Info Meeting

Everyone at the office thought that using the company e-mail system to share jokes and funny stories was great fun. That is, until one offended employee decided to sue his employer for having helped to create a hostile work environment.

Employee access to E-mail and the Internet can help to streamline communication among employees, and between employees and customers. But, just like conversations or information communicated on paper, E-mail messages have the power to create significant liability issues for employers who fail to adequately supervise how the medium is being used.

Here are just a few of the risks that unregulated access to E-mail and the Internet can create:

Loss Of Proprietary Company Information: Most business owners are extremely careful about the distribution of hard copies of company confidential information, and take great pains to ensure that such materials are kept secure. But, an ill-intentioned employee can easily attach electronic copies of confidential materials to outgoing e-mails, all from the comfort and convenience of their own computer terminal.

Wrongful Access To Proprietary Information Of Others: Just as your proprietary information can easily slip into the hands of others, so too can employees tap into the confidential information of other companies, or misuse their copyrighted or trademarked properties. Such actions can place your company in the direct path of charges of corporate spying or of infringement of intellectual property rights.

Creation Of An Evidence Trail: As the Microsoft antitrust cases clearly demonstrate, copies of E-mails are increasingly being subpoenaed as evidence in legal cases. Seduced by the ease of E-mail communication, many users become surprisingly candid and may openly discuss business strategies and tactics that may come back to haunt your company.

Contribution To A Hostile Work Environment: As we noted above, offensive E-mail messages sent to other employees can be just as problematic as the employee who begins every conversation with an inappropriate joke. Unmonitored use of the corporate E-mail system to circulate such material can land employers in hot water for contributing to the creation of a hostile work environment.

Potential To Alienate Customers: Employees using the company’s E-mail system to solicit for a favorite political cause or to proselytize personal religious beliefs place the company in the position of unknowingly supporting those positions. Such unwitting support can jeopardize relationships with customers, prospects and vendors.

Increased Risk To Company’s Computer Infrastructure: E-mail is the distribution method of choice for computer viruses that can cripple your computer network. Less devastating but no less taxing on your computer resources are the scores of junk e-mail messages received by employees that participate in Internet chat rooms and discussion groups that are unrelated to their work responsibilities.

Lost Productivity: Although E-mail and Internet access can improve communications, they can also serve as diversions from an employee’s work responsibilities for all of the reasons noted above.

The best defense against such exposure? A policy that makes clear the restrictions on the use of the company’s E-mail system and Internet access can go a long way to help your employees understand the power, and the danger, inherent in E-mail communications. And, while having a company E-mail policy won’t insulate you completely from possible legal exposure, it can help to support your claims of having taken reasonable efforts to minimize such risks.

There are loads of sensual aids out there on the adult market and glass dildos are lovely martial toys to use or give to your boyfriend. Sexy toys can be works of art, as seen by the fabulous glass dildos on sale in stores. The lovely glass dildos are different as people can control the temperature of the martial toy. The difference in warmth makes sex sessions phenomenal.

The most fantastic thing about this breed of sex toy is that they are sturdy. The marital aid can come in different colours and might well be used for back passage play. The great thing is the sexual toys might often be placed in the microwave to quickly heat up. The durable glass holds the desired temperature so you can carry on with your love making without having to adjust the warmth regularly.

Cleaning a sensual aid is super easy. Martial toys, especially glass dildos, might often be washed quickly. Wash it in soapy suds or try a sex toy cleaner from a martial toy shop. Glass dildos are fantastic sexy toys to help heat up your sex life with your mistress. The first time your girl uses a sexual toy like a glass dildo they will have a stunning orgasm. Sensual aids will be played with at anytime and are a lovely essential to any relationship. If you like lube you should try it with your favourite Anal Toys.

Don’t quit your day job just yet.If you are a baby boomer looking to start a home business, there are 5 essentials things you must do first.

Leaving the security of a job with an established 401(k) plan, health insurance or other benefits can create a real tug of war for baby boomers who want to pursue their dreams of owning their own business.

Analyze Your Exit Strategy

At the time of this writing, the youngest of the baby boomers are turning 42 and the oldest are turning 60. No matter where you fall into this group, analyzing and preparing your exit strategy from your job will be crucial to your long-term success as a home business entrepreneur. Do you have adequate savings? If you’re married, will you be able to participate in your spouse’s health insurance?

Create a Financial Plan

How much is your salary now? What are your fixed, variable and frivilous expenses? Creating a solid plan so that you and your family will know exactly what the financial picture will be until your business gets off the ground and starts generating revenue.

Choosing a Business Model and Legal Entity

There are several business models to choose from; home party plans, consulting, and affiliate marketing to name a few. You have to make the decision based on your personality and what you are best-suited for. Choosing a legal entity for your business should be discussed with a tax accountant or your attorney. Options are sole proprietor, LLC or Subchapter S- Corp.

Set Business Benchmarks

You wouldn’t travel across the country without a road map, your business is the same. Setting financial and business-building benchmarks will help you to create a focused plan that will help you to reach your success.

Get a Physical

What does getting a physical have to do with your business? Once you leave your job, most likely your health insurance will change and as unfair as it may be, trying to get new health insurance when in your 40’s, 50’s or 60’s can be difficult. While pursuing your dreams of a home business is something you are probably very passionate about, if you do not have good health to enjoy the rewards of your efforts, then not much else is important.

The baby boomer generation is like no other before it or after it. Technically, we are considered middle-aged, but we are anything but middle-aged in mind, body and spirit. We know there is more meaning to life than a commute to an unrewarding 9-5 job, but there are also important steps we must take first. Planning and preparing for your home business now will lead to less headache’s later on.

Innovation – is a talent that everyone has, yet they think they don’t.

If you’ve ever marveled at somebody’s creative prowess, guess what, you can create and innovate too.

It just takes time.

Everyone is born creative.

The box of crayons in kindergarten was not limited to only those who possessed potential; because the truth is, everybody has potential.

You just have to resurrect it from within.

You know how long it took to learn to ride a bike or drive or to never commit the same mistake again?

It’s the same with innovation.

It takes a bit of practice and a lot of time before this mind function comes easily when called.

This article will teach you a few creative tips on how to put innovation into your marketing ads online.

Outstanding creative spunky ads really get readers attention online.

Captivate your reader’s attention with the innovative you.

Don’t think you are creative?

I beg to differ.

You are a wonderful creative person.

Everybody has a creative genius within waiting to shine!

Let’s getting going with a creativity exercise.

Creative thinking exercises can also help you in your quest be a more creative problem solver and to spawn multitudes of fantastic original ideas out of thin area.

Everybody expresses him or herself best in different ways.

How do you best express your ideas?

I like to connect with the paper and pen instead of typing away at my notepad.

I love creative writing and can sit writing for hour’s non stop.

Here is one exercise to unleash your creative advertising ideas:

To get started take a piece of paper and write any word that comes to mind at the center.

Now look at that word then write the first two words that come to your mind.

This can go on until you can build a tree of related words.

This helps you build analogical skills and gets your creative processes going.

You will see how many interesting ideas flourish just from jotting down those first two words.

You can also read your ad out loud as if you were making a presentation.

Be very theatrical and dramatic about it too!

Don’t just mumble to yourself.

Act as if… you were playing a part in a play.

Be emotive – move – use hand gestures – be animated
Don’t just sit there.

Just as in any theatrical play or stage performance – the performers are very descriptive – emotive – and dramatically driven.

They want you to experience and feel.

They want you to get in the groove.

That’s what you want – is for your readers to get in the groove.

You want that dramatic impact.

Collectively the visual and verbal connection will bring forth any gapping areas you need to correct.

Practice this concept when you are preparing your ads or need catchy headlines.

If you have a creative original marketing idea or angles go with it.

The more original and risk taking you are relying on your creativity the more you will generate new creative ideas at a drop of a hat.

If all the geniuses in history just merely listened to their peers, we would probably still be living in the middle ages.

Geniuses in history – knew how to follow the beat of their own drum.

Follow your own creative beat of your drum.

Find your own style.

You can always tell a Van Gogh from a Matisse.

You’ll know Hemingway wrote something by the choice of words on the paper.

So it is the same with you – create your own signature mark.

People will appreciate your innovation more because it is uniquely yours and that no one else would have thought of what you were thinking.

Here is your second exercise to spur your creativity:

This exercise will create hyper focus on one thing yet; instantly cause an avalanche of corresponding details and thoughts to emerge.

Are you ready?

Sit in a comfortable chair or what not.

Now place an interesting object about 5 feet away at eye level on a table or whatever you can use.

So here we are – you are sitting in your cozy chair starring at this interesting object.

Look at and only focus on this singular object.

Block out everything else.

Let your mind empty.

Now keep focusing on that object for at least 5 minutes.

During this focusing consider the following one by one:

- The objects color

– If the object is multi-colored focus on each color

– The objects shape

– The objects texture

– How the object smells

– How the object feels to the touch

– How does this object make you feel?

You can do the same experiment a little differently also by observing an object from multi-angles.

Each angle will reveal different characteristics you don’t see from others angles.

This exercise clearly demonstrated that one entity is multi characteristic.

So one thing is not just describable in just one word there are many attributions that are attached to it.

Same principle applies to words.

For example – let’s take the word happy.

Write it down.

Now write everything you can attach to the word happy.

This can go on and on.

Your mind will generate ideas and interesting correlations.

This is what you want to do is to tap into all the different aspects of one thing – one word – one thought – one idea.

You can do this for objects – words – ideas.

Make your words and writing come alive.

The ……I’ll kiss an elephant if – Analogy:

I vividly recall reading one of Marlon Sanders ads about 2 years ago which read “I’ll kiss an elephant if…. such and such product doesn’t work.”

Marlon used that precise line in the headline as well.

You see the impact of innovation… it lingers and leaves an imprint on the readers mind.

That’s what you want to do is to leave a lasting impression of innovative clever marketing footprints.

Combine your marketing offer with:

Humor:

State something funny you will do if product X doesn’t work:

- I’ll tap dance with a monkey..

– I’ll eat a bucket of slippery worms.

– I’ll do the chicken dance at McDonalds in the middle of the lunch rush hour

If you need ideas just flip on Fear Factor on the t.v.

You will never run out of ideas!

Fables:

Use the underlying lessons/ morals learnt from fables – parables

Example:

Invest your money now for a fruitful return to secure future!

Prepare for the future now!

Remember the old fable about The Ant and the Grasshopper?

The ant wisely prepared for the winter by collecting his food in advance.

When winter came the ant was prepared and had food to feed his family.

The grasshopper on the other made no preparation – why worry was his motto.

When winter approached the grasshopper was dying from hunger.

The moral of this story is: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

Be like the ant prepare now!

Avoid future financial disasters!

“The Ant and the Grasshopper”

Aesop’s Fables

In a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest. “Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?” “I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.” “Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “we have got a lot of food at present.” But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

Notorous quotes / Adages

Inter mingle quotes with your ad to make a point or to spark inspiration of hope – success – happiness, ECT.

What ever emotion or outcome you are trying to depict.

Examples:

-”Nothing happens unless first a dream”
Carl Sanburg

“Imagination is more important than knowledge”
Albert Einstein

Adages:

Examples:

Remember that old adage,” two heads are better than one.” – Smart Marketers participate in Joint Ventures!

“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” – Take advantage of this free offer!

Present your ad as if you were telling a story to a friend :

Example:

- I once was quite disheartened and discouraged about marketing until I discovered an eye opening system to achieve success online.

Put your reader into the world of fantasy world or the What If world.

Let your reader imagine what it is like and how it feels to…..

- Earn a gazillion dollars

- What if… you could earn $1 gazillion dollars with a sure fire method?

- Have a successful thriving business with hoards of visitors swarming to the website

- What if…. you could drive hoards of visitors to your website overnight?

- Have beautiful radiant glowing skin that shimmers in the light.

- What if-.you could be envy of your friends with beautiful youthful skin?

- Have a youthful well sculptured body

- What if… you could have a magnificent figure that would turn heads?

Ever since our childhood we all loved to indulge in the world of make believe and fantasy.

We were slaying dragons or pretending to be a wealthy famous princess or prince on a throne.

Stir up your imagination.

Describe in detail the scenario of the what if experience/ fantasy – you want your reader to visualize or conjure up in their mind .

Write it just as though you were experiencing it yourself.

It’s really true – always have a mind and heart of a child.

Take one moment right now for this exercise:

Close your eyes.

Go back to the time that you were a child.

How did you play?

How did you create?

What imaginative things did you do?

What silly things did you do or say?

What excited you?

What made you sad?

What made your little heart sing?

I am certain you have just made many fascinating revelations.

Stir up that child self.

Look through the eyes of your child self now to discover excitement and adventure in everything.

Exercise:

Take a walk.

Run a mile or two.

Send all those endorphins coursing through your veins.

Exercising certainly clears and relaxes your mind and allows for anything to pop up.

Record your dreams:

Aren’t some of your dreams just the craziest things that your conscious mind would never have thought of?

If you’ve had these dreams before, and I’m sure have, this only shows you the untapped innovative power you have lying within.

So jot down those notes.

Those dreams may just create an innovative spark in you.

Don’t worry about inspiration:

You can’t force it; inspiration hits when you least expect it to.

Everywhere and anywhere inspirational thoughts and ideas will manifest and surface.

So… for those unpredictable yet inevitable moments you should prepare.

An idea could strike you on the subway, yet alas, you poor unfortunate soul; you have no sheet of paper to scribble down a thought that could change the world.

Avoid these disasters.

Have a pen and paper within your arm’s reach at all times.

If you are on the go – then put a sheet of folded up paper or pen in your back pocket or purse.

I hope this article has helped you bring more innovation into your life and creativity to your marketing online.

Soon enough they will take notice of the innovate creative you.

Here are few resources to get you started:

Fables:
Listing of 655 fables to read for ideas: http://www.aesopfables.com/

Adages:
A huge collection of proverbs, proverbial sayings, clichés, maxims, adages, aphorisms, platitudes, mottos, old saws, inanities, common sayings, or whatever you want to call them: http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/proverb2.html

Huge collection – Funny Quotes – Funny Sayings – Funniest Quotations: http://www.allfunnyquotes.com/

Many blessings to you for success and prosperity in 2006!

Laura Ghedotte is an online Marketer – currently involved in extensive research & development of self improvement products.

Publisher of Tidbits From the Crypt Newsletter:

http://www.freewebs.com/tidbitsfromthecrypt/

jghedotte1@comcast.net

Unfortunately for brand, the Armani has not proven quite popular with buyers, never the less it is still worth evaluating. For the money the Samsung Armani is a bit too basic. The Samsung Armani has a very good feel to it, and we really liked its cutting edge sleek design.

The Samsung Armani is very small. The Samsung Armani weighs in at 85 g In terms of colours the Armani can only be bought in Black. The Armani has support for 2G GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 . This mobile phone has a 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels, video(CIF) camera. For those that need access to the Internet on the move a WAP 2.0/xHTML browser is included.To allow mobile Internet access a WAP 2.0/xHTML browser is included. This mobile phone is bluetooth enabled making it extremely convenient to integrate with devices, such as hands free sets or a music system. The Samsung Armani is that comes with a Li-Ion 880 mAh, battery. Regarding the all important battery cell usage the Samsung Armani has 220 hours standby time and 6:00 talk time. The Armani has Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3 ring tones enabled as well as a vibration alert. Moving on to the display the mobile handset is equipped with a 2.6 inch screen, which is a nice big display considering other possibilities you could get for the money. A TFT touchscreen, 256K colors display is fitted to this phone. This phone also has a few extra features, for example:

Document viewer (.pdf.doc.ppt.xls)

Organizer

Voice memo

Java MIDP 2.0

MP3/ACC/ACC+ player

Although this is a relatively new model, there is already stiff competition from more recent models. Because of this it is relatively easy to get a great bargain on the Armani. If you are after a fantastic deal, shop online where you can find a huge number of really cheap deals to choose from. Ordering online can allow you to take advantage of significant cost savings, it is even possible to get a Samsung Armani with 12 months free , which, if you read the terms and conditions will not cost anything to run.

You’ve put months into having your trade show booth designed. Now it’s finished or very close. You walk around your new booth like a proud parent when it suddenly dawns on you; you need promotional handouts to go with it! Where to start, though?

The key to a great promotional handout for a trade show event is that it provides needed information about you and your business. But for it to stick, in other words, not get thrown in the trash, it has to have something a little more than just information.

One of the very best ways to make sure your trade show booth handouts don’t get thrown away but will stick is to put an offer or coupon of some kind in them. Coupons that a person can use after the trade show event practically guarantee your handouts won’t get thrown away. After all, your customers will want to use the coupons!

Sweepstakes and raffle offers also work well and assure your handouts will be read, kept and, better yet, used. To get someone’s attention these days means you usually have to give them a little more than just information. They want STUFF. And so having a simple sweepstakes or raffle offer in your trade show booth handouts means that your handouts are more likely to be read and held on to.

And here’s a great tip that many people forget. By using this sort of trade show booth handout, you have the opportunity to gather names and addresses. And it’s so easy! You can use them for follow up using direct mail, email newsletter and other marketing promotions long after the trade show event is over.

This is an important part of marketing, using any venue or medium. Follow up is essential. What? You thought you’d just do a trade show event and make some sales and that would be it? What about the potential customers who only need a little nudging or who may not need your product or service now, but will in the future? Are you going to just let them get away?

The truth is that normally it takes six to seven times (and sometimes many more) to get a marketing or advertising message across to a consumer and make a sale. That’s why there are so many avenues for advertising and promotions to begin with-to give businesses more opportunities to get their marketing messages across.

So the last thing you want to do is think a trade show booth event is all you have to do to make a sale. Use a sticky handout that allows you to gather contact information and by continually reaching out to those people who have shown an interest in you, you’ll ensure they show a return interest in you!

Do you want to successfully squeeze every possible drop out of your trade show marketing? Patty Stripes shows you how with tips relating to trade show booths. Learn everything you wanted to know about hiring a trade show magician.

While talking about fee only financial planners, one thing should be taken into consideration is that “Fee-Only” planners are compensated solely by fees paid by their clients, and do not accept commissions or compensation from any other source. The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) is the largest organization of “fee-only” planners.

The main function of fee only financial planners is to develop a sound financial plan. A sound financial plan should be simple as well as practical. When there is complexity in the financial plan the operating executives will find it difficult to follow. It should be designed with a long-term view. While designing the investment, financial and dividend policies, the long-term requirements of the concern are also to be considered. Sound financial planning requires vision and forecast. Proper forecasting of the future is necessary to design the financial plan. It should have enough flexibility to incorporate changes in the plans.

Financial planning should ensure liquidity. The concern should be able to meet the maturing obligations in time. However, maintaining of liquidity should not be at the cost of profitability. It should ensure economy also. That is, the cost associated with various financial decisions should be the minimum. It should aim at the best possible use of the available resources, especially finance. A poor balance between fixed and working capital should be maintained for using the capital effectively.

The nature of business plays a decisive role in designing financial plans. A capital-intensive industry like iron and steel requires more capital. Besides, the stability and regularity of income, future prospects of growth, and the fluctuation in the demand for the product being manufactured by the firm play dominant roles in determining the capital needs as well as capital structure. The risk involved in the business has significant bearing on the determination of the capital structure.

Financial Planners provides detailed information on Financial Planners, Certified Financial Planners, Fee Only Financial Planners, Become A Financial Planner and more. Financial Planners is affiliated with Financial Service Companies.

The unnecessary and extensive use of female models in advertisements is common not only in America & Europe, but also in Pakistan and rest of the world. Women are used to sell everything from cars to cigarettes. These advertisements use attractive women posing in ways. This type of advertisements initially started in the West to sell special women products, alcohol and adult entertainments. Gradually this trend spreaded to other markets & products and unfortunately it has been adopted by our market also.

The reality is that peoples of nearly all age group are influenced by advertisements and advertisers know this reality. After presenting an attractive model, the advertisers pose that their product/service can fulfill any need and can cure any problem or difficulty faced by the viewer.

There are two things to be noticed about women’s appearance in commercials. First, in many advertisements women are used irrelevantly and these advertisements include products which are purely for men. Second, if presence of a woman is necessary in certain advertisements then advertisements focus mainly on beauty and body features of the model, and less on the product.

This practice has been carried out by various giant companies across the globe. One of the classic examples is the presence of a woman in the advertisement of Gillette Mach-3.1 Another example in the advertisement of FORD in which woman’s body is compared with car’s body.

Other examples are advertisements of JVC camera and Toyota Lexus. In both advertisements they have shown partial nudity, while presence of women was not fairly justified.

After watching these advertisements one thinks that what are they trying to sell, and what feelings they are trying to create.

In Pakistan a very prominent example was a billboard advertisement of a motorcycle company. The advertisement showed a motorcycle and an attractive women resting with it. There was model number, features and name of the company on the board but surprisingly there was no male model in the whole advertisement. In our culture we don’t see even a single woman riding a bike.

Another recent example is of a series of billboards & newspaper advertisements of a local home appliances manufacturing company. The company has its advertisements for microwave ovens, window AC, split AC, floor standing AC and refrigerators etc. Advertisements show only woman models with the subject appliance.

One is surprised to find no men in AC advertisements specially floor standing models that are usually used in offices. Chiefly the buying decision of these products has to be taken by a man who is the runner of the whole family. Same types of advertisements have been produced by other AC manufacturers.

A local ISP company carries the picture of woman on their internet hour’s card, and even a 10 rupee card bears the same. According to a rough approximation the percentage of female internet users in our country is about 30%. So what about the remaining 70% male users? The advertisement does not reflect the high percentage users and just trying to pull the customer.

Another relevant example is of a mattress company advertisement. The advertisement show a luxurious room with a female model, cool dressed, lying on a bed. The object of interest for peoples is the girl not the foam because they simply can’t move their eyes from a living thing to a non-living thing. The point here is that mattresses are for the use of both genders, not only for the women.

We have seen a lot of advertisements of shops, available in under constructing shopping centers. Female models are used in such advertisements & billboards who invite people to buy those shops. Logically there is no reason of showing women models in such advertisements because shop buying & selling is mainly men’s business.
A giant cellular company has associated female models with one of its service and shows attractive female models wearing tight sleeveless T-shirts in their billboard, electronic, print & visual advertisements. The company totally ignores the fact that in our country male mobile users are much more than female mobile users.

Advertisers can not justify the unnecessary use of woman’s body for selling their products. These ubiquitous images encourage us to think of woman as a commodity. Advertising is an effective and persuasive marketing tool which creates an entire cultural worldview, shaping our attitudes and beliefs. The advertisements portray females as tall, extra smart & extra beautiful. They give emphasis to the physical attractiveness of woman’s body. Advertisers use models & supermodels. Many times photographs are airbrushed or otherwise altered to remove any lines, bumps or lumps to reach perfection.

The negative effects of advertising on women viewers fall into a number of problems. The most common effect is continuous increase in the number of women who diet & thus being involved in eating disorders. Across the world millions of women & girls who are unable to reach this standard of beauty, feel a sense of shame and failure. The average girl sees hundreds of advertisements per day and by the time she enters the age of adolescence she has received millions of commercial messages, most of them pointing towards the same direction that is to be ideal.
A poll conducted in 1996 by the international ad agency Saatchi proves that advertisements made women fear being unattractive or old.2 Seventy five percent of the “normal” weight women in America think they are overweight and almost half of American women are on a diet on any given day. While 5-10 million women are struggling with serious eating disorders.3

Conditions are not much different in the major cities of our country. I conducted a survey in a local college. Data was collected from 50 female respondents with age range from 14-22years. Following conclusions were drawn:

• Half of the respondents told that advertisements stay in their mind not because of words but because of images.

• 76% of the girls are influenced by advertisements to buy products.

• 73& of the respondents are attracted by female models & 50% of the girls want to be like models.

• 60% of the respondents are not satisfied with their weight & 71% of them are somehow involved in dieting.

• In response to a question that what steps they can take to be like models. Almost 60% of the girls told that they can diet & improve figure for this purpose.

It seems that if consciously they do not strive to be models, but subconsciously these idealistic looks shape their views.

Today’s fashion models weigh 23% less than the average female and a young woman between the age of 18-34 has a 7% chance of being as slim as catwalk model and a 1% chance of being as thin as a supermodel. Exposure to idealized body images lowers women’s satisfaction with their own attractiveness.

Advertisers purposely present unrealistically thin & beautiful bodies in order to create an unattainable desire that is ultimately related to their products, so their customer never disappears. It is only used to play with men’s emotion, to try and encourage them to buy the products because this supposedly will get the girl.

An old example is of Brylcream advertisement. In this commercial a poor man is seen going to work everyday with messy hair, sitting lonely on the train ride (sure sign of a loser). As soon as he adds Brylcream to his hairs, suddenly two gorgeous babes are hanging all over him.

Same type of advertisement of a famous drink was seen on our local media.

Many of these advertisements promote violence against women. The results have been seen in American society with more women injured from being battered by men than by all rapes.

An advertisement of After Shave Lotion starts with a man learning Karate in a centre. The voice in the background tells that it is essential to learn Karate when using our lotion because as you will apply lotion, its smell will turn all women mad & they will just attack you. Afterwards in advertisement they show that when man applies the lotion, 3 women try to capture him and he replies them by kicking them off.

Another very serious problem is the fact that advertisements almost always portray women as sex object in order to increase to appeal of their product. This significantly affects the way women think about themselves, particularly young women, because it is during the adolescent stage of life that young people develop their sense of self identity. This send the underlying message to women and girls that the only important thing about them is the way they look, causing many women to believe that their self-worth is dependant upon attention from men.

In response to a question that does a woman’s value depend on her face or on her overall features and looks, about 98% of the respondent girls of my survey told that it depends on overall features & looks. And 77% of the girls were not fully satisfied with their personality and looks.

The commodification of women undoubtedly contributes to the high incidents of rape and physical assault in nearly all cultures around the world.
These types of advertisements have also changed the thought process of men. Now a woman’s value is determined by the way she looks. The impractical ideal in the minds of men lives only in the advertisements and not in the real world. This attitude is harming the women. All the credit goes to advertiser & then to media.

It is the reality that advertisers are not there to meet our social needs but are there to make sales and deal with big money. Corporations, whether big or small, can do anything to make a sale. This is a gift to society from Capitalism. Advertisements sell not only products, but also promises, life-style, images, hopes & dreams. But what kind of promises, images, life-style & dreams are they? This is the matter of question.

Conditions can not get better until & unless corporations realize that there are certain “Marketing Ethics” that have to be followed. Whether it is America or Pakistan, governments will have to look seriously into the matter. We ourselves will have to change our concept of ideal woman. We need to concentrate more on the product & services than on the projected bodies. Women will have to identify the red line between advertisement’s world & the real world.
Unless these improvements come into effect we will continue to suffer.

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REFERENCES

- Video available at:
http://www.marketingtoolbox.com/cases/gillette/index.htm 1

- Peacock, M. (1998). “Sex, Housework & Ads.” Women’s Wire web site.

Available at: http://womenswire.com/forums/image/D1022/ 2

- Body Image and Advertising. 2000. Issue Briefs. Studio City, Calif.: Mediascope Press.

Available at: http://www.mediascope.org/pubs/ibriefs/bia.htm 3

- “Facts on Body and Image,” compiled by Jean Holzgang. Just Think Foundation web site.

Available at: http://www.justthink.org/bipfact.html 4

- Olds, T. (1999). “Barbie figure ‘life-threatening’.” The Body Culture Conference. VicHealth

and Body Image & Health Inc 5

- Limpinnian, D. The Portrayal of Men and Women in TV Ads.

Available at: http://www.aber.ac.uk/~mcswww/Students/del0001.html

- Moore, J. Women and Advertising. Available at:

http://www.socialistalternative.org/justice29/13.html

- Kilbourne, J. Still killing Us Softly. Available at:

http://www.mediaed.org/videos/MediaGenderAndDiversity/KillingUsSo

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Adnan Asfar; adnanasfar@yahoo.com

A Corporate Facelift With Sound Bytes

By R.J. Paradee, President First Impression Inc. and MediaRight Studios

If Baby Boomers can get botox and tummy tucks, then why don’t companies receive facelifts to improve their image as well? The telephone is the lifeblood of any business. Use it respectfully. Don’t leave your clients on-hold to listen to radio static or elevator music. With digital recording and delivery of sound files, professional production of on-hold advertising is both economical and necessary for a positive image. That’s right – it’s imperative that the first impression a client receives of your business (even though they may never visit) is how they’re treated on the telephone. How many times have you called a business to hear “Thank you for calling ABC Dental Office please hold” before you can get a word in edge-wise.” In many cases , what they have on-hold is your first impression of that company.

Music Selection Should be Appealing
At the very least, make certain on-hold music is a decent selection, and that you have permission to broadcast the music to on-hold callers. After all the music chosen is a direct reflection of your business. If you don’t get your licensed music from an On-Hold Message provider, you may obtain permission to play certain music on-hold from ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC, the three large performing rights organizations.

Develop Content That Sells Products and Services
Customers who are on-hold are essentially a captive audience. If you want on-hold time to turn into sales, consider hiring a professional producer to mix radio style commercials with licensed music. The copy should be specifically written to cross-sell your products and services. AT&T studies show that people will stay on-hold longer if they hear messages about your company during the waiting period. Do not rely on the “please hold for personal assistance to your call, or thank you for your patience while on hold” type of messages. I believe these type of messages hurt you more than help you.

Answer Repetitive Questions On-Hold
As you’re on-hold spots are developed, remember this marketing strategy is a customer service tool as well as an advertising tool. Take the heat from your receptionist during busy call periods and answer those repetitive questions in on-hold spots.

On-Hold Advertising is Economical
Advertising sales are based on the number of impressions. If a business had one call placed on hold every ten minutes during an eight hour day 5 days per week, there would be 11,000 opportunities each year to market their business and services.

How to Evaluate an On- Hold Company
Make certain you get both male and female voice talent, and that the professional voice is pleasing. The studio you use should employ scriptwriters and offer a selection of licensed music to choose from. You choose the music from their library, not the on-hold company. You don’t want the same stale music everyone else uses. In most cases all that is needed is an inexpensive off-the-shelf CD player.

Facts About On-Hold Advertising
Eighty percent of businesses have nothing on-hold, so businesses that do set up programs are on the cutting edge. Twelve percent of businesses do have a radio or CD tuned in while their customers are on-hold. Only 8% of businesses have on-hold programs.

The number of companies who use on-hold as a time to advertise are growing. That’s because business owners are realizing there’s no better way to impress a client who has never been to your office than a well designed, informative on-hold program. Remember in today’s competitive market, image is everything. On-Hold advertising is one of the best facelifts a company could have.

About the Author

R.J. Paradee is a host of the coast in his Virginia Beach, Virginia studio. He produces professional quality digital audio through his company, First Impression.

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