowadays the question raises even stronger in relation to the Iraqi war in 2003. Since the 9/11 attacks to the Twin Towers things have changed forever. However, if Hollywood imagination did not and still does not seem to be captured by the Gulf war, this time the involvement of American stars, filmmakers, producers in the last Iraqi war is huge. It cannot be compared to the Hollywood participation during and after the World War II, the era of the “studio system in uniform” (McAdams, 2002: 34-39). However, something strong has happened before, during and after this recent conflict. The war has divided stars, filmmakers and producers that have participated actively against or in favour. They sent president Bush letters, they petitioned, they delivered speeches at different events. They felt the fear of a blacklist as it happened during the World War II. The Screen Actors Guild warned: “The entertainment industry must not blacklist people who speak out against war in Iraq”, as the Associated press reported on 4 March 2003. The 75th Academy Award on 23 March in Los Angeles was inevitably centred on the war as this broke out just a few days before the ceremony.

Hollywood and the wars

The war film is a genre that has always marked the Hollywood film history since the very beginning. Before the nickelodeon era, around the end of nineteenth century, one of the key factors that saved the American film industry was the Spanish-American war (1898-1902). People wanted to know more and more about the war and the filmmakers started making movies that, at this stage, were concentrated on the reality.

There is no doubt that the majority of war movies made by Hollywood concern World War II and the Vietnam War. During World War II, the Americans that went to the war were 16,112,556; of these 291,557 died in battle. During the Vietnam War, the total service members were 9,200,000; the American deaths were 47,410 in battle and there were 10,788 deaths in theater 1. In these two wars the Americans lost thousands of victims, faced atrocity and brutality, and an unexpectedly long war in Vietnam where the conflict lasted eleven years.

In World War II Hollywood was asked to be more than supportive. The studio system started working for the government. Many stars went to the war. “The U.S. government called directly upon the Hollywood establishment to make films supporting the war effort. Immediately after Pearl Harbour and the German declaration, the Pentagon asked the prominent Columbia director Frank Capra to make a series of propaganda films. These were to explain to American soldiers and sailors why their country was in the war and why they were obliged to help foreign countries”. (Thompson and Bordwell, 2003: 313).

With the Vietnam War Americans faced the “longest and most divisive war” (McAdams, 2002:193). “Television pictures of Vietnam, according to President Nixon, showed the terrible human suffering and sacrifice of war […] the result was a serious demoralization of the home front, raising the question whether America would ever again be able to fight an enemy abroad with unity and strength of purpose at home”. (Hallin, 1986, cited in Thussu and Freedman, 2003)

“The Vietnam war seared the nation’s conscience and psyche so much that it caused one president to decline to run again and began a chain of events that led to his successor’s resignation. No other war in America can make that claim”. (McAdams, 2002: 193-194) The war burst into the houses showing brutality and death. Hollywood felt strongly the emotion of a nation and started making films. They are still making huge films about Vietnam. They made films while the war was still fighting; the major of these was the Batjac Production of the Robin Moore book The Green Berets (1968), with John Wayne starring and directing.

Three Kings

The Gulf war in 1991 did not have the same impact as the World War II and the Vietnam War on the Americans’ conscience in spite of the greater television coverage. “While the Vietnam War was given to American homes every evening, the Gulf War played on CNN day and night”. (McAdams, 2002: 262). “TV news’ obsession with high-tech war reporting has grown since the 1991 US attack against Iraq. CNN’s coverage of the Gulf War, for the first time in history, brought military conflict into living room”. (Thussu and Freedman, 2003:124) However, the huge information about the war did not produce the same effect on the Americans as it was in the Vietnam era.

During the Vietnam War the television coverage made the Americans sad, in 1991 it was different. Desert storm meant a different kind of war, a war that did not show blood and brutality, a war in which U.S. lost 148 service members in battle, a real war showed in TV as a movie. This high-tech and virtual war was “its own triumphant movie – a war fought and celebrated on TV then quickly forgotten” (Hoberman, 2000).

Since the Gulf War Hollywood has made only one movie about the war. It is Three Kings, directed by David O.Russell and released in September 1999. It is a story about three soldiers that when the war was over discovered a map with a location of a cache of gold ingots that were stolen by Saddam Hussein during the Kuwait invasion. Major Archie Gates, interpreted by George Clooney, sets the operation that will lead the soldiers through a disputable mission that will end with Gates’ decision to give the gold ingots to a group of 100 Iraqi refugees that the American soldiers helped to reach the Iranian border. So, at the end, the film shows inevitably the good face of America.

Another movie set in the Gulf war is Courage Under Fire (1996) based on a script by a Vietnam veteran Patrick Duncan. However, Desert Storm represents just the backcloth to show that women can handle combat situation.

Even though during the last decade the production of war films about Desert Storm was nearly non-existent, there was a resurgence of past wars movies. Since 1991 Hollywood made many films about past wars: Schindler ‘s List (1993) directed by Steven Spielberg, about the Nazism; Forrest Gump (1994) with Vietnam combat scenes; Saving Private Ryan (1998) directed by Steven Spielberg, a flashback of a World War II veteran; The Thin Red Line (1998) directed by Terrence Malick; U-571 (2000) World war II submarine film; The Patriot (2000) the story of Benjamin Martin in the American revolution (1775-1783); Black Hawk Down (2001) a Ridley Scott film on the Restore Hope operation in Mogadishu.

“War films from past wars continued to make contemporary statements”. (McAdams, 2002: 253). “The Gulf war era, beginning in 1990, in American war films, brought about more story angles to past wars, going back to our first. It also opened the gates for more war films, particularly about World war II”. (McAdams, 2002: 276)

Hollywood reactions

The Gulf War has been underestimated as a potential plot for a good and successful movie in Hollywood. And one of the most important reasons, underlined by the majority of the critics, seems to be the TV effect, the high-tech and virtual representation of the war. In some ways, the Iraqi war in 2003 was even more virtually represented than it has been hitherto and the coverage was larger and from more perspectives than before. According to the latest statistics published on the CNN website, since March to early December 443 U.S. troops have been killed in the Iraq war, 306 from hostile fire, of those 191 have died after president Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. This time the number of American deaths has more than doubled in comparison to the Gulf War. However, is it the number of casualties that makes a difference in the fictional representation of a war? It is true to say that in the most “cinematized” wars, as World War II and Vietnam, Americans lost thousands of men, but the number of victims is not significant enough to explain why a war is more or less represented on the big screen.

In comparison with the Gulf War, this time there are many more reasons to dissuade the Hollywood filmmakers from making films about this war. However, there are also more reasons to urge them to make films because of the high dissent before, during and after the Iraqi freedom operation.

It seems to be much more difficult to make films about this war due to the very sensitive relationships and the difficulties of communications between U.S. and Muslims. This time the decision to make a film involves political, economic and diplomatic matter more than hitherto. In an interview to the Wall Street journal, on 10 October 2003, when Jonathan Last asked why Hollywood hasn’t made movies about the war on terror Jack Valenti, the head of the Motion Picture association of America, said: “Who would you have as the enemy if you made a picture about terrorism? You’d probably have Muslims, would you not? If you did, I think there would be backlash from the decent, hard-working, law-abiding Muslim community in the country”. Talking about the last Iraqi war, Hollywood could not ignore the 9/11 attacks to the Twin Towers. So it becomes a very difficult issue to be addressed.

However, something could be different now. The protest and the dissent in Hollywood were considerable. Furthermore, the war divided world opinion; it divided Hollywood opinion as well. Before the conflict many stars and filmmakers made statements against the war. In a petition signed by stars such as Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Angelica Huston, Matt Damon, Jessica Lange, Mia Farrow Vincent D’Onofrio and many others, it was declared: “Such a war will increase human suffering, arouse animosity toward our country, increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks, damage the economy, and undermine our moral standing in the world. […] We reject the doctrine that our country, alone, has the right to launch first-strike attacks”.

On the other hand, there were positions in favour of the war. Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg, for instance, supported president Bush politics about Iraq. The director of war epics Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s list, in an article written by Julian Coman from Washington and published on the Daily Telegraph months before the war, said: “If Bush, as I believe, has reliable information on the fact that Saddam Hussein is making weapons of mass destruction, I cannot not support the policies of his government”.

Stars as John Travolta and Tom Cruise gave diplomatic answer when journalists asked their opinions. They said that they did not know what think about the Iraqi war or that they did not have enough information to declare anything.

It happened a few months ago. Probably it is yet too early to see whether this war produces movies and how many it will; however it is the right time to understand the signs that are coming.

Documentary season

This time is the time of the documentaries. Hollywood filmmakers seems to be very interested in making documentaries, in making something closer to the news than to the fiction to show their opinions, to further investigate these issues. This time can be defined as the documentary season. It started after the 9/11, but it is developing now more than ever. The documentaries produced are not just about the war or the attacks to the Twin Towers. They are also about social problems even if the film camera is centred on the war in Iraq and the war on terror.

The success of this form of “reality-art” is huge. Over 30 millions of Americans have seen Bowling for Columbine, the documentary made by Michael Moore and released in U.S. on 11 October 2002. Last March the American filmmaker won the Oscar for the best documentary feature. According to Matthew Ross on Variety last November, “Bowling for Columbine continued to score at the box office, collecting $5 million of its more than $21 million income this year”. The latest box office data show: total U.S. gross earnings $21,575,958 on a $3 million production budget and worldwide gross earnings of $40 million 2. Michael Moore is one of the most active in the Hollywood firmament against the war and against president Bush. During the Oscar Night 2003 he took the podium. The Qatar television Al Jazeera referred part of his speech. He said: “We live in a time with fictitious election results that elect fictitious presidents. We live in a time when we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. We are against this war Mr. Bush. Shame on you. Shame on you!”

A few weeks ago, Moore’s new book “Dude, where’s my country?” has been published. In it he strongly criticized (and it should not be different) the White House on various matters: not only on the war on terror or the Iraqi war, but also, for example, about health insurance. Furthermore, Michael Moore is preparing another documentary in which examines what happened to the U.S. after September 11. It is called Fahrenheit 911. Moore’s new work, produced by Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions, should be completed for submission to Cannes 2004. The theatrical release should be before the presidential election next November, as Moore himself has declared in several interviews.

In these days, it is imminent the theatrical release of The Fog of War, an Errol Morris documentary that covers political events in U.S. history as seen through the eyes of former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, that is the star of this documentary.

Robert Greenwald, producer and director, that made Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton-John, has spent several months investigating the Iraqi war. The result is a documentary film released a month ago in U.S. and called Uncovered: the whole truth about the Iraq war. Robert Greenwald interviewed, as Randy Kennedy wrote on The New York Times on 6 November, “former diplomats, weapons inspectors, scientists and career spies to try to show that the Bush administration misled the public and Congress in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq”.

Another filmmaker that is investigating the war, in particular the relationship with the Muslim world is Charles Stuart. He was in the Middle East to film Hollywood & the Muslim world, an investigation on the impact of American TV and movies from Cairo to Baghdad, as the Los Angeles Times reported on the 14 July newspaper edition when the documentary has been aired on satellite on the AMC cable channel.

Political dramas

If it is a documentary season, the months after the Iraqi war will be also remembered as “a powerful time for political drama”, as stated in the headline of a Financial Times article published in the Creative business section on 4 November 2003. The West Wing, starring Hollywood star Martin Sheen (captain Willard in Apocalypse now), has been living a season of resurgence. It leapt from 24th to 11th in the US ratings, as reported Neal Koch on the Financial Times. He also refers the opinion of Robert J. Thompson, a professor of popular culture at the University of Syracuse: “Suddenly, politics is no longer just the stuff of C-Span [the US channel which broadcasts from Capitol Hill]. It’s become the stuff of soap operas”. Robert Caro, the two time Pulitzer Prize winning historian and biographer, in the same article argues: “There is a tremendous change with The West Wing and HBO movies […]. The level at which politics is portrayed is much higher than it’s been before”.

One of the HBO programm is K Street, developed by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney. K Street is not a situation comedy, it can be defined a political docudrama. “It is a semi-fictional inside-look at Washington lobbyists and consultants, starring, among others, James Carville, one of former president Bill Clinton’s chief political strategists, and his wife, Mary Matalin, until recently a senior aide to vice-president Dick Cheney. The couple play themselves. […] Stuart Stevens, a K Street co-producer and Republican political consultant who made commercials for president Bush’s 2000 campaign, insists that the market for scripts about politicians remains the strongest he’s seen in his nine years of selling”.

Furthermore, a few days ago in Los Angeles there was a world premiere presentation of a drama in one act written and directed by Tim Robbins. It is called Embedded and it is a satire about journalists embedded with American troops at the front.

Coming productions

There is not one single movie on the Hollywood horizon about the Iraqi war for the moment. Probably it is too early to see projects about a war that is still causing death and destruction.

The only film that will be produced in the next few months and that has got a very small reference to Iraq is The Jacket. It will be directed by John Maybury and produced by Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney and Peter Guber. The reference is just because the protagonist Billy Starks, played by the Oscar winner Adrian Brody, is a Gulf war veteran. But that is it. In fact it is a thriller. The veteran has accused of a murder that he does not remember committing.

For what concerns the coming productions, they seem to continue the era of war films from the past. In fact in the latest Variety film production chart, there is some new war films production3.

Kingdom of heaven, produced and directed by Ridley Scott, is the story of a blacksmith who helps Jerusalem to fight against Crusades. It is a historical-epic set in 12th century. It will be shot next year in Morocco.

Closing the ring, starring Shirley McLain, is set in Belfast during the World War II. Richard Attenborough will direct it

The filthy war, directed by Laszlo Hege, is about the war in the former Yugoslavia. A group of young volunteers create an international platoon to defend a village in Croatia at the beginning of the Yugoslav civil war (1991) against the nationalist, ethnic-cleansing Serbs.

Conclusion

This war is a very difficult war to be chosen as a plot for a movie. It is not just for the TV effect as it was in the Gulf era. It is true that the television coverage has been greater than in 1991 and it could not be different. Technological transformations have made easier to do information. This war has been represented as virtual, as a Nintendo more than ever. However, this is not the principal reason why Hollywood filmmakers could keep their distance from this war. It is a difficult war for all the implications that this conflict brought. The relationships with the Muslim world are at a very crucial and sensitive stage. The anti-americanism is stronger than ever. So the responsibility in making a film is enormous.

However, the dissent of several filmmakers and stars was and still is very strong. They were against the Iraqi freedom operation and are still demonstrating their disapproval. Their first projects are taking shape even if there is not one single film on the Hollywood horizon about the Iraqi conflict. It is likely that they will decide to make movies to show what was wrong in this war. They have things to say. They have things that they want to say. Furthermore, they know that this controversial war could be a success at the box office because the anti-war feeling is growing up in Western countries.

Paraphrasing the New York Times headline, there is evidence that more than before it will be difficult to answer the question: “Will the Iraqi war produce enduring art?”

Bibliography

Books

McAdams, F. The American war film – History and Hollywood Westport, Connecticut, and London, Praeger.

Thompson, K and Bordwell D. Film History – An Introduction New York, McGraw-Hill.

Thussu, D K and Freedman D. War and the media London, Sage.

Newspaper articles

Last, Jonathan. Taste: War? What War? Wall Street Journal.

Kennedy, Randy. A screening with stars but a focus on Politics The New York Times.

Rosenberg, Howard. Hollywood’s effect on Muslim world attitudes Los Angeles Times.

Koch, Neal. A powerful time for political drama Financial Times (Creative business).

Websites

“Hollywood doesn’t go to war” Los Angeles, Associated press.

Department of Veterans affairs, Washington.

Hoberman, J “Burn, blast, bomb, cut” London, Sight and Sound.

Hollywood anti-war letter to president Bush.

Coman, J “Hollywood goes to war” Washington, Daily Telegraph.

Ross, M “Real potential” Variety.

Bowling for Columbine.

“Bremer predicts an increase in attacks in Iraq”, CNN.

The Fog of war.

1 The statistics about the World war II and the Vietnam war are from the Department of Veteran affairs, Office of Public Affairs, Washington

2 The numbers are from the website The numbers specialized in box office data

3 The information about the plot of the movies are assumed from different websites:
http://www.variety.com
http://www.imdb.com
http://www.movietome.com

Related:

• How the U.S. Media Promotes War as Entertainment
• What is the role of Public Diplomacy to U.S. Foreign Policy?

The play Everyman is classified as a morality play although it contains Christian views of monotheism, salvation and redemption through confession. One example of the religious framework of the play is when Everyman seeks atonement during his confession: “Redempt with heart and full contrition, /For I am commanded a pilgrimage to take/And great accounts before God to make” (Everyman 2133). Not much is known about the author of the play.

Some speculate that Everyman is similar to the Dutch play Elckerlyc. It is possible that one story is a translation of the other. The title Elckerlyc in fact means “everyman” and the plays were both released around 1495 (Cawley 205). Even naming the author of the Dutch play is an elusive task; both the unknown Petrus Diesthemus and the Carthusian monk Petrus Dorlandus are named as possible authors (National). Other speculated authors of the play Everyman include Ernest Rhys’ theory that the author must have been imaginative and was most likely a churchman (Rhys xviii). Quite simply, very little can be learned about the specific genius behind this masterpiece. However, other information regarding the play is available. From studying beyond the play Everyman, readers can observe the development of drama during that time, the types of plays created in that time and various interpretations of contemporary readers.

In medieval Europe, the growth of drama was characterized by three different factors: religion, recreation and commerce. The earliest Christian dramas began as part of festivals celebrating the events in a Christian year. The religious holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, were acted out and eventually evolved with each year (Wickham, Medieval 11). As the plays began to grow in size and popularity, the play relocated to the churchyard and continued on to the entire town. Plays were performed outdoors and were accessible to anyone who desired to observe. The play Everyman was written in such a way that it could have easily been performed for an outside audience (Lawall 2119). Leisure time has existed since pre-Christian primitive Europe. There existed many festivals to celebrate various seasons and traditions during that time. As towns and time progressed, other forms of leisure activity, or recreation, became necessary. The dramatic plays of the time, much like television today, served as recreational and educational functions. With every new play in production, the characters grew in number and the performances increased in size. As drama became more elaborate, it was apparent that “any serious development of the art is intimately related to questions of money” (Wickham, Medieval 1). Those involved in dramas of that time realized that it takes money to make money.

The evolution of medieval plays can be traced from the church to the play Everyman. The plays that originated in the church are referred to as Miracle plays. Sarah Lawall in The Norton Anthology of World Literature describes miracle plays simply as plays that contain scriptural content (2119). Robert Potter, in The English Morality Play, describes miracle plays to be based upon the lives of the saints. Miracles began with the Christian church dramatizing the events inThe Bible. The Feast of Corpus Christi generated a play of the same name. The Corpus Christi cycle plays depicted Christ’s “Passion” which began at Jerusalem and ended with the resurrection. In 1311, the miracle play became associated with Corpus Christi Day, the year in which the festival was acknowledged (Cawley x). From the expansion of miracle plays out the church and into the towns, individual guilds created Mystery plays. Although Potter describes mystery plays as those based on scripture, both Wickham and Lawall recognize these plays as being acted by craftsmen in order for an occupation to be demonstrated.

Continuing along the evolution of medieval plays is the morality play, of which Everyman is considered one of the most significant of this type. A morality play can best be described as ”based on the struggle between vices and virtues” (Potter 7). The morality play contains a message that can be applied to anyone and are appropriate at any time. The morality play was written with more emphasis on discussion than on recounting a story. The plays were written using vernacular learned by popular education in order for commoners to easily comprehend the story. Everyman, like most morality plays, creates situations and characters that are abstract in the play but represent actual conflicts that humanity faces (Lawall 2120). Ironically, two characteristics of morality plays from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries were exempt from Everyman. These characteristics are personified vices and vulgar humor. Although lacking these two ingredients, the strength of the play lies in the lesson it teaches “that the recognition of one’s mortality forces reconsideration of personal values and a search for salvation” (Homan).

The play Everyman was written without alluding to specific situations. The play can be just as easily applied to modern readers as it was to the audiences in the townspeople of 1495. In London in 1901, William Poel, founder of the Elizabethan Stage Society, discovered the play Everyman and decided to begin production on it. At that time, it was against the law to present God as a character in a play. The show, however, did go on. According to Robert Potter, “the reviews were enthusiastic, numerous, and unanimously glowing” (2). This example is evidence of the applicability of this play to many different audiences.

In an article in the Journal of Popular Film & Television, Richard Homan wrote about the appearance of Everyman in modern cinema. It was interesting to read how Homan compared the play to various characters in movies such as “Ghost,” “Regarding Henry,” and “Switch.” Homan includes in his article a list of seven scenarios of Everyman that modern films must achieve in order to be compared to the medieval original. The first scenario includes a depiction of the troubled life Everyman leads. The play Everyman reads, “They use the seven deadly sins damnable, /As pride, coveitise, wrath, and lechery/Now in the world be made commendable” (Everyman 2122). In modern cinema, this poor lifestyle has been portrayed with unethical lawyers, sexually exploitative womanizers, or greedy snobs. The second scenario involves Everyman unexpectedly encountering death or a near-death experience. In Everyman, the protagonist is preparing for his death. The third scenario includes disillusionment of what matters in life. Everyman cherished his Goods in life, only for them to betray him in death. In the movies observed, the protagonists have placed too high a value on money and possessions.

Everyman, as portrayed then and now, wounded their Good Deeds with inattention and inaction. The fourth scenario relates to Good Deeds. This scenario features recognizing an unacknowledged partner. Whether Good Deeds or a devoted wife, these partners have been neglected by Everyman. The fifth scenario includes introduction of a guide to aid Everyman in his journey. In Everyman the protagonist turns inward to his knowledge for guidance. In modern depictions, the guide has come in many forms including mentors and strangers. In the sixth scenario, Everyman begins to amend his life. In Everyman, the protagonist goes to confession to heal his soul:

O glorious fountain that all uncleanness doth clarify,
Wash from me the spots of vice unclean,
That on me no sin may be seen.
I come with Knowledge for my redemption (2133, 545-548).

The modern Everyman characters seek to correct the errors of their lives in business dealings and personal relationships. The seventh scenario is a culmination of all the events of the story in a celebration of Everyman’s renewed life along with his partner. In Everyman, the protagonist faces his death with his life in order accompanied by Knowledge and Good Deeds. The modern comparisons of Everyman all have similar joyful endings.

Although centuries have passed and drama has taken on new venues, from the stage, to radio, to the big screen, the creation of Everyman is an everlasting masterpiece. The unknown author created a story that could entertain an audience while teaching a moral lesson. The play was written with a vernacular that could relate to common townspeople of medieval times but could also relate to modern, twenty-first century theatre and movie patrons. In a time when the Christian Church is no longer a stronghold in society and freedom from religious persecution is a right afforded in most countries across the globe, a play of this religious nature can still be enjoyed by many people. The religious tones of the story aid in teaching an important moral lesson without becoming overbearing. Regardless of religious affiliation, all men and women are to be held accountable for their lives. The test will come when worldly goods are worthless and companions are treacherous. When that time is presented only the knowledge possessed and the good deeds accomplished can determine the fate of a human. The play Everyman reads, “And he that hath his account whole and sound, /High in heaven he shall be crowned” (Everyman 2141). The story of Everyman is an all-encompassing play that could very well be an abstract of humanity.

Works Cited

Cawley, A.C. Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays. New York: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1970.

Everyman. The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Volume B. 2nd ed. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York. Norton, 1984. 2121-2141.

Homan, Richard L. “The Everyman Movie, Circa 1991.” Journal of Popular Film & Television. March 1, 1997. Communication & Mass Media Complete.

Lawall, Sarah. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1984. 2119-2120.

National Library of the Netherlands. “Elckerlijc – A Hundred Highlights.” Koninklijke Bibliotheek. 29 Elckerlijc.

Potter, Robert. The English Morality Play: Origins, History and Influence of a Dramatic Tradition. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975.

Rhys, Ernest. Everyman’s Library. New York: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1909.

Wickham, Glynne. Early English Stages. Volume One 1300 to 1660. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1959.

Wickham, Glynne. The Medieval Theatre. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1974.

Related:

• Epic Proportions: The Odyssey and The Divine Comedy
• Death Penalty vs. Catholicism
• The Story of Joseph
• Religious and Scientific Philosophy

Memory is a tool on which many people rely heavily every day. How and what is remembered plays a significant role in determining how people act in their daily lives (Araya, Ekehammar & Akrami, 2003). It is important to understand how memory works as a way of understanding more about people in general, and specifically about how the brain stores information. With this information people can be helped to expand and build memory, those with learning disabilities can be treated, and eyewitness testimony can be filtered for accuracy (Dysart, Lindsay, Hammond & Dupuis, 2001). Understanding memory has and will continue to influence many disciplines and help uncover the myriad mysteries of the mind (McNamara & Wong, 2003).

Researchers have spent decades studying the mechanisms of memory (Ho, Cheung, & Chan 2003). There are several different types of memory, such as episodic, which allows people to remember specific events with striking clarity. Implicit memories are pieces of information people know, but are not aware of the source. Conversely, explicit memories are pieces of information people can remember and they can also remember when and how they acquired that information.

Most researchers believe that a piece of knowledge must pass through a series of “gates” before it is permanently stored in memory (Ward & Loftus, 1985). The first of these gates is called working memory, where objects that are being attended to at the present moment are stored. Objects in working memory can remain there anywhere from two seconds to several minutes before either being forgotten or passing though the next gate, known as short term memory.

Short term memory is similar to working memory, and not all researchers agree on the distinction between working memory and short term memory (Hinson, Jameson & Whitney, 2003) However, short term memory is considered to be the staging area where the fate of a piece of information is decided; it will either fail to be encoded as a memory, and so be forgotten, or it will pass into permastore, where long term memories are held. Approximately 7 items can be stored in short term memory at one time.

With this knowledge, researchers have been able to test memory skills under a variety of conditions and in many circumstances, to arrive at a better understanding of memory skills and function. In order to attain this knowledge, most of the research in memory has been aimed at short term or working memory (Hinson, Jameson & Whitney, 2003). For example, researchers know that information to which people are exposed in passing can sometimes remain, subconsciously, in memory and can influence future decisions (Bushman & Bonacci, 2002). This information is frequently used in advertising, where advertisers hope that frequent exposure to their products will prompt more purchases at the store. Extensive market research has shown that consumers are indeed influenced by this exposure (Bushman & Bonacci, 2002).

In the 2003 study by Hinson, Jameson and Whitney, it was found that individual differences in working memory are related to decision making that favors short-term over long-term consequences. People with more efficient working memories were better able to process and weigh the differences between a short-term reward, which appeared better at first glance, and a long-term reward, which was actually the better choice. There were some differences noted in the working memory processes of the individuals who chose the long-term reward.

One of the most popular areas of memory research is that of eyewitness testimony and identification (Dysart, Lindsay, Hammond & Dupuis, 2001). In a study by Dysart and colleagues (2001), there was significant evidence to show that eyewitnesses who had been shown mug shots of suspects prior to participating in a lineup were more likely to choose a suspect to whom they had been previously exposed. The implications of this research are monumental: A suspect can be incarcerated on the basis of testimony that may have inadvertently been planted in memory by the viewing of mug shots. With this research, the lives of many innocent people may be spared.

Another study on eyewitness performance by Ward and Loftus (1985) showed that when two people witness the same event, their memories will be different. They also found that people with certain personality traits were more likely to me misled by false information.

Verbal and visual memory are two more types of memory. Verbal refers to remembering associated with words, like how many words a person can remember when they hear them read aloud. Visual memory refers to the amount and accuracy of recollections having to do with visual stimuli, such as the details of the slide show in the current study. It has been found that verbal memory is affected by interference in working memory (Woodman, Vogel & Luck, 2001). For example, if a person is asked to remember a series of words that are read aloud, and then must complete a task that fills their working memory, they are much less likely to accurately recall the words. Since verbal and visual memory are closely related, logic would assume that the same rule would hold true for visual memory.

To this end, it is hypothesized that the more interference that is present between the stimulus and the desired response, the less accurate the participants’ responses will be. Group 1, which has only a time delay, should have the most accurate responses, and there should be a significant difference between the accuracy of the responses of group 2, which had the easy task interference condition, and group 3, which had the difficult task interference condition.

Method

Participants

Participants were 17 undergraduate students enrolled in the Thursday lab section of experimental psychology at Rutgers University. Group 1, the control group, consisted of 5 students, while groups 2 and 3 consisted of 6 students. Students were randomly assigned to groups as they entered the classroom. Students who participated were given class credit for their participation in this and several other experiments.

Procedure

It should be noted that this study was conducted after a very short study in this same lab period. Participants may have had less interest in this study because they were told it was the longer of the two, or they may have been impatient to leave. Participants were shown a brief slide show of a man visiting several stores, examining merchandise, and shoplifting several items. Group 1, the control group, was then required to sit quietly for 5 minutes, while group 2 completed an easy task and group 3 completed a difficult task. The easy task was to look for pictures of items in a newspaper and to record the page number on which they were found on a questionnaire. The difficult task was to complete the crossword puzzle in the newspaper and writing a brief assessment of one’s puzzle solving abilities.

After the 5 minute period, all participants read a narrative that told the same basic story as the slide show, but with some misleading and some reinforcing statements.

After the narrative, another 5 minute period followed in which group 1 was required to sit quietly, group 2 completed an easy task, and group 3 completed a difficult task. The easy task was again identifying pictures in a newspaper, while the difficult task consisted of answering questions based on information embedded in different newspaper articles.

After the second 5 minute period, all participants were tested on their memory of specific details from the slide show.

Results

The data indicated support for the hypothesis that the group with the most interference between the slide show and the questions would yield the most inaccurate responses. However, group 2 (easy task), out-performed both group 1 (control group), and group 3 (hard task). It appears that when slightly challenged, participants perform at their optimal level.

Group 1 performed better than Group 3, but not as well as Group 2. This may be attributable to the fact that the participants of Group 1 had nothing with which to occupy their minds except their own thoughts, and they may have grown bored and disinterested during the two periods of down time. Group 3 did have the fewest accurate responses, due to the fact that their tasks were the most challenging and required the most abstract thought. These results are in keeping with the hypothesis that, with too much interference, the brain is unable to store a lot of information in working memory. However, the hypothesis did not anticipate that no interference at all may in fact prove more distracting than a small amount of interference.

Though our experiment yielded results which seem to be an accurate demonstration of the capacities of memory, further research is highly suggested. Due to the fact that this lab class has only minimal students and several were absent during the experiment, the results may not be as reliable as possible. Having a large sample group is an important factor for any experiment. Because these experimental groups were so small, it would be advisable to try and re-create these results with a larger, more diverse subject pool.

In the questionnaire regarding the slide show, the questions were classified as reinforced: items in the slide show were mentioned correctly in the narrative (e.g. yellow candle); misled: items in the slide show were mentioned incorrectly in the narrative (e.g. white candle); slide only: items in the slide show were not mentioned in the narrative; and neutral: items in the slide show were mentioned in the slide show, but with no modifiers (e.g. candle). There were four (4) misleading questions, eight (8) slide only questions, four (4) neutral questions, and four (4) reinforced questions.

All groups performed the same or better with reinforced questions than with any other questions. Group 1, the control group, had a 90% overall accuracy for reinforced questions, 87.5% for slide only, 85% for neutral questions, and only 40% for misleading questions. Group 2, the easy task group, had 87.5% overall accuracy for both the reinforced and slide only questions, 79.2% for neutral questions, and 66.7% for misleading questions. Group 3, the hard task group, had 95.8% overall accuracy for reinforced questions, 85. 4% for slide only questions, 70.8% for neutral questions, and only 33.3% for misleading questions. Out of all the groups, group 3 had the best overall accuracy for reinforced questions, and the worst overall accuracy for misleading questions.

Group 2 had the least variance, a 20.8% difference, in their overall accuracy between the misleading and reinforced questions, group 1 had a 40% variance, and group 3 had 62.5%, the most variance.

All 3 groups rated themselves similarly to one another on confidence judgments, and across all categories of questions. Across all 20 questions, Group 2 rated themselves an overall confidence of 87.81%, Group 1 rated themselves an overall confidence of 88.48%, and Group 3 rated themselves an overall confidence of 88.57%. All groups rated their performance within 1% of each other. However, Group 3 (hard task), who yielded the least accurate responses, rated themselves highest in confidence. Group 2, (easy task), who yielded the most accurate responses, rated themselves lowest in confidence, and Group 1 (control group) rated themselves right in the middle.

Group 3 showed an overall accuracy for confidence judgments of 71.35%, Group 1 showed 75.63%, and Group 2 showed 80.21%. Group 2 did nearly 10% better than group 3 and nearly 5% better than group 1.

Conclusion

A most interesting phenomenon lies in the results of the confidence judgments. It appears that participants have no true idea of their actual accuracy in answering questions. Regardless of their actual accuracy, all 3 groups rated themselves fairly high on their confidence levels, and extremely close to one another. These results are in keeping with the findings of Elizabeth Loftus (1986), who demonstrated that individuals’ confidence of their answers has no bearing on their actual results.

It appears that, for working memory to function at an optimal level, some interference or distraction is desirable. When individuals are forced to concentrate too avidly on a task, they appear to lose interest and become easily distracted from their goal. When there is too much interference or distraction, however, the individual is unable to recall all the information from working or short term memory, probably due to the fact that they are forced to channel their concentration almost completely into other areas. Therefore, the data lead to the conclusion that a low level of distraction has the capability of driving the memory to achieve greater results.

It would be interesting to try to replicate these results with a larger group of participants, and also to create more distinction between the difficulties of each group’s task. Doing so may yield more detailed information on the intricacies of working memory.

According to the Flight Safety Foundation, a leading organization dedicated to lowering the risks in aviation, the four most pressing aviation safety issues are Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT), Approach and Landing, Loss of Control and Human Factors. Of these four, the top priority for the Flight Safety Foundation is reducing accidents as a result of Controlled Flight into Terrain.

The FAA defines CFIT as occurring “when an airworthy aircraft is flown, under the control of a qualified pilot, into terrain (water or obstacles) with inadequate awareness on the part of the pilot of the impending collision.”[2] CFIT accidents are responsible for more than half of all commercial aviation fatalities during the past 10 years.[3] In General Aviation, CFIT accidents account for seventeen percent of all accidents.[4]

A CFIT accident is the accident category most clearly attributable to human error. In considering the definition, there is a qualified pilot flying a perfectly flyable airplane yet the flight ends in an accident. The definition includes assigning the blame as inadequate awareness on the part of the pilot, in other words, human error.  These types of accidents occur either because the pilot is laterally displaced from the intended position or the pilot is lower than intended, sometimes both.

Most aviation accidents can be traced back to a human error but CFIT accidents are particularly troubling due to the percentage of fatalities as a result of the accident.    The goal of prevention lies in giving the qualified pilot more resources to increase awareness and to prevent the CFIT accident. There are two ways to begin to decrease the risk of CFIT accidents. Either the qualified pilot receives more training or the qualified pilot is given better technological resources in the cockpit. Ideally, the qualified pilot will have both.

To eliminate as much human error as possible, technologies have been developed to assist the pilot. There are a variety of systems available for all areas of aviation but the technology of the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System is considered to be the most useful advance to date. Flying Magazine has called it “one of the most important safety advances in decades.”[5] EGPWS is prohibitively expensive for use in General Aviation so this paper will focus on the description and use of the EGPWS technology in the commercial airline industry.

What was needed in the cockpit was a system that would monitor the flight path and provide a warning to the pilots if impact with terrain was imminent before any unusual flight maneuvers would have to be employed. Prior warning systems were interfaced with the radio altimeter, which had limitations. The older systems would keep track of the airplane’s height via the radio altimeter settings and then give an aural alarm if a downward trend was detected. It would only give indications based on correct altimeter settings and did not have the ability to “look ahead” of the airplane to detect possible terrain collisions. The EGPWS was a major improvement for the simple fact that it would utilize a terrain map database via Global Positioning Systems to provide the pilots with a more reliable source of data. It would give a visual and an aural warning for terrain warnings.   The warnings sound approximately 60 seconds before terrain impact giving ample time for the pilot to make corrections. The older Terrain Warning Systems would give only 15-30 seconds warning before terrain impact.

The early EGPWS interfaced only with the Flight Management System on the aircraft. This interface worked well within the contiguous United States and Europe but in the more remote areas of the world such as Africa the EGPWS data had to rely on possibly outdated terrain data in the FMS. The original intent of Honeywell’s EGPWS was to have the system download independent GPS input and provide accurate terrain display no matter how old the FMS data might be.

The Austrian writer, Karl Kraus said, “The development of technology will leave only one problem: the infirmity of human nature.”[6] With all new technological advances, it would be a useless application if it were not an intuitive tool for the pilots for whom it may save. Before working on the technical aspect of the hardware, the engineers recognized that abiding by the FAA recommendation to consider the human factors in presenting a new function in the already familiar cockpit would be a solid course of action.

The FAA understands that before the engineers devise new technologies they should first consider the human factors framework in which this new technology will be used. To that end, the FAA published a report in 1996 which in part states, “Recommendation Processes-1: The FAA should task an aviation industry working group to produce a set of guiding principles for designers to use as a recommended practice in designing and integrating human-centered flight deck automation.”  And “Recommendation SA-3: The FAA should encourage the aviation industry to develop and implement new concepts to provide better terrain awareness.”[7]

The older terrain warning systems had a set of functions that are now considered standard. They include warnings for Rising Terrain, Excessive Descent Rate, Descent After Takeoff, Terrain Clearance, Descent Below Glideslope, Alltitude Callouts, Smart

500 foot Callout, Excessive Bank Angle Warning and Tail Strike Warning.

The enhanced features of the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System that earned the system it’s accolades are as follows:   Enroute Terrain Display – PEAKS, A Detailed Terrain Database, Obstacle Database, All publicly Known Airports, Look Ahead Algorithms, Terrain Alerting,  Pop-up feature, Geometric Altitude and Envelop Modulation.

Enroute Terrain Display-Peaks

Flying is a visual activity so care in considering how to display the information is of high priority. One display issue is what colors should be used for terrain awareness. One universal standard color scheme would be followed in the use of Red, Yellow and Green. Red is an urgent warning for the crew to take action, Yellow signifies that the crew should be aware of the terrain, Green symbolizes that the crew is in the clear and no action would be necessary. The color palate is used in the same manner as it is used in the outside world. For example, consider a traffic stoplight, Red is the color used to denote a definitive Stop signal, Yellow provides a caution warning and Green is an all clear. Utilizing aspects from other areas of life to match how to respond to various display indications in the cockpit will decrease the possibilities of negative transfer. Negative transfer is defined as “the interference of previous learning in the process of learning something new, such as switching from an old manual typewriter to a computer keyboard.”[8]

“The EGPWS terrain display utilizes five colors; red for terrain well above the aircraft, yellow for terrain slightly above and below the aircraft, green for terrain well below the aircraft, cyan for significant bodies of water and black for no threatening terrain.”[9]

During daylight hours the colors are more brightly displayed in order to be more visible to the flight crew. As slight a difference this may sound, the brightness factor could be critical. In an aircraft I recently started flying, I had thought that my Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) was INOP and I had chosen a different instrument approach than I had intended or even preferred. Later that evening, during dusk, I noticed that the DME was operating once again. It occurred to me that the DME was working all day but did not have a bright enough display to be seen during daylight hours. Fortunately, I did not have to rely on that cockpit instrument in order to safely complete the flight.

The PEAKS function will give highest and lowest terrain in feet of sea level numerically displayed on the side of the main map display. This allows for yet another level of increased awareness of the surrounding terrain.   The flight crew not only has the pictorial view of the terrain but it is reinforced by a graphical/numeric indication for a quick reference. The numeric display is color coded to correspond to the color coding on the terrain display. The number corresponding to the highest peak and lowest peak in the area will be displayed in whatever color it is represented on the display.

Detailed Terrain Database/Obstacle Database/All Publicly Known Airports

With Interfacing the Terrain display with a Global Positioning System the EGPWS is able to provide the flight crew with a more accurate terrain display than previous models used.

Look Ahead Algorithms

The display would not only need to show appropriate colors but also give correct terrain information in a timely manner. A major improvement that was needed to assist the flight crew was a longer lead time in order to respond to aural and visual warnings of impending terrain impact. Earlier systems would give a 15-20 second warning but often this was not enough time. Flight crews, when faced with a system that in the past has “cried wolf” and alerted the crew of impending terrain impact but was actually a false warning created an “accident waiting to happen” scenario. When a crew is given 15-20 seconds to respond to a terrain avoidance warning but takes time to discern whether or not it’s a true or false warning the hesitation to pull-up may put the flight in danger. One case to consider is the USAF 737-200 that crashed into a hillside while flying an NDB approach into Dubrovnik, Croatia carrying U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown. The flight was off course, to the left of the inbound course of the approach, and installed on the airplane was an early model terrain avoidance system. The investigators could not confirm if the system was operational. If operational, the flight crew would have received a terrain warning 20 seconds before the impact. In this case, that was not enough time to execute the pull-up and avoid the accident.[10] The engineers on the EGPWS project were charged with the responsibility to increase the visual and aural warning to occur with enough lead time for the flight crew to respond. The EGPWS will provide warning indications 60 seconds before terrain impact. Considering that the flight crew might not be expecting this warning, the 60 second lead time gives adequate warning for the flight crew to react and respond.

A global terrain database with 100% coverage is resident within the EGPWS. By using the input latitude, longitude, altitude as well as flight path angle, turn rate and ground speed, the EGPWS can place the aircraft position within the terrain data and “look ahead” to potential conflicts with terrain. This eliminates the problem of abruptly rising terrain and gives greatly enhanced warning times for most CFIT situations. Software algorithms look down, based on flight path angle and nearest runway; ahead, based on aircraft ground speed; aside, based on roll angle; and up, by about 6 degrees.

Terrain Alerting

If any terrain is “seen” in the database by the algorithms, annunciators are illuminated and the voice “Caution Terrain” or “Terrain Terrain Pull Up” is given. The algorithms are designed to provide about 60 seconds advance alert to conflict with terrain. The first aural warning of “Caution Terrain” is in a more quiet or low tone so that it may be easily distinguished from the louder and more urgent callout of “Terrain!  Terrain! Pull Up!”[11]

Pop-up Feature

Another enhanced feature of the EGPWS is the ability to have the display map “pop-up” or be overlaid on the cockpit’s weather radar system so that the flight crew may have a more integrated picture of weather and terrain. Putting the two systems together with the Pop-Up feature may help eliminate errors when a flight crew member must look at two different displays in order to interpret the flight condition in relationship to terrain and weather.

Geometric Altitude

As mentioned previously, many of the CFIT accidents in prior years could be attributable to altimeter miss-sets. The EGPWS uses a geometric altitude that blends improved pressure altitude calculations, GPS altitude, radio altimeter, and terrain and runway information to eliminate the reliance on human data input. This feature alone may go a long way to reduce the number of CFIT accidents each year. One statistic claims that 25% of all CFIT accidents are attributable to miss-set altimeters.[12]

Envelop Modulation

One feature of the EGPWS is the capability to customize the alert system at certain geographical locations in order to reduce nuisance warnings and provide extra alert time if necessary.

Maintenance

In considering human factors in relationship to the maintenance of the EGPWS, automating the tasks of updating and maintenance is a prime concern of the design team. Automation should be incorporated to make a task simple to perform to achieve a more correct output. The role of human interaction should not be so difficult or tedious as to prohibit or discourage the task to be performed. The person responsible for ensuring the EGPWS is up to date and operating correctly should be able to accomplish these tasks effectively through automation.

Access to correct and updated databases is critical to flight safety. The EGPWS Terrain Database requires updates to remain the most useful to the flight crews but regulations are not in place to require such updates.   Even though not required to do so, Honeywell makes available three updates per year which they provide at no additional cost knowing that easy access to the information will help the flight crews stay informed on critical flight data.  The EGPWS operators are able to sign up for an email notification that a new database download is available. The database is available through the internet and takes only 30 minutes to complete once downloaded onto a card that interfaces with the EGPWS system.[13]

Honeywell makes available to EGPWS operators many tools to assess whether or not the EGPWS unit is working correctly. On their website the company has available a step-by-step self test guide as well as a real-time assessment of why a false terrain warning may have been activated.

With Human Factor considerations in mind the engineers worked to create a product that interfaced well between Humans and Technology. Unfortunately, it is impossible to prepare for all situations. There was one interesting problem that arose as a result of a disconnect between what the engineers designed and how avionic technicians interpreted the technological indication. An article in Avionics News stated the problem this way, “The biggest mistake technicians make when troubleshooting the EGPWS is using illumination of any cockpit failure annunciators (GPWS INOP, TERR INOP, W/S INOP) as a reason for removal.”[14]

Taking the statement on its face value, how could one fault the technicians for removing critical equipment that appeared to be indicating a failure. The Avionics News article goes on to explain the failure signal indicates a lack or failure of the required input signal and not a failure of the EGPWS unit itself. The technicians would remove the EGPWS unit and send the unit back to Honeywell for the company to test. Honeywell had so many returns of equipment in which no problems were found that they have begun to charge customers for returns of units for which no self test was performed prior to sending the units to Honeywell.

This disconnect issue was that on a different part of the display panel another indication would be illuminated to verify that the computer is fine. So if there is an INOP indication the technicians should have tried to troubleshoot via a self test procedure detailed in the manual rather than remove the equipment itself. The technicians did not make the connection between the two displays. The FAA suggests that when designing error messages the engineers should incorporate multilevel message. “The system shall provide more than one level of error messages, with successive levels providing increasingly detailed levels of explanation.”[15] If the failure indication utilized a more multilevel approach to error messages perhaps the technicians would have been able to more easily understand the failure indication thus not wasting company time in removing operable equipment.

No where in the article was it suggested that the engineers may have prevented this misunderstanding, that was quite prevalent, by considering Human Factors in the design of this failure of signal input indication.

The company does make available to EGPWS operators many tools to assess whether or not the EGPWS unit is working correctly. On their website the company has available a step-by-step self test guide as well as a real-time assessment of why false terrain warnings may have been activated which makes flight testing unnecessary. This is major cost cutting measure in terms of fuel for the operators of the EGPWS.[16]

The success of EGPWS can be measured by the number of CFIT accidents that have been prevented. To date, EGPWS has been responsible for saving 27 different aircraft from CFIT accidents.[17] One of the prohibitive factors in getting this cutting-edge technology in all aircraft is the expense. There has already been some forward movement by the US Presidential Commission on air safety to mandate that all commercial air-carriers include the EGPWS system on all their aircraft. This federal push comes from the success of a 1994 mandate in which the FAA mandated the installation of GPWS into regional turbine aircraft with 10 or more passenger seats. Since the 1994 mandate not one aircraft from that fleet of about 1600 aircraft has suffered a CFIT accident in the USA. It is unclear how a mandate to install this technology would impact the economics of the airline industry but it would be a giant step toward the goal for a zero accident rate for commercial air-carriers.

[1] EGPWS Review (2004, February) Flying magazine

[2] Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular  (Publication No.61-134)  General Aviation Controlled Flight Into Terrain Awareness (2003, April 1)

[3] Flight Safety Foundation Priorities. (2001-2004) Page 2 Retrieved from
http://www.flightsafety.org/

[4] Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular  (Publication No.61-134)  General Aviation Controlled Flight Into Terrain Awareness, (2003, April 1)

[5] EGPWS Review (2004 February) Flying magazine

[6] Karl Kraus (1874–1936), Austrian writer. Trans. by Harry Zohn, originally published in Beim Wortgenommen (1955). Half-Truths and One-and-a-Half Truths, University of Chicago Press (1990).

[7] Federal Aviation Administration Human Factors Team Report on: The Interfaces Between Flightcrews and Modern Flight Deck Systems”,(1996, June 18)

[8] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000

[9] Getting the Job Done-Part 1, Avionic News, March 2004

[10] Honeywell document 3.3;(2002,  January 21)  accessed from
http://www51.honeywell.com/aero/Products-Services/Avionics-Electronics/EGPWS-Home.html?c=21

[11] EGPWS Saves Lives (2004) [electronic version] Retrieved from
http://www.egpws.com/general_information/broxhures/EGPWS_Saves_Lives.pdf

[12] EGPWS Saves Lives (2004) [electronic version] Retrieved from
http://www.egpws.com/general_information/broxhures/EGPWS_Saves_Lives.pdf

[13] Honeywell document (2004, January) accessed from
http://www51.honeywell.com/aero/Products-Services/Avionics-Electronics/EGPWS-Home.html?c=21

[14] Getting the Job Done-Part 2, Avionic News, May 2004

[15] Federal Aviation Administration Human Factors Team Report, Human and Computers Interface, Error Messages, (1996, June 18)

[16] Honeywell document (2004, January) accessed from
http://www51.honeywell.com/aero/Products-Services/Avionics-Electronics/EGPWS-Home.html?c=21

[17] Honeywell document (2004, January) accessed from
http://www51.honeywell.com/aero/Products-Services/Avionics-Electronics/EGPWS-Home.html?c=21

Related:

• Domestic Partner Benefits

Unfortunately, the perception of public relations has not always been positive. In the 1800s, P.T. Barnum became a master publicist by generating article after article for his traveling circus. His “public be damned” philosophy and the use of exploitative publicity methods, however; have contributed to criticism of the profession.

Another significant component to the profession’s development came from the Creel Committee during World War I. A member of the committee, Edward L. Bernays, later considered by many to be the father of public relations, was part of a massive verbal and written communications effort to gain support of the war. According to Bernays, “this was the first time in our history that information was used as a weapon of war.”

There were other key people and events, which were very influential in promoting the growth of the public relations industry such as:

• “Public be informed era”, Ivy Lee – “father of PR”
• WWII – the Office of War Information
• “Counseling era” – Edward Bernays taught the first PR course at NYU in 1923
• Bernays wife, Doris Fleischman, was influential in paving the way for women in the industry. Together, they created Edward L. Bernays, Counsel on Public Relations, which became a top agency.

Some of the top PR practitioners in the 20th Century, according to PRWeek, are Harold Burson, Edward Bernays, Arthur Page, Larry Foster and Ivy Lee.

Major Practices of Public Relations

One thing that is not commonly known about the Public Relations industry is that it is a very complex business that involves many different elements and areas of expertise. Counseling, Research, Media Relations, Publicity, Employee/Member Relations, Community Relations, Public Affairs, Government Affairs, Issues Management, Financial Relations, Industry Relations, Development/Fund Raising, Minority Relations/Multicultural Affairs, Crisis Management, Special Events and Public Participation and Marketing Communications are all elements of Public Relations according to the PRSA Foundation.

Media Relations deals with communicating the organization’s messages to selected reporters and editors and then, following up to see if the message is reported accurately. Evaluation is an important and often overlooked part of this process. Public Affairs has to deal with developing effective involvement in public policy and helping an organization adapt to public expectations. Also, it is also a term used by military services and some governmental agencies to describe their public relations activities. Issues Management is identifying and addressing issues of public concern in which an organization is, or should be, concerned. Industry Relations is dealing with other firms in the industry of an organization, and with the trade associations related with that organization. Marketing Communications is a combination of activities designed to sell a product, service or idea, including advertising, collateral material, publicity, promotion, packaging, point-of-sale display, trade shows and special events.

An organization of today cannot operate in a vacuum. Many audiences are listening and watching. When something negative happens, there are groups that will use it to attack the organization. The best crisis plan is PREVENTIVE, not reactive. Identifying the possible things that could go wrong that would have a negative impact on the organization is a key step in the crisis management process. Prioritize them as to likelihood and degree of negative impact. Then address each by asking “what are we doing now to prevent this from happening?” A Crisis Plan should include responses to the list of possible problems and who’s responsible, what to say and what NOT to say during a crisis.

Maintaining a favorable relationship with the communities in which the organization has an interest is also crucial. Community Relations is continuing, planned and active participation with and within a community. Before beginning a Public Relations plan, the client must be made aware of how they stand in the eyes of their publics. The best way to do this is to run a Communication Audit. Communication Audits are strategic, research-based processes of evaluating an organization’s communications (and sometimes, marketing) program by using interviews of key audiences, focus groups, surveys, evaluations of an organization’s communications vehicles. The end result is a report that includes the research as well as recommendations on how the organization can improve its communications.

On top of the different major practices of Public Relations, there are also different areas of expertise. Corporate PR, Entertainment PR, Government PR, Technology PR, Finance PR, Health PR and Sports PR are all different areas of the business. Each of these areas is self-explanatory, but are not limited to only practicing in one area. For example, if you work for a famous athlete, one would need to exercise Sports PR and Entertainment PR. Consequently, there are many different areas of Public Relations in which to apply all the major practice areas. One of these areas is Media Relations.

Media Relations

Media relations personnel have many responsibilities as public relations practitioners in the various fields that make up the profession. They are the direct link between the media and the organization, whether it is a sports team, a corporation or a non-profit. Media kits, press releases, setting up interviews and releasing their organizations information are all responsibilities of media relations personnel. Journalists and media outlets receive the vast majority of their information about organizations for news stories through the work of media relations personnel. They are the gatekeepers of information about the organization they work for. An example of these responsibilities can be explained by exploring the duties of a sports information director (SID), otherwise known as the media relations person, for a college athletic department.

In the off-season, the sports information director is responsible for updating the team roster, preparing the team media guide, which includes player/coach profiles, player/team statistics, and team history such as titles won, awards, etc. During the season the SID is responsible for updating player and team statistics after every game so they are readily available to be dispersed to the media and to the coaching staff. This information is also prepared in order to be uploaded to the team website so that the information is easily accessible. The SID is also in charge of making sure the media have parking passes and media passes reserved so that they have access to the game events. The sports information director also attends team practices to set up interviews with coaches and players for the media. The SID also does this on game days. Game day activities also include making media guides, statistics, team schedules, lineups, and any other relevant information accessible to the media. During the game, the SID records the statistics and must be sure to give the media updated statistics that change during the coarse of the game. The SID must also issue the final box score to the media at the end of the game. Post game responsibilities include faxing the final box scores and statistics to all the local newspapers and television stations. Because the University of Texas is covered extensively throughout the nation, these statistics and box scores must also be faxed to ESPN, Sportsticker, and the Associated Press. After the game, the SID is also in charge of writing the press release and sending it to the Associated Press. All of this must be done in a timely fashion because of deadlines for journalists.

Meeting deadlines is just one of the guidelines a media relations person must remember to do when assisting reporters. A media relations person must also remember to always be available to the media, to be truthful, to treat every reporter as equal as the next, to be accurate when issuing out information, and to politely correct mistakes made by journalists. These are all important qualities for a media relations professional to uphold.

Media relations is an important part of any organization. An organization that has a strong media relations department has a significant advantage over an organization without productive media relations personnel. Media relations personnel are the link to the media, which decides whether to cover a story on an organization or not. This is why a strong media relations department can be such an asset to an organization; the media relations department can be the determinant as to whether their organization’s news gets coverage. The more positive news coverage an organization receives, the more the public is aware of the organization overall. Keeping an organization in the eye of the public and being viewed in a positive light is what makes media relations such a necessity in an era where news is so easily accessible by the general population.

Ethics in Public Relations

Ethics has various meanings as it is applied to public relations and the individuals working within that field. In the past, terms such as “cover-up” and “spin” have given public relations a negative image because they imply that PR work is somewhat unethical or underhanded. Today, many corporations are covering up their dealings with others, using deception and half-truths that shake the credibility of the institution. However, positive qualities such as honesty and sharing news with the public also have some companies stressing the need for ethical dealings in the marketplace. Ethics and credibility are slowly re-emerging in the field of public relations, pressuring an attitude change.

Despite preconceived and stereotypical notions about the practice of public relations, it is crucial that people in the industry set high ethical standards. In fact, the public relations worker should be the ethical voice within the corporation. This position of responsibility requires public relations professionals to advise their clients in ethical decision making, advising them towards the truth and away from deception.

Leadership is a quality that should resonate in all active public relations professionals, especially when implementing ethical practices. Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) has developed a code of ethics to help its members develop leadership qualities. The six core values of PRSA suggest ideal behavior for public relations practitioners. Advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness comprise attributes of the Public Relations Society of America’s ethical code.

An organization’s social responsibility also relates to the code of ethics of an organization. The social organization is responsible for establishing norms that control and define the actions and mistakes of its members. Being socially responsible includes every department of an organization. Examples of social responsibility categories are: marketing practices, corporate philanthropy, environmental activities, external relations, employment diversity in retaining and promoting minorities and women. Today, social responsibility is integrated into most departments of an organization.

Corporate codes of conduct are another aspect of corporate social responsibility, ensuring that every person within the company implements ethics. After Enron’s scandal, many codes of conduct have been implemented, but the companies do not all share the same motivation for using the codes. Corporate codes of conduct help improve internal operations, respond to transgressions, increase public confidence, and stem the tide of outside regulation. The most important form of conduct that all corporations should follow is to always tell the truth.

The public relations industry is at a turning point that depends on how public relations practitioners react ethically to situations. Credibility is essential for ensuring continued value of the public relations profession. Most importantly, ethical practices are crucial to demonstrate that corporations can be honest. Such ethical practices will require constant dedication by public relations professionals to project the image of the public relations field as one of credibility and truth.

Public Relations Firms

Ruder Finn

Mission:
To create impactful visual communications for clients through branding, collateral and information design. Our mission is to ensure that both the strategy and messaging are as elegant as the visual execution. Our design staff is as global as our largest clients, so that we can provide solutions that cross borders and audiences with ease and grace.

Practices:
Healthcare, Technology, Corporate, Consumer, Arts/Culture, Public Affairs/Global Issues, and Travel/Tourism.

Porter Novelli

Mission:
Porter Novelli’s agency partners and employees encompass the research, experience, expertise and fresh thinking that demonstrate the agency’s breadth and depth of intellectual capital in a variety of fields. Using white papers, research studies and PN IQ – Insights Quarterly – the agency’s own journal of key learnings and best practices, Porter Novelli has created vehicles for continuous improvement in our key practice areas and in disciplines important to our clients.

Practices:
Consumer, Public Affairs, Corporate Affairs, Healthcare and Technology

Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

Mission:
Our clients all live in competitive worlds. To compete successfully, they need access to high quality information, strategic advice and specialist communications skills. With leading practitioners in all key marketing disciplines, WPP companies are happy to work as single suppliers or in partnership with each other.

Practices:
Advertising, Media Investment Management, Information, Consulting, Public Affairs, Branding, Healthcare, and Specialized Communications.

Cohn and Wolfe began in Georgia in 1970. Today the company has several female leaders. Of the 11 managing directors, nine are women. The leader of Cohn and Wolfe worldwide is another woman, Donna Imperato. Cohn and Wolfe is best known for its connection to the Olympics. In 1980, Coke put C&W in charge of all their Olympic public relations activities. C&W has been involved in every Olympics since then, with a variety of products. For example, in the 1996 summer games in hot and stifling Atlanta, C&W worked for York air conditioners to make their contributions of cool air known at the games. Currently C&W is headquartered out of London. IN 1984 they were bought by Y&R. Then when Y&R was bought by WPP in 2000, C&W became part of the WPP family. Locally, they just acquired Springbock Tech. – Texas’s largest PR firm specializing in technology PR.

Manning, Selvage and Lee is an international PR firm based out of London. They have 28 owned offices and 70 affiliates. Their key areas of work are consumer marketing, corporate communications and finance/ investor relations. Some of their exciting clients include GMAC Financial Services, Proctor and Gamble and X-Box. They are also award winners. In 2003 they were voted a Holmes Report Agency of the Year. In 2004 they won a PRSA Silver Anvil award for the Heart of Diabetes Campaign.

Edelman is a large firm. They have 1800 employees in 40 offices. This makes Edelman one of the largest remaining independents. Their mission is to provide public relations counsel and strategic communications services that enable their clients to build strong relationships and to influence attitudes and behaviors in a complex world. Worldwide, they have a broad international network but they struggle with poor leadership in Europe. In Asia, Edelman has watched steady growth, up by 20 percent last year.

Edelman’s main practices include corporate, crisis management, financial relations, entertainment, food, government, marketing, public affairs, sports, travel and design. To accomplish all this, Edelman is made up of four specialty firms. Blue is the advertising firm, First and 42^nd is a management consulting firm, StrategyOne is their research firm and BioScience Communications works with medical education and publishing.

As part of the Interpublic Group, Golin Harris has a wide reach throughout the world. Their reach extends to 27000 employees in 100 countries. They have a variety of key areas of expertise. They work in corporate communications and utilize CrossMedia which works to produce broadcast PR. They also work with investors and have a capable Investor Relations department. They also work in the areas of marketing and branding. As the world of technology expands Golin Harris continues to be a leader in technology related public relations.

Corporate Public Relations

In the wake of corporate scandals and rocky economic pitfalls large corporations have taken into special consideration the importance of their organization’s image. Thus, the growth and development of the PR department has begun to play a pivotal role in the corporate world. By examining the structure of PR departments and its role, we hope to grasp a basic knowledge PR in the corporate world.

The majority of PR professionals are employed by the corporate world rather than in agencies. It’s also helpful to note that many corporations are now referring their PR departments as Corporate Communications or Public Affairs. Yet, just because a corporation has its own PR department does not rule out the option of using an agency, or multiple agencies for that matter, to gain specialization or outside help for the corporation. It is common for corporations to seek the expertise of an agency to aid them in crisis management, host a special event or for a fresh perspective. Another outside However, the PR department within the corporation has the unique advantage of knowing the inner atmosphere of the company.

Each corporation will vary in the structure of its PR department depending on the industry and needs of the company. The department can range from one person to many hundreds within the corporation. For example, Exxon Mobil has a substantially sized department with international offices and countless staff members. While there is no one set way to organize a PR department, the most successful ones are those who have direct access to top-level executives. Direct interaction with the CEO is important to know exactly what to communicate, what publics need attention, and any important issues that may affect the company.

One of the primary functions of the PR department include ensuring that relations with stakeholders such as employees, investors, and the public are in check by keeping open communication. To ensure good employee relations departments must ensure that the staff are readily informed with what is happening within the company. Internal publications, memos, pamphlets or intranet access are often used as a clear channel to communicate with employees. Often times for investors and stockholders, the PR department will inform them with company updates via newsletters or special events.

When it’s time for a new product or service rollout, it’s the PR department that organizes the press conference, which may include writing speeches for the CEO and putting together press kits. A press kit is a foundation for what the press needs to know about why there is a press conference in the first place. It will include bios of the CEO or other main people involved with the event, pictures, background information, contact information, a press release, and maybe even a CD-ROM. One of the most important communications the PR department provides is organizing the company’s annual report, which includes a financial overview, a letter from the CEO, salary changes, etc. It basically touches on the ins and outs of the company. A company, for instance McDonald’s, will often put its annual report on the internet which is a great tool the PR department uses to give up-to-date information on the company.

The Public Relations department is also responsible for ensuring the company’s image by promoting good relations with the community in which the company and its subsidiaries are located. Philanthropy is important to that image and by organizing or sponsoring events that provide services to the community, or nationally, to support things such as education and diversity. In addition, the opinions of the various publics a company has is very important to know how best to communicate and formulate the company’s image. Research is vital to doing so and can be done by the PR department by gathering the information themselves or going through a research company.

Overall, Corporate Public Relations does everything an agency does, except with a few more “in-housecleaning” demands. The department has more knowledge of the internal organization of the company. The only difference may be bias due to the fact that the PR department is a part of the internal politics of the company. Nevertheless, Corporate Public Relations is a strong arm in the PR Industry and will continue to be so.

Non-Profit Organizations

The structure of a non-profit organization is easily simplified. The organization will base its communication efforts on their mission, objective, and goals. The mission is the basic purpose of the organization including what it is trying to accomplish. For example, “The mission of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is to stop drunk driving, support the victims of this violent crime, and prevent underage drinking.”-MADD

Objectives simply communicate the general direction the organization is taking, and goals form the specific actions—such as time, budget,etc.—needed to accomplish the mission. Goals are specific and measurable so the organization has the opportunity to evaluate its progress. After determining its goals, publics, competition, and so forth, the organization can form a marketing strategy. The organization can then implement and eventually evaluate its communication efforts.

Three examples of organizations using very different marketing techniques are MADD, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and Austin Lyric Opera (ALO). MADD is an organization benefiting society. It is one of the most successful grass roots campaigns in history.

MADD utilizes its members by sending them as speakers to schools, and legislation. Hearing a mother’s first hand account at the slow death of her daughter has an enormous impact of her audience. The Lance Armstrong Foundation does well with media coverage. Their news coverage and article placements have made their name well known. They began the rubber wristband craze and use Lance Armstrong as a celebrity spokesperson.

Austin Lyric Opera deals with several different types of public relations. There is a community relation with the company’s patrons and for the children and parents attending the ALO music school. There are also investor relations with season ticket holders and people who regularly give large donations. This usually includes large special events and fundraisers throughout the year. ALO also combines several techniques including PSAs, commercials, brochures, direct mail, fundraising, and special events. Despite all the different missions of non-profit organizations, they are all similar in their structures and limited resources. By using small public relations departments to do several functions, they have been able to experience a wide range of communication tools.

Public Relations Organizations

Professional PR Organizations

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), chartered in 1947 is the world’s largest organization for public relations professionals. PRSA’s vision is to unify, strengthen, and advance the profession of public relations. It has established itself as the organization, which builds value, demand, and global understanding for public relations.

PRSA has nearly 20,000 members, in 114 chapters, the world’s largest organization for public relations professionals. These members represent a variety of categories such as technology, government, associations, and nonprofit organizations, to name a few.

According to the PRSA website, “their primary objectives are to advance the standards of the public relations profession and to provide members with professional development opportunities through continuing education programs, information exchange forums, and research projects conducted on the national and local levels.”

The three core areas of focus are 1) advancing the profession, 2) strengthening the society, and 3) establishing global leadership.

Membership in PRSA is on an individual, not organizational basis. There are two categories of membership: member and Associate member. Each category has specific eligibility requirements. One specific requirement for all members however is adherence to the PRSA Code of Ethics.

The PRSA Code of Ethics is an important document to the Public Relations Industry and focuses on 6 specific areas, advocacy, honesty, fairness, expertise, independence, and loyalty. This code was last updated in October 2000. Two quotes from the preamble illustrate how strongly the PRSA Board of Directors feels about the ethical conduct of its members. It begins with “The Code of Ethics is designed to be a guide for members as they carry our their ethical responsibilities” and concludes with the following statement “Ethical practice is the most important obligation of a PRSA member.”

As a member of PRSA, a person has access to many resources for personal and professional development. The Professional Resource Center provides access to award-winning public relations campaign profiles, timely information on industry trends, and helpful campaign development resources. A member is eligible to secure low group cost insurance for members and their employees. PRSA members are also eligible for online product discounts with Office Depot, free subscriptions to Public Relations Tactics and The Strategist, as well as discounts on other publications through the PRSA store.

One other very important resource for members and non-members is the PRSA website, which is user friendly and provides a great amount of information. Here you can find job opportunities, access a calendar for PRSA events, and find out information about the various awards, including The Silver Anvil Award. There are also directories and publications listed. These are useful resources to locate other PRSA members or use as reference materials to keep up with current trends in the industry.

The Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA) began in 1953 in San Antonio and has since expanded into a statewide organization that serves PR practitioners all over Texas. It established a “Code of Ethics” that sets the standard for the Texas PR industry. The Code focuses on high expectations of honesty, integrity, fairness, respect, accuracy, truth and many other characteristics. Members are encouraged to abide by these Codes for the betterment of the public and the PR industry.

There are many benefits in having a membership in TPRA. TPRA holds conferences and seminars throughout the year to further the education of PR practitioners. Practitioners gather to discuss emerging trends and issues, successes and problems, and the new skills needed to survive in this rapidly evolving industry. Guest speakers are brought in to offer help and advice on how to respond to the ever changing demands of the typical PR job.

TPRA members also have a chance at winning statewide recognition at the only Texas PR awards program. The Best of Texas Awards honor the best in specific public relations activities, and the Silver Spur Awards recognize outstanding public relations programs. Individuals who contribute to TPRA and the profession can also receive the Golden Spur, Outstanding PR Practitioner, Rising Star, and New Member Achievement awards.

TPRA members are given valuable networking tools, such as being listed in the “Who’s Who in Texas Public Relations” directory and building relationships with peers across the state. The directory is also a source of information to public relations agencies and executive research and media firms.

The TPRA website also posts job and internship opportunities for those PR professionals looking for new experiences or work. The website also features reference sources, news sources, and professional sites involving the PR industry.

TPRA and its foundation, the Public Relations Foundation of Texas (PRFT), sponsor student awards programs and provide multiple resources to help further the education of future PR practitioners.

TPRA has recently been promoting their group membership fees. Now, the Group Membership Plan allows for registration fees and dues to be reduced when four or more people from the same employer join. This allows companies to sponsor more memberships for their employees and for TPRA to continue its growth.

Though once dominated by white men, the field of Public Relations is becoming more diverse.

PR Publications and Job Opportunities

Public Relations Publications

In the Public Relations arena, there are many different but important publications that serve to inform professionals, individual clients and businesses. Most of these are of the “trade publication” genre, containing industry information for differing publics. For the purposes of this report, the publications will be differentiated by whether they are produced and sponsored by PRSA or individually.

PRSA distributes two major publications, Public Relations Tactics, the monthly tabloid, and The Strategist, the quarterly magazine for the leaders in the industry. There catch phrase is that they continue to provide members with timely sources of what’s new and what’s news in public relations, and by way of trade publications they are two of the most successful for the public relations industry. Public Relations Tactics and The Strategist are generally included in a PRSA membership for some small additional fee and according to PRSA’s Website; they have the highest value rankings for all benefits offered to the PRSA membership. Tactics is an easier-to-read tabloid full of practical how-to articles with information and practices for professionals to put into action immediately. The Strategist addresses executive-level public relations practitioners with debates and commentary concerning PR issues of today and is mailed quarterly.

Independent publications include PRWeek, O’Dwyer’s, PR Watch, Buzz Magazine, PR Newswire and an online magazine called PR & Marketing. All of these publications have Websites which offer fairly extensive information regarding their services freely to the public. With the exception of Buzz Magazine, which is specifically a career-based magazine for PR professionals looking for job advances in the field, these magazines all consider themselves a resource for individuals at all stages of their PR careers and serve the public with supplemental education on the industry to help increase knowledge and love for the field.

PR Job Opportunities

A simple bachelor’s degree in public relations is no longer enough to acquire a job. To enter the world of public relations, one must have hands on experience in the field. To get this experience, the first step in a public relations career is an internship. An internship is essential for someone wanting to enter the field through an agency. After an internship, an entry-level position within an agency is account coordinator. A non-agency entry-level public relations position may be public relations coordinator or communications coordinator. These positions often require one to two years of work experience and a bachelor’s degree. The average pay for such positions is $30K a year. After about two to three years of experience, one can become an account executive or a public relations specialist. This position on average pays $38K a year. After this stage in a typical public relations career path, the next position up is an account manager, a public relations manager, or a public relations director. These jobs usually require an advanced degree and at least five years of work experience. The median salary for this stage is $54.5K a year. Beyond this level, a public relations professional might grow to be an executive of the corporation (VP Public Relations), or start his or her own public relations firm. At this point, the salary can be well into the six figures.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2000 and 2010, wage and salary jobs in the management and public relations services industry are expected to grow by 42 percent. This figure is nearly triple the 16 percent growth anticipated for all other industries together, making public relations amid the most rapidly growing industries. Due to the growth of the public relations field, public relations practitioners tend to be well paid, although the range of compensation tends to be broad. Wages depend on such aspects as the individuals’ qualifications and experience, responsibilities of the position, financial strength of the organization, and the general state of the economy. Recent college graduates who are members of the Public Relations Student Society of America and have had some experience can expect a higher than average salary.

Public relations professionals do not have typical days at work. Every day is different and filled with a work schedule that is irregular and often interrupted. Thus, the nine-to-five schedules of other professions do not apply here. A public relations office is normally under high pressure conditions because everyone is working hard to meet the tight deadlines. With their busy days, a public relations practitioner is not tied down to his or her own desk. They are busy doing things like searching for details for a press release, community functions, briefing their management, among many other tasks.

To find such a job, a recent college graduate has many choices when it comes to beginning their job hunt. The Communication Career Services is a good place to start. Also, if he or she is a member of PRSA, their job bank has excellent resources. Other notable places to search for a job are the Council of Public Relations Firms (prfirms.org) and AboutPublicRelations.net. These job services provide a good way to find a job in the public relations field. But just remember, when it comes to landing that first real job, experience is everything.

Future of Public Relations

The practice of public relations is continually evolving and re-formatting itself to include a broad array of functions. Though once viewed with a traditionally print-oriented emphasis, PR has now shifted to that of a multi-faceted marketing discipline. The future of PR proves itself to be limitless. As technology advances, so do the requirements of the public relations practitioner.

The emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web has created a new and valuable resource for PR professionals. As the nation’s most used resource for information, the Internet connects and provides communication to millions of American consumers every day. This provides for a simple and low cost medium for PR practitioners to convey their desired message to the public. By creating and implementing a comprehensive online campaign, companies can save time and money on distribution costs and materials such as paper, yet still successfully get their message out to their desired publics via the Internet. Advances in technology have also allowed for specially designed software to be created for the use of PR departments and agencies. Software like Bacon’s Media Map can be purchased by PR professionals to provide immediate and updated contact information for reporters and editorial contacts worldwide. Information about each publication, such as distribution size and preferred ways of contact, are included.

Along with advanced software, the Internet has also supplied practitioners with a new insight into public opinion. The emergence of blogs, or online web journals, enable PR departments to immediately retrieve information on public opinion that may have otherwise been unknown or inaccessible to them. Many political websites in particular use online blogs to communicate to and receive immediate comments from their constituents.

Another topic to consider when examining the future of public relations is professional billing. Instead of the traditional hourly billing used among most public relations firms to date, many UK public relations firms are now beginning to implement a one-time pay scale, due to the recent inflated need for PR. Instead of billing a client per hour, the client is now presented with a price upfront, and can separate payments to pay for various functions. For example, a client may be billed $200 dollars for a press release, $500 for a press conference, or $1,000 for an hour-long consultation. This system is slowly beginning to emerge in many newly formed US PR firms, and may soon replace the traditional form of billing.

Along with implementing financial changes, many are now also fighting for the practice of licensing PR professionals. One famous PR practitioner in particular, who felt strongly on the issue, was Edward Bernays. His definition of a Public Relations council was that it is “an applied social scientist who advises a client on the social attitudes and actions he or she must take in order to appeal to the public on which it is dependent. The practitioner ascertains, through research, the adjustment or maladjustment of the client with the public, then advises what changes in attitude and action are demanded to reach the highest point of adjustment to meet social goals.” Bernays understood that anyone one could call themselves a PR professional regardless of the amount of education they had on the subject. Before he died, Bernays wrote bills to address this issue. Although none were passed, the controversy over licensing PR professionals still exists.

The realization by many corporations that PR is a necessity in the business world has created a new role for PR – in the global marketplace. More than ever, PR professionals will be called upon to support world wide relations and campaigns, on issues such as prescription drugs, healthcare, and US military initiatives. An example of this is found in the rapid financial expansion of China and India. Within a few years, both could possibly be leaders in global health care. China’s economy for example is growing at an annual rate of 9 percent (the US economy growth is currently 3 percent). India’s economy is also high with an annual growth of 6 percent. In these fast growing countries, PR campaigns can be used “to map out ways to reach audiences with segmented health messages, develop strategies to communicate with patients and caregivers about disease conditions and benefits of therapies, and enhance or protect companies’ reputations.” With the rapid speed of communications, PR departments worldwide will be put in charge of maintaining both national and global communications in the years to come.

Public relations will continue to evolve as technology and the world at large continues to evolve. Corporations are currently realizing the importance of public relations within their business practices, and that importance will only increase as the field itself continues to incorporate itself into the business arena as a necessary management tool.

Related:

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• History of American Tourism
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The nature of Montresor’s revenge in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is controversial; critics disagree upon several applicable questions. Is Montresor’s revenge a success or a failure? Is Montresor remorseful about murdering Fortunato? What is Fortunato’s insult and Montresor’s murder motive? The ambiguity of Montresor’s revenge has prompted numerous conflicting responses to these questions; however, the story’s evidence and certain critics’ insights suggest that Montresor’s revenge scheme ultimately fails, he is unremorseful, and his motive is based on religious-politico issues (yet somewhat ambiguous).

Unsuccessful and Unremorseful

Montresor’s revenge scheme is unsuccessful because it does not ultimately fulfill either of his two rules of revenge: “I must not only punish, but punish with impunity” and “the avenger [must] make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong” (Poe 848). Marvin Felheim maintains that since the crime has gone undetected “for the half of a century” (854), Montresor successfully implements his first rule. However, James E. Rocks asserts that Montresor is punished by fifty years of angst over the murder, “even if he cannot define those feelings nor experience genuine remorse” Sam Moon takes Rocks’ assumption a step further, asserting that Montresor experiences a lifetime of genuine and haunting remorse. Moon claims that Montresor’s final phrase, “Rest in peace,” infers that, in confessing, he finally finds serenity (301). Many critics support Moon’s theory, but it is implausible. First, Montresor states that revenge is his motive, and a lack of remorse points more directly to a revenge motive than to any other; vindication for a perceived offense is easier to justify (thus, less likely to be regretted). Moreover, Montresor does not appear to be remorseful; his detailed recollection of every evil laugh and taunt underlines cruel arrogance, not remorse. He is careful to outline not the horror, but the genius in his scheme. In addition, Moon mistakes one of Montresor’s statements as evidence of remorse: “My heart grew sick – on account of the dampness of the catacombs.” There is a more compelling reason for Montresor’s heart to grow sick, that coincides with both his failed revenge and remorselessness.

Jay Jacoby points out that ironist critics generally find Montresor’s comment deceptive (e.g., the horror of his crime suddenly sweeps over him, but he tries to hide it from himself or his listener) (344). Jacoby offers a different perspective:

“… a stronger case can be made for another emotion underlying Montresor’s hasty rationalization: sudden disappointment as his carefully planned drama of revenge aborts at the untimely end of its main character … who dies still unaware of Montresor’s motives and before suffering the slow suffocation that would provide him time to fathom these motives.” (344)

Under this interpretation, the final bell jingling Montresor hears from Fortunato’s costume (followed by silence) suggests neither madness (as Moon asserts) nor comprehension of his insult and resignation to his fate (as Felheim insists) (Felheim, Moon, and Pearce 300), but immediate death caused by exposure to the cold, damp catacombs during illness. This unexpected turn of events would foil Montresor’s plan to fulfill his second rule of revenge, that “the avenger [must] make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong” (Poe 848). Jacoby continues: “Montresor’s choice of the mode of execution – slow-suffocation – suggests that he did not expect Fortunato to recognize his motive immediately, but to sober up and then, in walled in solitude, to discern gradually the cumulative result of the ‘injuries’ he had perpetrated on Montresor” (343). The terror of Fortunato’s situation (portrayed by a “succession of loud and shrill screams”) (Poe 853) combined with his persistent cough could initiate sudden death. Jacoby also claims that Montresor is troubled by the possibility when his final mocking words go unanswered (344):

But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud -

“Fortunato!” No answer. I called again -

“Fortunato!” No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. (Poe 854)

Montresor subsequently hears only the sound of chains from Fortunato; he then sits upon the bones, to “hearken to [the sound] with the more satisfaction.” (Poe 853). Jacoby suggests that Montresor’s perverse gratification “… remains incomplete if Fortunato ultimately fails to recognize his tormentor as an ‘avenger’ per se, which Fortunato gives no explicit indication of having done prior to his final silence.” This explains Montresor’s increasing impatience for a reply; his revenge scheme necessitates a conscious victim. Jacoby claims that Montresor thrusts a torch at Fortunato’s head and allows it to fall at his feet in a “… final effort to arouse his victim, suggesting that he is beginning to suspect that Fortunato is already dead.” The jingling of bells that follows, under this interpretation, is not a sign that Fortunato is still alive, but evidence that Fortunato has fallen to his death: “Surely a conscious Fortunato, no matter how stoic, would have cried out in response to the flame.” Jacoby also proposes that Montresor’s subsequent haste “… implies a recognition that the ‘satisfaction’ to be derived from his victim has ended.” Montresor’s second rule of revenge, making his vengeful purpose known to Fortunato, fails (344).

Jacoby also suggests that Montresor’s “rationalization” for his sick heart (“… on account of the dampness of the catacombs”) infers that he recognizes the irony of his self-defeat, but cannot directly admit it. He suggests that Montresor’s final words, “Rest in peace,” are more sincere than many critics assume – an indirect admission of Fortunato’s “one-upmanship” (344). Jacoby insists that Montresor has been tormented for a lifetime, not by remorse, but by his comprehension of F’s final victory; hence, his first rule of revenge, to “punish with impunity” (Poe 848), fails. Within Jacoby’s incisive theory, neither of Montresor’s rules of revenge succeeds.

Montresor’s Motive / Fortunato’s Insult

Jacoby’s theory, supporting Montresor’s unsuccessful revenge and remorselessness, seems most consistent with the story’s evidence; however, it does not define Fortunato’s insult, left ambiguous by Poe. Many critics seem hesitant to conjecture about the nature of the insult, while others maintain diverse opinions about it. Felheim’s theory of a religious-politico based motive, supported by Rocks but criticized by others, warrants further consideration. Although Poe does not disclose Fortunato’s specific insult, it seems to be associated with religious-politico issues.

Felheim and Rocks believe that Fortunato’s affiliation with Freemasonry is the fatal insult. While definitive evidence for this theory is weak, the historic CatholicMasonic conflict seems significant to Montresor’s revenge (in light of Montresor’s Italian, presumably Catholic descent and Fortunato’s “grotesque” Masonic gesture) (Poe 851). Freemasonry, though not a religion, embraces religious elements (Lewis 113), some of which conflict with Catholicism. Rocks states: “Although the time of Poe’s story is unclear, it could be set during the period of forthright Catholic reaction against Freemasonry: by the eighteenth century some Masons of the French, Italian and other Latin lodges were hostile to the Church… .” He also points out that the oaths and rituals of FreeMasonry were seen as a threat to church and state. In such a context, Montresor might view Fortunato as not only a heretic, but a political enemy of Catholicism’s secular domination. John Freehafer disputes this theory: “Since Montresor had no prior knowledge that Fortunato was a Mason, he could not have used Masonry as an excuse for his premeditated crime.” (317). However, Freehafer’s only evidence that Montresor was previously unaware of Fortunato’s affiliation is Montresor’s surprise at the Masonic gesture; Masonic signs are secretive, so the gesture might have startled Montresor whether or not he was aware of Fortunato’s membership. Even so, Masonry membership is probably not the entirety of Fortunato’s insult. While acknowledging the general religious-politico foundation of the murder motive, Shannon Burns asserts: “… Montresor does not propose to kill Masons as a general religious principle. In the nature of Italian revenge his injury is specific: ‘… when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge’ … Fortunato must have directed his insult against Montresor’s family…”. This seems reasonable, since the story focuses on both Catholicism and Montresor’s family. The two could be interconnected; an insult against Montresor’s family might likewise defame his religion, and vice versa. Hence, the “thousand injuries of Fortunato” (Poe 848) are likely related to the religious-politico conflict, but the fatal insult is a more specific defamation against Montresor’s family and religion. It need not be precisely defined, beyond those terms. Perhaps the decades of conjecture surrounding Fortunato’s insult would amuse Poe; he may have intended that it remain relatively ambiguous.

Other Interpretations

Other critics have devised various murder motives for Montresor that are weak or flawed in logic. Joy Rea asserts that revenge is not Montresor’s motive, and that Montresor murders Fortunato simply because Fortunato genuinely loves him. She claims that Montresor only speaks of revenge to direct attention away from his perverse need to destroy a friend (306-07). Although Rea’s theory is reminiscent of the murderers of “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” (who kill people with whom they have warm relationships), it glosses over Fortunato’s two offensive insinuations: “I forget your arms” and “You? Impossible! A mason?” (Poe 850-51). If Fortunato indisputably loves Montresor, why would he intimate that the Montresor family is easily forgotten in its social exile, and that Montresor is not of the elite Masonic brotherhood (an aristocratic society, in the eighteenth century) (“Freemasonry”)? Moreover, Montresor is different from Poe’s other murderers: his narrative is calm, he is not delusional, he asserts a revenge motive, and he confesses in his old age. It follows that Montresor’s motive might be different, as well. Rea’s theory also necessitates the construction of some ulterior reason for which Montresor verifies revenge as his motive; directing attention away from another motive is merely a conjecture – a weak one, at that.

Although John H. Randall aptly suggests that the specific nature of Fortunato’s insult is irrelevant, he maintains that Fortunato deserves his fate because, despite his high birth, he merely presumes to a gentleman’s code held by “a little band of undisputed aristocrats” in the Middle Ages. Randall claims that the code, which depends not only on birth but also on “personal bravery and coolness,” allows a gentleman to personally “redress” any affront to his personal honor (seeking lawful recourse is below aristocrats) (302). Randall claims that Montresor devises a series of “tests” to see if Fortunato is a true gentleman. For example, Montresor gives Fortunato repeated chances to escape his fate and shows him the murder weapon, as gentlemanly revenge requires, but Fortunato is not wise (hence, not gentlemanly) enough to recognize the hints. That Montresor is evaluating Fortunato is unlikely; no gentleman could pass such tests (particularly if intoxicated). Montresor is friendly to Fortunato and never utters a threat (Poe 848), so Fortunato is not necessarily unwise or ungentlemanly when he misses Montresor’s so-called cues. Further, Montresor has “definitively settled” his deliberate method of revenge in advance (Poe 848); if the certainty of Fortunato’s death was contingent upon his display of gentlemanly graces, Montresor would have included such a significant stipulation in his list of revenge rules. Moreover, Fortunato’s final plea, mimicked heartlessly by Montresor, indicates that more than mere class distinction is involved – the murder motive pivots on religion: “For the love of God, Montresor!” (Poe 854).

A third critic, James W. Gargano, maintains that Montresor’s motive arises from his fragmented psyche (312). He assumes Montresor is divided against himself, hence, unable to see the binding qualities of his resemblance to Fortunato (portrayed by mirroring symbolism, such as Montresor’s imitation of Fortunato’s supplications). Gargano believes that the revenge’s failure is not caused by remorse, but “… an inability to harmonize the disparate parts of his nature …” (313) – though he sees Montresor as remorseful as well as insane (an unlikely combination). It is clear that the story includes mirroring symbolism, but Montresor’s fragmented psyche (insanity) does not necessarily follow. Gargano himself points out that Montresor neither “loudly and madly proclaims his sanity” (as in “The Tell-Tale Heart”) nor suffers agonizing hallucinations that lead to self-betrayal (as in “The Black Cat” and “Ligeia”), but tells his tale with “outward calm and economy” (311). Though Gargano claims that Montresor’s rational demeanor is deceptive, it would more likely represent interior sanity. The presumption many critics (including Gargano) make – that the same motive drives each of Poe’s murderers, hence, each must be insane – disregards the complexity and individuality of Poe’s characters.

Gargano also claims that Montresor’s internal discord distorts his reality, creating double meanings in his mind: wine vaults double as burial vaults; Fortunato’s Masonic sign contrasts with Montresor’s sinister pun; Montresor alters meaning as he mimics Fortunato’s words; etc. (313). However, Poe provides no indication that these clever dualities are hallucinations, or that they stem from inner conflict. They could merely be symbols of an ironic, simultaneous resemblance and divergence between the men, perhaps intended to highlight their joint membership in a brotherhood that transcends religious-politico differences: humanity. Gargano also argues that Montresor’s divided psyche causes him, following Fortunato’s vociferous screams, to tremble and unsheathe his rapier (314); however, Montresor might hesitate merely from fear that someone might hear the screams and discover his criminal activity. (This fear is momentary; as he feels the “solid fabric of the catacombs,” he is satisfied that no sound will penetrate them) (Poe 853).

Since Montresor is sane, his revenge motive must be somewhat rational (unlike fear of an evil eye as in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” or a cat’s bewitching in “The Black Cat” – or the need to remunerate love with murder, in both). Moreover, if Montresor’s motive draws from a religious-politico foundation, one might expect the presence of religious symbolism. That Montresor’s motive stems from the coherence of revenge based on religious-politico conflict precludes his insanity more than Rea’s theory (a murder motive of love), or Gargano’s theory (a split psyche). Felheim’s theory regards Montresor’s sanity but shows the revenge as successful, even fitting (300). Though Randall’s theory is also consistent with Montresor’s sanity, and is accurate in its stance that the Italian code of revenge coincides with Montresor’s rules of revenge (Burns), it focuses too sharply on social distinction and fails to account for the religious symbolism throughout the story. For example, Montresor’s coat of arms is a Satanic serpent bruising the heel of a human foot (Poe 851); moreover, Montresor speaks of his ritualistic, profane act as an “immolation” (Poe 848). Elements of Christ’s passion are also introduced: the carnival parallels the Passover; the method of ensnaring Fortunato is intimate betrayal (resembling Judas’ kiss); like Fortunato, Christ is led to a “place of skulls” (Golgotha); and the wine they seek has sacred and sacrificial overtones (Amontillado means “from the mountain”) (Felheim, Moon, and Pearce 301). These symbols suggest a parody of biblical events, underlining the significance of Catholicism in Montresor’s motive.

Conclusion

These contrasting theories, while barely touching on the plethora of critical opinion over Montresor’s revenge, illustrate the extent of divergence surrounding the story. Regardless of the persistent controversy, few critics dispute that “The Cask of Amontillado” ranks as one of Poe’s superlative achievements.

Works Cited

Burns, Shannon. “‘The Cask of Amontillado’: Montresor’s Revenge.” Poe Studies 7.1 (June 1974): 25. The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, Inc.

Felheim, Marvin, Sam Moon and Donald Pearce. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Notes and Queries 1.10 (Oct. 1954): 447-49. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna Nesbitt. Vol. 35. Boston: Gale Group, 2000.

Freehafer, John. “Poe’s ‘Cask of Amontillado’: A Tale of Effect.” Jahrbuch für Amerikastudien Ed. Ernst Fraenkel, et al. N.p.: 1968: 134-42. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Ann Nesbitt. Vol. 35. Boston: Gale Group, 2000.

“Freemasonry.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.

Gargano, James W. “‘The Cask of Amontillado’: A Masquerade of Motive and Identity.” Studies in Short Fiction 4.2 (Winter 1967): 119-26. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna Nesbitt. Vol. 35. Boston: Gale Group, 2000.

Jacoby, Jay. “Fortunato’s Premature Demise in ‘The Cask of Amontillado’.” Poe Studies 12.2 (Dec. 1979): 30-31. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Ann Nesbitt. Vol. 35. Boston: Gale Group, 2000.

Lewis, James R. Witchcraft Today: An Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1999. NetLibrary. National U Lib. System, San Diego, CA.

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Poetry, Tales, and Selected Essays. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1996.

Randall, John H. III. “Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ and the Code of the Duello.” Studia Germanica Gandensig 5 (1963): 175-84. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna Nesbitt. Vol. 35. Boston: Gale Group, 2000.

Rea, Joy. “Poe’s ‘The Cask of Amontillado’.” Studies in Short Fiction 4.1 (Fall 1966): 57-69. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anna Nesbitt. Vol. 35. Boston: Gale Group, 2000.

Rocks, James E. “Conflict and Motive in ‘The Cask of Amontillado’.” Poe Studies 5.2 (Dec. 1972): 50. The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, Inc.

Inelastic demand is a “situation in which a price change leads to a less than proportionate change in quantity demanded” (Hirschey). There are many goods whose inelasticity is considered perfect. Some of these goods could include; gasoline, coffee, cigarettes, and illegal drugs. As we have formed a basis for our inelastic principality, it is important that we start with an example of inelastic demand so that it is easier to understand. If we are paying two dollars per gallon of gas, and the government imposes a 90 cent tax on each gallon consumed what will happen to the prices, and the quantity demanded?

There will be a decrease in supply, which will create a new equilibrium point in the demand and supply function. This will occur as the consumer demand continues to remain the same, as there are no alternative or substitute goods available for gasoline. Visually below, we can see the implications of any price increases in the oil industry are passed directly to the consumer.

Cause of Increasing Oil Prices

To see what is causing the price of gasoline to increase we need to look at environmental factors that are affecting these wayward and substantial increases. As supply and demand are two of the biggest components of the cyclical price of oil, there are other factors the influence the price of gasoline. First, the U.S. imports almost 70 percent of its oil supply. This drives up the demand, as the U.S. must compete with other emerging economies, such as India and China. Although these countries consume a fair amount of oil, they are still considerably behind the U.S., as we consume 20.4 million barrels a day, whereas countries such as China “only” consume 6.5 million barrels a day. Second, there are not only environmental, but governmental levies, marketing, and location costs that are associated with the production and distribution of the final product. If we look at the components that make up a gallon of gasoline, we can see that the cost of crude oil is 50 percent, distribution and marketing is 10 percent, taxes are 19 percent, and refining is 21 percent.

Next, we can see that the cost of terrorism and worldwide political instability has surely driven the cost of oil in an upward fashion. It however remains interesting that as our demand for foreign oil increases that we are funding countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela, who are not only awash in terrorism, but are gaining more anti-American sentiment. Thus, if we look further at this issue, we can see that as we spend enormous amounts of money fighting terrorism and anti-Americanism, we are in the end funding the root of the problem. Translated into dollars, implications of a potential terrorist attack have increased the price per barrel by almost $15.

Although the aforementioned reasons are some of the major factors, there are many more influencers on the price of oil. Seasonality, which causes cyclicality in the price of gas, is determined by what time of year it is. Increasing travel during the summer months increases demand by nearly 5 percent, thus causing an increase in price, which is transferred to the consumer.

OPEC (Oil Producing and Exporting Countries), another important factor in the price of oil, determines at what level produce output. As OPEC holds nearly 70 percent of the world’s oil reserves, if they decide to produce more supply, than prices will drop. Conversely, if they decide to reduce production, prices will rise, and can be visually seen in below:

Environmental regulations also influence the price of gasoline. A state that has statutes less forgiving than federal guidelines is California, where refiners are subject to restrictions on reformulation, storage, and other miscellaneous rules which they must follow to comply with standards established by the state. These increasing rules and regulations are felt by the consumer, as the refiner passes these costs to the consumer at the pump.

Lastly, in terms of affect of increasing oil prices, severe or deteriorating weather conditions can drastically influence the price. As Hurricane Katrina has ravaged the Gulf Coast, it has damaged the heart of oil refineries, which use the Gulf Coast as a centralization point in storage, production, and distribution of oil supplies.

The Effects On The Economy

Gasoline prices continue to increase and are currently at record levels. Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and parts of Mississippi. New Orleans and the Gulf Coast area have refineries that account for ten percent of the refining of the United States. A loss of ten percent production translated to an increase of fifty cents a gallon or more at the pump. To further complicate the refinery production problem, hurricane Rita is on a course for Galveston and other areas of Texas which account for thirty five percent of US oil refining production. This could prove to be a major problem for the United States with another major increase in gasoline prices. When the gas prices continue to shift the question becomes “What will this do to consumer spending?” Ultimately, a significant change in consumer spending will determine what happens to the economy.

Will consumer spending go down simply because it costs more to commute to work or leave town to visit relatives. The answer is no. People will still continue to drive where they need to go, and they will continue to take trips to see family and friends. The frequency of these trips may decrease, but not at a level that would affect the economy. The large affect stems from the cost of manufacturing and transporting goods. Businesses will pay more to produce items, which will ultimately be passed to the consumer. When prices escalate to a level that consumers are unwilling to pay they will spend their money elsewhere. This is a direct reflection of the law of demand. As the price of an item goes up, the quantity demanded will decrease. This inverse relationship defined by the law of demand will begin to have an impact on the economy over time.

In the past, high energy costs have been a key predictor of economic slowdowns. So far we have not seen a recession begin to occur. The Federal Reserve chairman has kept the economy in check by increasing interest rates eleven consecutive times in a row. This has been done in an effort to control the very inflated housing market. The Fed may have to continue with this trend to combat inflation due to the rise in energy costs.

Gas prices are only a part of the problem that Americans are facing. The winter months are approaching, which will begin to show an even larger problem. Gasoline only accounts for about fifty percent of the oil use in the United States. Energy prices will become a shocking reality when heating bills begin to surface this winter. Natural gas, home heating oil, and electricity costs all continue to rise. So, why aren’t citizens rushing to the stores to purchase thicker jackets, blankets, and sweaters? Wouldn’t this help alleviate the higher energy prices this winter? The problem is that the prices for all of these goods are going to continue to increase as well. Oil prices will be felt in the trucking and shipping industry, which in turn will be passed along to the consumer.

What Can be Done?

Consumers are crazy to think that by not buying gas on a specific day will cause oil companies to decrease their prices. The only thing that will bring the price down is to decrease the quantity demanded. How can we as consumers do this? We are headed in the right direction by companies producing more energy efficient products. Everything from refrigerators to hot water heaters to automobiles are more energy efficient than they were thirty years ago. What else can be done to reduce the quantity demanded? In cities such as New York and Chicago, the transit system is sufficient to support a majority of those that work in the city. The transit system in San Diego is not as efficient nor does it have the capacity to transport a majority of those that work. However, parking the SUV during the week, arranging to carpool, and walking or biking for those that are close enough could certainly have a large enough impact to affect the quantity of gasoline demanded. Additionally, homeowners can take measures to make their homes more energy efficient for the winter by caulking windows and doors, or possibly by turning off the heater to their pool. These may seem like insignificant ideas, but if a large percentage of the population were to take these steps in conserving energy it would certainly be felt by the oil companies.

In an article by Congresswoman Deborah Pryce, she states that the US Department of Commerce estimates that America is losing nearly 2 million jobs annually due to oil prices. Even as our economy grows, the increased demand for energy and our dependence on foreign sources of oil will keep us from meeting our full economic potential. Alan Greenspan states that our low energy supplies are the biggest threat to an otherwise burgeoning economy. The simple answer then may be to open up Alaska for oil drilling. We must find ways to be more efficient when drilling in our oil fields. Innovation is the key. We need to find a way to use existing energy supplies more efficiently and explore new alternatives through extensive research and development. If conservation and innovation are promoted through incentives, we will undoubtedly create new technologies to provide energy in the future. Additionally, oil rigs that were shut down when prices were thirty five dollars per barrel may now operate out of the red at sixty five dollars a barrel. We must operate at maximum capacity and have less dependence on other countries for our oil supply. If we are able to do this, our economy will continue to prosper throughout the years to come.

References

Associated Press. Gas Prices Drive Up Wholesale-Level Inflation

Hirschey, M. Managerial Economics. Florence, KY: Thomson South-Western.

Pryce, D. Rising Gas Prices Highlight the Need for a National Energy Policy

Zakria, F. How to Escape The Oil Trap. Newsweek.

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Both authors recognize greed-driven and exploitative business dealings as a staple of American economics. Machtet describes the prairie merchants as “people of a special cast of mind and morality…whose entire task and goal is to make money without producing anything” (Prairie 32). He goes on to describe with amazement, tinged slightly by sarcasm, the business of buying goods in one area only to resell them in another, for ludicrously high prices (32). Thus, he highlights one of the ironies of capitalism: that one can make more money by skillfully manipulating the market than by actual productive labor. In other words, the man who actually produces a thing profits less than the man who simply buys it and sells it strategically.

Machtet then pauses to further explore the merchant phenomenon. Recognizing that the merchants engage in price-fixing, he explains their ability to avoid the usual decrease in prices resulting from competition (Prairie 32). His analysis of this situation points out one of the weaknesses of the “Invisible Hand” Theory¹: it presupposes fair play and “perfect competition”². The merchants Machtet speaks of capitalize upon high transaction costs³, as well as mutual agreements to keep the prices uniformly high, made possible by their already existing oligopoly⁴.

Machtet also recounts, rather humorously, but nonetheless critically, a company’s attempt to get President Grant to wear their socks, bearing their trademark (Frey’s 63). He notes that although the scheme outraged Grant, his vehement refusal generated publicity for the company (63). Again, Machtet mentions the merchant class, this time using the event of a political scandal to draw people to town and thus provide more business for themselves (65). Throughout, Machtet points out some of the negative conditions in America generated by the capitalist system.

Similar criticism occurs in Gorky’s essay, but here it becomes the main point of emphasis. Describing the “greediness of the Yellow Devil’s rich slaves,” Gorky portrays the vicious inequality that develops between the bourgeoisie and the “pitiful microbes of poverty,” the men and women whose labor feeds the city’s economy (Gorky 137). Through extended metaphors, Gorky describes the city itself as a type of inhuman monster, ruthlessly and insatiably devouring the lives, labor, and indeed the very souls of the people who work there (133). This personification artfully aims its cry of outrage at the people who own the grim factories and “the dark, silent skyscrapers…square, devoid of any desire to be beautiful” (133). Gorky’s constant references to gold, symbolizing the profit motive, recognize the private lust for more and more wealth, greater and greater economic growth, as the force which sets this monstrous machine in motion, imbuing it with life by transforming humanity into a mere tool used for its own purposes. The self-interested, short-sighted pursuit of profit by the few forces the many into a mechanical life of subjugation.

Gorky also provides a detailed description of the dehumanization and alienation resulting from the squalid conditions and bleak life of the proletariat (Gorky 137). He describes children fighting like wild dogs over scraps of food found in trash bins (137). Describing what those who live in the city often cannot see for themselves, he tells of the bitterly ironic illusions shrouding the vision of the people: “They have gotten used to their striving without a goal, used to thinking that there is a goal. In their eyes there is no anger toward the rule of iron, no hatred for its triumph” (135).

Machtet describes American democracy in glowing terms, praising the public involvement of the citizens (Prairie 26). He praises the democratic process by which the people adopted the Fence Law instead of the Herd Law, ignoring the fact that this decision, no matter how democratically reached, put the burden of extra time and work on those who were the poorest and newest to the community, those who had the least to spare (32).

Naively trusting in complete democracy, Machtet praises the mob “justice” that reigned in the prairie ( Prairie 47). With little chance to observe such things, let alone analyze and study them in a legal and statistical sense, Machtet comes to this conclusion not through reason or understanding of the facts, but from romanticization of life on the American prairie, and of the peasantry in general.

Gorky, on the other hand, takes a negative view of American democracy, seeing it as merely a transparent mask adorning the visage of a monstrous “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.” Using irony and personification, Gorky unmasks the hypocrisy of America, the destruction of the ideals it claims to represent, as he describes the statues of America’s founding fathers, neglected and ignored, all shreds of their former glory buried and forgotten beneath the glitz and grime or modern industrial capitalism (Gorky 134).

He goes on to further describe the so-called freedom of the masses, who despite suffrage and civil rights, still live lives controlled by their bosses, their companies, their economic status, still suffer under the horrid despotism of the time clock.⁵

The anti-capitalist stances of both Machtet and Gorky show through in their essays, but more openly and strongly in Gorky’s. Both have a political agenda in their writing. While Machtet praises American democracy, Gorky reviles it as just another trick of the ruling classes. The differences in the focus and content of their writing may largely generate from the difference in their politics and their experiences. Machtet, devotee of peasant socialism and visitor of the 1870’s American frontier, caught a glimpse of rural life which, at the time, remained more autonomous and freer from exploitation than city life. Also, Machtet envisions a form of socialism similar to the peasant commune. Thus, he focuses more on the methods of organization for these smaller, autonomous units, rather than the overarching governmental system, if there were to be any at all, ideally. Having looked to America as a possible spawning pool for socialist experiments, he seeks out possible opportunities and favorable conditions along that front.

Whereas Gorky, Bolshevik and visitor of an American industrialized city a year after the Russian Revolution of 1905, finds quite different conditions and takes a different political focus. While Machtet follows a more utopian socialist path, Gorky adheres to scientific socialist theory. Thus, he focuses on the class structure, the economic system, and the government resulting from it. His experiences show him the dark side of American life, the brutal economic inequalities that the market and democracy have both failed to solve. Having long viewed capitalism as a menace and America as a land engulfed by it, Gorky focused more intently upon the negative aspects of American urban life.

In the conclusion of “The Prairie and the Pioneers”, Machtet speaks of the Blue Valley meeting of clergy and worshipers (Prairie 50). Describing their diatribes against modern life and hopes for the future, he looks upon these people as good, pious, intelligent, and almost saintly. He concludes with the words: “And they say that they know this paradise and will show the way to it. There the sun shines eternally and there is neither sadness nor sorrow!” (50). Gorky’s essay, after pausing to notice a glimmer of hope in the existence of such men as a lone, rebellious thief, concludes with a final bleak personification: “The dismal City of the Yellow Devil raves in its sleep” (Gorky 142). In their journeys to America, Machtet saw the American Dream and Gorky saw the American Nightmare. One spoke of people like angels, the other of the devils of poverty and greed.

Works Cited

Gorky, Maxim. “City of the Yellow Devil.” America Through Russian Eyes. Ed., Trans. Olga Peters Hasty and Susanne Fusso. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. 128-143.

Machtet, Grigorij. “Frey’s Community.” America Through Russian Eyes. Ed., Trans. Olga Peters Hasty and Susanne Fusso. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. 54-82.

Machtet, Grigorij. “The Prairie and the Pioneers.” America Through Russian Eyes. Ed., Trans. Olga Peters Hasty and Susanne Fusso. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988. 16-53.

1 The “Invisible Hand” Theory, posited by Adam Smith, states that the diverse market forces within the self-interest-driven, capitalist system, counterbalance each other to create natural equilibrium and stability within the system.

2 “Perfect competition” entails a large market of many buyers and sellers, none of whom can individually manipulate the price of a product, as well as a homogeneous product, well-informed consumers, and the absence of transaction costs.

3 Transaction costs are the extra time, money, etc. spent in acquiring lower priced goods, due to fees, tariffs, having to travel a farther distance, etc. In other words, the relative inconvenience of attaining goods for a lower price.

4 An oligopoly is a market condition in which there are many buyers and only a small group of sellers for a given product.

5 “…it is only the independence of the axe in the carpenter’s hand, of the hammer in the blacksmith’s hand, of the brick in the hands of an invisible mason who, grinning slyly, is building one enormous but cramped prison for everyone” (Gorky 135).

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The 1920′s were a time when the level of discrimination against women was at a minimum. Many automobile companies, such as Cadillac and Chevrolet even mentioned women’s autonomy in their advertisements. According to Chevrolet, their product “has that elusive something that women of discrimination have been demanding for years.” In addition, the ad in general is aimed at women, as its main theme is “The most beautiful Chevrolet in history” and depicts a peacock with blue, green, white, and orange feathers. The words “beautiful Chevrolet in history” also happen to be overlapping the colorful feathers. Moreover, there are no men depicted in the ad. Instead, there are two women in the car. The secondary theme in the ad is “Quality at low cost”, as “Chevrolet discloses that individuality and perfection of silhouette that you would expect to find in the costliest of custom-built creations.” The automobile in the ad happens to look like a silhouette when compared to the bright white background, as the car is dark gray in color.

Compositionally, the advertisement is balanced, as most of the words are placed in two columns in the center with one image above and another one below. Though the car, on the bottom, is dark and fairly large, there is a sense of balance between the two images due to the texture in the peacock’s feathers. In addition, the heading of the ad is in large serif letters overlapping the feathers, some of which are italicized. There are four separate fonts of various sizes used in the heading alone, and two others are used throughout the ad.

After the depression of the 1930′s, the main focus of the 1940′s became appearance and also asked the question, “What car company has the best quality and gives it to you for the smallest price?” This is also when competition among carmakers began heating up and manufacturers began targeting different audiences. For example, Chevrolet would publish an ad that read, “You’ll look a long, long time without finding any real equal to this car at any price”, while De Soto would counter by saying, “Success proves De Soto the smartest buy” and “…De Soto’s the car for anybody’s money.” Most automobile manufacturers aimed their advertisements toward the average American family, who had managed to survive through the depression during the previous years. De Soto depicted a family of three sitting in a car as they drove to a fair. Moreover, the family is buying cotton candy, while an onlooker tells the driver, “You must be mighty proud of that De Soto.” These are strong visuals, as it shows that the average family can have an attractive car and still have enough money to go out together and have fun. The font is fairly plain, as the header is sans serif, and the rest of the ad is serif. The only script in the ad is the slogan, “America’s smartest low-priced car.”

On the other hand, Chevrolet depicts its cars as classy and elegant, yet extremely affordable. Their black and white ad shows that colors are not what make a car elegant; rather, it is the overall design. Moreover, an elegant young lady stands in the foreground, which tells the viewer that if the average female were to buy the car depicted, they too would feel elegant and a part of upper-class society. After all, the ad’s header reads, “Meet the beauty leader – Bar none” in script. All of the other “advantages” and features are written in two columns below the picture using serif font.

With the 1960′s came giant Cadillacs and Buicks. Cars seemed to be getting bigger with each one built. This presented a problem, however. Their large size contributed to low fuel mileage, and thus, people had to pay more for gas and general maintenance than they should have. This sparked an interest in small, affordable economy cars. Volkswagen led the way with its Beetle. Many thought it was strange and a “novelty” when it first came out, but in 1962, the company published a simple advertisement encouraging people to “think small.” The ad incorporates the corner view of a small, black off-centered VW Beetle with a white background. There is nothing more, except for three columns of small text using sans serif font at the bottom. This basic ad is aimed at those of any age who have previously poked fun at the car and for those who are used to driving large cars and paying more for gas and service. The car is depicted as being virtually worry-free, as those who buy it don’t have to think about it’s excellent gas mileage or using “5 pints of oil instead of 5 quarts.” The only time its owner has to think about the car is when they “want to trade in their old VW for a new one.” Another company that has followed suit is Ford and its 1969 Cortina. The ad sparks similar emotions to the Volkswagen ad in that it reminds the viewer to “think over” buying an economy car over a larger car. In addition, it is another fairly simple ad that shows a window sticker with a list of options, including a parcel shelf and front disc brakes, all of which have “no charge” written next to them. Unlike the Volkswagen ad, which was aimed at a wide audience, this ad is aimed at females who know enough not to pay for extra features that are included at no charge by the Ford Motor Company, as the woman slightly smiling on the right seems to allude. The main visual is not that bold, as it is just sans serif font on a window sticker.

The use of modern technology in building cars had become popular by the 1980′s. Carmakers such as General Motors and Nissan promoted their products by attempting to offer more “electronics packages” than other companies. Since manufacturers saw the success of economy cars during the 1960s and 1970s, they implemented the technology in most makes and models, not just expensive luxury cars.

In 1981, General Motors proclaimed that technology had arrived and that they were the future of the automobile industry by depicting their product going through a wind tunnel not once, but twice in order to achieve perfection. Moreover, the car appears to be a computer-generated image that is fresh off of the drawing board. The black and white visual, itself, is fairly weak, but for its time period, it delivers a strong message, in that aerodynamics and technology within the automobile industry were rather new. The message is also repeated in the description of the ad below the image. The left and right margins of the text are also on an angle, adding some interest to the ad. Because the technology was new, General Motors marketed this ad toward younger people who had a better understanding of aerodynamics and power features than those who were older did.

A 1984 advertisement for Nissan depicted their car as “a world class sedan that doesn’t cost the world,” meaning that people didn’t have to pay extra for the power options and the implementation of modern technology, such as a keyless entry system. Like General Motors, Nissan is aiming its ad toward a younger audience and states that the Maxima’s engine “generates more horsepower than BMW, Audi, or a Porche 944.” In addition, the “standard power windows, cruise control, and stereo with cassette” appeal to younger audiences. But most importantly though, they “add up to one of the world’s most sophisticated sedans at any price.”

The pictured sedan toward the top of the page is on a gridded plane, making the car appear to be fresh off the drawing board. The italicized sans serif text is the only element that depicts motion, and the image between the two columns of text on the bottom of the ad shows the inside of the car and how plush and roomy it is. Overall, the advertisement works in that the viewers get an idea of what they are missing if they don’t already own “the most sophisticated sedan” with the best “technology”, “quality”, and “service plan”.

In conclusion, since the automobile has increasingly become such a part of our everyday lives over the years, the depictions in the industry’s advertisements show more than a campaign or a message, they depict the society and the style of art of their respective time periods. The 1920s were a time when advertisements were starting to target women, since only men had previously owned vehicles. Advertisers also stressed the car’s beauty, which was also apparent in the 1940s, after the depression. Those who couldn’t afford to own vehicles in the 1930s now could, and many families began buying them for road trips or drives down to the local fairgrounds. However, in the 1960s, quality and cost became a bigger factor than the car’s appearance, and economy cars became popular. The advertisements became more simplistic, as did the cars they were depicting. Viewers were also encouraged to “think small,” and this appealed to younger audiences, since drivers became younger. But as the 1980s rolled around, technology began being implemented in the construction and mechanisms of the automobiles. Like the 1960s, manufacturers depicted their cars as having better quality and reliability, but at a lower cost than most luxury cars. Some were even depicted as having smarter technology than luxury cars.

Today, people know about the quality and reliability, as well as the technology of automobiles. Most ads depict people having fun with their vehicles, such as a SUV driving over the Rocky Mountains or a person getting everything they want, including a fun Toyota sports car. The campaigns, audiences, and messages behind the advertisements may have changed over time, but the ultimate message has not. And that is generally great value and reliability for a low cost.  However, it is apparent now more than ever, with corporations marketing to younger audiences who generally wouldn’t have as much money as a middle-aged family man in the 1940s or 1960s.

Related:

• The Emergence of Advertising in America 1850-1920
• The Emergence of Photojournalism and its Effect on Society
• Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola: A Web Marketing Comparison