The Return: Nightfall Chapter 27

When Damon woke up, he was wrestling with the wheel of the Ferrari. He was on a narrow road, heading almost straight into a glorious sunset – and the passenger door was waving open. Once again, only the combination of almost instantaneous reflex and perfectly designed automobile allowed him to keep out of the wide, muddy ditches on either side of the one-lane road. But he managed it and ended up with the sunset at his back, gazing at the long shadows down the road and wondering what the hell had just happened to him. Was he sleep-driving now? The passenger door – why was it open? And then something happened. A long, thin thread, slightly waving, almost like a single strand of gossamer, lit up as the reddish sunlight hit it. It was dangling from the top of the passenger window, which was shut, with the roof down. He didn't bother to pull the car to one side, but stopped in the middle of the road and went around to look at that hair. In his fingers, held toward the light, it turned white. But turned toward the dark of the forest, it showed its true color: gold. A long, slightly waving, golden hair. Elena. As soon as he had identified it, he got back into the car and began to backtrack. Something had ripped Elena right out of his car without putting so much as a scratch on the paint. What could have done that? How had he managed to get Elena to go for a spin anyway? And why couldn't he remember? Had they both been attacked†¦? When he backtracked, however, the marks by the passenger's side of the road told the entire grisly story. For some reason, Elena had been frightened into jumping out of the car – or some power had pulled her. And Damon, who now felt as if there were steam rising from his skin, knew that in all the woods there were only two creatures that could have been responsible. He sent out a scouting probe, a simple circle that was meant to be undetectable, and almost lost control of the car again. Merda!That blast had come out as a sphere-shaped killing strafe – birds were dropping out of the sky. It tore through the Old Wood, through Fell's Church, which surrounded it, and into the areas beyond, before finally dying out hundreds of miles away. Power? He wasn't a vampire, he was Death Incarnate. Damon had a vague thought of pulling over and waiting until the turmoil inside himself had stopped. Where had such Power come from? Stefan would have stopped, would have dithered around, wondering. Damon just grinned savagely, gunned the engine, and sent thousands of probes raining from the sky, all attuned to catch a fox-shaped creature running or hiding in the Old Wood. He got a hit in a tenth of a second. There. Under a black cohosh bush, if he wasn't mistaken – under some unspeakable bush, anyway. And Shinichi knew he was coming. Good. Damon sent a wave of Power directly at the fox, catching it in akekkai , a sort of invisible rope-barrier that he tightened deliberately, slowly, around the struggling animal. Shinichi fought back, with killing force. Damon used the kekkai to pick him up bodily and slam the little fox body into the ground. After a few of these slams Shinichi decided to stop fighting and played dead instead. That was fine with Damon. It was the way he thought Shinichi looked best, except for the bit about playing. At last he had to stash the Ferrari between two trees and ran swiftly to the bush where Shinichi was now fighting the barrier around him to get into human form. Standing back, eyes narrowed, arms crossed on his chest, Damon watched the struggle for a while. Then he let up enough on the kekkai's field to allow the change. And the instant Shinichi became human, Damon's hands were around his throat. â€Å"Where is Elena, kono bakayarou?† In a lifetime as a vampire you learned a lot of curse words. Damon preferred to use those of a victim's native language. He called Shinichi everything he could think of, because Shinichi was fighting, and was Calling telepathically for his sister. Damon had some choice things to say aboutthat in Italian, where hiding behind your younger twin sister was†¦well, good for alot of creative cursing. He felt another fox-shape racing at him – and he realized that Misao intended to kill. She was in her true shape as a kitsune: just like the russet thing he'd tried to run over while driving with Damaris. A fox, yes, but a fox with two, three†¦six tails altogether. The extra ones usually were invisible, he gathered, as he neatly caught her in a kekkai as well. But she was ready to show them, ready to use all her powers to rescue her brother. Damon contented himself with holding her as she struggled vainly within the barrier, and saying to Shinichi, â€Å"Your baby sister fights better than you do,bakayarou . Now,give me Elena. â€Å" Shinichi changed forms abruptly and leaped for Damon's throat, sharp white teeth in evidence, top and bottom. They were both too keyed up, too high on testosterone – and Damon, on his new Power – to let it go. Damon actually felt the teeth scrape his throat before he got his hands again around the fox's neck. But this time Shinichi was showing his tails, a fan that Damon didn't bother to count. Instead he stomped one neat boot on the fan andpulled with his other two hands. Misao, watching, shrieked in anger and anguish. Shinichi thrashed and arched, golden eyes fixed on Damon's. In another minute his spine would crack. â€Å"I'll enjoy that,† Damon told him sweetly. â€Å"Because I'll bet that Misao knows whatever you know. Too bad you won't be here to seeher die.† Shinichi, rabid with fury, seemed willing to die and condemn Misao to Damon's mercies just to avoid losing the fight. But then his eyes darkened abruptly, his body went limp, and words appeared faintly in Damon's mind. †¦hurts†¦can't†¦think†¦ Damon regarded him gravely. Now, Stefan, at this point, would release a good deal of the pressure on the kitsune so the poor little fox could think, Damon, on the other hand, increased the pressure briefly, then released it back to the previous level. â€Å"Is that better?† he asked solicitously. â€Å"Can the cute little foxie think now?† You†¦bastard†¦ Angry as he was, Damon suddenly remembered the point of all this. â€Å"What happened to Elena?Her trail runs out up against a tree. Is sheinside it? You have seconds left to live, now. Talk.† â€Å"Talk,† seconded another voice, and Damon barely glanced up at Misao. He'd left her relatively unguarded and she'd found power and room to change into her human shape. He took it in instantaneously, dispassionately. She was small-boned and petite, looking like any Japanese schoolgirl, except that her hair was just like her brother's – black tipped with red. The only difference was that the red in her hair was lighter and brighter – a truly brilliant scarlet. The bangs that fell into her eyes had blazing fiery tips, and so did the silky dark hair falling over her shoulders. It was striking but the only neurons that lit in Damon's mind in response were connected to fire and danger and deception. She might have fallen into a trap,Shinichi managed. A trap?Damon frowned.What kind of trap? I'll take you to where you can look into them,Shinichi said evasively. â€Å"And the fox can suddenly think again. But you know what? I don't think you're cute at all,† Damon whispered, then dropped the kitsune on the ground. Shinichi-as-a-human fountained up, and Damon dropped the barrier just long enough to let the fox in human form try to take his head off with one punch. He leaned away from it easily, and returned it with a blow that knocked Shinichi back into the tree hard enough to bounce. Then, while the kitsune was still dazed and glassy-eyed, he picked him up, slung him over one shoulder, and started back to the car. What about me?Misao was trying to curb furious and sound pathetic, but she really wasn't very good at it. â€Å"You're not cute, either,† Damon said, recklessly. He could get to like this super-Power thing. â€Å"But if you mean, when do you get out, it's when I get Elena back. Safe and healthy, with all her bits attached.† He left her cursing. He wanted to get Shinichi to wherever they had to go while the fox was still dazed and in pain. Elena was counting. Go straight one, go straight two – untangle crutch from creeper, three, four, go straight five – it was definitely getting darker now, go straight six, caught by something in hair,yank , seven, eight, go straight – damn! A fallen tree. Too high to scramble over. She'd have to go around it. All right, to the right, one, two, three – a long tree – seven steps. Seven steps back – now,sharp right turn and keep walking. Much as you'd like to, you can't count any of those steps. So you're at nine. Straighten yourself because the tree was perpendicular – dear heaven, it's pitch dark now. Call that eleven and – – she was flying. What had caused her crutch to slip, she didn't know, couldn't tell. It was too dark to go frisking around, maybe finding herself a case of poison oak. What she had to do was to think about things, to think so that this all-pervading hellish pain in her left leg would quiet down. It hadn't helped her right arm either – that instinctive windmilling, trying to catch something and save herself. God, that fall had hurt. The whole side of her body hurt so much – But she had to get to civilization because she believed only civilization could help Matt. You have to get up again, Elena. I'mdoing it! Now – she couldn't see anything, but she had a pretty good idea which way she'd been pointed when she'd fallen. And if she was wrong, she would hit the road and be able to backtrack. Twelve, thirteen – she kept counting, kept talking to herself. When she reached twenty she felt relief and joy. Any minute now, she'd hit the driveway. Any minute now, she'd hit it. It was pitch black out, but she was careful to scuff the ground so she would know, the minute she hit it. Any†¦minute†¦now†¦ When Elena reached forty she knew she was in trouble. But where could she have gone so far wrong? Every time some small obstacle had made her turn right, she'd turned carefully left the next time. And there was that whole line of landmarks in her way, the house, the barn, the small cornfield. How could she have gotten lost?How? It had only been half a minute in the forest†¦only a few steps in the Old Wood. Even the trees were changing. Where she had been, near the road, most of the trees had been hickory or tulip. Now she was in a thicket of white oaks and red oaks†¦and conifers. Old oaks†¦and on the ground, needles and leaves that muffled her foot-hops into soundlessness. Soundlessness†¦but she needed help! â€Å"Mrs. Dunstan! Mr. Dunstan! Kristin! Jake!† She threw the names out into a world that was doing its best to muffle her voice. In fact, in the darkness she could discern a certain swirling wispy grayness that seemed to be – yes – it was fog. â€Å"Mrs. Dunstaa – a-aan! Mr. Dunstaa-aa-an! Kriiiissstiiiinnn! Jaaa-aaake!† She needed shelter; she needed help. Everything hurt, most of all her left leg and right shoulder. She could just imagine what a sight she would make: covered in mud and leaves from falling every few feet, her hair in a wild mop from being caught on trees, blood everywhere†¦. One good thing: she certainly didn't look like Elena Gilbert. Elena Gilbert had long silky hair that was always perfectly coifed or charminglydishabille . Elena Gilbert set the fashions in Fell's Church and would never be seen wearing a torn camisole and jeans covered with mud. Whoever they thought this forlorn stranger was, they wouldn't think she was Elena. But the forlorn stranger was feeling a sudden qualm. She'd walked through woods all her life and never had her hair caught once. Oh, of course she had been able to see then, but she didn't remember having to step out of her way often to avoid it. Now, it was as if the trees were deliberately reaching down to catch and snag her hair. She had to hold her body clumsily still and try to whip her head away in the worst cases – she couldn't manage to stay upright and get the tendril torn out as well. But painful as the tearing at her hair was, nothing scared her like the grabbing at her legs. Elena had grown up playing in this forest, and there had always been plenty of room to walk without hurting herself. But now†¦things were reaching out, fibrous tendrils were grabbing at her ankle just where it hurt most. And then it was agony to try to rip with her fingers at these thick, sap-coated, stinging roots. I'm frightened, she thought, putting into words at last what all her feelings had been since she stepped into the darkness of the Old Wood. She was damp with dew and sweat, her hair was as wet as if she'd been standing in the rain. It was so dark! And now her imagination began to work, and unlike most people's imaginations it had genuine, solid information to workwith . A vampire's hand seemed to tangle in her hair. After an endless time of agony in her ankle and her shoulder, she had twisted the â€Å"hand† out of her hair – to find another curling stalk. All right. She would ignore the pain and get her bearings here, here where there was a remarkable tree, a massive white pine that had a huge hole in its center, big enough for Bonnie to get into. She would put that flat at her back and then walk straight west – she couldn't see stars because of the cloud cover, but shefelt that west was to her left. If she were correct, it would bring her to the road. If she were wrong and it was north, it would take her to the Dunstans'. If it were south, it would eventually take her to another curve of the road. If it were east†¦well, it would be a long walk, but it would eventually take her to the creek. But first she would gather all her Power, all the Power she'd been unconsciously using to dull the pain and give her strength – she would gather it and light up this place so she could see if the road was visible – or, better, a house – from where she stood. It was only a human's power but, again, the knowledge of how to use it made all the difference, she thought. She gathered the Power in one tight white ball and then loosed it, twisting to look around before it dissipated. Trees. Trees. Trees. Oaks and hickories, white pine and beech. No high ground to get to. In every direction, nothing but trees, as if she were lost in some grimly enchanted forest and could never get out. But shewould get out. Any of those directions would take her to people eventually – even east. Even east, she could just follow the stream until it led to people. She wished she had a compass. She wished she could see the stars. She was trembling all over, and it wasn't just from the cold. She was injured; she was terrified. But she had to forget about that. Meredith wouldn't cry. Meredith wouldn't be terrified. Meredith would find a sensible way to get out. She had to get help for Matt. Gritting her teeth to ignore the pain, Elena started off. If any of her wounds had happened to her in isolation, she would have made a big fuss about it, sobbing and writhing over the injury. But with so many different pains, it had all melted into one terrible agony. Be careful now. Make sure you're going straight and not tilting off at an angle. Pick your next target in your straight line of sight. The problem was that by now it was too dark to see much of anything. She could just make out deeply grooved bark straight ahead. A red oak probably. All right, go to it. Hop – oh, it hurts – hop – the tears washing down her cheeks – hop – just a little farther – hop – you can make it – hop. She put her hand out on shaggy bark. All right. Now, look straight in front of you. Ah. Something gray and rough and massive ahead – maybe a white oak. Hop to it – agony – hop – somebody help me – hop – how long will it take? – hop – not that far now – hop.There. She put her hand on the wide rough bark. And then she did it again. And again. And again. And again. And again. â€Å"What is it?† Damon demanded. He'd been forced to let Shinichi lead once they were out of the car again, but he still kept the kekkai loosely around him and he still watched every move the fox made. He didn't trust him as far as – well, the fact was, he didn't trust him at all. â€Å"What's behind the barrier?† he said again, more roughly, tightening the noose around the kitsune's neck. â€Å"Our little cabin – Misao's and mine.† â€Å"And it wouldn't possibly be a trap, would it?† â€Å"If you think so, fine! I'll go in alone†¦.† Shinichi had finally changed into a half-fox, half-human form: black hair to his waist, with ruby-colored flames licking up from the ends, one silky tail with the same coloration behind him waving behind him, and two silky, crimson-tipped twitching ears on top of his head. Damon approved aesthetically, but more important, he now had a ready-made handle. He caught Shinichi by the tail and twisted. â€Å"Stop that!† â€Å"I'll stop it when I get Elena – unless you waylaid her deliberately. If she's hurt, I'm going to take whoever harmed her and cut him into slivers. His life is forfeit.† â€Å"No matter who it was?† â€Å"No matter who.† Shinichi was quivering slightly. â€Å"Are you cold?† â€Å"†¦just†¦admiring your resolve.† More inadvertent quivering. Almost shaking his entire body.Laughter? â€Å"At Elena's discretion, I would keep them alive. But in agony.† Damon twisted the tail harder. â€Å"Move!† Shinichi took another step and a charming country cabin came into view, with a gravel path leading up between wild creepers that loaded the porch and hung down like pendants. It was exquisite. Even as the pain grew, Elena began to have hope. No matter how turned around she was, shehad to come out of the forest at some point. She had to make it. The ground was solid – no sign of mushiness or slanting downward. She wasn't headed for the creek. She was headed for the road. She could tell. She fixed her sights on a distant, smooth-barked tree. Then she hopped to it, the pain almost forgotten in her new feeling of certainty. She fell against the massive, peeling, ash-gray tree. She was resting against it when something bothered her. Her dangling leg. Why wasn't it bumping painfully against the trunk? It had knocked continually against all the other trees when she turned to rest. She pulled back from the tree, and, as if she knew it were important, gathered all her Power and let it go in a burst of white light. The tree with the huge hole in it, the tree she had started from, was in front of her. For a moment Elena stood completely still, wasting Power, holding the light. Maybe it was some different†¦ No. She was on the other side of the tree, but it was the same one. That washer hair caught in the peeling gray bark. That dried blood washer handprint. Below it was where her bloody leg had left a mark – fresh. She'd walked straight out and come straight back to this tree. â€Å"Noooooooooooooo!† It was the first vocalized sound she'd made since she'd fallen out of the Ferrari. She'd endured all that pain in silence, with little gasps or sharp breaths, but she'd never cursed and screamed. Now she wanted to do both. Maybe it wasn't the same tree – Nooooooo, nooooooo, noooooooooooo! Maybe her Power would come back and she'd see that she'd only hallucinated – No, no, no, no, no, no! It just wasn't possible – Nooooooo! Her crutch slipped from under her arm. It had dug into her armpit so deeply that the pain there rivaled the other pains. Everything hurt. But worst was her mind. She had a picture in her mind of a sphere like the Christmas snow globes you shook to make snow or glitter fall through liquid. But this sphere had trees all over the inside. From top to bottom, side to side, all trees, all pointing toward the middle. And herself, wandering inside this lonely sphere†¦no matter where she went, she'd find more trees, because that was all there were in this world she'd stumbled into. It was a nightmare, but something like it was real. The trees were intelligent, too, she realized. The little creeping vines, the vegetation; even now it was pulling her crutch away from her. The crutch was moving as if being passed from hand to hand by very small people. She reached out and just barely grabbed the end of it. She didn't remember having fallen to the ground, but here she was. And there was a smell, a sweet, earthy, resinous aroma. And here were creepers, testing her, tasting her. With delicate little touches, they wound into her hair so that she couldn't pick her head up. Then she could feel them tasting her body, her shoulder, her bloody knee. Nothing about it mattered. She squeezed her eyes shut, her body heaving with sobs. The creepers were pulling at her wounded leg now, and instinctively she jerked away. For a moment the pain woke her up and she thought,I've got to get to Matt , but the next moment that thought was dulled, too. The sweet, resinous smell remained. The creepers felt their way across her moving chest, across her breasts. They encircled her stomach. And then they began to tighten. By the time Elena realized the danger, they were restricting her breathing. She couldn't expand her chest. As she let out her breath, they only tightened again, working together: all the little creepers like one giant anaconda. She couldn't tear them away. They were tough and springy and her nails couldn't cut through them. Working her fingers under a handful, she pulled as hard as she could, scraping with her nails and twisting. Finally one fiber sprang loose with the sound of a harp's string breaking and a wild whipping in the air. The rest of the creepers pulled tighter. She was having to fight to get air now, fight not to contract her chest. Creepers were delicately touching her lips, swaying over her face like so many thin cobras, then suddenly striking and going taut around her cheek and head. I'm going to die. She felt a deep regret. She had been given the chance of a second lifetime – a third, if you counted her life as a vampire – and she hadn't done anything with it. Nothing but pursue her own pleasure. And now Fell's Church was in peril and Matt was in immediate danger, and not only was she not going to help them, she was going to give up and die right here. What would be the right thing to do? The spiritual thing? Cooperate with evil now, and hope she'd have the chance to destroy it later? Maybe. Maybe all she needed to do was to ask for help. The feeling of breathlessness was leaving her light-headed. She would never have believed it of Damon, that he would put her through all this, that he would allow her to be killed. Just days ago she had been defending him to Stefan. Damon and the malach. Maybe she was his offering to them. They certainly demanded a lot. Or maybe it was just that he wanted her to beg for help. He might be waiting in the darkness quite close, his mind centered on hers, waiting for a whisperedplease . She tried to spark the last of her Power. It was almost depleted, but like a match, with repeated striking she managed to get a tiny white flame. Now she visualized the flame going into her forehead. Into her head. Inside. There. Now. Through the fiery agony of not being able to draw a breath, she thought:Bonnie. Bonnie. Hear me. No answer – but she wouldn't hear one. Bonnie, Matt is in a clearing in a lane off the Old Wood. He may need blood or some other help. Look for him. In my car. Don't worry about me. It's too late for me. Find Matt. And that's all I can say, Elena thought wearily. She had a vague, sad intuition that she hadn't gotten Bonnie to hear her. Her lungs were exploding. This was a terrible way to die. She was going to be able to exhale one more time, and then there would be no more air†¦. Damn you, Damon, she thought, and then she concentrated all her thoughts, all her mind's reach on memories of Stefan. On the feeling of being held by Stefan, on Stefan's sudden leaping smile, on Stefan's touch. Green eyes, leaf green, a color like a leaf held up to sunlight†¦ The decency he had somehow managed to retain, untainted†¦ Stefan†¦I love you†¦. I'll always love you†¦. I've loved you†¦. I love†¦

Marketing †ethics Essay

Marketing ethics is an area that deals with the moral principles behind marketing. Ethics in marketing applies to different spheres such as in advertising, promotion, pricing. However, for purposes of this essay, the ethics of advertisements will be dealt with especially in relation to children. (Mohandeep, 2001)) Many marketers and analysts have agreed that children are marketer’s best friend. This is backed up by evidence from watch groups such as Media Channel. In the year 2007, they highlighted the fact that in the United States, close to two billion dollars was spent on advertisements to children. It was also revealed that children greatly affect the commodities their parents buy. Estimates done in this field show that projects tailored for children in the year 2006 totaled fifty two billion dollars. (McGee and Heubusch, 1997) Regardless of all this potential returns that children can give manufacturers and their marketers, there are key ethical issues that arise in the discussion. For example, do children have the capability of understanding some of the intricate marketing tactics? Do children possess the final buying power? Do marketers need to get permission from their parents? And do children understand the negative effects of some of the products advertised to them? These key questions will be analyzed in relation to business pressures then recommendations will be made. Key ethical issues in marketing to children Some companies have become notorious for the utilization of psychologists in their advertising and marketing campaigns. Normally what such companies do is that when trying to create marketing strategy, they will involve psychologist to tell them about tactics that they can use to influence children. Since psychologists understand the way child’s mind works, they can help marketers create campaigns that will be directly aimed at them and those ones that can easily influence their choices. This trend has becoming so alarming that the American Psychological Association has raised an alarm about it. They have set up a committee to estimate the effect that the involvement of psychologists in the marketing process of children’s products has on them. The group has asserted that no psychological principles should be used when marketing to children. They are also recommending that there should be some sort of strategy to protect the young ones from exploitation though the use of psychological ploys. (Beder, 1998) The basic framework which steers marketing ethics revolves around three main issues. These are: values, stakeholders, processes. Marketing ethics that are done on a value inclined framework are those one that involve the analysis of the kind of value that the marketing idea creates. So advertisements may instill in their target audiences positive or negative attributes. This all depends on their implementation. For example, an advertising targeting a child may become a problem if it violates the right to privacy, transparency, honesty or autonomy. By using psychologists in the process of creating advertisements for children, marketers are imposing upon children’s right to autonomy and transparency. They try studying children’s behavioral trends and then use this to exploit those children. This is quite unethical. The process oriented framework in marketing ethics is founded on the basis of analysing marketing ethics through the categories that marketers use. For example research, promotion and placement must be done in an ethical manner. This is something that marketers have chosen to ignore because their research is not done in an ethical manner. Their research involves using psychological experts who may use their knowledge to take advantage of children who belong to vulnerable groups (Lizabeth, 2001) Targeting children alone Marketers who create marketing campaigns that are just directed towards children only are engaging in unethical marketing practices. This is because children are naive. They are at a stage of development called proximal development. At this stage, children simply take up elements of what they perceive in the world around them and then use it in various aspects of their lives. There is a certain level of trust that children have over and above than one of adults. They lack the ability to weigh arguments in a sober and even sometimes a cynical way. Consequently, this makes them very vulnerable to exploitation. (Murphy et al, 2004) Examples of advertisements that are directed towards children alone are those ones that have cartoon characters and are seen as specifically meant for children. At that point, children will feel like they are the only ones with the ability of purchasing the item yet it is their parents who have to foot the bill. Unethical advertisements are those ones that do not involve getting consent from parents. Most of the time such advertisements are usually aired in the afternoon during kid’s programming sessions. They usually create desires in children to have those advertisements at all costs. When advertising is done without parental consent; that is when children are watching shows on their own then it became unethical. Children are too young to realize the manipulations that are going on through television or media advertisements. They also do not realize the financial pressures that come with the purchase of items. It would therefore be unethical for marketers to leave parents out of their marketing strategies. Normally, ethical advertisements are those ones that require children to get their parents involved in the marketing place. This can be achieved by stating it directly in the advertisement. It can also be achieved by limiting some children’s products in parental magazines or targeting families in general instead of just children. (Waymack, 2000) Advertisements targeting children alone have shown their effects in a number of ways. In the year 2007, it was found that about fifty eight percent of all the items purchased by children (through their allowances) are sweets and toys were the next highest items to be purchased by children. This took up a whooping thirty percent. Toys and candy are all items that are advertised directly children hence the staggering statistics. (Davidson, 2002) Advertising to children alone brings out very fundamental ethical issue. It highlights the power analysis issue in marketing. Any form of marketing that claims to be ethical must adhere to the power balance principle. The scales must not be tipped towards the consumer neither should they favor the marketer either. When marketers target vulnerable markets, they tend to make the situation favor them. This is what is called caveat emptor in marketing. It is an unfair scenario and is also exploitative in nature. (McGee and Heubusch, 1997) Types of products, manner of advertisements and other qualities can indicate whether or not an advertisement is targeting children. It should be noted that there are certain elements that if conducted by marketers may be deemed unethical for example, when an advertisement is made in such a manner as to imply that it is meant for children. Some elements to watch out for are: music, images, voices, color. These are all elements that are meant to draw on children’s attention. Besides this, there may be certain activities expected to captivate children such a drawing, then those advertisements may be meant for them. Besides that, some advertisements may have characters that are designed for that demographic group. Sometimes some advertisements may be placed in publications that are usually read by children alone. They may also be placed in areas that have children. (Murphy et al, 2004) All these features can be deemed unethical if they will be seen or heard by children exclusively, For example, if the advertisement is placed in a publication that is read by children alone then this is unethical because there is not parental consent there or if it is broadcast at times when children could be watching without parental consent. (Lizabeth, 2001) Sometimes the kind of content in the advertisements matters too. Advertisements that are created in such ways as to make children feel less about themselves if they lack that product may be deemed unethical. Also advertisements that will promote harmful products to children are also unethical. For example, there were certain toys from China that had an excess of chemical elements and exposed certain risks to children who were playing with them. If advertisements possess those characteristics, then they may be considered unethical. Responsible marketing The issue of marketing itself has two main components. The first group is made up of the abolitionists and the second are the libertarians. The abolitionists believe that all advertising to children is wrong and that it should be completely eliminated. But this is something that is unrealistic and cannot be feasible in today’s fast paced and commercial world. The other extreme is held by the liberalists who believe that advertisements to children should be left as they are. They insist that society shapes advertisements and that advertisements do not change moral values. But this is denying the obvious. The fact that children in the UK and even in other parts of the world spend the largest portion of their leisure time watching television implies that they will pick up some of the habits depicted on their screens. (Waymack, 2000) In light of the above facts, it is important to come up with a compromise on the issue through taking up responsible marketing. Children can still be considered as a target audience for marketing of retail products, however, this should be conducted in such a responsible and socially sustainable manner. There are three main alternatives available for marketers targeting children and these are: viewing children as docile consumers, viewing children as non-consumers, viewing children as informed consumers. Choosing the non-consumer part would not be very market friendly because as it has been seen from earlier parts of the essay; children have substantial levels of buyer power. It is would therefore be uneconomical not to tap this very valuable market resource. On the other hand, viewing children as docile consumers causes a lot of ethical controversies that have been raised earlier. Consequently, the most sustainable form of marketing should be viewing children as informed consumers. Marketers need to advertise and market their products in such a way that there will still be room for them in the future. This will be effectively achieved by informing children about marketing ideas. This will enlighten them and give them a very valuable asset; choice. (McGee and Heubusch, 1997) Informing children about the intricacies of marketing at an early age will go a long way in ensuring that children can understand the fundamentals of the commercial world. It will mean that children’s naivety will not be taken advantage of and that they will have the power to decide for themselves whether or not products are good for them. The ethical issues that have been brought forward stem from the fact that children are too young to understand the main reasons behind marketing displays. Informing them about this will drastically reduce those ethical concerns and will at the same time still allow marketers to go about marketing their products. (Beder, 1998) It should be noted that some countries like Sweden have argued that children can understand the effects of commercial marketing after reaching the age of twelve; some have suggested four and others ten. They claim that at that point, be it 4, 10, or 12, children can understand the commercial world and the exploitation tendencies that their worlds present them. Consequently, human rights groups claim that marketers should not target children that fall below that group. But that debate can be eliminated if children below those established ages are made aware of the commercial world. Regulations This is something that is already in place, but still needs more emphasis. Advertisements should not be aired during children’s programming as they are likely to be unsupervised at that point. Governments should institute statutory regulations on television advertisements. Advertisements should also be edited such that they do not seem to appeal to the child directly. They should be made in such a way that they will involve the parent or family. (Mohandeep, 2001)) Conclusion Advertisements to children have sparked off lot of controversy resulting in various reactions in various countries. However, experts agree that unethical marketing occurs when advertisements are directly aimed at children without getting consent from parents. Organisations can go about this issue through regulating their content, changing their times and embarking on a consumer education to make their young audiences aware. (Waymack, 2000) Reference: Beder, S. (1998): Marketing to Children, University of Wollongong Journal Lizabeth E. (2001): Marketing With A Conscience: Sales and Ethics; Journal for the US Dept. of State Mohandeep S. (2001): Ethics in Marketing; Encyclopedia of Business and Finance Davidson, D. (2002): The Moral Dimension of Marketing; South-Western Educational Journal Murphy, P. et al (2004): Ethical Marketing; Prentice Hall Waymack, M. (2000): The ethics of selectively marketing the Health Maintenance Organization, Journal of Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, Issue 8, Volume 11, Pages 301-309 McGee, T. and Heubusch, K. (1997): Getting Inside Kids’ Heads; American Demographics, Vol. 19, No. 1.

Diversity Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Diversity - Research Paper Example Managing diversity properly leads to healthy organization of these differences which results in a dynamic milieu where every individual is appreciated and cherished which makes him employ his abilities successfully to accomplish the societal objectives in general and organizational goals in particular. On the other hand, mismanagement of diversity may lead to violence, aggression and revulsion among people. On individual level, diversity helps one to come out of challenging situations by being flexible to troubles. If we talk about business world in United States which is a diverse nation, people of different races and ethnic background are working actively because of the involvement of more women and immigrants. This diversity is necessary for staying in competition with the outer world and ensuring higher productivity. Characteristics that come under the umbrella term of diversity, also sometimes called dimensions of diversity, include age, race, ethnicity, gender, culture, heritage, cognitive approach, beliefs, mental or physical abnormality, socio-economic and educational background, customs and traditions, norms and values, geographical status, religion, art, language, nuptial and family status, political following, sexual orientation, food habits, and etcetera. Every individual is unique but belongs to an identity group at the same time that identifies him. Some of the characteristics are chosen by the individual himself (such as religious beliefs, political affiliation and marital status) while some are given to him by nature or society (such as language, race and ethnicity). Sweetman (2004, p. 2) asserts that diversity can be understood in two dimensions, that is, primary and secondary diversity. He states that primary diversity comprises of those characteristics that an individual cannot alter for himself, such as, â€Å"sex, race or ethnicity, age, physical abilities and qualities, and

Rhetorical Analysis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rhetorical Analysis Paper - Essay Example So many Pidgin pessimists," gives a lot of promise. And he's not stopping, now or in the foreseeable future. "Can you come up wit one more positive way of looking at dis piece o'wot Try tink. Right on. Ho, you get 'em. Das how. We get ONE Pidgin optimist in da house" is as convincing as the essay itself those who will oppose the guy will have a difficult time. "In da real world get planny Pidgin prejudice, ah. Dey, da ubiquitous dey, dey is everywea brah; dey say dat da perception is dat da standard english talker is going automatically be perceive fo' be mo' intelligent than da Pidgin talker regardless wot dey talking, jus from HOW dey talking," he complains as he spars biases. And one imagines a Huck, with slumped shoulders and head cast downward trying to avoid people at daylight, processing his thoughts in his own world dominated only by an African American slave Jim, and at times, by the more acceptable and lovable Tom Sawyer. It's kine lonely, if one sees through it, so much like the cause Pidgin Guerilla Tonouchi is fighting for. Biases ran amuck in a global culture of majority rules as Tonouchi might strongly be shaking his head as he asserts that, "but I no need really look da studies, cuz I can see dis happening insai my classrooms" "Oh Frazier, you're so smart. ... He recalled the experience of his Oriental parents in the 50s to 60s, "If dey talked Pidgin in school den da teachah would slap 'em wit da ruler. Ka-pow. Ow, ow, ow" up to his generation, "You gotta enunciate and tell, "May I please use the restroom" And if you no tell 'em li'dat, den you gotta hold your shishi, brah." He is standing up. "If I knew den wot I know now, HO, I would've SUED da DOE for da kine cruel and unusual punishment. Million dollah settlement right dea," and he depreciates in kine funny, if not yet hilarious manner. He's shaking his head, "wuz equating talking Pidgin to smoking cigarettes cuz he gotta "cut back." If he talk too much Pidgin, den he going get Pidgin cancer and he going DIE, brah. Pua ting. Sad yeah, da tinking" but he's not giving up, nor going away and turn from his cause. In fact, he is facing the challenge head on as he asked his class, "Try tell me all da tings dat people told you ova da years dat you CANNOT do wit Pidgin." And dis wot dey came up wit: Dey Say if You Talk Pidgin You No Can . . . be smart be important be successful be professional be taken seriously be one teacher be one doctor be one lawyer be a government worker be big businessman be da Pope be the president be the wife of the president Dey say if you talk Pidgin you no can . . . communicate eat at fine dining restaurants enter a beauty pageant (and win)" and the list is endless, but he is not stopping. And he is proving the Pidgin detractors wrong. "but I tink so people jus find 'em funny cuz dey know lot of da tings on da list is not true. Bogus li'dat. Why Cuz dey know Pidgin people who eat at fancy restaurants, cuz dey know Pidgin

Law for Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Law for Managers - Essay Example The Act operates by enforcing a broad range of regulations by public or government ministries through the use of statutory instruments which since 1974 have given rise to specific provisions for different industries, risks and disciplines. It is against this backdrop that avenues for public supervision were enforced such as the Health and Safety Executive and Health and Safety Commission were set up. To ensure that the provisions of the Act are binding, the state sanctions the use of instruments of coercion such as the imposition of criminal sanctions, fines and prison sentences which can go up to 2 years. Since this Act of UK Parliament is normally abbreviated as HASAWA, HASWA or HSWA 1974, it will be important to sustain the use of HSWA 1974 throughout the discussion, to steer clear of verbiage (Foster, 2010, 275). The development of the law, taking into account the lack of individual liability in other related legislation Dhir (2012, 100) contends that the main factor that trigger ed the creation and passing of HSWA 1974 is the need to protect employees and members of the public from corporate neglect and greed. Particularly, before the ratification of HSWA 1974, work stations and organisations sidestepped the need to protect employees and members of the public and the need to safeguard their safety. ... At the same time, the failure of previous bills to ensure total safety also necessitated the need to have more robust and more comprehensive legislation. Particularly, there has been a successful coordination of efforts to produce the Employed Persons Health and Safety Bill in 1970. Nevertheless, the bill’s failure to address salient issues of workplace safety became more apparent over time. This failure was mainly seen in the Bill chiefly aiming at curtailing the number of deaths and injuries in British factories. For instance, the second provision of this Bill as is enshrined in the Clause 2 (1) (a) places sanctions on the formation of safety representatives and partly, management representatives in factories having more than 100 employees (Kobrin, 2009, 350). Nevertheless, a critical look at this clause leaves one with the knowledge that the representatives could not implement safety measures (Van-Dam, 2011, 231). Secondly, the failure was catapulted by the absence of coope ration between the totality of the workforce and the management. The discord between the two parties greatly affects the appointment of the safety representatives. The same also means that in the event that the safety representatives have been appointed mainly because of the management’s sleight of hand, then it is likely that the safety representatives may cover up for the organisation’s failure to put effective safety measures in place. It is against this backdrop that the National Institute of Industrial Psychology showed cases of consistent failures among companies and work stations to apply well known safety measures on the floor (Muchlinski,

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 16

Summary - Essay Example The ruling families realized that there should be policy change in economic programs to ensure that the countries developed long-term and sustainable economic plans. The international community was involved in promotion of economic status of the GCC states where they advised that a knowledge-based economic policy would be effective in steering the economies rather than relying on oil that was dwindling. Introduction of the knowledge-based economy would ensure expansion and investment in education to build wealth from the human labour and resources instead of relying on the natural resources. President Obama and Angela Merkel delivered speeches on the benefits of the knowledge-based economy over reliance on natural resources. Obama stated that the Islamic countries should begin to increase their investment in education since even the countries that had more natural resources like America had invested in other policies to steer their economies. Angela Merkel on the other hand emphasized on the importance of promoting freedom and innovation from the power of science and human intelligence. Innovation, technological development and invention were es sential for development challenges in 21st century. These speeches revealed the interest which the western countries had on the development of the GCC countries. The Arab countries have adopted the policy and culture of promoting the education in the region by increasing the number of institutions of higher learning at high rate. Since the end of World War II, the number of universities have increased from 10 to 140 in 2000 and later increased up to 260 in 2010. This reveals the interest of leaders to propel their countries in knowledge-based economies. Obama and Merkel stated that the countries in the region should pay tribute to the developments taking place in education especially the universities that have embraced the visions of the Gulf monarchies. Modernization of education

Design and analysis of lean maufacturing Case Study

Design and analysis of lean maufacturing - Case Study Example The reputation for quality is what keeps Elba afloat with a select base of customers, albeit with those customers increasingly coming from remote areas relative to the location of the plant. It is the remoteness of the current remaining customer base that has caused the company to incur a growing cost base in inventory as well as in distribution. These two items have grown by 12 percent and 10 percent respectively over the past three years. In absolute terms too, distribution has come to almost equal labor costs and has come to account for the second largest share of costs after labor, and only marginally smaller than labor costs at $11.1 million. Inventory costs, meanwhile, have come to equal materials costs, and with the rate of growth of inventory costs is poised to overtake materials costs. On the other hand, the move to Southeast Asia would chop 30 percent from distribution costs, and 60 percent from labor costs. Assuming all other costs remain the same, that would translate to savings of about $7 million in labor costs yearly and $3.33 million in distribution costs per year. Given though that clients are distributed in equal measure by volume outside of Asia, there might be minimal to no savings in distribution costs. ... It is likely that Elba will lose more customers with the move, and may continue to suffer from a profit squeeze as they lose the quality differentiation. The question is whether this planned move is wise, or whether a justification can be made to retain the plant that does not entail preserving the status quo but going about rejuvenating the product lines and making use of the available skilled and experienced talent to innovate and come up with higher-margin products (â€Å"Case Study 4.8 Elba Electronics† 128-129). II. Background Information From a financial point of view, the current state of affairs at Elba Electronics is unsustainable, and is ripe for change. That, or the trajectory is for Elba to continually grow its costs for distribution and inventory and therefore go deeper in the red. Earnings have shrunk by five percent over the past three years, and is already thin as of the time of the planned closure of the plant. The move would significantly bolster margins by r educing the biggest cost items in labor and in distribution as stated in the case, by 60 percent and 30 percent respectively, The FCP seems to have established a good case for the plant closure, but their analysis also seems to suffer from a blindside, and that is with regard to the effect of the move on demand, and on margins. This is an opening that John James can analyze and exploit, to bolster the case for a different kind of plan that does not entail moving manufacturing to Southeast Asia but doubling down on innovation to produce higher margin products (â€Å"Case Study 4.8 Elba Electronics† 128-129). III. Problem Statement Does the move to Southeast Asia and the closure of the Elba plant justified by financial and non-financial considerations? How does